Heart rate while working out

spfldpam

I have a Polar FT7 I wear to the gym for my workouts. My issue is, I usually get my heartrate up to over 160 or more when doing the ellipitical machine for 30 min. (10 min then weights then 20 min more on the elliptical). Last night I tried to keep it at 140 and was able to but it was really hard. I get to going on it with my music and just push myself I guess. I could tell my fat burn and fitness burn was more even in minutes due to keeping it at the lower rates too last night when I got home and looked at my Polar.
What should be recommend Heart rate be? I am 50 years old. I have read you take 220 and subtract your age so that would be 170 so is that my max heart rate? What is the best level to keep it at when working out, the machine said between 135 and 141 but I thought that was low. I weight around 135-140 usually.
Thanks for any help you can give me. I have lost alot of weight and workouts I used to do don't bring my heart rate up like it did before I worked out and lost weight.

ShannonMpls

Why are you trying to keep your HR at 140?

I work out at the highest intensity I can maintain for the time I wish to work out. The only time my goal is a lower heart rate is during long slow runs (8+ miles).

The fat burning/fitness zones are pretty irrelevant if your goal is weight loss (they may matter for endurance training, but even then you are best using specific numbers for your body based on testing, not generic formulas).

This website is very helpful at explaining this:
http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/The-Truth-About-The-Fat-Burning-Zone.htm

"The body does burn a higher percentage of calories from fat in the fat burning zone or at lower intensities. However, at higher intensities (70-90% of your maximum heart rate), you burn a greater number of overall calories, which is what matters when it comes to losing weight. "


Edited to add: Just saw that we have lost the exact same amount of weight! GREAT WORK

3dogsrunning

The 220 - age is a really terrible estimate. It is not very accurate.

Keep in mind that generalized HR zones are pretty inaccurate as well. For losing weight, I would ignore the zones altogther (they do have their uses in training for specific events, but that isn't what we are talking about here). Even if you are in the "fat burning zone", where you are burning a higher percent of fat calories, overall you are burning fewer calories because the intensity is much lower. When you are in a higher HR rate zone, it might be a lower percent, however, overall you burn more calories and in turn are still burning more "fat calories".

Personally, I go with percieved exertion. I would focus on pushing enough that it was work, but that it was still sustainable for the planned workout period. Or try intervals where you do shorter hard intervals, mixed with recovery ones.

spfldpam

Why are you trying to keep your HR at 140?

I work out at the highest intensity I can maintain for the time I wish to work out. The only time my goal is a lower heart rate is during long slow runs (8+ miles).

The fat burning/fitness zones are pretty irrelevant if your goal is weight loss (they may matter for endurance training, but even then you are best using specific numbers for your body based on testing, not generic formulas).

This website is very helpful at explaining this:
http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/The-Truth-About-The-Fat-Burning-Zone.htm

"The body does burn a higher percentage of calories from fat in the fat burning zone or at lower intensities. However, at higher intensities (70-90% of your maximum heart rate), you burn a greater number of overall calories, which is what matters when it comes to losing weight. "


Edited to add: Just saw that we have lost the exact same amount of weight! GREAT WORK

I usually get it up to 170 or higher but had read that isn't really helping me any is why I asked. I try to burn as many cals as I can at the gym in the shortest amount of time too! LOL! I can only do the cardio machines 20-30 minutes and then get bored! I try to mix it up with cardio, weights, more cardio and then aqua workout classes in the pool at the gym I go to.

I just want to make sure I am doing things correctly. I do need to loose about 10 pounds but then want to maintain and firm up my muscles.

When wanting to loose weight what should my heartrate be? When wanting to just maintain my weight what should my heartrate be?
Thanks!

ShannonMpls

Why are you trying to keep your HR at 140?

I work out at the highest intensity I can maintain for the time I wish to work out. The only time my goal is a lower heart rate is during long slow runs (8+ miles).

The fat burning/fitness zones are pretty irrelevant if your goal is weight loss (they may matter for endurance training, but even then you are best using specific numbers for your body based on testing, not generic formulas).

This website is very helpful at explaining this:
http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/The-Truth-About-The-Fat-Burning-Zone.htm

"The body does burn a higher percentage of calories from fat in the fat burning zone or at lower intensities. However, at higher intensities (70-90% of your maximum heart rate), you burn a greater number of overall calories, which is what matters when it comes to losing weight. "


Edited to add: Just saw that we have lost the exact same amount of weight! GREAT WORK

I usually get it up to 170 or higher but had read that isn't really helping me any is why I asked. I try to burn as many cals as I can at the gym in the shortest amount of time too! LOL! I can only do the cardio machines 20-30 minutes and then get bored! I try to mix it up with cardio, weights, more cardio and then aqua workout classes in the pool at the gym I go to.

I just want to make sure I am doing things correctly. I do need to loose about 10 pounds but then want to maintain and firm up my muscles.

When wanting to loose weight what should my heartrate be? When wanting to just maintain my weight what should my heartrate be?
Thanks!

If you want my opinion.....

Start incorporating HIIT. You can do this with whatever #s you want. So, what I do when I'm doing an HIIT workout is one minute at at high intensity as I can stand. My HR will skyrocket, 175-180. Then I'll slow down and recover for a minute. Lather, rinse, repeat. You will want to die during the high intervals if you're doing it right, but voila - an amazing 20 minute workout.

If you prefer steady-state, I say keep on keeping on. Work out as hard as you can for the time you have. Slower stuff plays a role too, for me, as stress-relief and leisure. That means that when I walk my dog, I'm not doing it for the calorie burn, I'm doing it for the enjoyment.

I see no need to specifically aim for a heart rate of 140/fat burning zone unless you have been advised to do so by a doctor.

For what it's worth, I find strength training to matter much more as I maintain my weight loss Cardio for me now is just whatever I happen to enjoy! Sometimes it's running, sometimes a group exercise class, sometimes hiking or cross country skiing or other outdoor recreation. Weights I do because I must; cardio I do only if I'm enjoying it. <I happen to like lifting weights too so win-win>. I don't focus on my HR much while doing cardio unless I'm race training, HIIT'ing, or it's one of the rare days I'm using an elliptical and want to make sure I'm not lazing my way through the 20 minutes; that's about my limit for machine cardio.

There's nothing incorrect about getting your HR up high while doing cardio. You've been successful at losing a lot of weight, so I say keep going.

spfldpam

Thanks so much for both responses. I guess I will continue to push my heartrate up to max I can stand then when doing cardio. I just want to get the maximum bang out of my workouts!
Good luck to all!