Heart rate-anaerobic zone?

browncm2

My hr monitor's battery is dead right now but everytime that I did most of my cardio workouts, running on the treadmill or outside specifically, I was always over the weight-loss zone and in the anaerobic (?) zone. Is this something I should worry about? For a long time, I never used a heartrate monitor or checked it on the treadmill but when I did several months after beginning a regular workout routine, I started realizing that I workout over my target zone. Any comments are welcome. Thanks.

mhig011975

you should try to stay in your target zone, if you are too high, you should do you best to come down, you are right it's not a good thing, if you are under your target zone, you need to find ways to get into your zone. When you are in your zone, you are burning calories efficiently.

bcattoes

I think it depends on what shape you are in. HRM are much more accurate for fit people than for those trying to get fit. If you have a lot of weight to lose you could be getting false readings.

ShaeDetermined

anaerobic by definition means "without oxygen"

the reason why anaerobic exercise is not recommended is because it causes lactic acid build-up which causes muscle fatigue, which means you cannot sustain the activity for an extended time.

incorporate anaerobic activity into your workout by means of interval training to increase speed, lactate threshold, and overall aerobic abilities.

edit: the "weight loss zone" in your HRM is set to the aerobic rate. (but i dont much subscribe to the "weight loss" or "fat burning" zones.)

helenium

Don't worry about it. Being in the higher heart rates improves your fitness. Although you may burn more calories from fat (expressed as a %) when you're at a lower heart rate (typically called the 'fat burning zone' or 'weight loss zone'), you burn significantly more calories at higher heart rates for a given length of time and even though the % fat calories is lower, it translates to more fat in total.

e.g. 60 mins of low heart rate exercise (burns 40% fat) - 200 calories total = 80 calories from fat.
e.g. 60 mins of high heart rate exercise (burns 20% fat) - 600 calories total = 120 calories from fat.

Going for the second option not only burns more calories directly from fat, but also improves your cardiovascular fitness.

When logging the calorie burn, don't go for the fat-only calories, log the entire thing (after adjusting for sedentary burn).

P.S. in the examples, I made the numbers up. You get the idea.

P.P.S. I specifically try to exceed the fat burning zone, but usually I don't pay any attention to it.

browncm2

Thanks everybody for replying. It was a HUGE help for me and, overall, a relief:-) Good luck in reaching your goals everyone!

27strange

Don't worry about it. Being in the higher heart rates improves your fitness. Although you may burn more calories from fat (expressed as a %) when you're at a lower heart rate (typically called the 'fat burning zone' or 'weight loss zone'), you burn significantly more calories at higher heart rates for a given length of time and even though the % fat calories is lower, it translates to more fat in total.

e.g. 60 mins of low heart rate exercise (burns 40% fat) - 200 calories total = 80 calories from fat.
e.g. 60 mins of high heart rate exercise (burns 20% fat) - 600 calories total = 120 calories from fat.

Going for the second option not only burns more calories directly from fat, but also improves your cardiovascular fitness.

When logging the calorie burn, don't go for the fat-only calories, log the entire thing (after adjusting for sedentary burn).

P.S. in the examples, I made the numbers up. You get the idea.

P.P.S. I specifically try to exceed the fat burning zone, but usually I don't pay any attention to it.

Agree with this!!! Like Like