Heart rate zones

Goldenwoof

Hiya everyone,

When I'm using the elliptical machine at the gym, I notice that the "Fat Burn" zone is a good bit lower than where I normally go. I'm somewhere higher in the "Aerobic" or "Conditioning" zones, or whatever they're called. For me to keep my heart rate down in the "Fat Burn" zone, I'd feel like I was hardly working out at all.

When you get into the higher heart rate zones, do you lose some of the fat-burning benefits of staying in the lower zone? It seems to me that working harder would burn more fat and calories, but is that not the case? Is keeping your heart rate in a certain zone more important than actually working harder?

Thanks very much for any input!

aviduser

I do not think so. I think that the fat burn zone simply refers to the low-intensity cardio zone where you are converting fat to glucose for fuel, instead of using your muscle and liver glycogen. You use glycogen for anaerobic bursts like sprints.

The bottom line is this: losing weight is about burning more calories than you consume. Period.

If you exercise at a higher intensity level, you will burn more calories. This will speed weight loss, assuming you keep on track with the diet. Plus, there is a hard-to-quantify "afterburn" from exercise. This is the time after a workout that your metabolism is elevated. It will be elevated more after longer and higher intensity workouts.

So my advice is to ignore the fat burn zone stuff on the cardio machines. The best workouts are ones in which you vary the intensity of your cardio by either steadily increasing it or by doing intervals.

Cheers!

dannylives

I'm interested in this.

spiffmana

So my advice is to ignore the fat burn zone stuff on the cardio machines. The best workouts are ones in which you vary the intensity of your cardio by either steadily increasing it or by doing intervals.

Cheers!

This. This right here. Going harder is just even better for you. The "fat loss" zone on the cardio machines is really just to encourage those who are not yet capable of doing more. And yes, high intensity interval training is the best kind of cardio. And also the most exhausting.

solpwr

The good thing about the "fat burning zone" is that you can maintain that intensity almost indefinitely if you have some basic fitness. The other benefit to this level of intensity is that its good for the day after a Hard Day to prevent over-training.

I limited my HR to these levels when I was commuting to work 20 miles each way for multiple days in a row. I found that if I went higher, I just wasn't recovering. It made the difference.

Right now (next 5 weeks) I'm on a 5 day per week plan. Monday, 60 minutes at 70-80% of max (plus weight training). Tuesday Rest Day, Wednesday 45 minutes at 80-90% of max, Thursday 30 minutes 60-70% max (fat burning zone) and 30 minutes 70-80%, Friday weight lifting only, Saturday 60 minutes 70-80% max, Sunday 45 minutes 60-70% and 45 minutes 70-80% max. I got this from polarpersonaltrainer.com.

I do some interval work during racing season, but not so much now.