Elliptical settings - "fat burn" vs. "cardio"

Rav_

Hey guys,

Any input on how heart rate and high/low intensity play into calories burned on an elliptical? The machine says my target heart rate for fat burning is around 130 bpm (with "low intensity"), but I shoot past that pretty easily and am usually going at 160-170 bpm, which ends up falling under "high intensity".

If i'm trying to lose weight, is getting a serious workout (sweating hard, heart pounding) rather than going slow not a good idea? Either way, I can only go for about 40 minutes, and figured it would be better to go hard on the machine and burn more calories in the same amount of time..

Thanks!
Rav

sheilashelly1

go hard. If you're trying to lose the calories it's really not about what intensity zone you're in, but rather about how many calories you burn because it takes 3500 burned calories to lose 1lb. For example, if you work out for 20 mins at a low intensity you might burn 100 calories, but if you work out at a high intensity for the same about of time you could burn 200 calories. Thus it would be a much better use of your time to work at a higher intensity.

Azdak

I would not recommend using either one of those programs. Interactive heart rate programs cannot distinguish between increased heart rate due to increased exertion and increased heart rate due to cardiovascular drift. So if you are on a hear rate interactive program, as you get farther into the workout and heart rate naturally starts to drift upward, the machine will reduce your workload. The net result is fewer calories burned and an inferior training stimulus.

Plus, the machine push everyone into the same generic heart rate ranges (and the targets they choose are very inaccurate). So if you don't know enough to override the target heart rate with your own data, you could end up at an intensity that is completely wrong for you. Heart rate interactive programs were a good idea, but poorly executed. I always recommend that my clients avoid them.

As far as choosing intensities, you should follow a balanced program that includes longer, easier, endurance workouts, medium-intensity tempo workouts and high-intensity interval workouts

grinch031

If you want more bang for your buck, do the highest intensity cardio you can physically tolerate without injuring yourself. If you're new to this, take a conservative approach to building up your endurance, but don't ever think that the 'fat burn' zone is going to burn more fat than the 'cardio' zone, because in the end it won't make a difference.

Azdak

If all you do is high intensity, you will end up doing a lot of crappy workouts.

Salpica

Low intensity workouts help burn calories over a long period of time. They are the type of workouts you can do for a longer period of time.

High intensity workouts help you burn fat. You do not want to do long workouts like this because you will start burning muscle instead of fat.

Try keeping the workout low intensity and towards the end of your workout pick it up and finish strong.

Most people who lose a lot of weight doing cardio generally lose a lot of muscle mass as well due to this.

Azdak

Low intensity workouts help burn calories over a long period of time. They are the type of workouts you can do for a longer period of time.

High intensity workouts help you burn fat. You do not want to do long workouts like this because you will start burning muscle instead of fat.

Try keeping the workout low intensity and towards the end of your workout pick it up and finish strong.

Most people who lose a lot of weight doing cardio generally lose a lot of muscle mass as well due to this.

We run a 12 week medical weight loss program at our hospital fitness center. In 2 years, we have seen almost 200 people. Because of the ages and physical condition of most of our clients, the cardio exercise part of the program consists almost entirely of endurance cardio (they do strength training as well, again, most of it in the 12-20 RM range). Average weight loss in 12 weeks is about 20 pounds. In most cases, it is all fat.

The physiology of someone starting a weight loss/exercise program is entirely different from someone who is close to their ideal weight. For beginners, almost all fat loss is due to maintaining a calorie deficit. Exercise contributes by helping burn an aggregate number of calories (contributes to the deficit) and conserving lean mass (esp resistance training). Exercise does not really "burn fat" nor does it "burn muscle".

Rav_

Thanks for the responses! I definitely need to watch my calorie intake more, rather than worry about how hard I'm going on the cardio machines. :P