Heart rate at the gym

bubsyh

Hi all,

I was wondering what my heart rate should be at the gym to burn the most fat. When I am running it is about 140-160 (I am very unfit) but when I do the "fat burn" option on the cross trainer/eliptical it recommends my heart rate should stay at 125. To burn the most calories should I go high or stay low?

pauline251

Hmm, my average heart rate is 165 when i'm running, although if i push myself it will go up 180 and I am reasonably fit. I am currently training for a half marathon which is in 2 weeks time. The higher your heart rate the more calories you will burn. Also interval training will burn more calories too.

leslturn8

The higher your heart rate the more calories you will burn. Also interval training will burn more calories too.

awesome i do interval training because i just cant run at 10km/ph more then a minute at a time! i die lol when running at 10km/h my heart rate is 180-ish!
The sad thing is you want to lose, u want to gain muscle the things i get told and work out for changes lol, to lose fat walk slow pace, to burm more calories run like the wind, to lose weight keep between 140-160....it's hard to stick to what you want when it keeps changing!

KitTheRoadie

I am not going to profess to know the answer to this but I can relate and say the machines in my gym say exactly the same thing...

If I want to burn fat then I have to keep my HR at around 120, but normally my average is around 140. I have heard that to burn fat you should stay low.

In answer to your question "to burn the most calories, high or low?" I would say high!

Wonderob

Hi all,

I was wondering what my heart rate should be at the gym to burn the most fat. When I am running it is about 140-160 (I am very unfit) but when I do the "fat burn" option on the cross trainer/eliptical it recommends my heart rate should stay at 125. To burn the most calories should I go high or stay low?

Loads of info on here about heart rate and fat burning zone but in summary:

Fat burn zone (125 in your case) = higher percentage of fat burnt relative to glycogen
Higher intensity (140-160 in your case) = higher overall fat burnt but lower percentage relative to glycogen

johncole90

A fat burning zone is just that, a heart rate zone where the calories burned will be mostly fat. Higher intensity will tap into your muscle if done for a longer period.

whitefang66

can i suggest something that has worked well for me to keep the weight loss rate steady at around 3-4lbs a week? i workout 6 out of 7 days, but i find the key to a) not getting bored and b) keeping the weight loss going is variation. let me explain.. i work on a 1 day of cardio and 1 day of cardio and weights routine, for 6 days in a row generally. when i do cardio i try and do 15 minutes of each elliptical (cross) trainer, then rowing, cycling and walking/jogging on treadmill. on the days i do cardio only, i do 2 circuits, amounting to 1 hour for each circuit with 30-60 seconds between each. and i try and do them in a different order each day. on the day i do weights, i do one circuit of cardio machines, and then each of the weight machines, again, varying the order i do them in, i am still losing weight at a rate of 3-4 lbs a week

whitefang66

incidentally, i am burning calories at a rate 0f 500-550 an hour on cardio, and 250 an hour on weights

madmickie

Read this http://www.brianmac.co.uk/fatburn.htm

bubsyh

Thank you evegryone