Kervonen Formula and anaerobic exercise

angbieb

I just heard about this today and I can't believe I've never heard of it before! So I did the formulas and found out my max heart rate is 179...so what heart rate is best for burning fat? And if you know more about this could you explain in to me please!?

Thanks!!

angbieb

Sorry I mean Karvonen.

angbieb

That's okay..no one knows...lol.:noway:

Johanne1957

I have a Polar Heart Monitor and it tests for Max & Low HR. The indication was that to burn max fat% on a workout, to workout at the lower end of the range. When I do that, I can burn up to 65% of fat calories...I am not sure how you would calculate the range but if you know your high, do you know your low?

scottb81

If you are using the Karvonen formula (Heart Rate Reserve), then you want to run in the recovery zone below to maximize both fitness and fat burning. That is below 70% heart rate reserve. That and the other zones listed below are from Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger. Note that the zones overlap for some of the training types.

Recovery 50-70%
General Aerobic 62-75%
Long 65-78%
Medium Long 65-78%
Marathon Pace 73-84%
Lactate Threshold 77-88%
VO2max (5k pace) 91-94%

angbieb

I'm confused by this..a trainer at the gym today put some numbers in...I told her I did my resting heart rate last night and it was 81 and she said that it was probably high at night so she went with 65? So she figure at my high end I should be going for 155 anything over that is bad...well every time I work out my HR ranges anywhere from 163-180! Either her figuring is way off...or I'm doing it all wrong!

scottb81

More info.

Training right at or below the top of the recovery zone will benefit you as follows. That is right around the point where your body is burning 50% fat and 50% carbohydrates for fuel. By doing extensive training at this point your body will be able to go faster and longer with increase reliance on fat as a fuel and decreased reliance on carbohydrate. This is important because while your carbohydrate stores are limited to between 60 and 120 minutes of hard running your fat stores, even if you have low bodyfat, are virtually unlimited, at least in respect to how long one wants to continuously exercise.

The way this works is that by training at the correct intensity your body makes specific physiological adaptations to allow it to transport greater amounts of oxygen to the working muscles. Fat requires oxygen to be converted into energy so the greater your capacity to transport oxygen the faster you can run while still relying predominently on fat for fuel. These physiological adaptations include increased numbers of capillaries surrounding the working muscle fibers, Increased numbers and sizes of mitocondria in the muscle cells, and increased amounts of aerobic enzymes in the muscles. These adaptaions take time to develop but will continue to develop for at least 7 years in an athlete with a high training load and probably for much longer in a person with a more modest training load.

Additionally, by training your muscles in this way you will burn increased amounts of fat throughout the day during normal activities according to several sources I have read.

This is not to say that you should only train at this intensity and never train harder. However, around 80% of your weekly training volume should be here and 20% or less at harder intensities if you are interested in maximal aerobic fitness.

scottb81

I'm confused by this..a trainer at the gym today put some numbers in...I told her I did my resting heart rate last night and it was 81 and she said that it was probably high at night so she went with 65? So she figure at my high end I should be going for 155 anything over that is bad...well every time I work out my HR ranges anywhere from 163-180! Either her figuring is way off...or I'm doing it all wrong!

Take your resting heartrate right after you wake up before you get out of bed. Your trainer is out of line by plucking a number out of the air.

angbieb

I'm confused by this..a trainer at the gym today put some numbers in...I told her I did my resting heart rate last night and it was 81 and she said that it was probably high at night so she went with 65? So she figure at my high end I should be going for 155 anything over that is bad...well every time I work out my HR ranges anywhere from 163-180! Either her figuring is way off...or I'm doing it all wrong!

Take your resting heartrate right after you wake up before you get out of bed. Your trainer is out of line by plucking a number out of the air.

Thank you so much Scott! You are brilliant! I appreciate all the advice you've given me..it will help me out tremendously! :smooched: