Fat burn exercise? Is zumba too intense??!!I

Fat Burn Zone = Myth
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http://www.builtlean.com/2013/04/01/fat-burning-zone-myth/
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Exercise to get fit
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800 cals, pffft, try 2500cals from cycling 44 miles a day on my commute into and from work.
However, well done on getting up and about, keep going!
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I'm not a fitness guru, but when you say "burning fat vs. carbohydrates," all I can say is that you're burning calories, not a specific type of calorie. If you have love handles, it just mans that's where your fat is more noticeable or being stored. It simply means that you have not reached the point where you've burned that fat off.

I do Zumba 3 times a week and I love it. I was doing it 4 times a week, but I've now replaced my hour of home Zumba workout with 3-4 half hours (per week) of strength training. From everything I've read and seen, to optimize your weight loss and to really get your body in shape, you should include some strength training in your regime. One piece of evidence I've seen is that my Zumba teacher teaches at least 6 times per week. She is middle aged and in really good shape, however, she still has some flabbiness (I notice especially in her upper arms), and that is something I'd like to not have. I've also seen pictures on this site where women have shown impressive before and after photos demonstrating cardio alone versus lifting or cardio and lifting. I'm almost 40, and I really liked starting with Zumba because I was very sedentary before, and I felt like Zumba really whipped my heart and lungs into shape and gave me a lot more stamina in a relatively short amount of time. This certainly has been helpful now that I've started strength conditioning.

Intensity doesnt matter... it's calories. There is no such things as "fat burn zone"...

Some people burn 500 cals by 1h of slow walking cos it's very intense for them and some barely burns 300 clas by 1h of running. So just stick to what works for you, if you burn 500 cals from Zumba then it's good for weight loss.

As for burning 500 cals with low intensity vs 500 cals with high intensity... it's still 500 cals, therefore same results. Like I said, it's your preferance.

If you are in caloric surplus you will gain, if you are at maintenace you will maintain and if you are in deficit you will lose weight. Cardio is good to bring you to that deficit by burning some calories, that's all.

Cool thanks all, I hoped that would be the case but wondered why there's quite an emphasis on the "fat burn vs fitness" zone on these type of watches so thought there must be something in it.

I'm glad you burn so many on your cycle Frood but I would assume you take rather more 1 hour to burn all those and would need to eat more to make sure you don't burn out. I can feel when I hit a wall just doing zumba if I haven't eaten enough in the afternoon before the evening class.

I am 200lbs so a far weight to throw around in a Zumba class, but I think getting near 800 in one hour doing something that I really enjoy is great, though that is only when I do a particularly high impact class. My normal average is around about 550 to 650. I try to do a class at twice a week through the summer (some classes stop for the holiday period) and then combine it with an extra class and a dance class (street jazz which also includes some toning/stretching exercises like squats and sit ups and that kind of thing) when they start again in the next school year,.

I also am a photographer and help my husband who is a DJ so I'm often heaving heavy kit around (my camera and a big lens can weigh 2-3Kg) so I do get some inadvertant strength training in as well.

If there is anything I have learned from all these fasted workouts (I do big sessions without eating for 16 hours), it's that I can't rely on "feeling low on energy" as an indication of how much or how little I've eaten.

Did a fed workout today, and it was the first time in ages I felt dizzy and as if I had "hit a wall". I almost feel like eating beforehand made me feel low on energy. Just thought I'd throw that out there for you.

Well look at you, Ms. Cool career couple! :laugh:

Cool thanks all, I hoped that would be the case but wondered why there's quite an emphasis on the "fat burn vs fitness" zone on these type of watches so thought there must be something in it.

I think even if Polar did not believe in this, there's a market of people that do. So they keep those happy and the rest of us can turn off the sounds. I know I do! It kept beeping at me (everybody) during quiet classes like BodyFlow so it had to go