Ideal Heart Rate

HIIT (high intensity interval training) is a great way to burn calories and increase cardiovascular production. This would be getting your heart rate to 90% of it's maximum then recovering and doing it again.

Your maximum heart rate is 220 - your age.

Now, ACE (American Counsel on Exercise) just released in their personal training magazine an article that HIIT can be counterproductive if you don't give yourself 48 hour recovery time. With your HR that high, you're relying on more muscle to fuel your cardio activity so without proper recovery, you're going to break down the muscle tissue.

That doesn't mean you can't do LSS (long steady state) when in recovery of HIIT.

My LSS workouts I like to stay at around 70% of my maximum.

Think of it as like training for a marathon. Your long steady training runs you want to be a slower pace (if you're running at more than 60-70% of your heart rate, then lactic acid can build up).

Then you do intervals to increase your speed!! (HIIT).

Long, slow runs, easy or recovery runs
Training in this zone improves the ability of your heart to pump blood and improve the muscles’ ability to utilize oxygen. The body becomes more efficient at feeding the working muscles, and learns to metabolise fat as a source of fuel.
60-70% 139 – 152

Aerobic zone or "target heart rate zone"
Most effective for overall cardiovascular fitness. Increases your cardio-respitory capacity: that is, the your ability to transport oxygenated blood to the muscle cells and carbon dioxide away from the cells. Also effective for increasing overall muscle strength.
70-80% 152 – 166

Anaerobic zone
The point at which the body cannot remove lactic acid as quickly as it is produced is called the lactate threshold or anaerobic threshold. It generally occurs at about 80-88% of the Heart Rate Reserve. Training in this zone helps to increase the lactate threshold, which improves performance. Training in this zone is hard: your muscles are tired, your breathing is heavy.
80-90% 166 – 179

VO2 max
"Red line zone"
You should only train in this zone if you re very fit, and only for very short periods of time. Lactic acid develops quickly as you are operating in oxygen debt to the muscles The value of training in this zone is you can increase your fast twitch muscle fibers which increase speed.
90-100% 179 – 192

http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/heart-rate-calculators/hrzone

I apply this to my every day cardio whether I'm running or any other type of cardio exercise.

I have completed a marathon & half marathon too and this was my savior.

Yep. You can still do recovery cardio the day after HIIT. I pare my HIIT with core. The next day in my cycle is rest then back to upper followed by legs. I get 4 LSS and 2 HIIT

brianpperkins wrote: »

220-age is a woefully inaccurate estimate of max HR. The "fat burning zone" does exist ... but it is a HR range where a greater percentage of the calories used comes from fat than from other sources while higher intensity burns both more total calories, and more fat, than exercise in that zone.

This.
Heart rate zone training for the purpose of fat loss is pointless.

bos10fit wrote: »

brianpperkins wrote: »

220-age is a woefully inaccurate estimate of max HR. The "fat burning zone" does exist ... but it is a HR range where a greater percentage of the calories used comes from fat than from other sources while higher intensity burns both more total calories, and more fat, than exercise in that zone.

Oh geez. Where are your sources?

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-fitness/2009/03/03/the-fat-burning-zone-a-fitness-myth-debunked

AND how do you measure max HR?

Find your resting heart rate as soon as you wake up. Do this by counting your pulse for one minute while still in bed. Average your heart rate over three mornings to obtain your average resting heart rate (RHR). Add the three readings together and divide by three to get the RHR. For example, (62 + 65 + 63) / 3 = 63

YES... but in theory, 220 - Age gives a great guideline

Your own article supports what he said
"Explanation: Many aerobic exercise programs and videos feature low-intensity workouts purporting to maximize fat burning. The argument is that low-intensity aerobic training will allow your body to use more fat as an energy source, thereby accelerating the loss of body fat. While it is true that a higher proportion of calories burned during low-intensity exercise come from fat (about 60 percent as opposed to approximately 35 percent from high-intensity programs), high-intensity exercise still burns more calories from fat in the final analysis."

brianpperkins wrote: »

bos10fit wrote: »

brianpperkins wrote: »

220-age is a woefully inaccurate estimate of max HR. The "fat burning zone" does exist ... but it is a HR range where a greater percentage of the calories used comes from fat than from other sources while higher intensity burns both more total calories, and more fat, than exercise in that zone.

Oh geez. Where are your sources?

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-fitness/2009/03/03/the-fat-burning-zone-a-fitness-myth-debunked

AND how do you measure max HR?

YES there is a formula. YES it is complicated.

YES... but in theory, 220 - Age gives a great guideline

If you think math is complicated, I'm glad you're not a trainer I'd work with.

No, I don't think math is complicated but other people might perhaps.

If I thought math was complicated, would I be able to pass the MATH part and FORMULA MEMORIZATION of the ACE certification?

My goal here is to NOT get anyone confused!

If you asked 3/4 of the people on here to calculate their BMR would they understand that by a formula? No.

brianpperkins wrote: »

220-age is a woefully inaccurate estimate of max HR.

This++. Not the "Fat burning zone", but this.