Fat Burning Zone

Quarrybaby

I have joined a new gym and my new trainer has told me that to be burning fat i should have my heart rate at 118 bpm. (I am 26, 5ft 2, 9 stone, trying to loose 1/2 stone)

However the staff at my previous gym reckoned that if my heart rate was not at 150-165 then i wasnt working hard enough!!!!

So my first day on my new programme yesterday and I had major problems keeping my heart rate DOWN to 118!!! I was bearly moving and bearly breaking a sweat, so I was just wondering what everyones theory on the Fat Buring Zone was!!!

Pherekydes

Have a look here and see what you think.

Canis Lupus

Is that for real..... I mean...

When I run my rate rate hovers around the 166. By the end of the run I'm knackered. I'm not particularly pushed about losing fat. It'll happen in its' own good time but as running is a fascination for me (never having been able to run far before and I want to run further and further each time) am I better to keep the HR down or belt away at 166 whilst increasing threadmill speed and gradient?

Sorry to intrude on the OP but it's along the same lines anyway.

Colm_OReilly

If you want to run get out and run, don't use a treadmill. Seriously.

As for the Fat Burning Zone, it's BS. You should train at high intensities. You heart rate is a rough correlate of intensity for most "cardiovascular" activities, so keep it high.

Canis Lupus

I do both. Cardio days I treadmill it and cycle/crosstrainer/row. I just oddly like running... I go for outside runs on weights days. But cool about the fat burning zone thingy.

rubadub

Think of the heart rate zone thing as similar to a car. A car will have an ideal cruising speed, where you get the best mile per gallons, it is at its most efficient at this speed. What you are looking at is how to be inefficient! i.e. how to burn as much fuel/calories as possible for the mileage you do.

So say your car was most inefficient at 10mph getting 10mpgallon, most efficient was 80mpgallon at 40mph, and top speed was 120mph, which gave 60mpg.

So the best way for you to waste petrol on a journey is going 10mph. in 1 hour you will have travelled 10miles and burnt 1gallon of petrol.

Most efficient would be going 40mph. In one hour you would burn 1/2gallon of petrol and travelled 40miles.

BUT going at 120mph you travel 120miles in the hour, and burn 2 gallons.

So if you want to waste the most petrol possible in one hour you travel at 120mph.

In exercise you usually do it for a fixed time (rather than fixed distance), so even though you could (possibly) burn calories more per mile going at a certain heart rate, the more intense you go means you burn more calories in the given hour.

The only time I could see somebody wanting to get into ideal fat burning zone would be if you were say running to work each day. In this case it is a fixed distance, and you might not be able to keep up and intense pace anyway. This may burn more calories over the fixed distance, yet even still the higher intensity running might be better for general fitness.

Pherekydes

rubadub wrote: »

So the best way for you to waste petrol on a journey is going 10mph. in 1 hour you will have travelled 10miles and burnt 1gallon of petrol.

Most efficient would be going 40mph. In one hour you would burn 1/2gallon of petrol and travelled 40miles.

BUT going at 120mph you travel 120miles in the hour, and burn 2 gallons.

All this is true [without quoting any doctoral theses]. However, and it is a big however, the human body:

1 Has different types of fuel

2 Will not go at 100% [based on heart rate] for 1 hour.

Quarrybaby

Well there seem to be lots of different opinions on this, and I think I am going to work out as normal, i.e. keep my heart rate up and break a sweat!!!! At least that way I will FEEL like I am doing some good!!!

cowzerp

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

If you want to run get out and run, don't use a treadmill. Seriously.

Why??
less impact on joints due to shock absorbers on the decent ones and no pot holes where you might trip and do your ligaments etc plus your in the safety of a gym and have no fear of been raaped or beaten up etc..

Colm_OReilly

On a treadmill you are not doing the work phase of running, only the recovery.

The work phase of running is from the time your foot hits the ground until it leaves. It's during this time your muscles are propelling you forward. On a treadmill, this work is carried out by the belt as it drags your foot back.

ecoli

i agree if ya a runnin enthusiast go for the real thing nothin like it and if ya worried bout HR u can buy cheap decent HR monitors

in terms of fat loss i know that everyones trainin can be divided in to 5 zones each of which is different for every person the onli way u can properly find this out is physiological assesments but i have had this done on a regular basis and to burn fat u must stay in ur zone one which is easy runnin bout 140 bpm or so should be jus under double ur restin heart rate

Colm_OReilly

What are these 5 zones you speak of?

tunney

I think the reason that "The Fat Burning Zone" is pushed on people is the fact that the recovery cost from it is negligible. Whether people should train in it, another question.

HR Zones are most commonly broken down into 5 zones with the fifth being further refined. These zones are worked out based on your Lactate threshold Heart rate not your maximum heart rate. LTHR like MHR varies from sport to sport. Each zone has its own benefits and costs and no zone is the "right" zone to train in. They are all right, just at different times of the year and for different reasons.

1 Recovery
2 Extensive Endurance
3 Intensive endurance/muscular endurance.
4 Sub-threshold.
5 Super-threshold
5b Anaerobic Endurance
5c Power

cowzerp

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

On a treadmill you are not doing the work phase of running, only the recovery.

The work phase of running is from the time your foot hits the ground until it leaves. It's during this time your muscles are propelling you forward. On a treadmill, this work is carried out by the belt as it drags your foot back.

If your training to be a runner go out and run, if you want to pump your heart rate then if the treadmill gets your heart pumping then great, i get my heart rate up to 170+ on the treadmill and thats hard for me on most any other machine..so its good for me, ps, im not a runner!!

t-ha

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

On a treadmill you are not doing the work phase of running, only the recovery.

I agree that running on a treadmill is different to running on a static surface, but I find that if I stick the incline up I can get a grand workout & there's other contributing factors as to why I mightn't go outside every time I want some exercise.