Re: Training intensity - Fat burn 65% of max heart rate ???

In article <5knmsgF4mc48U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Steve Freides" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<BertieBigBollox@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1189516863.998012.217870@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On the cross-trainer machines I use its got Fat Burn listed as 65% of
max heart rate with Cardio as 80% of max heart rate. Also listed that
65% for my age is about 130bpm.

Question is :- Is this really the best rate to exercise at to burn
fat?

Why isnt a higher heart rate better? If I'm exercising at a higher
rate am I burning less fat then?

The thing is thats a pretty low heart rate - when I try to stick to
this it leaves the machine on the lowest setting and is always telling
me to slow down...

To the best of my knowledge, the good thing about exercising at lower
intensity for cardio and fat-burning purposes is pretty simple - you can
keep it up for longer, and if you can keep it up for longer, you burn
more calories and/or you get more cardio exercise.

Exercising at 130 bpm wouldn't feel like much exercise to me - go for
the higher percentage most of the time.

Keep in mind that variety is good, so perhaps one day per week at 65-70%
and another at more than 80% could work well for you.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com



I agree generally with Steve. Intensity as measured by heart rate isn't
much good for arriving at optimal fat-burning. Lactate threshold and VO2
max are far more important indicators. Some marketing genius decided to
approximate these with HR because it is easily measured. And then they
applied research meant for other measure of intensity to HR. Good
marketing - crappy science.

THe reality is that unless you are a highly adapted endurance athlete
you will be unable to sustain the necessary intensity for a period of
time required. So forget about percentage of heart rate for fat burning
and work at a variety of intensities and incorporate intervals into your
training. The average person can get the intensity high enough during an
interval of 20-90 seconds. And that is what works best in the real world
for most people.

Most people I see who are trying to get into the fat burning mode are
fat. And they stay that way, because they cannot possibly sustain the
energetics required. So follow Steve's advice.

Which, to pick a nit, you don't necessarily burn more calories with
lower intensity exercise sustained longer. It depends. Doing higher
intensity exercise means burning more calories per unit of time. So is
the sustained activity at lower intensity long enough to make up for the
lesser intensity? Not necessarily.

--
Keith
.

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