Heart Rate and Cardio

[Matty]

I've read that cardio works best for fat burning at 65% of your heartrate. True? How does one determine 65% of your heartrate?

peace.

Matty

[JimRW]

Firgure heart rate by the following formula: 220 minus your age. Then figure 65% of that number to get your "fat burning" zone number.

[Fresch]

It's not absolute, but then nothing is.

Another way is to make sure that you can still carry on a conversation...fat metabolism takes a lot of oxygen, so if you are short of breath, it ain't fat you're using up!

[Jim320]

Firgure heart rate by the following formula: 220 minus your age. Then figure 65% of that number to get your "fat burning" zone number.

What are the loss of high heart rate.I have seen in most cases it causes heart attack or heart failure.

[LostLlama]

I've read that cardio works best for fat burning at 65% of your heartrate. True? How does one determine 65% of your heartrate?

peace.

Matty

A lot of misconceptions and over-generalizations. Getting your target heart rate by using the 220 minus your age method is definitely the simplest way to get a number but it should in no way be thought of as gospel. While it will give you somewhere to start, you should really pay close attention to yourself if you are, for the first time, using this method. Also, there is considerable variance in peoples' average heart rate. I suggest taking your own heart rate when you wake up for at least 2-3 days to see what yours is.

The talk test (doing cardio while still being able to maintain a conversation) is not what I would consider an ideal workout zone if your goal is to burn the most fat. It is a good stage of effort if you want to gain general health benefits but if your goal is to lose as much fat as you can then the more intense the cardio effort is, the more fat you will lose.