does a high heart rate burn muscle?

[jagadzie]

why do all the cardio machines say "fat burning heart rate" is low, 120-130ish (?) ... am i wasting away my muscle when i do < 30 minutes of high heart rate cardio once or twice a week?

my heart rate is usually vacillating between 150-170 for 20-30 minutes when i attempt some cardio on non weight training days. is this counteractive to my goal of gaining muscle??

[Echo814]

I have often wondered this myself since I have underactive arenal glands and my heart rate sores to 140 after only five minutes and stays 160-170 bpm. I hope someone can shed some light on this. I never go by the low heart rate thing on the machines though.

[lynnde43]

We have five heart zones:

Zone 1: Healthy Heart Zone. 50-60% of your maximum heart rate (low intensity) burns high percentage of fat, but low calories. Good for beginners.

Zone 2: Temperate Zone. 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. Burns higher percentage of fat and more calories than zone 1.

Zone 3: Aerobic Zone. 70-80% of your maximum heart rate. Best rate to get fit. More calorie and glucose burning. you're burning more calories and fat in this zone.

Zone 4: Threshold Zone. 80-90% of maximum heart rate. Builds fitness and performance. Make sure to take rest days

Zone 5: The Performance Zone "redline". 90-100% maximum hear trate Great for interval training. Stay away from this zone.

To figure out what zone you should be working in, subtract your age from 220 and then multiply that number by the percentage of the zone you want to be working in.

Everyone should be doing cardio to increase their VO2 max (maximum oxygen intake) Cardio=healthy heart and healthy lungs.

Book: Everything Total Fitness by Ellen Karpay, one of the best investments I ever made.

[lynnde43]

And contrary to popular belief, you are not wasting away muscle when you do cardio. Cardio will help strengthn your lungs and heart, so you can push through those strentgth training sessions, so you should aim for at least 3-4 cardio sessions a week for at least 30 minutes.

[gobbles23]

^^Unless you are totally depleted of muscle glycogen, and do really intense cardio...Then you will risk losing muscle.

[summertown74]

This^. It's all about fuel. That's why its a good idea to push the carbs before/after workouts esp. hard efforts.

[juliacheh]

I am running at 155 bpm and haven't noticed any muscle loss, my strength is the same on most lifts and has increased on some lifts.

[jagadzie]

Thanks for the replies and clarificaton, it helps! So as long as I am not totally out of energy and don't feel completely depleted, cardio post weights will be fine. I read somewhere to have my pwo shake in between weights + cardio too.

[carbonelle]

We have five heart zones:

Zone 1: Healthy Heart Zone. 50-60% of your maximum heart rate (low intensity) burns high percentage of fat, but low calories. Good for beginners.

Zone 2: Temperate Zone. 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. Burns higher percentage of fat and more calories than zone 1.

Zone 3: Aerobic Zone. 70-80% of your maximum heart rate. Best rate to get fit. More calorie and glucose burning. you're burning more calories and fat in this zone.

Zone 4: Threshold Zone. 80-90% of maximum heart rate. Builds fitness and performance. Make sure to take rest days

Zone 5: The Performance Zone "redline". 90-100% maximum hear trate Great for interval training. Stay away from this zone.

To figure out what zone you should be working in, subtract your age from 220 and then multiply that number by the percentage of the zone you want to be working in.

Everyone should be doing cardio to increase their VO2 max (maximum oxygen intake) Cardio=healthy heart and healthy lungs.

Book: Everything Total Fitness by Ellen Karpay, one of the best investments I ever made.

Actually a better equation is:
Male: (220-age-resting heart rate) x % (you want to work in) + resting heart rate
Female: (226- Age-resting heart rate) X % + resting heart rate

However, this equation doesn't work for everyone either. Another way is to use perceived exertion (ie: 8/10 would be 80% of heart rate) and use the equation to work backwards to figure out heart rate training zones. This way is often better for those individuals that have a good idea of how hard they are training.

Remember, it's good to get a bit of everything in your workouts (HIIT, LISS, etc..)and to keep challenging yourself.

[justass]

Cardio will help strengthn your lungs and heart, so you can push through those strentgth training sessions, so you should aim for at least 3-4 cardio sessions a week for at least 30 minutes.

I push through my strength training sessions just fine with no cardio. I also have a larger stroke volume and higher VO2 max than many endurance athletes due to years of high intensity weight, power and sports training.

While it is true that cardio does strengthen your heart and lungs, there are other ways to skin a cat (so to speak). Cardio it is not definitely not necessary 3-4 times per week for at least 30 minutes unless you're training to run for distance or something.