60-65% heart rate for Burning fat. T or F?

[matt_marozick]

So there seems to be a pretty consistent(magazines, BB.com articles) idea that 60 to 65% of max heart rate is best for burning fat. true or false?

second question. Are the treadmills/ ellipticals that read your heart rate accurate? waht is their method? Do they just base it off your age, weight and what speed/incline you're using? If you're much more or less athletic than average, than I would assume this to be less accurate.

[ejthomp]

The max heart rate for burning fat is kind of true.... If you plan to do cardio for over an hour and don't want to risk burning muscle, then you may want to keep your heart rate in that range...key word "may"

The information is abused though. If you are doing cardio at that intensity, you aren't burning many calories so you'd better be giving it an hour and you'd better have your diet under control or you're likely to be going backwards.

Many would argue that you are better off giving your cardio an all-out effort for 15 minutes. You'll burn just as many calories in 1/4 the time and have a greater impact on your metabolism. If you keep the all-out effort short, you wont' burn muscle.

But for many people giving 100% effort for 15 minutes is more difficult than giving an hour of low intensity.

Are the heart rate monitors on the treadmills accurate? Generally..yes..they tell you your heart rate when they work. Buy yourself a chest strap monitor and use that. It is much better. The calorie counters are bogus though..... Don't trust them at all. And you're right..they make a lot of assumptions in regards to your individual condition so the odds are that they are way off.

Also, the heart rate zone they give is an approximation and usually very conservative as they don't want to be accused of pushing some fat slob into cardiac arrest. The only way to find out your maximum heart rate is to do a maximum heart rate test...... Do the 100% all-out cardio effort for 15 minutes and take your pulse just as you finish. If you push yourself hard.... you should be approaching YOUR max heart rate. Then base your exercise exertion level off that.

[jay24k]

They read your heart rate when you grab the handles by testing the electrical impulses. I would say most are accurate. You can always buy a watch to do it or just test it yourself over 10 seconds.

As far as burning fat, there are many different views out there. I tend to just bust my butt doing it for no more then 30 min and see results.

[matt_marozick]

The max heart rate for burning fat is kind of true.... If you plan to do cardio for over an hour and don't want to risk burning muscle, then you may want to keep your heart rate in that range...key word "may"

The information is abused though. If you are doing cardio at that intensity, you aren't burning many calories so you'd better be giving it an hour and you'd better have your diet under control or you're likely to be going backwards.

Many would argue that you are better off giving your cardio an all-out effort for 15 minutes. You'll burn just as many calories in 1/4 the time and have a greater impact on your metabolism. If you keep the all-out effort short, you wont' burn muscle.

But for many people giving 100% effort for 15 minutes is more difficult than giving an hour of low intensity.

Are the heart rate monitors on the treadmills accurate? Generally..yes..they tell you your heart rate when they work. Buy yourself a chest strap monitor and use that. It is much better. The calorie counters are bogus though..... Don't trust them at all. And you're right..they make a lot of assumptions in regards to your individual condition so the odds are that they are way off.

Also, the heart rate zone they give is an approximation and usually very conservative as they don't want to be accused of pushing some fat slob into cardiac arrest. The only way to find out your maximum heart rate is to do a maximum heart rate test...... Do the 100% all-out cardio effort for 15 minutes and take your pulse just as you finish. If you push yourself hard.... you should be approaching YOUR max heart rate. Then base your exercise exertion level off that.

Thanks bro. I think ill stick to some HIIT 2 times a week and 2 slow cardio a week. (cardio is done 4 times a week in my workout) this way I wont be bias and get the benefits of both hopefully.

[scoresman]

Think of it like this..... There is no way you will be able to do cardio for 1 hour at 90+ MHR so in a sense the fat burning zone is true. 60-80% is the sweet spot for doing cardio over 30 minutes and getting the most bang for your buck (far as fat burning goes).

[xAlphax]

The 60%+/- 10 looks like a good starting point if your goal is fat loss (adjust accordingly to your results/preference), as for the truth to the fat burning zones, I'll put these two up as an ex. and you make of it what it's worth.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/72/2/558S

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_threshold

Yeah the wiki seems simple but that's not the point here.