If you took a poll of why most people work out on cardio equipment, 90% or more will tell you they want to lose weight or tone up (which you have to lose fat to tone up). So out of those people how many to you think heart rate train? Not many, some know what their heart rate is, but don't know where it should really be. So that is not helping them achieve their fat loss goal in the most efficient way possible. If I asked you if you wanted to lose 400 fat calories out of 600 calories burned in an hour workout verses losing only 150 fat calories out of 800 total calories burned in an hour; which would you choose?! Hands down you would pick 400! Well then why aren't people doing this during their workouts? It is because they do not heart rate train. All your top athlete's heart rate train and that is because they work with exercise physiologists which know how to get them to reach their top potential in the shortest amount of time possible.
You are probably asking yourself what is heart rate training? Well it is simply using your heart rate zones to monitor your workout. Your body has 5 heart rate zones. I will describe them later on. In order to heart rate train you first need a heart rate monitor. For a good basic one you will pay between $40-150. You can expect to pay up to $400+ for more advanced heart rate monitors that are used for performance training such as triathlons or marathons. But for the general population we don't need anything too fancy. 2nd you need to find out where your heart rate should be. The heart rate charts you see on the exercise equipment are not correct most of the time (example 220-your age). As a fitness professional I can tell you that the chart is obsolete and needs to be improved. Instead you need to find your Anaerobic Threshold (the point in which your body stops burning fat and starts burning glucose). This is extremely important if you are trying to lose body fat, because you could be training too hard. Just because the treadmill says you burned 800 calories doesn't mean you burned 800 fat calories. Let me get one thing straight you can't burn just fat calories your body burns glucose also, but you can train to where you are burning the most amount of fat calories possible in that time frame.
This best and most accurate way to test your heart rate is by getting a Vo2 max test done. This can cost around $100-250. For zero cost I can get you close to your actually anaerobic threshold hold using a formula or a self perceived test. The formula is as follows: 180-your age. Take that number and add 10 if you exercise 4+ times a week for the last few years, the number stays the same if you exercise 2-3 times a week for the past year, and you subtract 10 if you have not been exercising. For the self perceived test: Hop on a treadmill and warm up for 3-5 minutes then go up to a comfortable speed for 5 more minutes then go up in speed every minute until you reach the point of heavy breathing. At this point make note of what your heart rate is and this is your Anaerobic Threshold. As I mentioned earlier you have 5 heart rate zones.
Zone 1= Warm-up/Easy
Zone 2= Aerobic Development/Medium
Zone 3= Aerobic Development/Hard (the top of this zone is your Anaerobic Threshold)
Zone 4= Anaerobic Endurance/ Very hard
Zone 5= Speed & Power/Extremely Hard (You can usually only stay in this zone for 30sec-1min at a time)
Example of Zone chart is as follows:
Zone 5 |
Peak
132 |
Peak
138 |
Peak
143 |
Peak
149 |
Peak
154 |
Peak
160 |
Peak
165 |
Peak
171 |
Peak
176 |
Peak
182 |
Peak
187 |
Peak
193 |
Peak
198 |
Peak
204 |
Peak
209 |
Zone 4 |
132
120 |
138
125 |
143
130 |
149
135 |
154
140 |
160
145 |
165
150 |
171
155 |
176
160 |
182
165 |
187
170 |
193
175 |
198
180 |
204
185 |
209
190 |
Anaerobic
Threshold |
120
---- |
125
---- |
130
---- |
135
--- |
140
---- |
145
--- |
150
---- |
155
---- |
160
---- |
165
---- |
170
---- |
175
---- |
180
---- |
185
---- |
190
--- |
Zone 3 |
120
108 |
125
113 |
130
117 |
135
122 |
140
126 |
145
131 |
150
135 |
155
140 |
160
144 |
165
149 |
170
153 |
175
158 |
180
162 |
185
167 |
190
171 |
Zone 2 |
108
84 |
113
88 |
117
91 |
122
95 |
126
98 |
131
102 |
135
105 |
140
109 |
144
112 |
149
116 |
153
119 |
158
123 |
162
126 |
167
130 |
171
133 |
Zone 1 |
84
72 |
88
75 |
91
78 |
95
81 |
98
84 |
102
87 |
105
90 |
109
93 |
112
96 |
116
99 |
119
102 |
123
105 |
126
108 |
130
111 |
133
114 |
* Lifetime fitness reserves rights to this table
Also the more cardiovascularly fit you get the higher your anaerobic threshold gets. So I would recommend testing your Anaerobic Threshold every 6-8 weeks. To burn the largest amount of fat calories, work out in zones 2-3 for the majority of your work outs. To move your Anaerobic Threshold up and improve cardiovascular endurance train in zones 4-5 once or twice a week. If you train in zones 4-5 more that twice a week I would recommend taking a rest day or an active rest day which means working out in zones 1-2. Now that you have the tools to work out more effectively lets get moving!
By: Kristy Donathan
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