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Question: There seems to be so much conflicting information out there about the optimal heart rate for burning the most fat and calories. Can you please clarify what I should be aiming for with my heart rate during workouts?
Answer: I'm going to preface my response by first stating that my preference is to perform aerobic exercise and strength training on different days. The reason being that mid to high intensity cardio activity will cut in to muscle glycogen stores and hamper your strength training workout.
With that said, to explore this question we need a brief primer on aerobic and anaerobic exercise:
Aerobic exercise - exercises performed at low to moderate intensities for long durations (jogging, a leisurely bike ride) get their energy predominantly from oxygen dependent energy pathways.
Anaerobic exercise - exercises performed at higher intensity for shorter duration (sprinting, weight lifting) get there energy predominantly from non-oxygen dependent pathways.
I speak often about high intensity interval training (HIIT). HIIT is done by alternating brief periods of high intensity work (85% or more) with a brief recovery period. HIIT is an example of an anaerobic exercise, which means that an inadequate amount of oxygen is being delivered to working muscles during the course of the exercise.
When inadequate oxygen is available lactic acid is produced. Lactic acid is what give you that burning feeling during a workout. It leads to muscle fatigue and must be burned up by the body during a recovery period before another anaerobic bout of exercise can be performed. This recovery period also allows the muscles to use oxygen to replenish the energy used during HIIT.
Conversely, aerobic or "steady-state" exercise uses oxygen at a constant rate with no accumulation of lactic acid.
Here is why there is a good deal of confusion in regards to which modality is best for weight and fat loss ...
More calories are burned during aerobic exercise than anaerobic exercise. The benefit of anaerobic exercise is in excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).
While both anaerobic and aerobic exercise burn calories and create some EPOC effect, studies indicate that EPOC increases dramatically with intensity thus making anaerobic exercise a more effective means for fat loss. You can see this represented in the chart below:
Now, watch as I back track on much of what I have preached over the past year.
What is unclear from these research studies is the effect that the thermic effect of food (TEF) has on overall calorie burn, when comparing aerobic to anaerobic activity.
Obviously we are going to eat at some point following a workout, and we know that TEF on a whole comprises approximately 10% of overall energy balance. This would lead me to believe that the benefit of EPOC may be less than what has been reported in many of these studies.
My recommendation is to stop worrying about optimal heart rate. The fact of the matter is that the concept of training within a target heart rate zone for those of us who are not professional athletes is highly over-simplified.
Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not here to sell anyone a BodyBugg or heart rate monitor. Truth be told, I trained with an expensive HR monitor for years and that in and of itself had no real impact on changing my body composition.
My body composition changed when I started to eat and train in a manner which would help me obtain my goals. For me that was using Turbulence Training and modifying my diet with the help of FitDay.
Train hard; stay strong.
Peace.
Susan
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7 Responses to "Ask The Trainer"So swimming 3 times a week and weights 2wise should do the work? And I shouldn't mix them 2?
I would suggest lifting at least 3x week, assuming you're doing a full body strength routine for optimal results.
If you must do them on the same day, strength train first and swim after.
Thanks for the kind post on my blog! I really appreciate the support. I love HIIT. I started doing it about one year ago and it made a big difference in my fat loss. I also loves that it gets me in and out of the gym on cardio days.
You're very welcome Pamela! CFB readers, you should definitely check out Pamela's blog at -
www.ThrivePersonalFitness.com
Hi Susan,
While agreeing with much of what you said, I think that it is worthwhile to think about using a heart rate monitor for a number of things - particularly when doing HIIT.
1) Are you working hard enough?
I was very surprised at the difference in heart rate when I trained at the same perceived intensity on a bike versus running versus an elliptical trainer. Also, when doing anything other than running, it takes a while for my heart rate to get up to anything which you'd call 'intense'. It's useful (to me) to see it continuing to climb, so I know that I'm being time-efficient in my workouts, and I get to high intensity within a reasonably short period of time (10 mins or so)
2) Secondly, when in the 'recovery' phase of intervals, it can be useful to know that your heart rate has dropped back to something in the 120-130 range, so you're recovered enough to go for your next push (with no excuses!)
3) Thirdly, when running a 5k, I have found that if I keep my heart rate in the low 170s, then I can run the whole thing - anything higher than that and I'll have to take a walk break. The difference between 173 and 177 is small, and I can't tell the difference until it's too late and I have to slow down. A heart rate monitor gives me the chance to back off just a little so I don't have to stop and walk.
Hope this is helpful to your readers.
The Fat Runner, you bring up a very good good point in regards to training for an event like a 5k.
I want to be clear that I'm not anti-HR monitor and every now and then I'll put on my Polar to monitor a particular workout.
With that said, for those who are not training for a particular sporting event (5k, marathon, triathlon), I find HRM's over-rated when the focus is simply/weight fat loss.
I realize that this comment (any my posting in general) may not be very popular, but based on my personal experience (my own and of people I've trained), you can run HIIT sans a monitor and hit 75 - 85% of your max heart rate (and know when you've recovered) w/o having a monitor telling you you've hit that number.
As for elliptical's (and bikes, for that matter), I find them poor in general for HIIT training for a myriad of reasons, so I'm not surprised to hear your comments in regards to that.
I don't seem to agree with some things that you said but thanks, it answered some of my questions about it. I love swimming and that's what i always do as my exercise. I'm asthamtic that is why i chose swimming.
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