Fat Burn vs. Cardio

[Monroe]

Ok ive been doin the treadmill a lot and I keep noticing the instructions on it. It says something like, age 30 is supposed to be like 130 or something for fat burn (i dont know the exact numbers sorry, i forgot) and like 145 or 150 for cardio. Well I feel pretty comfortable goin at like 2.4 speed on it, and sometimes it goes to 150. Is that not burning fat anymore? Whats the difference in fat burn and cardio exactly?

[julirama723]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

I believe those numbers are for your heartrate? Those are based on age and weight. The most accurate way to estimate the number of calories you are burning is by using a heart rate monitor. Exercise machines give a very general (and often incorrect) reading.

If you are sweating and feel challenged, you are burning calories! However, most people try to get to a certain heartrate range to maximize fat-burning.

[BeccaBoo]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

The fat-burning zone is a myth:
http://tinyurl.com/hzspw

you can do a google search and find dozens of articles on this...

That being said, as a beginner, you don't want to go over your THR (target heart rate)...

Mayo Clinic Target Heart Rate Calculator

Once you're more advanced and get into the world of HIIT and such, then the 'rules' change a bit.

[Heavy-K]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

I'm certainly no scientist, but I did major in biological sciences in college, and I do know that if you're doing excercise that is making you sweat and "work hard" if you go up into "cardio" zone, your body is not going to quit burning fat and switch to only "cardio". So, I would say, keep doing what cha doing!

[Monroe]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

Ahh ok I see! Usually when I get on the treadmill at 2.4 I dont really break out in a sweat till like 5-10 minutes before I'm done. Should I try stepping the speed up a little bit? Im to big to be jogging and running, that would only last a matter of seconds LOL

[CoolBlackChick]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

Im to big to be jogging and running, that would only last a matter of seconds LOL

I'm learning that it is ok if it only last a matter of seconds. The important thing is that it happened.

I used to think the same thing about myself when I was 210lbs. If I had discovered this board then, I would have know that that is a myth. You just have to do it at your own pace.

I have a history of back, foot, and leg injuries, but tomorrow I will add a 4 min jog/sprint HIIT cycle to my workout.

I find the prospect of this very intimidating and my mind is already trying to talk me out of it by telling me: I'm too busy, there will be too many people on the trail, I'll do better to postpone it until X day for X reason, it's going to hurt (this is the loudest voice and what I am most afraid of due to the past). Blah, blah, blah.

If I have to get out there tomorrow and can only a walk/crawl 1 min HIIT cycle, I'm doing it! I'm beginning to feel the muscle underneath the flab and that excites me.

[Heavy-K]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

Hey let me tell ya!...I feel like I am too big to jog too. Plus, I had ACL reconstruction and the pounding on the old knees and ankles is not taken lightly. So, I opt to do the gazelle and elliptical and split my time. I WILL throw in the occasional jog/walk but if so, I at least walk 30 mins. b/c I remember hearing somewhere that the avg. person needs at least 30 mins. walking to start fat burning? I don't know!! I can jog for a while but it ends up being a joint issue for me...so, for now (until I get down my lbs.) I gazelle and elliptical it!

[Checkers]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

I have found that I lose the most fat when I stay in my low heart range. I do Leslie Sansone's walk aerobics and I don't even break a sweat. Plus I've gone from sweating for 45 minutes with more vigorous videos (closer to the top of my range) to low impact walk aerobics for 20-25 minutes and, for me, it's been way more effective at fat burning. It also leaves me enough energy to get all my anaerobic chores done around my little mini-farm. I find that from a motivation stand point I am way more likely to make time for these shorter, easier workouts than tougher, longer ones.

[AZNick]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

I do not know if the fat burning zone is a myth or not but I usually set it between 125 or 135 BPM according to my mood and once in a while I race it to over 170 but this is not something you want to do too often when you are over 35. My max is supposed to be 220 - 38 (my age) = 182, but of course this varies from people to people.

Going for a lower rate is actually better than racing it constantly - ever heard of the guy who exercized a lot, was a health freak, taught everybody life lessons and died on a tennis court at 40? I actually know (or used to know) a couple of these guys.

Basically give yourself a good workout that makes you sweat but does not exhaust you. If you feel more energized after than before, this means you gave yourself the good workout.

Exhausting yourself is only good when competing, when you want to go beyond your limits, or of course when your a teen, since you recover very fast then, but it's not a workout.

[Lyssie]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

umm.. actually, I believe that HIIT training is the most effective form for "fat burning". But, like others have said, as long as you're doing something that's raising your heartrate for a prolonged period of time, you're burning fat and raising your metabolism so you'll burn more fat throughout the day. The thing with cardio is that it's supposed to improve your cardiovascular condition, it's not like an either/or kind of thing. Obviously a cardio workout (according to your treadmill) will also burn fat, it'll just be a bit more challenging.

[Beatin'PCOS]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

Hi there,,,,

Im started with regular cardio, brisk walking on the treadmill everyday for weeks and felt a massive rise in energy levels as a result, plus even though this was before I started atkins I still noticed my body shape changing and becoming leaner, So then I ventured into HIIT, with this I noticed a slight heart arrythmia hours after I did the HIIT, which was kinda scary, never before had I even noticed my heart really beating, but it become so often I had to stop the HIIT and go back to regular cardio... I will leave the HIIT until I am a lot fitter and slimmer as I do think it can play havoc with ya heart if its not yet capable of handling massive increases, and in all honesty, I notice better results when I work out with less intensity for longer periods. So I think ANY form of physical exercise is a movement towards a fitter body !

[Lyssie]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

I think people need to keep in mind that HIIT intensity varies from person to person. What I consider to be a high intensity interval may be really easy for one person, or may cause someone else to feel like their heart is going to explode.

You shouldn't be pushing yourself so much that your blood pressure spikes (usually noticed by nausea or dizziness), but you should be having intervals that are more challenging than just your standard pace. As you adapt to this you can increase the intensity and/or time of intervals. Like *ANY* workout, you should be listening to your body about what you're doing, not forcing it to do something it's really upset with you about.

[NoDef]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

I usually do HIIT on the treadmill also. My problem is that I have found out that I have not been pushing it enough on the top end of the training. I do run really hard on the last minute (minute 20) of my workout, but I definitely need to push it harder on minutes 1-19. I've started trying to run 1-mile every day that I don't do HIIT. What I have found out is that I can run a mile on 7.2 non-stop, which makes it 8 minutes 20 seconds of non-stop running. The top end of my HIIT workout (excluding minutes 19-20) which is in 1-minute intervals is 7.6 right now. No way am I getting close to peak intensity if I'm only going this speed for 1 minute, when I am capable of running 7.2 for over 8 minutes. Anyway, that probably doesn't make any sense to a lot of people, but I've realized I was slacking on the cardio. My body was capable of a whole lot more, and I'm sure that I could have lost more weight with better workouts.

[4themasses]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

In order to tap into your fat stores the exercise MUST BE INTENSE. Now what is intense for you may vary from what that is for me. You must be breathing rather heavily to know your maxing out, not just on a Sunday stroll. If you can hold a conversation while doing this – YOUR NOT THERE. MY treadmill has different programs to run. I usually do the 20 minute program that cycles up and down (speed wise) SEVERAL times. When it peaks up at each interval, I increase the incline then lower it back to 3 when it comes back down. So I may start with a 4 incline and the last cycle may be an 8 or 9 which is close to walking up stairs! Believe me – your working hard WITHOUT running.
My treadmill has a speed control and an incline control. I have a MAX speed that I go that any faster will put me into a jog. For intensity I use the incline to make it harder. Within 5 minutes I am breaking a sweat and breathing, but not like I’m running. Just big deep controlled breaths. THIS should be where you’re at. At about 7-9 minutes into it I’m wishing it was over. Remember I’m not running, just walking – uphill – quickly. It’s brutal and that’s what you want. Again, you can handle this “Intensity” different than I can. Have a picture of a Physique you would like to obtain on the wall next to the treadmill. That helps out just looking at that knowing if you work hard – you’ll get there. I’ve seen pictures on this forum of people who have accomplished their goals. You should too.
As a former body builder, I never ran on the treadmill or in general. I find it is not needed to burn fat. I want to burn fat, not run like I did in high school for cross country (13 miles a day). I also believe too much running taps into using muscle mass as an energy source. How many “built” marathon runners do you see?? Personally, the running is hard on my joints, AND my $1,000 treadmill that I choose NOT to neglect.
Remember, it’s not the amount of calories you burn during the exercise session; it’s the amount you burn AFTER as well. Meaning your body is a calorie burning machine well after your workout. This also means – DO NOT EAT FOR AN HOUR AFTER!! Water, water and more water!! You’ll probably feel hot or warm for a while after, this is why.
A VERY HUGE IMPORTANT point to remember to maximize your fat loss:
Doing intense aerobic exercise (or weight training) on an empty stomach for 20 minutes in the MORNING is equal to ONE HOUR of the same exercise in the evening. You are IMMEDIATELY tapping into the fat stores. There is very little carbs left to burn that the body usually uses.
If you choose to do exercises in the evening, do it after you have fasted for about 3 hours.

[Lyssie]

Re: Fat Burn vs. Cardio

A VERY HUGE IMPORTANT point to remember to maximize your fat loss:
Doing intense aerobic exercise (or weight training) on an empty stomach for 20 minutes in the MORNING is equal to ONE HOUR of the same exercise in the evening. You are IMMEDIATELY tapping into the fat stores. There is very little carbs left to burn that the body usually uses.
If you choose to do exercises in the evening, do it after you have fasted for about 3 hours.

This is not true. The newer studies show that it doesn't have a larger benefit to ANYBODY to workout in the morning versus the evening. Even if we were to pretend like this was correct, notice how all of us eating Atkins will not have any carbs left to burn anyway. Also, the older school of thought was that 20 minutes of aerobics would be required in order to go through the carbs in your system, not 40.
There's nothing wrong with eating after a workout either. I did weights at lunch time, and ate immediately afterwards, and continued to lose 140lbs by doing this!