Confused on HR

P

pka

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So I did the whole "220-age" to calculate my maximum heart rate which I get to be 200. I found a site that said if one's resting heart rate was below the average (as for athletes) then the heart training zones would have to be adjusted.

I'm confused because my RHR is around 52 and am a female who wants to lose weight. So should I be training at around 142-171 for aerobic fitness and below for weight loss?
 
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pka - are you overweight? Are you training for a particular event and/or sport?

Maybe this article will help clear things up in regards to what you should be measuring, ie I think once you know this you will have a better idea of how hard and long to exercise.

If I'm trying to lose weight (which is rare as I have a hard time putting on any weight) than yes, I would keep my HR below my lower limit for extended periods of time.
 
Hey spin, the link you posted is proving to be quite useful! I am not overweight (anymore) but I am working on losing body fat, you know the 'wobbly bits', and just trying to look/feel leaner. Then I'll try to gain muscle but that might come later, hahaha. So thank you for your response, many thanks!
 
pka said:
Hey spin, the link you posted is proving to be quite useful! I am not overweight (anymore) but I am working on losing body fat, you know the 'wobbly bits', and just trying to look/feel leaner. Then I'll try to gain muscle but that might come later, hahaha. So thank you for your response, many thanks!
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hahaha the "wabbly bits" love it!

a lil note- if you do some reading you may find that thru some weight training your ability to burn those "wabbly bits" will be greatly improved.

FF
 
pka said:
Hey spin, the link you posted is proving to be quite useful! I am not overweight (anymore) but I am working on losing body fat, you know the 'wobbly bits', and just trying to look/feel leaner. Then I'll try to gain muscle but that might come later, hahaha. So thank you for your response, many thanks!
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PKA - I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the articles. I found them quite interesting as well and even started getting lost in the variety of they have.
 
What's the diet like? What have you done, and what are you presently doing in this area?

Diet is king, and the training compliments this. We do not want diet excess to erase potential fat loss results from training do we? As this can occur no matter the cardio or other training.
 
pka said:
So I did the whole "220-age" to calculate my maximum heart rate which I get to be 200. I found a site that said if one's resting heart rate was below the average (as for athletes) then the heart training zones would have to be adjusted.

I'm confused because my RHR is around 52 and am a female who wants to lose weight. So should I be training at around 142-171 for aerobic fitness and below for weight loss?
Click to expand...

To optimize weight ( i.e fat ) loss - via cardio - I'd focus more on burning as many ' total ' calories due to exercise as you can rather than exercising at a certain heart rate during exercise.

You want to consume / burn as many total calories as a result of exercise - both during and after - as possible. For example, a steady state cardio session that burns 300 calories in 20 minutes is better for meeting your fat loss goal than a steady state cardio session that burns 250 calories in 20 minutes - the reason is, the former simply burns more calories.

In cases where you do interval cardio training, an interval cardio session may only burn 200 calories in 20 minutes. But, it may be better overall in terms of fat loss vs. steady state cardio because you may burn relatively more calories afterwards. So, the total calories you will burn - both during and afterwards - as a result of interval training for 20 minutes, may exceed the total calories you will burn as a result of steady state cardio training for 20 minutes - using the example above.
 
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Sorry that it's taken so long for me to reply! But I do appreciate the comments. What I do for my diet is limit my portion sizes to about a cup of...veggies, rice, beans and some kind of 3 oz meat. That's dinner. Breakfast I'll go for a cup of high fiber cereal with a cup of skim milk. Lunch may differ from a ham and cheese sandwich but for the most part that's what I'll have. Snacks are key! Because I'm always hungry. hahah. I snack on fruits, grain, yogurt...veggies. Good fats but lots of carbs. =/ Not too sure how to cut a bit of carbs seeing as how...I need to eat and don't really want to look like a waif about to collapse. Any advice? I cut cals, 1300-1500 a day. And this is assuming that my body needs 1800 to function (I'm a shorty, 4'11, so that should be about right).

My exercise routine lasts for about 70-80 mins. Thanks Wrangell for your response. Many things I've been reading and fitness people I've spoken to also say the same thing you are. I've been doing interval training for a bit now and just tried HIIT. Seriously, I get my a$$ kicked. haha But in a good way. I can't say that it works yet but...I'm hoping it will as I keep it up! :D I don't actually pay much attention to HR but in interval training that's the only time I do...lol


I've also been weight training for some time now and I see more definition and less fat around the 'good spots' but I am still not as lean as I would like to be. Perhaps my body is simply becoming accustomed to the weight training? We'll see, it's about time I revamped my routine. =)
 
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Hi,

The 220 - age = max HR criteria works fine. You should take that as a baseline, as you become more experienced in training you will find out yourself what works for you and what not.

People are different and you will find no article what gives perfect answers to your questions.

The best thing to to is to learn how the body works and then work out what is best for you.
 
I'd suggest mixing in some strength training - doing a full body workout 3x a week, plus interval training for cardio has really helped me. Just my 2 cents.
 
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