Target Heart Rate

[MCLoss]

Hey All,

Quick question about target hear rates. I have always read that for weight loss exercise to be effective we need to be training the 65th percentile of our heart rate. This, over long periods of time, burns the most calories coming from fat.

Now, I don't know my exact max hear rate, but I am using the forumla of 220-age. I am sure there are more robust ones than that, but lets just think about the situation at hand. Now I am 28, so according to the above formula, my max heart rate is hovering around 192. So my target heart for weight loss (65%) would be approx. 125 beats / minute.

Now I checked my resting heart rate early in the morning on sunday after some long sleep. It was somewhere around 82 bpm. I know, I am probably out of shape, but considering that when I work out at 125 bpm I am barely even tired. I basically jogged 45 mins today on the treadmill, very light jogging, and I hovered around 135-140.

Does this mean that even though I am at around 140, is it okay for weight loss? Should I be feeling tired, huffing and puffing, or should I feel like I could do it all day?

Any advice on this topic on how to know what my target heart rate for weight loss would be would be awesome! Please let me know, thanks!

 

[aravind82]

Just ignore that 65% figure or any other number you get for the "fat loss zone". It's all a bunch of bologna in the long run. The 65% number pretty much confines you to walking which is silly don't you think? Your goal should be to burn calories and improve your overall health and fitness. Whether you're doing it by working at 65% of your max heart rate or at 90%, it doesn't matter a whole lot for weight loss.

 

[MCLoss]

So what is the recommendation for exercise? For example on Friday I ran around 3 miles, but the next day my legs were in pain.

Is it better to jog at a pace I am comfortable at where I can do it 4-5 times a week, and as long as I am keeping it I should be okay?

Weight loss is confusing

 

[Jeanette401]

The short answer is 'yes' it's better to go at a pace where you can keep up with it regularly.

The problem with telling you how much is that it's highly dependent on you, personally.

For weight loss, you probably want to focus on total calories burned. So that depends on your free time, and how quickly your body recovers. For example, if you would and could exercise for 10 hours a week, then doing 8 hours of walking with 2 hours of high intensity other exercise. On the other hand, if you only have 2 hours, then it'd probably be better to do 2 hours of high intensity.

One universal truth however is that the exercise plan you actually follow is better than any hypothetically optimized plan you don't follow

The following link isn't directly on topic, but does have some interesting information about the different intensities of workouts

 

[Harold14370]

I agree with Jeanette. There isn't a single right answer because a little exercise is better than nothing, and a lot is better than a little. So, I think what you have to do is decide how much time you are willing to spend, and how much exhaustion you will tolerate before it becomes too unpleasant. But, I do think you need to get a little bit out of breath if you want to improve your cardiovascular fitness.

 

[summer123]

I used to try keeping to the heart rate levels, it was fat I wanted to lose rather then what was in my stomach, but I now think its just all hot air.

See you gotta wonder how they got this data.

Say you took 2 groups, one worked out at a cardio level of 165-190bpm for an hour, the other group for 120-130bpm.
They stop and finish their workout.

Now seeing as this is just an experiement, which o you think will feel hungrier? which will eat more? which will chose the "wrong" foods (refined sugars, sweets, junk food, fried food...)as they have used up more calories and so are more likely to feel hungrier? which will reverse what they have worked out to do?
Which will be able to do the same again the next day/several days/every day that week? which will need to take a break? which will get the bus home rather then walking that bit more? which will have a glass of wine to congratulate themselves for thier hard work?

You see I am with the understanding that weight loss is a simple equation: fewer calories going in then comming out. If you workout and feel you need to reward yourself with hundreds of calories when you otherwise wouldn't, your less likely to lose as much weight.
But if you workout at a higher heart rate, do burn more calories as a result and then make sure you eat what helps you to keep off the calories (protein and complex carbs, water and fresh fruit and veg) your going to see the difference.

I think I'd want to see the full study before I'd go with the idea that a lower heart rate (and longer workout??) gave more of an overall weight loss. My general understanding is the higher the heart rate, the more calories you burn per minute. The more calories you burn per minute the more your likely to lose weight. I don't think your body is that choosy about where it finds these calories to utilise. I think if you've used up everything in your glycogen storage, it will take amounts from your muscle and fat, I don't really think your heart rate will alter what ratio it takes it from with enough that you could use it as reason to go slow. And at any rate, you'd need to workout for far longer at a lower heart rate then you would at a higher rate to burn the same amount of calories.

And if its any help, 40 mins on the treadmill today, began at a 120bpm, went to 145bpm for the first 5 mins, then 155 for the next 3, I raised the speed, raised the incline, it went to 160max during that 40 mins. I do my higher heart rate stuff by raising the gradient to 10% and running at about 10.5km/h, I get to about 180-185bpm. I don't buy the low heart rate stuff at all.

Don't worry about what the numbers say, the more you workout the more your body gets used to it, the higher your heart rate can go. Your current max will be different to mine despite us being the same age as I've worked at my heart rate for a year now and this is what happens. This time last year it never went above 155 no matter how hard I pushed it!

 

[MCLoss]

Hey guys lot of great info...

Back to heart rate stuff, last time I worked out regularly was about ten years ago. I started by walking on a treadmill then began running. I think I lost around 30-40 lbs.. which was good.

But now, remembering how much I used to be able to handle.. I feel like pushing myself at the gym, but then I remembered I lost a lot of weight starting slow, so am all confused. I guess all of you are right a plan I can stick to everyday is a plan that will work in the long run.

I am basically doing 45 mins of cardio and hitting circuits for some weight training after. I know its basic, but its something I can build off of in the future.

Thanks for all the advice!!

 

[summer123]

Hey guys lot of great info...

Back to heart rate stuff, last time I worked out regularly was about ten years ago. I started by walking on a treadmill then began running. I think I lost around 30-40 lbs.. which was good.

But now, remembering how much I used to be able to handle.. I feel like pushing myself at the gym, but then I remembered I lost a lot of weight starting slow, so am all confused. I guess all of you are right a plan I can stick to everyday is a plan that will work in the long run.

I am basically doing 45 mins of cardio and hitting circuits for some weight training after. I know its basic, but its something I can build off of in the future.

Thanks for all the advice!!

Remember the key to anything is variation and moderation. Keep your body guessing by changing as much as possible, run out flat one day, run uphill the next, walk backwards/sideways and with heel flicks (yes on the treadmill if you can't get to a park) the day after that....do a spinning class the day after that, rowing after that....try to make things challenging without being too stressful. If your trying to push yourself this is good, but doing so constantly can make things even out and become too easy. Try short bursts of intense working as hard and as fast as you can for 30 or 60 seconds, then follow with the same time at a more moderate level. This will help you increase your fitness without having you plateau after about 90 seconds.

 

[espressowhip]

Optimizing Heart Rate

Hey guys lot of great info...

Back to heart rate stuff, last time I worked out regularly was about ten years ago. I started by walking on a treadmill then began running. I think I lost around 30-40 lbs.. which was good.

But now, remembering how much I used to be able to handle.. I feel like pushing myself at the gym, but then I remembered I lost a lot of weight starting slow, so am all confused. I guess all of you are right a plan I can stick to everyday is a plan that will work in the long run.

I am basically doing 45 mins of cardio and hitting circuits for some weight training after. I know its basic, but its something I can build off of in the future.

Thanks for all the advice!!

I'm also a former runner and interested in optimizing my work out.

I totally understand the desire to push because of what you use to be able to do! In College I worked with Coach Alpha (before he coached the Olympic team!!) and his method for those new to running (or the recovering injured) was to just jog, as much as you can, even if you could walk faster, for the same specified amount of time every day. As your body gets use to the motion and your cardio improves, you will naturally get faster and go farther within the same duration of time. Let your body decide how quickly to condition itself and you'll avoid stress and injury.

The biggest point was to train consistently. The other point with cardio was, you should be able to hold a conversation while walking/jogging. If you can't, then you are going too fast.

Are you using a heart rate monitor? If not, and HR is important to you, get one!

My heart-rate monitor came with information on how to find your ideal HR, and recovery HR information, based on age and resting heart rate.

But it also has a "Fitness Test" mode in which it calibrates to your current fitness level based on performance HR, instead of the age calculation.

In this mode, you "do" 1.6km as fast as you can (after a 5 min warm up) and it measures what would be your maximum HR at your current fitness level.

It also allows for 3 different HR target areas 55-70% (more fat than carbs are burned), 70-80% (optimized stamina), and 80-100% (performance oriented). All of these levels can be customized as well. And you can set alarms to tell you you've slipped under or over your target HR range.

It also measures your recovery HR every 30 seconds after a workout so you can keep track of recovery as well!

My HR Monitor is the ONYX FIT, got it on Ebay, it wasn't expensive. I use it to keep myself honest about walking for fitness and weight loss, rather than strolling around looking at the sky. I also have high blood pressure and want a to know when my heart is about to explode just before it does.

I highly recommend using a HR monitor to keep track of your fitness level. It's a safe and effective way to "push" yourself by setting tangible goals and tracking your progress to them.