Question about fat burning & HR zones...
Discussion
I had a physio session yesterday. The chap that I saw (seemed) to really know his stuff about nutrition.
He told me I've been doing my fasted cardio, and indeed my normal cardio wrong. He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Should I be doing this type of cardio all the time not just on an empty stomach (fasted) but even in the evening's after I've been eating all day?
Currently in calorie deficit by about 400 calories if that's relevant.
Is this correct what he has told me?
He told me I've been doing my fasted cardio, and indeed my normal cardio wrong. He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Should I be doing this type of cardio all the time not just on an empty stomach (fasted) but even in the evening's after I've been eating all day?
Currently in calorie deficit by about 400 calories if that's relevant.
Is this correct what he has told me?
Forever Alone said:
I had a physio session yesterday. The chap that I saw (seemed) to really know his stuff about nutrition.
He told me I've been doing my fasted cardio, and indeed my normal cardio wrong. He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Should I be doing this type of cardio all the time not just on an empty stomach (fasted) but even in the evening's after I've been eating all day?
Currently in calorie deficit by about 400 calories if that's relevant.
Is this correct what he has told me?
total calories in vs total calories out is all that matters. He told me I've been doing my fasted cardio, and indeed my normal cardio wrong. He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Should I be doing this type of cardio all the time not just on an empty stomach (fasted) but even in the evening's after I've been eating all day?
Currently in calorie deficit by about 400 calories if that's relevant.
Is this correct what he has told me?
p1stonhead said:
Forever Alone said:
I had a physio session yesterday. The chap that I saw (seemed) to really know his stuff about nutrition.
He told me I've been doing my fasted cardio, and indeed my normal cardio wrong. He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Should I be doing this type of cardio all the time not just on an empty stomach (fasted) but even in the evening's after I've been eating all day?
Currently in calorie deficit by about 400 calories if that's relevant.
Is this correct what he has told me?
total calories in vs total calories out is all that matters. He told me I've been doing my fasted cardio, and indeed my normal cardio wrong. He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Should I be doing this type of cardio all the time not just on an empty stomach (fasted) but even in the evening's after I've been eating all day?
Currently in calorie deficit by about 400 calories if that's relevant.
Is this correct what he has told me?
Forever Alone said:
p1stonhead said:
Forever Alone said:
I had a physio session yesterday. The chap that I saw (seemed) to really know his stuff about nutrition.
He told me I've been doing my fasted cardio, and indeed my normal cardio wrong. He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Should I be doing this type of cardio all the time not just on an empty stomach (fasted) but even in the evening's after I've been eating all day?
Currently in calorie deficit by about 400 calories if that's relevant.
Is this correct what he has told me?
total calories in vs total calories out is all that matters. He told me I've been doing my fasted cardio, and indeed my normal cardio wrong. He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Should I be doing this type of cardio all the time not just on an empty stomach (fasted) but even in the evening's after I've been eating all day?
Currently in calorie deficit by about 400 calories if that's relevant.
Is this correct what he has told me?
I dont claim to know a lot about it but you cant cheat physics. A calorie is a calorie. You cant get energy from nowhere so if your body needs it and you put nothing into it, your body will eat itself and get smaller.
Nothing is ever black and white. My understanding:
Depending on the intensity of (aerobic!) exercise your muscles will burn a combination of fat and carbs (carbs as glycogen, stored in the liver and the muscles).
At lower intensities you tend (only tend!) to burn more fat and less carbs. At higher intensities (again, depending on the individual!) you will burn more carbs and less fat.
Going hard at it (aerobic threshold), the human body normally (again - grey area!) burns mostly carbs and it tends to store around 2000 calories of them. Once you use them up, you start burning fat, but this will only support a much lower levels of exertion (again, normally) so you hit what cyclists and long distance runners call "the wall".
Weight trainers hit the wall on a muscle by muscle basis if you think about it - they train intensively enough to completely exhaust a muscle. Any carbs they then eat will go straight into filling it back up again.
The wall happens around the 20 mile mark for marathon runners, so pro's specifically train their bodies to burn fat at higher levels of exertion to avoid the wall, and everyone else will just have to run slower.
The thing is, depending on how long you exercise, as well as how hard, your body will use different fueling strategies to try and prevent you from hitting the wall, based on what you have done before, (so you can train for this) your genetics etc etc.
Generally for the first 20 minutes of any form of (aerobic!) exercise you'll be burning carbs - they are more readily accessible and it's most efficient to use them instead of fat at that point.
So it's not as simple as your trainer states.
My approach to lose fat would be a slight calorie deficit combined with a lower (not low!) carb diet. And patience.
Use the carbs you eat in exercise that you enjoy and will keep doing, grow bigger muscles and they will burn fat while you watch telly.
Depending on the intensity of (aerobic!) exercise your muscles will burn a combination of fat and carbs (carbs as glycogen, stored in the liver and the muscles).
At lower intensities you tend (only tend!) to burn more fat and less carbs. At higher intensities (again, depending on the individual!) you will burn more carbs and less fat.
Going hard at it (aerobic threshold), the human body normally (again - grey area!) burns mostly carbs and it tends to store around 2000 calories of them. Once you use them up, you start burning fat, but this will only support a much lower levels of exertion (again, normally) so you hit what cyclists and long distance runners call "the wall".
Weight trainers hit the wall on a muscle by muscle basis if you think about it - they train intensively enough to completely exhaust a muscle. Any carbs they then eat will go straight into filling it back up again.
The wall happens around the 20 mile mark for marathon runners, so pro's specifically train their bodies to burn fat at higher levels of exertion to avoid the wall, and everyone else will just have to run slower.
The thing is, depending on how long you exercise, as well as how hard, your body will use different fueling strategies to try and prevent you from hitting the wall, based on what you have done before, (so you can train for this) your genetics etc etc.
Generally for the first 20 minutes of any form of (aerobic!) exercise you'll be burning carbs - they are more readily accessible and it's most efficient to use them instead of fat at that point.
So it's not as simple as your trainer states.
My approach to lose fat would be a slight calorie deficit combined with a lower (not low!) carb diet. And patience.
Use the carbs you eat in exercise that you enjoy and will keep doing, grow bigger muscles and they will burn fat while you watch telly.
Edited by cwis on Friday 16th October 09:40
Forever Alone said:
He said I should be aiming to keep my heart rate between 60-70% of it's maximum to utilise my fat as energy.
What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
Whilst the initial advice is correct - you'll burn more fat calories at 60-70% tHR - you'll actually burn more total calories running harder for longer. Same applies for a lot of so called HIIT.What I've been doing it going as hard as I can because in my mind the harder I train and more sweat I work up the more I'll lose. He said that's a classic mistake a lot of gym goers make as I'll be burning the glycogen up in my muscles and not fat.
I think he's technically right, theoretically you may even be making it harder to lose weight with v.intense 'cardio' - a term which shouldnt even exist. However it doesn't really matter either way because the amount of fat you can burn from exercise is massively overstated/misunderstood. Bottomline is that diet is way more important.
Forever Alone said:
So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this.
Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
Working at such a low intensity will burn X calories (quite a low number) and 50% of these calories will come from fat and the other 50% from glycogen.Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.
However if you work out at a much higher intensity you burn way more calories overall and sure a lower proportion of these calories will come from fat (35%) but 35% of a big number will be the same, if not greater, than 50% of a smaller number.
Forever Alone said:
See I said that to him and he said that's not the be all and end all. It's how you burn those calories.
It's not just how you burn them, but what form they are consumed in.LSD cardio is the easiest and most likely to be stuck to for most gym goers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_slow_distance
HIIT is more time beneficial, but arduous. Not the type of activity I see of most gym goers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_inter...
Tababa™ is best for time, but it is extremely hard to be done correctly.
As cwis states, there are many variables.
Edited by Halb on Sunday 18th October 11:27
Halb said:
Forever Alone said:
See I said that to him and he said that's not the be all and end all. It's how you burn those calories.
It's not just how you burn them, but what form they are consumed in.LSD cardio is the easiest and most likely to be stuck to for most gym goers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_slow_distance
HIIT is more time beneficial, but arduous. Not the type of activity I see of most gym goers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_inter...
Tababa™ is best for time, but it is extremely hard to be done correctly.
As cwis states, there are many variables.
Edited by Halb on Sunday 18th October 11:27
popeyewhite said:
OP "What I've been doing it going as hard as I can" Probably not LSD?
I see. I was referring to the, 'So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this. Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.'bit, which seems to be LSD. Which the OP was asking advice on.
Halb said:
popeyewhite said:
OP "What I've been doing it going as hard as I can" Probably not LSD?
I see. I was referring to the, 'So I worked out my 60-70% zone to be 112-130bpm. Last night I went to the gym and tried this. Had no problem reaching and holding that target, however I came out feeling like I'd done nothing. I barely broke sweat and didn't feel like I'd earnt my protein shake.'bit, which seems to be LSD. Which the OP was asking advice on.
And you described different types of aerobic/anaerobic exercise. But not the one the Op prefers. So any information on the OP's current running style?
popeyewhite said:
Yes.
And you described different types of aerobic/anaerobic exercise. But not the one the Op prefers. So any information on the OP's current running style?
I can't see any that the OP said he would prefer, he simply stated what he had done, and what he was advised to do, and asked opinion on the LSD.And you described different types of aerobic/anaerobic exercise. But not the one the Op prefers. So any information on the OP's current running style?
Halb said:
popeyewhite said:
Yes.
And you described different types of aerobic/anaerobic exercise. But not the one the Op prefers. So any information on the OP's current running style?
I can't see any that the OP said he would prefer, he simply stated what he had done, and what he was advised to do, and asked opinion on the LSD.And you described different types of aerobic/anaerobic exercise. But not the one the Op prefers. So any information on the OP's current running style?
OK, I'm asking you: What is your opinion of the OP's current running style?
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