Obesity Discussion Forums

[Papa Sil]

As I go through the machines at my local gym, a lot of the cardio machines (elyptical, bike, treadmill, etc) have different diagrams and graphs concerning your heart rate.

The consensus seems to be that a lower heart rate in comparison to a very high heart rate you'd normally have while running or doing a very rigorous workout, is better for burning fat. Could someone shed some light on this. Everything inside of me, including my common sense wants to go against this.

Obviously, if your heart rate is up, you're burning more calories than as if it were lower. How does have a lower heart rate, for the same amount of time, burn fat better than having a higher rate?

Thanks

[getfit]

Hi Papa Sil,

I’m not sure about if having a lower HR, the same amount of time as a high HR will make a difference. But you would burn fat easier by doing exercise consistently for longer periods of time than if you did short hard efforts that make your HR go up but then stop all the sudden.

I hope this can help a little,
Mitch

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by getfit

Hi Papa Sil,

I’m not sure about if having a lower HR, the same amount of time as a high HR will make a difference. But you would burn fat easier by doing exercise consistently for longer periods of time than if you did short hard efforts that make your HR go up but then stop all the sudden.

I hope this can help a little,
Mitch

I disagree with this completely. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) which is in essence sprinting for a fixed period of time, then going at a much slower rate for a fixed period of time and going back and forth over and over, has been proven in numerous studies to burn more fat in a shorter period of time than a longer steady state form of exercise.


To answer the original poster's question, I'd try to keep your heart rate up as much as possible for a given period of time over a slower rate, and for better fat burning to use interval training as I mentioned above.

[Gord0n]

How about the calories burned they calculate. how (in)accurate is that? Is it even ballpark? Or are they boosted to make thier brand of equiptment look more beneficial.

[MikeB]

I vote for HIIT, keeps the muscle and drops the fat...

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by Gord0n

How about the calories burned they calculate. how (in)accurate is that? Is it even ballpark? Or are they boosted to make thier brand of equiptment look more beneficial.

They're not precisely accurate, but good as a benchmark for your own progress.

[getfit]

I know intervals is a great workout, I’ve done lots of them to train for cycling. I do loose more weight when I train 4-6 hr. days. But if your not a pro-cyclist and don’t have the time to train that much I can see your opinion and it would be better to do intervals if you had to get back to work.

Train on

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by getfit

I know intervals is a great workout, I’ve done lots of them to train for cycling. I do loose more weight when I train 4-6 hr. days. But if your not a pro-cyclist and don’t have the time to train that much I can see your opinion and it would be better to do intervals if you had to get back to work.

Train on

I would assume you'd lose more weight training for 4-6hrs a day than from 20 minutes of interval training.


You really trained for that long!?!?!?!

[getfit]

Yes but that’s what I had to do to get at a top level to race against other pro’s. My goal was to make a living with cycling but the sport just doesn’t pay that much, so now I like to stay fit and keep learning more about health.
Thanks,
Mitch

[healthy_drinkr]

In response to the original question of this post:

As a rule of thumb, a lower resting heart rate means that you are healthier.

The heart pumps blood because it transports the oxygen and nutrients that every cell in your body needs. (It also takes out the waste from the cells.)

If your cells are oxygen-deprived or starving for nutrients (i.e. you're unhealthy), then it will demand more blood to deliver more fuel/food - thus a faster resting rate.

As you exercise and require energy, the cells convert the fuel into actual energy to enable you to run, and lift, and swim, etc. etc.

Naturally, this increases the need for more fuel, thus your heart rate increases. As you stop exercising, your body's energy consumption decreases accordingly.

As a rule of thumb, you should focus on how fast you recover.

In order words, how long does it take to go from your high intensity heart rate down to your normal resting rate?

The faster you are able to recover, the healthier you are. (for example, your arteries are NOT clogged, thus requiring less pumping to transport the blood.)