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I remember when I started in the fitness industry , now over 10 years ago, I remember the recommendation for the ‘fat burning zone’ was to stay at 60% of your max heart rate. These were the recommendations provided and if you even see, some cardio machines still have that ‘target’ zone listed for optimal fat burning results.
Thankfully, exercise science has continued to evolve , rapidly, of course with the increasing knowledge of the all around benefits of physical activity but also, with the rising rates of obesity worldwide. Science doesn’t lie and thankfully this myth has been debunked!
You don’t have to be a science buff to understand this so don’t worry – It’s Friday and our brains are slowly starting to shut off so we won’t get into too much science detail!!
From a qualitative point of view, when you are training at 60 % of your max HR, you are still able to hold a conversation. When we think about just that for a second and for all the people that have lost pounds of body fat through their journeys, they can tell you that its definitely NOT easy and lots of sweat and out of breath moments are required! There isn’t complete non sense to this claim though. It is true, that at rest or lower intensities, our bodies do use fat as energy more vs in higher intensities.
So… The reason why working in higher intensity zones is more recommended nowadays HITT training – High Intensity Interval Training) is for two reasons.
1. Higher Caloric Expenditure :You burn more calories working in higher intensity zones which in turn, still applies to the calories in calories out rule that you need to be burning more then you are consuming
2. EPOC effect: Working in higher intensities, especially when applying load ( resistance training), forces your body to burn more calories at rest post work out (thus, increased fat burning). This is called the EPOC effect and stands for Excessive Post Oxygen Consumption. Due to the limited supply of oxygen able to get into your muscles during interval based training, your body lets a surge of it come into the muscle cell when you are done working out, for hours.
Now, the key thing is to not get turned off by this ‘higher intensity ‘ training. Consult a fitness professional and they can guide you to ensuring you start with the right capacity of interval training for you.
Need more guidance ? Lets chat!
Before we end off, Coach Melissa is having an AMAZING event coming up next weekend, Sat Nov 16th.
Our first ever Women’s only Bootcamp and Seminar and the best thing about it – its free!
This event is open to members and non – members.
Attitude is Everything,
www.puremotivationfitness.com
Pure Motivation Fitness Studio | 1410 Major Mackenzie Drive Unit C1 , Vaughan, Ontario, L6A 4H6
