The heart-rate training zones are based on your individual AT and form the backbone of your weight-loss program.
Zone 1. Your heart rate is 60 to 70 percent of your AT, and you generally burn more fat calories than carbohydrates. Zone 2. In the aerobic development zone 70 to 90 percent of your AT , you build your aerobic base and efficiency, which improves your overall conditioning and endurance. In this zone, you are typically still burning more calories from fat than carbohydrates.
Zone 3. Just below or at your AT 90 to percent , the aerobic endurance zone is where your body begins to use an equal combination of fat and carbs as a fuel source and creates a higher caloric burn rate. Zone 4. The anaerobic endurance zone to percent of AT raises your AT and increases your tolerance to lactic acid, training the body to reuse it as an energy source.
In this zone, your body primarily uses carbs for energy. Zone 5.
Find Your Happy Place
In this zone — the most difficult of all — you pour on effort and intensity for short intervals that challenge your body to reach its full athletic potential. Carbs are nearly the sole fuel source. This level of exertion is extremely difficult to maintain for more than a few minutes or for the untrained, seconds. If your primary goal is weight loss, you can apply heart-rate training to your program by initially spending a significant portion of your workout in zones 2 and 3, which help you develop a solid aerobic base. Concentrating your efforts there allows you to exercise harder and longer while burning fat as the primary source of energy.
These levels actually determine which energy systems your body uses during exercise, and that often directly affects how many calories you burn.
Your Fat-Burning Zone and Weight Loss
There are four different training zones and each is a percentage of your maximum heart rate MHR , the maximum number of times your heart can beat in a minute:. From these numbers, you can see that the fat-burning zone is the lowest intensity. So why is it called the fat-burning zone? Some people have translated this to mean that you actually burn more fat when you work at a lower intensity, but that's a bit of a misconception. In reality, picking up the pace will torch more total calories—and ultimately more fat—in less time. To give you an example, the chart below details both the total calories and the fat calories expended by a pound woman during cardio exercise.
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As you'll see, the woman burns more total calories and more fat calories when working out at a higher intensity. Now, this isn't to say that low-intensity exercise doesn't have its place, especially if you're just starting out and can't sustain a faster pace. Even for more advanced exercisers, endurance workouts should be a staple of a complete fitness program along with short, high-intensity interval workouts.
Interval training where you alternate high-intensity exercise with low-intensity recovery periods is proven to increase fitness and burn more calories than steady-state cardio. If you want to lose weight, a general cardio schedule would include workouts at a variety of intensities within your target heart rate zone. Below is a sample program that will help get you started. The key is to start with what you can handle and slowly build from there. If you're just getting started, don't worry too much about how hard you're working. Focus more on making exercise a habit you can manage on a regular basis.
Looking to lose weight? Our nutrition guide can help you get on the right track.
How a Heart Monitor Helps Burn More Body Fat
Chan School of Public Health :. Either a moderate- or vigorous-intensity workout will lead to calorie burn. But since vigorous workouts are harder, they enable you to burn more calories in less time. You can burn a lot of calories at a moderate pace too — you'll just need to extend the length of your workout, Richards says. For instance, a pound person will burn around calories jogging at a fairly vigorous pace of 5. To burn the same number of calories walking at a moderate pace, the person would need to walk for close to two hours, according to the AHA.
Now that you know the heart rate to aim for and the activities that'll help you achieve it, make sure you're staying on track. Keeping your heart rate in your desired zone will help you burn the number of calories you're aiming for so you can reach your weight-loss goals faster. To check your target heart rate during exercise, you've got a few different options. For real-time feedback, consider using an activity tracker watch or a chest monitor.
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Both devices track your pulse, so they're an easy way to tell if you're in the zone. Of course, not everyone likes working out with a monitor strapped to his or her chest. Just keep in mind that neither device is foolproof. Wearable trackers can give you a ballpark estimate of your heart rate, but you can't count on them to be precise, per the Mayo Clinic. The good news is that most casual exercisers don't need intense precision when it comes to tracking their heart rate. That means paying attention to how you feel:.
At any point during a workout, you can pause to check in with your body and see if you're on pace. If it seems like you're working harder than you'd like, slow down. And if you don't feel like you're working hard enough, push yourself a little more. Katie is an ACE-certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor, as well as being certified in functional movement systems. She ran division 1 cross country and track in college and continues to run for fun as much as she can.
She currently works as a corporate wellness and fitness educator and Orangetheory coach in Manhattan. Connect on LinkedIn. Marygrace Taylor.