BENEFITS OF HEART TRAINING

[Geardepot]

If you took a poll of why most people work out on cardio equipment, 90% or more will tell you they want to lose weight or tone up (which you have to lose fat to tone up). So out of those people how many to you think heart rate train? Not many. Some know what their heart rate is, but don't know where it should really be. So that is not helping them achieve their fat loss goal in the most efficient way possible.
So...what is heart rate training? It is simply using your heart rate zones to monitor your workout. Your body has 5 heart rate zones. I will describe them later. In order to heart rate train you first need a heart rate monitor. 2nd you need to find out where your heart rate should be. The heart rate charts you see on the exercise equipment are not correct most of the time (example 220-your age). Instead you need to find your Anaerobic Threshold (the point in which your body stops burning fat and starts burning glucose). This is extremely important if you are trying to lose body fat, because you could be training too hard. Just because the treadmill says you burned 800 calories doesn't mean you burned 800 fat calories. You can't burn just fat calories. Your body burns glucose also. But you can train to where you are burning the most amount of fat calories possible in that time frame.
The best and most accurate way to test your heart rate is by getting a Vo2 max test done. This can cost around $100-250. For zero cost you can get close to your actually anaerobic threshold hold using a formula or a self perceived test. The formula is as follows: 180-your age. Take that number and add 10 if you exercise 4+ times a week for the last few years, the number stays the same if you exercise 2-3 times a week for the past year, and you subtract 10 if you have not been exercising. For the self perceived test: Hop on a treadmill and warm up for 3-5 minutes then go up to a comfortable speed for 5 more minutes then go up in speed every minute until you reach the point of heavy breathing. At this point make note of what your heart rate is and this is your Anaerobic Threshold. There are (5) heart zones:
Zone 1= Warm-up/Easy
Zone 2= Aerobic Development/Medium
Zone 3= Aerobic Development/Hard (the top of this zone is your Anaerobic Threshold)
Zone 4= Anaerobic Endurance/ Very hard
Zone 5= Speed & Power/Extremely Hard (You can usually only stay in this zone for 30sec-1min at a time)

EXAMPLE OF A ZONE CHART:


Zone 5

Peak
132

Peak
138

Peak
143

Peak
149

Peak
154

Peak
160

Peak
165

Peak
171

Peak
176

Peak
182

Peak
187

Peak
193

Peak
198

Peak
204



Zone 4

132
120

138
125

143
130

149
135

154
140

160
145

165
150

171
155

176
160

182
165

187
170

193
175

198
180

204
185



Anaerobic
Threshold

120
----

125
----

130
----

135
---

140
----

145
---

150
----

155
----

160
----

165
----

170
----

175
----

180
----

185
----



Zone 3

120
108

125
113

130
117

135
122

140
126

145
131

150
135

155
140

160
144

165
149

170
153

175
158

180
162

185
167



Zone 2

108
84

113
88

117
91

122
95

126
98

131
102

135
105

140
109

144
112

149
116

153
119

158
123

162
126

167
130



Zone 1

84
72

88
75

91
78

95
81

98
84

102
87

105
90

109
93

112
96

116
99

119
102

123
105

126
108

130
111


Also the more cardiovascular fit you get the higher your anaerobic threshold gets. So you should test your Anaerobic Threshold every 6-8 weeks. To burn the largest amount of fat calories, work out in zones 2-3 for the majority of your work outs. To move your Anaerobic Threshold up and improve cardiovascular endurance train in zones 4-5 once or twice a week. If you train in zones 4-5 more that twice a week, taking a rest day or an active rest day which means working out in zones 1-2 would be beneficial.
GD