What are the different heart rate zones?

[poopy pants]

Originally posted on: http://www.brothersiniron.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4


Healthy Heart Zone

The first zone is called the Healthy Heart Zone. This is 50-60% of your max HR. This is the easiest and most comfortable zone within which to train and is the one that is best for people who are just starting an exercise program or have low functional capacity. Those of you who are walkers most likely train at this zone. Although this zone has been criticized for not burning enough total calories, and for not being intense enough to get great cardio respiratory benefits, it has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. In this zone, 10% of carbohydrates are "burned" (used as energy), 5% of protein is burned and a whopping 85% of fat is burned.

Fitness Zone

The next zone is the Fitness Zone, which is 60-70% of your max HR. Once again, 85% of your calories burned in this zone are fats, 5% are proteins and 10% are carbohydrates. Studies have shown that in this zone you can condition your fat mobilization (getting fat out of your cells) while conditioning your fat transportation (getting fat to muscles). Thus, in this zone, you are training your fat cells to increase the rate of fat release and training your muscles to burn fat. Therefore, the benefits of this zone are not only the same as the healthy heart zone training at 50-60% but you are now slightly increasing the total number of calories burned and provide a little more cardiorespiratory benefits. You burn more total calories at this zone simply because it is more intense.

Aerobic Zone

The third zone, the Aerobic Zone, requires that you train at 70-80% of your max HR. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. In this zone, your functional capacity will greatly improve and you can expect to increase the number and size of blood vessels, increase vital capacity and respiratory rate and achieve increases in pulmonary ventilation, as well as increases in arterial venous oxygen. Moreover, stroke volume (amount of blood pumped per heart beat) will increase, and your resting heart rate will decrease. What does all this mean? It means that your cardiovascular and respiratory system will improve and you will increase the size and strength of your heart. In this zone, 50% of calories burned are from carbohydrates, 50% are from fat and less than 1% is from protein. And, because there is an increase in intensity, there is also an increase in the total number of calories burned.

Anaerobic Zone

The next training zone is called the Threshold or Anaerobic zone, which is 80-90% of your max HR. Benefits include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardio respiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. Since the intensity is high, more calories will be burned than within the other three zones. Although more calories are burned in this zone, 85% of the calories burned are from carbohydrates, 15% from fat and less than 1% are from protein.

Red-line Zone

The last training zone is called the Redline Zone, which is 90-100% of your max HR. Remember, training at 100% is your maximum heart rate (maximum HR), your heart rate will not get any higher. This zone burns the highest total number of calories and the lowest percentage of fat calories. Ninety percent of the calories burned here are carbohydrates, only 10% are fats and again less than one percent is protein. This zone is so intense that very few people can actually stay in this zone for the minimum 20 minutes, or even five minutes (you should only train in this zone if you are in very great! shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so). Usually, people use this zone for interval training. For example, one might do three minutes in the Aerobic Zone and then one minute in this Redline Zone and then back to the Aerobic Zone this is called interval training.

[Natural]

Just wondering where you found this article. Thanks.

[conner96]

I recently started using a Polar A3 HRM and noticed that when I run at a moderate pace (7-8 min mile) my HR is consistently over 90% of maximum (181), however I can continue to run without tiring significantly. When I increase pace or incline from this point, I can easily reach or exceed max HR and at this point I can continue for approximately 7-9 minutes. I do cardio 6 days a week (combination or stationary bike and running or one only on lift days). Resting HR is 48 in early AM, 55 in afternoon.
Is is possible that the HRM is providing accurate readings, as I thought training near the max HR would produce significant fatigue. Also, it is much harder to reach these levels on a stationary bike (recumbant) than it is running or stair climbing, is this typical? Any thoughts?

[Orton]

So to burn the maximum amount of fat you need to be training in the fitness zone? Or can you burn more fat in the higher zones because your burning more calories? This is something I've never been too sure about. Great post though.

Another thing: I read that being fitter increases your metabolism, therefore increases your fat burning capabilities while idle...

So how is the best way to train for fat loss? Do I do intense cardio, or do I take it easy? I'm capable of sustaining high amounts of effort for around 20 minutes or more if needed. Thanks

[Ikabob]

Hey....Tony! Thank you very much for this info! Good material. What about thresholds? I am not clear on those. Thank you.

[Marykaa]

Originally posted by conner96:
I recently started using a Polar A3 HRM and noticed that when I run at a moderate pace (7-8 min mile) my HR is consistently over 90% of maximum (181), however I can continue to run without tiring significantly.

I have the Polar F6 and what I think is that it uses the 220-age as max.. This is good for people up to 30 OR over 30 but not in any kind of good shape. Pesonally I use the 210-(age/2) for the MaxHR which is for people over 30 and in good cardio shape.... but then.. it seems too high.. so I go 5 less... LOL well anyways.. the only place I cheat on my age is on my Polar.. I tell it I am 10 years younger.. and everyting falls into place..

by the way.. my polar also counts calories burned.. and putting it at 10 years younger it is much more realistic than when I look at the calorie counter on the eliptical at the gym, where I put my true age.. but spend all of my time in the red zone..

TONY ... we call 60-70% aerobic as well It uses the aeorbic system.. just low intensity..

[Brennon]

Originally posted by Orton:
So to burn the maximum amount of fat you need to be training in the fitness zone? Or can you burn more fat in the higher zones because your burning more calories? This is something I've never been too sure about. Great post though.

Another thing: I read that being fitter increases your metabolism, therefore increases your fat burning capabilities while idle...

So how is the best way to train for fat loss? Do I do intense cardio, or do I take it easy? I'm capable of sustaining high amounts of effort for around 20 minutes or more if needed. Thanks

Study after study have shown that total caloric expenditure is all that really matters. The 'fat loss zone' is BS.

[dos]

Conner posted

I recently started using a Polar A3 HRM and noticed that when I run at a moderate pace (7-8 min mile) my HR is consistently over 90% of maximum (181), however I can continue to run without tiring significantly. When I increase pace or incline from this point, I can easily reach or exceed max HR and at this point I can continue for approximately 7-9 minutes. I do cardio 6 days a week (combination or stationary bike and running or one only on lift days). Resting HR is 48 in early AM, 55 in afternoon.
Is is possible that the HRM is providing accurate readings, as I thought training near the max HR would produce significant fatigue. Also, it is much harder to reach these levels on a stationary bike (recumbant) than it is running or stair climbing, is this typical? Any thoughts?

Most likely, your TRUE MHR is higher than your predicted otherwise you wouldn't be cruising around for 9 minute @ > 90%.

Also, training for 'fat loss' should equate to training has hard as you can for as long as you can thus burning more calories.

[Guido]

I'm very sceptic too about the fat-burning zone. To me it is all a matter of thermodynamics, conservation of energy.

Energy gained trough food - energy consumed = energy stored in fat. No matter what fuel is used. If you increase energy spending and hold you energy intake on the same level, fat has to be burned sooner or later, during the exercise or after.

[Lisa~]

I'm with Brenner and think that "Fat Loss Zones" are bs. Maybe this short article by Kelly Baggettt will explain it better than I can.

Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Exercise – Which Burns More Fat?
By Kelly Baggett

Fat is not actually burned much during exercise unless you are doing relatively light exercise. The percentage of calories the body uses that comes from fat when you take a leisurely walk or sleep is relatively high, so, in essence, those could be considered fat burning activities. However, the total energy expenditure during these activities is so
low that it doesn't make much difference if 90% of the calories you burn come from fat - 90% of nothing is still nothing! This explains why sleeping isn't a good form of exercise and won't do a whole lot for your physique even though most of the calories you burn
during sleep come from fat!

Fuel selection during exercise works like a pendulum. If you exercise at a high intensity, involve multiple muscle groups, and burn a lot of carbohydrates by performing something like a full body weight training session, it just causes more fat to be burned after exercise for things like glycogen storage and protein synthesis. The majority of research shows that as far as real world fat loss goes, it doesn’t really matter whether you burn fat or carbohydrate for fuel during the workout itself. Rather, total energy expenditure, metabolic stimulation, and 24-hour calorie balance is what matters. If you burn glucose during exercise, you tend to burn more fat the rest of the day. If you burn
fat during exercise, you burn more glucose during the day. This explains why athletes like sprinters and gymnasts, who NEVER burn fat during exercise, are so very lean.

The guy who squats intensely burns more fat walking to the water fountain in between sets then the walker does meandering around the neighborhood for 30 minutes!

How effective is a full body weight training workout for metabolic stimulation and fat loss? In one study a group of people did a simple workout consisting of 4 sets of 10 for the squat, bench press, and power clean. Their energy expenditure was monitored both
during the workout and over the next 48 hours. They burned about 350-400 calories during the 1/2 hour workout itself. However, over the next 48 hours they burned an ADDITIONAL 700 calories above baseline in addition to what they burned in the workout. The amount of metabolic stimulation from the workout sped the metabolism up to such an extent that the body burned an amount of calories over the next 48 hours
equivalent to 1/5th of a pound of fat! In contrast, 45 minutes of regular cardio will burn about the same number of calories during the exercise session itself, BUT, it will only spark the metabolism to burn about 50 additional calories above baseline during the 48
hour post exercise period. Which sounds more effective to you?

Intense ANaerobic exercise like full body weight training creates waves throughout the whole body that not only stimulate protein synthesis but also stimulate the entire body to behave in a much leaner fashion. The nervous system is stimulated (think natural caffeine) and nutrients are directed and pulled away from the "fat" compartment and into the "lean" or muscle compartment.

[Guido]

it doesn’t really matter whether you burn fat or carbohydrate for fuel during the workout itself. Rather, total energy expenditure, metabolic stimulation, and 24-hour calorie balance is what matters. If you burn glucose during exercise, you tend to burn more fat the rest of the day. If you burn
fat during exercise, you burn more glucose during the day.

Like I said conservation of energy.

I can think of only two reasons why fat burn zones matter:

1 The demands on the heart are low. It is safe and easy to train in this zone, even if your are seriously over weight or have bad physical condition. It's better to burn few calories safe then to burn more calories while risking heart-failure. Fat burn is a stage to go trough from couch-potato to regular excercise.

2 The body stores only a limited amount of glycogen for immediate, intense action. If you practice endurance sports like long distance running or cycling, you want to keep your glycogen for the final sprint in the last kilometer. Those athletes train their body to burn fat and preserve glycogen.

There are plenty of ways to work in the fat burn zone that don't involve fancy equipment: gardening, going for a walk, walking the dog,... . Unless you actually live and work in the gym, you'll get plenty of "fat burn" workouts in ordinary life.

[Karen P]

Great information. Just what I was looking for. Thanks!