Fat-Burning Heart Rates

Burning body fat is one of the main goals most individuals strive to achieve through exercise. Too often, individuals adopt the "more and harder is better" philosophy in terms of their exercise. One main key for fat burning is to train in the proper heart rate zones. Depending on the intensity of your workout and the heart rate you are trying to maintain, you will either burn glycogen or fat.

Heart Rate Zones

In order to know what your fat burning heart rates are, one must establish his proper heart rate zones. Your heart rate zones will be based off of your LT, or lactic acid threshold. LT is the point at which your body produces more lactate products--lactic acid and hydrogen ions--than can be buffered. Your LT can be measured in a laboratory or in training. For a good estimate of your LT, perform 30 minutes at maximal effort on your cardio machine of choice. Your average heart rate for this 30-minute effort will be a good estimate of your LT. Determine your LT on various pieces of cardio equipment such as the elliptical, treadmill and stationary bike. Once your LT is established, you can plug this into an exercise software programs and it will give you your five to seven heart rate zones.

Proper Training

Working out in heart rate zones 1 to 3 and a little in zone 4 will be ideal fat-burning heart rates. Training in zones 1 and 2 will be fairly comfortable and will be at an intensity level that you can still carry on a conversation. As you progress into higher heart rate zones, the effort will intensify and breathing will become more labored.

Misconceptions

One big misconception about burning fat is that "more is better" in terms of intensity. Training at too high an intensity too often will burn more glycogen than fat. Glycogen is fuel for the body and is stored in our muscles and liver. Working out in the proper fat-burning heart rate zones will facilitate fat as the body's primary fuel source.

Debunking Myths

One myth about fat-burning heart rate zones is that it is easy and it will not be a challenging workout. This could not be further from the truth, especially as your fitness level begins to increase. As your fitness level improves, you will be able to work out harder, longer and faster at the same level of lower heart rates. So, what once seemed easy in zones 1 and 2, will become quite challenging over time.

Significance

Working out in fat-burning heart rate zones will assist you in losing body fat and losing weight. By reducing body fat, you can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. Reducing body fat by training in fat burning heart rate zones can also assist in increasing your energy levels. Also, by training at fat burning heart rates, your can reduce their risk of injury during exercise.