Target Heart Rate

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-29-2004
Target Heart Rate
1
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 11:58am
I have a questions about what heart rate I should be working out at. I was speaking to someone who said that when I work out on the elliptical machine I should stay between 155 - 160 because anything higher that that will burn sugar and not fat. Is this true? My age is 28 and I figured out my target heart rate. My max heart rate is 192 - 50-60% is 96-115, 60-70% is 115-134.4 and 70-90% is 134.4-172.8. I do strength training about 3 times a week and cardio 3 times a week. How do you know at what point your body starts to burn sugar and not fat? I'm confused. I would appreciate any input. Thanks.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 12:41pm

no, it is not true. your body burns more fat the more calories you burn, and the higher your heart rate generally the more calories you are burning. the misunderstanding comes from the fact that you burn a higher percentage of sugar as opposed to fat when your heart rate gets higher.


think of it this way - your main limits on how much fat you can burn are oxygen and free time available to exercise. on the other hand, your main limit on how much sugar you can burn is how much is immediately available to your body. once that runs out, you need to burn fat and are subject to the limits of oxygen and free time.


so, if you workout for the same amount of time, intense exercise will burn more calories and fat than moderate, BUT