Cardio vs. Fat Burning Zones

Let's say you're on the treadmill at the gym and your goal is to loose fat...

Why do you want a lower heart rate to burn fat than when you do the regular cardio training???

THX

Others will disagree, but the theory is that moderate cardio for longer intervals burns a higher percentage of fat for teh number of calories you burn. I tend to agree, based on anecdotal evidence. So I think moderate cardio from 45-60 minutes 3-4 times a week is best burning fat.

OH Duncan... what happened to your post

I know I read it Friday afternoon and now its gone

Will intense cardio reverse the weight lifting results? I heard that tooo much cardio basically reverses the muscle mass. I am trying to build so I don't want to do that. Can I still run or do the crosstrainer for fat loss or am I hurting my progress?

Hey newly_buff!!!

Duncan had a great peice here but it was lost Friday... maybe we can get him to post it again.

Hey I'm from Texas to... Houston. Where are you???

Hi butterfly!!

I hope it can be posted again. Who do I need to ask? I am getting more serious with my bb and I need all of the info I can get my hands on, infact I am getting quite a notebook going now!

I live about an hour out of San Antonio. We occasionally go to Houston...were aren't toooooo far away LOL.

Read my posts if you can...one of them tells my whole story or most of it. It is a long story...to long to post again. It just tells how my progress has been going. I was 248 in Oct. and now I am 166 so there is def. some changes in me!

Wow, I finally post something informative and it was removed or lost.

Anyway, I will give you a synopsis. Low intensity cardio will lead you to burn a higher percentage of calories from fat, but you will burn fewer total calories. SO if you do low intensity for 1 hour, 40% of your burned cals may be fat, but you only burn 500 total cals which leads to only 200 fat cals. If you go high intensity for 1 hour, your percentage may only be 30%, but you will burn 1200 total cals which leads to 360 fat cals. Oh, and all that catabolizing muscle stuff is BS. Unless you are eating like an ethiopian, you will not drop a significant amount of muscle doing cardio at a high intensity. If you are overly worried about it, just take a protein shake with casein twice a day and that should cover you. I put it more eloquently last time but I do not remember everything I worte, but I do recall the jist of it all.

Thanx!! I don't want to give up my cardio. I know if helps along with the lifting of keeping my metabolism higher. I have felt sooo much better over the past 6 months...better I think than I ever have before in my life and I am not even to my goal yet!! I am SOOOO excited!!

Everyone here is great and I am happy to be a part of it.

Thanks for re-posting that Duncan!!!

I seem to remember you saying something about interval training being the best way to go...

Interval training also has a more positive effect on your metabolism for a longer period of time compared to monotonous jogging or low intensity stuff.

Low intensity exercise may effect your metabolism for say 3-4 hours afterwards, whereas HIIT effects your metabolism for about 15-24 hours after. Sometimes maybe even longer.

And there's also a more positive hormone state achieved from HIIT compared to low intensity i do believe...

Now, one little thing i (would) do, is if you're on really low carbs then just stick to low intensity stuff cause you're probbaly already in a fat burning state. If you've carbed up the night before, or you're not doing a low carb diet, then do HIIT cause anaerobic exercise uses primarily glucose for fuel, so this way you'll have glycogen stores to use and you won't be tapping into muscle reserves.

So for instance, i'm gonna do a cut where i do mini-carb loads after training. So if i do cardio the morning after training, i'll do HIIT cause i have glycogen available to fuel it. If i haven't trained the night before then chances are my glycogen stores will be low and i'd risk eating into muscle if i did HIIT, so instead i'd do low intensity exercise for a longer duration.

This way exercises both metabolic pathways and would no doubt have positive aspects on your cardiac conditioning.

I'm not saying this is the way to do it, but it's something i'm gonna employ when i start cutting...~sigh~...tomorrow...

Good post chicken, I am currently doing something very similar to that. Where is this post, Tidal.

high intensity training in form of intervalls is best for loosing the fat under the skin, and it gives the most afterburn for the longest time. also, it is highly compatible with weight training, unlike endurance/low intensity training. just look at sprinters legs versus marathon runners legs.