Running question: Speed Intervals or Fat burning Target Heart rate training for Fat burning?

[kevman]

whats a better way to shed the fat and become lean? Speed intervals or target heart rate zone for optimal fat burning. The target heart rate I'm talking about is the 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate. I've been told that tha target heart zone thing is good for percentage of fat , but higher intensity workouts are better .

 

[Train]

intensity and heart rate go hand in hand, you cant have an intense workout without getting to your target heart rate.

 

[SWScorch]

I'm not too sure about that, but I know for maximum fat burning, go for a medium-distance run (5-8 miles for me) and surge every few minutes. For instance, start out at a 8-minute-mile pace, then run half a mile at a 6:30 pace, then another half mile at 8-minute pace, and repeat. That way you get endurance, and the increased heart rate.

EDIT: check this out

 

[johnjbruin]

Do HIIT. You only need to do it for 15mins. It wont burn all your calories in those 15mins - but it will raise your metabolism such that you burn calories at a faster rate for hours after you have done your exercise.

Discalimer: Do not attempt to go all out on HIIT the first time - otherwise you will pretty much kill yourself. Begin slowly - every alternate day - and within 2-3 weeks your body should be up to speed.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: johnjbruin
Do HIIT. You only need to do it for 15mins. It wont burn all your calories in those 15mins - but it will raise your metabolism such that you burn calories at a faster rate for hours after you have done your exercise.

Discalimer: Do not attempt to go all out on HIIT the first time - otherwise you will pretty much kill yourself. Begin slowly - every alternate day - and within 2-3 weeks your body should be up to speed.

Make sure you get some good shoes and do a really good stretch beforehand, too. I got shin splints after trying to do this.

 

[SludgeFactory]

There's a study showing HIIT to be more effective for fat-burning while sparing muscle.

IME it can build stamina pretty quickly, but also IME it's easy to get an injury if you try to jump into things too quickly. If you're starting at zero, I'd recommend having several weeks of lower intensity cardio under your belt to build some strength in the muscles and connective tissues that your particular exercise utilizes and to get an idea how your body can handle the activity, before going 100% balls to the wall. Once you have a good foundation, you can introduce intervals gradually into your regular cardio workout.

 

[classy]

Intense workouts are better. But to get lean and burn fat its diet, diet, diet. You can train till the cows come home, but if your diet doesn't promote lean muscle mass and fat burning, you'll get older faster than you'll get leaner.

 

[classy]

Let me add one more thing
The most effective way to burn fat is through weight training. Nothing is more effective. Not only does weight training promote the direct growth of lean muscle tissue, the fat burning effects of a weight training session lasts signifcantly longer after the fact than any other form of excercise.

 

[edro]

HIIT is most effective, hands down. You sprint to get your heart rate up real high, and to stress your muscles, then you jog to slow it back down and to keep your heart rate in the fat burning zone.

Simple HIIT Sample Exercise:
Week One:
Jog for 2 min.
Sprint for 10sec.
Jog for 2 min.
Sprint for 10sec.
...etc. Until you hit 20 minutes. (9-10 cycles)

Week Two:
Jog for 1:50min.
Sprint for 15sec.
Jog for 1:50min.
Sprint for 15sec.
...etc until you hit 20min.

Week Three:
Jog for 1:45min.
Sprint for 20sec.
Jog for 1:45min.
Sprint for 20sec.
...etc until you hit 20min.

Get the idea? While you are doing this, cut your calories down to about 2200-1900. After 2-3 weeks, you will have lost significant bodyfat. It's a touhg routine though. Also don't expect this workout to do ANYTHING for you if you are eating too many calories! You gotta watch your diet more than anything!

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: classy
Let me add one more thing
The most effective way to burn fat is through weight training. Nothing is more effective. Not only does weight training promote the direct growth of lean muscle tissue, the fat burning effects of a weight training session lasts signifcantly longer after the fact than any other form of excercise.

I guess this explains why all the worlds strongest powerlifters look like fat slobs with BF% over 30%?

Weight training helps, but it wont make a fat person lean.

 

[Scarpozzi]

To maximize your time, run for a constant 12-14 mins at a time....just do it 3-4 times a day. Try to at least hit 7 minute miles... If you can do better than that....do it.

Studies have shown that to maximize workout efforts, multiple 12-14 minute workouts will give you better results because of the bell curve. Your body won't gain as much as you workout longer... Of course, if you were training for a marathon, this wouldn't be good advice...but you'll cut weight a lot faster.

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: classy
Let me add one more thing
The most effective way to burn fat is through weight training. Nothing is more effective. Not only does weight training promote the direct growth of lean muscle tissue, the fat burning effects of a weight training session lasts signifcantly longer after the fact than any other form of excercise.

I guess this explains why all the worlds strongest powerlifters look like fat slobs with BF% over 30%?

Weight training helps, but it wont make a fat person lean.

As usual you you read only every other word. Its a proven fact that strength training is the most effective form of excercise for losing fat and adding muscle. If you read the first post *hole you would have seen where I stated that regardless of what kind of excercise you choose, its your eating habits that will determine how much fat you lose. Weight lifters eat to get big.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: classy

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: classy
Let me add one more thing
The most effective way to burn fat is through weight training. Nothing is more effective. Not only does weight training promote the direct growth of lean muscle tissue, the fat burning effects of a weight training session lasts signifcantly longer after the fact than any other form of excercise.

I guess this explains why all the worlds strongest powerlifters look like fat slobs with BF% over 30%?

Weight training helps, but it wont make a fat person lean.

As usual you you read only every other word. Its a proven fact that strength training is the most effective form of excercise for losing fat and adding muscle. If you read the first post *hole you would have seen where I stated that regardless of what kind of excercise you choose, its your eating habits that will determine how much fat you lose. Weight lifters eat to get big.

"The most effective way to burn fat is through weight training"

This is incorrect, sorry. The most effective way to burn fat is a combination of strength training and cardio.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: kevman
whats a better way to shed the fat and become lean? Speed intervals or target heart rate zone for optimal fat burning. The target heart rate I'm talking about is the 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate. I've been told that tha target heart zone thing is good for percentage of fat , but higher intensity workouts are better .

This question comes up a lot in the cycling community as well and the current thinking is that it really doesn't matter what you do. If you go for the long/slow fatburning workout, you may pull more of your calories directly from fat stores, but you don't burn as many calories overall since you're at a lower intensity. If you go harder, you're mostly using glycogen, but are creating a large total caloric deficit since you're at a higher intensity (and those calories have to come from somewhere later). Just vary your workouts from day to day and you'll be fine.

The biggest obstacle to weight loss for most people is just sticking with the plan. If you do the same thing every day, odds are you'll get bored and be prone to skipping workouts.

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: Fausto

"The most effective way to burn fat is through weight training"

This is incorrect, sorry. The most effective way to burn fat is a combination of strength training and cardio.

Agreed. But if your going to choose one or the other, weight lifting wins out.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Actually, I've started doing HIIT last week. I'm in decent shape (runs 2-3 miles/day 3 or so times per week), but wanted to give HIIT a try.

The square block that my apartment is located is about 1/4 mile around the perimeter sidewalk. My starting out HIIT pace was to jog the first leg of the block (1/16 mile), run hard the next two legs (1/8 mile) and walk the last let (1/16 mile) back to the starting point. I repeat this pace for 5 total laps (1.25 miles) and I jog 2 laps (1/2 mile) as a warm up.

When I'm finished, I'm pretty dog tired. Are my intervals spaced too far, or is OK for starting out?

 

[kevman]

let me give a background here,

I've been doing some treadmill running for a few years now, typically 3 miles a day at about 6mph 4 to 5 days a week. It has helped me lose about 50 pounds but now I have kind of hit a platueu on this routine. I am keep my calories to about <1900 a day. so on a HIIT plan what kind of speeds should I run for the sprint vs jog? I guess my current running 6mph is a good joggin spead, although I am above the target fat burning zone when I last measured. I'm guessing that doing HIIT would probalby make my metabolism a litte better and make the body more efficeint. I keep my diet fairly stric, I try to get the right protiens and nutrition but do not eat a lot of junk.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: classy

Originally posted by: Fausto

"The most effective way to burn fat is through weight training"

This is incorrect, sorry. The most effective way to burn fat is a combination of strength training and cardio.

Agreed. But if your going to choose one or the other, weight lifting wins out.

Not if you just want to burn body fat. Even with the ramp up in metabolism after lifting to repair and rebuild, I still don't think you can come close to the calories burned by and aerobic workout given the same amount of time. If you put a gun to my head and said "lose 20 lbs in four weeks or I'll kill you" I'd head for the treadmill, not the weight room.

The average person can knock off 6-800 kcal in a hour on a bike, I just don't think you can do that with weights (although I don't have data in front of me to back that up).

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: classy

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: classy
Let me add one more thing
The most effective way to burn fat is through weight training. Nothing is more effective. Not only does weight training promote the direct growth of lean muscle tissue, the fat burning effects of a weight training session lasts signifcantly longer after the fact than any other form of excercise.

I guess this explains why all the worlds strongest powerlifters look like fat slobs with BF% over 30%?

Weight training helps, but it wont make a fat person lean.

As usual you you read only every other word. Its a proven fact that strength training is the most effective form of excercise for losing fat and adding muscle. If you read the first post *hole you would have seen where I stated that regardless of what kind of excercise you choose, its your eating habits that will determine how much fat you lose. Weight lifters eat to get big.

Classy, as usual, you're full of sh!t. While weight training is a good idea to maintain lean mass and keep your metabolism up while dieting and doing cardio, it is the cardio and diet that burns the vast majority of fat. Maintaining the lean mass may help you keep fat off, but it doesn't BURN fat.

Classy, I'm a weight lifter. How lean I am depends entirely on my cardio routine and diet. Weight lifting alone has very little effect on how much fat my body has.

 

[kevman]

Originally posted by: kevman
let me give a background here,

I've been doing some treadmill running for a few years now, typically 3 miles a day at about 6mph 4 to 5 days a week. It has helped me lose about 50 pounds but now I have kind of hit a platueu on this routine. I am keep my calories to about <1900 a day. so on a HIIT plan what kind of speeds should I run for the sprint vs jog? I guess my current running 6mph is a good joggin spead, although I am above the target fat burning zone when I last measured. I'm guessing that doing HIIT would probalby make my metabolism a litte better and make the body more efficeint. I keep my diet fairly stric, I try to get the right protiens and nutrition but do not eat a lot of junk.

anyone?

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: kevman

Originally posted by: kevman
let me give a background here,

I've been doing some treadmill running for a few years now, typically 3 miles a day at about 6mph 4 to 5 days a week. It has helped me lose about 50 pounds but now I have kind of hit a platueu on this routine. I am keep my calories to about <1900 a day. so on a HIIT plan what kind of speeds should I run for the sprint vs jog? I guess my current running 6mph is a good joggin spead, although I am above the target fat burning zone when I last measured. I'm guessing that doing HIIT would probalby make my metabolism a litte better and make the body more efficeint. I keep my diet fairly stric, I try to get the right protiens and nutrition but do not eat a lot of junk.

anyone?

You can either ramp up your mileage/intensity or start incorporating weights into your workout routine. Sounds like you've been doing the same thing for a while and your body has adapted. You'll need to kick it in the ass to get back on track. Varied workouts are always the best way to make relatively rapid progress.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Fausto

Originally posted by: kevman

Originally posted by: kevman
let me give a background here,

I've been doing some treadmill running for a few years now, typically 3 miles a day at about 6mph 4 to 5 days a week. It has helped me lose about 50 pounds but now I have kind of hit a platueu on this routine. I am keep my calories to about <1900 a day. so on a HIIT plan what kind of speeds should I run for the sprint vs jog? I guess my current running 6mph is a good joggin spead, although I am above the target fat burning zone when I last measured. I'm guessing that doing HIIT would probalby make my metabolism a litte better and make the body more efficeint. I keep my diet fairly stric, I try to get the right protiens and nutrition but do not eat a lot of junk.

anyone?

You can either ramp up your mileage/intensity or start incorporating weights into your workout routine. Sounds like you've been doing the same thing for a while and your body has adapted. You'll need to kick it in the ass to get back on track. Varied workouts are always the best way to make relatively rapid progress.

Yep, your body gets used to what it's doing, and adapts only enough to get through that. Up the speed, do HIIT, or change cardio exercise completely.

Oh, and Fausto is correct. Anyone trying to lose weight should do weight training so they keep or increase their lean muscle mass. Not only does it help with the fat fight, it makes you healthier overall.

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: Amused

Classy, as usual, you're full of sh!t. While weight training is a good idea to maintain lean mass and keep your metabolism up while dieting and doing cardio, it is the cardio and diet that burns the vast majority of fat. Maintaining the lean mass may help you keep fat off, but it doesn't BURN fat.

Classy, I'm a weight lifter. How lean I am depends entirely on my cardio routine and diet. Weight lifting alone has very little effect on how much fat my body has.

Probably a very underveloped weight lifter at that. First of all he asked about fat loss, not weight loss. Weight loss doesn't mean fat loss. The most effective way to encourage fat loss is to encorage lean muscle development. Now you can do the research yourself. While I stated before, no matter what form of excercise he chooses to do, his diet, let me repeat that, his diet will be the most important factor in his desire to lose fat, not weight loss. Cardio needs to be done almost perfect to be a real effective for permament fat loss, because cardio can't build muscle. Lean muscle growth leads to permament fat loss. Most folks lose weight but not fat. Muscle tissue burns more calories. Most folks get discouraged when they lose 10 lbs but still "look" the same. Why? Because its not fat loss. Again let me say this very slowly, to lose fat and keep it off, work towards gaining lean muscle tissue. And nothing will develope lean muscle tissue faster than strength training. And by the way I am 5'10, 193, 44 inch chest, 16 1/2 inch arms cold. AT my peak I max bench well into the 3's. As a younger fella I deadlifted well over 600 and squatted over 500. I am talking real lifts in strict power lifting style. As a high school athlete I was star d back in football and ran a legit 4'4 40. I am was dominate a 200 meter champ in track. I picked up my first weight at the age of 14. I can asure you I have seen a lot in the area of fitness. I have literally dozens of books on just about anything you think of concerning fitness, excercise, and diet. While no expert I have over 15 years of experience, first hand knowledge in the area of fitness. I have helped many over the years in diet and fitness. While there is no silver bullet and everybody is different, some things like adding weight training to your excercise routine is a must. I brought that up to him as alternative that I know for a fact can help him tremendously.

 

[kevman]

Ok,

i'm trying to gather all the info in this thread to come up with a plan,

here is what I am thinkning:

do a shorter run, say 20 minuts but either with HIIT or just and overall higher speed throughout the entire run, maybe like bump up to 7 or 8 miles per hour.

After that do some wieghts, vary it up a little. I was thinking light weights like a really light benching or biceps or military press, with a lot of slow burning type reps with ( like 30 reps, three sets of light bench, 60lbs?)

will this help me lose fat provided I keep my dieat healthy low fat etc? or di I need to run more along with the weights?

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: kevman
Ok,

i'm trying to gather all the info in this thread to come up with a plan,

here is what I am thinkning:

do a shorter run, say 20 minuts but either with HIIT or just and overall higher speed throughout the entire run, maybe like bump up to 7 or 8 miles per hour.

After that do some wieghts, vary it up a little. I was thinking light weights like a really light benching or biceps or military press, with a lot of slow burning type reps with ( like 30 reps, three sets of light bench, 60lbs?)

will this help me lose fat provided I keep my dieat healthy low fat etc? or di I need to run more along with the weights?

Some of these other guys can probably help you more with the cardio portion, I do cardio on my eliptical trainer . For a workout, hopefully you belong to a gym or have one in your house.


For each of these excercises, do 2 sets of 8 reps for the first 3 weeks, twice a week on the days you don't do cardio. Use very light weights, especially if your new to weight training.

Bench Presses
Military Presses
Upright Rows
Lat pull downs
Squats
Tricep Pressdowns
Barbell Curls


And the guy early was right about diet. I would say closer to 1900, but thats just me. Stay away from processed food, white flour, sugar, and saturated fat as much as possible. Concentrate on moderate protein, moderate carbs (mostly complex), and good fat ala flax seed oil. And don't forget the water.