Does The Fat Burning Zone Really Exist?

You may have heard about the fat burning zone, which is the perfect amount of intensity to burn the most fat. Some cardio machines even have a graph on them to show heart rate and fat burning. Based on the information from those machines, since it’s not at the highest intensity, these people often have more subdued exercises. However, another school of thought is that the higher the intensity, the better the workout. That also can be a fallacy.

It’s all based on your heart rate.

High-intensity workouts drive your heart rate toward maximum, while fat burning intensity is less than that, but still a bit of an effort. In order to burn fat, the body needs two things, time and oxygen. Body fat breaks down slower and requires more oxygen. The high intensity workout doesn’t provide the time and there’s less oxygen, so it uses carbohydrates instead of fat for fuel.

There’s a problem with the whole scenario that needs to be considered.

It’s all about losing weight and burning calories. While you’ll burn more fat tissue with a low intensity fat-burning zone workout, you won’t burn as many calories, so may not create a calorie deficit to lose weight. While the high intensity workout burns far more calories and will end up with more of a calorie deficit to take off weight. In the end, if you don’t burn enough calories, you won’t lose fat, no matter what intensity.

Try high-intensity interval training—HIIT.

HIIT is a way to vary the intensity of a workout. It burns fat and tons of calories, while helping you get in shape faster. You move at the highest intensity for a short time and then switch to a lower, recovery speed to get your heart rate lower for a few minutes. Switch back to a higher intensity etc. You can use HIIT with any kind of exercise and the science of it is probably the reason kickboxing gets you fit faster and burns fat. You’re constantly volleying between top intensity and recovery, making it a natural HIIT workout.

• Finding the fat burning zone requires an effort unless you have the right equipment and then it’s based on the average, not based on the individual and taken from a chart.
• Focusing only on the mathematics of a workout and trying to stick with strictly the fat burning zone takes a lot of mental energy that could be devoted to form and even enjoyment.
• The theory of the fat burning zone suggests that the ultimate zone is at 60 percent of the maximum heart rate. However, the fact that each person is different, based on age, sex and other factors, finding the exact fat burning zone is difficult.
• Rather than focusing on the fat burning zone, go for variety and enjoyment. Whether you want personal training or choose the fun of kickboxing, we can help at One Love Fit Club in Chino, CA.

For more information, contact us today at One Love Fit Club