Using heart rate monitors to burn fat - Fitness BlogUsing heart rate monitors to burn fatBy Larry Kr...

1. Using heart rate monitors to burn fat - Fitness Blog
Using heart rate monitors to burn fat - Fitness Blog
Using heart rate monitors to burn fat
By Larry Krutka
Published Jun 12, 2009
YOUR REACTION?
In my last blog I recommend the use of a heart rate monitor when starting an exercise program. A
heart rate monitor gives you instant feedback about what effort level of exercise is right for you. To
understand why knowing your heart rate is important you'll have to bear with me on some human
physiology. Stay with me, this is important.

2. Your effort level is directly correlated to your heart rate. The harder you work the higher your heart
rate. Many people do not know that your body draws energy for your muscles from several different
sources. In a hundred yard dash, runners utilize chemical energy stored in the muscles called Sell
your gift cards ATP. Why is that important? The body does not burn significant amounts of fat at
high intensity. If your goal is to lose weight, you want to burn fat. At high intensity exercise you burn
ATP. At medium intensity you primarily burn glycogen and small amounts of fat. Medium intensity is
usually referred to as your aerobic range. This range is about 80 percent of your maximal heart rate.
Charts giving your estimated aerobic range can be found on the American Heart Association's Web
site. Exercising below your aerobic range increases the percentage of fat burned in a workout. This
is important because energy used from fat is less likely to be replaced. When glycogen is used as a
fuel source your insulin drops and you become hungry and are driven to replace those calories. That
is why you often hear people say things like, "I exercised for weeks and did not lose a single pound
of fat." These people probably exercised too hard!
I'm about to tie this information into an effective exercise/weight loss program. Bear with me
through just a little more physiology. How can you increase the percentage of fat burning when you
exercise? Most marathon runners know this one. Once a week you exercise at a sub aerobic heart
rate for 50 percent longer amount of time. If you usually walk at a 16 minute pace per mile for two
miles, then you should walk at an 18 minute pace for 3 miles. Exercise 10 beats per minute lower for
a longer period. This long slow exercise increases your ability to burn fat.

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e information you might be thinking that all you have to do is keep your heart rate sub aerobic range
when you exercise, right? Wrong. The problem with doing all sub aerobic range exercise is that you
do not burn many calories. Experience has taught us that one slow workout per week will increase
your ability to burn fat. It takes about six weeks to get a measurable change in your ability to burn
fat. It may take another six weeks for that change to show up on the scales. The good news is that
once you've made this physiologic change, you will burn more fat in everything you do, with the
added bonus of not feeling so incredibly hungry.
There you have it. Some of the calories you burn are not going to be consumed in your next meal.
Now you have another effective tool to drop those unwanted pounds without extraordinary willpower
or a sense of food deprivation.
What is the best way to exercise in the right range? You guessed it. You are more effective with a
heart rate monitor.
The gold standard in heart rate monitors is made by Polar. Polar's $65 model is just as accurate as
their $600 model. Having a heart rate monitor guides you to just the right level of exercise to lose
weight and avoid injury. An accurate heart rate monitor will have a chest belt transmitter and a
watch receiver. The chest belt counts the contractions of your heart and the watch displays your
heart rate. You now have knowledge that works for the Olympic athlete to the casual weekend
walker. We all have the same biologic system that utilizes energy in the same way. Train safe and
train smart!
http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/larry-fitness-training-and-sports/using-heart-rate-monitors-t
o-burn-fat/