Korean Job Discussion Forums

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

I started exercising seriously about 3 weeks ago and at that time I ordered a heart rate monitor from ebay. (this one) It arrived today and I headed into the gym to use it after I get everything set up.

According to my age (I input one higher since it's only a few months away - 35) and this device my target fat burning heart rate is between 102 and 120. However even before I got through my warm up on the treadmill I was already sitting at 118-120. My warmup speed is 6.5-7.0 and from there I jump up to 10.0 for as long as I can go (usually around 10-12 minutes) before dropping down to 7.0 for another 5 minutes and then 4 more minutes at 10.0 followed by an extended slowdown phase of 2 minutes at each half point till I reach 5.0.

Anyhow when I was running at 10.0 my heart rate was hovering around 140. What I want to know is if this is really dangerously high or what. Also what would you recommend to increase weight loss.

Dispatched · Joined: 08 May 2004

By no means a guru but...

Your ideal fat burning heart rate is usually reached when you are at a brisk walk. 6.5-7.0 for most people would be pretty brisk and I'm not surprised if you reached your fat burning heart rate doing it. Any faster and you start moving from fat burning to cardio work which is great for fitness but apparently isn't the optimal for fat burning.
No, 140 isn't a dangerous heart rate but it really depends on your age, fitness level, heart condition etc. For most people 140 is fine... like the machine says on it somewhere, 'consult a doctor before strenuous exercise.'

Hope that helps.

chronicpride · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

This should help you. Actually, the whole site should help you. They're one of the best for fitness advice, same for the reputation of their supplements.

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

you shouldnt be doing HIIT training now.. you have only started back at training.. you need to get in shape alittle first.. perhaps your second month you could do 1 minute - 7.0 walk then 10 run for 1 minute do that for 20 minutes.. three times aweek...

that will burn body fat .. but also burning body is all about DIET and training together.. so balance a cardio and weight session with a clean diet set your goals for 3 months! and check the mirror! you wil be looking
good!

about the heart rate.. the rate will come down once your body relaxes on the treadmill.. you need to jog for about 10minutes at the same pace then your heart rate will stay calm. then you will get in shape.. doing HIIT roughs up your heart and puts it into shock.. so it will be all over the place nothing wrong with it.. make sure you eat enough CARBS before you do HIIT tho.. or you will just end up skinny fat

chronicpride · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Actually, best time to do a workout of any kind, be it cardio or weight training, is first thing in the morning, before you eat anything. Reason being, is that your body is just coming off an extended period of fasting in between meals. After walking up, your blood sugar and glycogen levels will be depleted, which help will target the burning of fat and not carbs. Don't put any carbs in your body before a work out or else your body is just going to target that first, before it goes after your body fat. The only thing that I'd allow to enter your body prior to that would be water or maybe orange juice to give your body a natural fructose energy rush. Then, after about 30 min to an hour after your workout, have a well-balanced health shake or small meal relatively equal in protein and carbs. Your diet and routine for the rest of the day would have then have to be relative to your fitness goals, ie., bulking up, toning down, blah-blah...

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

Dispatch,
thanks for the info - Yeah I guess I need to take a look at the cardio setting and see where my heart should be in there.

ChronicPride,
will look at that site later tonight. I know about the early morning thing and when I can I do that though I usually have a small snack (yogurt or cereal) about 20 minutes before going. Though now that the semester has started I can't get to the gym before 12 except on weekends.

Itaewonguy,
what is HIIT training? I'll change my running pattern a little but I've already been doing this for about 3 weeks now. I've also changed my diet slightly - mostly slight reductions in portions and no cola or cookies (my achilles heel) and since I don't drink beer isn't an issue.

What do you mean by skinny fat? thin, but lots of body fat? I'm assuming rice 2x a day is sufficient carbs - married to Korean so I tend to eat Korean at home.

Thanks for all the advice guys...

One more thing I do have a weight target for Christmas day which is 3.5 kilos down from now (I'm not a lot overweight but in total need to lose about 6.5 kilos) and am considering trainging for a marathon.

gmat · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

140 is not that high at all, check out the sites mentioned but don't be concerned with that level. It may be slightly above 70% but it is probably close.

For fat loss try to keep your target rate at about 65% to 70%.

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

thanks again.

It just seems counter-intuitive that I should be doing a fast walk on the machine rather than running at a good clip. But if that's what research and the experts say then I'll be doing that from now on.

Captain Corea · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Seoul

jlb · Joined: 18 Sep 2003

I prefer to think of the whole weight loss/fat loss thing in a much simpler way. Calories in (food) and calories out (daily activities/exercise, etc). The more cardio training you do, the more fat you will lose. Don't worry so much about fat burning range, just exercise and you'll start to see changes in your body.

If you're really serious about losing fat, start lifting some weights and convert that fat into muscle.

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

This is all great advice. I did weights about 3 years ago and lost weight but haven't been doing any this time around and the weight loss is slower. I didn't see the correlation untill you mentioned that. Will start weights from tomorrow.

Thanks so much for all the solid advice.

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

Well, you must keep in mind that you might actually gain weight as you muscle mass increases (I gained more than 60 pounds from lifting weights over 15 years), so don't look too much at the scale.

AdamH · Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 5:00 am Post subject:

Also, check out

http://home.howstuffworks.com/diet.htm

especially the 'weight loss myths', which explains how many calories you need to burn off to lose a pound of weight.

Confused Canadian · Joined: 21 Jan 2003

Perhaps some of you can help me out here.... (I'll try to keep this short)

Last July, I decided to start exercising for the first time in a long time. From July to mid-December, I went to the gym religiously 3 times a week (maybe missed 5 days total due to illness, travel, etc.). I'd do 10 minutes of abs, warm-up and stretching, 20 minutes on the stationary bike, and then about 1/2 hour of cicuit training (2 circuits). I also changed my eating habits (used to eat what I wanted, when I wanted...which included a lot of fat and junk food). In six months, I lost about 6 kilos. However, I figure I've got another 6 kilos or so to lose. The problem is this...I haven't lost ANY weight in the past 6 - 8 weeks. I haven't changed my diet at all. I don't snack, and I'm eating healthier than I ever have in my life.

So, when the session ended a few weeks ago, I decided to go to the gym 5 days a week, increase my time on the bike to 30 minutes, and split my circuit training in half (to give the muscles a day off to rest). Today was day 12 of the new '5-day a week' plan, and I still haven't lost ANY weight. I'm really confused. I went from 30 minutes a week on the bike, to 2 1/2 hours a week. My diet hasn't changed. In theory, I would've thought that I'd be losing more weight, but I haven't lost any.

I've done as much research on line as I can, and using the Karvonen formula, I've calculated my 'target heart rate' to be between 117-167. My gym got new bikes that measure your heart rate while you ride. I usually get my heart rate up to 160 within about 5 minutes, and then keep it between 165-170 for 25 minutes. On 'good days' I can keep it over 170, occaisonally peaking at 180. So, it would appear I'm exercising at the 'high end' of my target heart rate. I've read a number of articles that suggest exercising at the 'lower end' of your target heart rate to burn fat, but I've also read that the new trend / belief is that a higher intensity workout will indeed burn a lower percentage of fat calories, but will burn a greater number of total calories, and thus a greater number of fat calories.

I'm really frustrated. I was sure that increasing my workout frequency and time would get me out of the rut I'm in, but it hasn't. My diet / lifestyle hasn't changed at all. The only thing that has changed is the frequency and length of my cardio workouts, yet my weight hasn't budged. Someone please give me some advice. Should I reduce the intensity of my cardio workouts? Please help a poor soul out!