FAQ on exercise & burning fat
Do I have to work very hard to loose weight?
Obviously working harder should lose you more weight, and you cannot lose weight without working hard. However, there is an optimum point where you are gaining the most results for the effort involved. At this point, increasing your work rate further will bring increasingly diminishing results and just tire you out. It’s much more efficient to reach the optimum level of exercise by raising your heart rate to the correct rate for your age and weight ratio and keeping it in that zone, which is usually about 50 to 60% of your maximum heart rate figure (see - how to calculate your training zone heart rate target at bottom of article). There is no need to work harder and raise your heart beat any higher. If you work too hard and take your heart rate out of the optimum range you will get no additional aerobic or fat burning benefits, quickly tire and have to stop.
Many people put themselves through agonies trying to burn off fat when with the right knowledge they could ease off a little and increase results by exercising optimally.
Start burning fat the optimum way
To start burning fat you need to have your maximum heart rate (MHR) in a certain range which is about 50 to 60% of your maximum heart rate figure (see how to calculate your training zone heart rate target at bottom of article). This is calculated according to your age and weight. Most exercise machines at Fitness Clubs and Gyms have heart rate monitors that constantly adjust the resistance to keep your heart rate in this zone. If you select “fat burn” and tell it your age and weight, then the machine will keep your heart rate from getting too high by reducing the resistance. If you are working too hard, it will warn you to slow down. This advice should be heeded as working harder is not efficient for burning off fat.
How long should I exercise if I want to burn fat?
At least 12 minutes whilst in the optimum heart rate zone. In other words, at least 12 minutes after your heart rate has been raised to the optimum rate. This is the time needed before the body starts to burn fat. If you are currently working out in 10 minute stints you may get an appreciable increase in fat loss for a relatively small extra 5 mins or so because after 12 minutes, you start to actually burn fat and packing in after less than that is inefficient. This is why if you pace yourself rather than going mad, you are more likely to be able to sustain exercise for longer once your body starts to use fat reserves to fuel your exercise.
Here is a more thorough explanation
At rest, your body burns between 65% - 80% fat and 20% - 35% glycogen (see how to calculate your training zone heart rate target at bottom of article) It doesn’t matter what glycogen is at this point, read the page quoted as a source for more technical explanations) The body needs much less oxygen to burn glycogen than it does to burn off fat, so when exercising heavily, and your body needs energy quickly it burns glycogen first. But after about 12 minutes your body will realise that the glycogen is running out and to preserve levels it will switch to burning fatty acids instead. So once this has happened the next 5 minutes - or whatever you can manage - is burning mostly fat.
How do I get rid of fat in a particular place?
Men naturally accumulate fat around their stomach - sometimes to comic effect. Women tend to have an unauthorized store of it round their hips. If fat conformed to the last in first out rules we would all have an easier job. Unfortunately, fat is stored in these places first and is removed from them last. This doesn’t mean that it’s hopeless and you can’t achieve what you want. You just need to know the rules and adjust your expectations accordingly.
You can’t remove fat from specific parts of your body. Not without losing it in places you may not agree with first. You can’t remove a big fat belly by doing sit ups, or similar exercises designed for the stomach area. All that will happen is you will develop a nice 6 pack under the flab that no one can see.
However, although exercising specific areas will not reduce the fat in that part of your body alone, you can improve things by building up the muscles there if there isn’t too much flab covering things up. This will make the area firmer and more solid.
Which are the most inefficient ways to burn fat?
- Exercise for long periods but not hard enough to get your heart into the optimum zone
- Exercise so hard that your heart rate goes over the optimum zone and you can’t keep it up for long enough and have to pack in. A really bad scenario would be someone doing that and resting for 10 mins or so only to repeat the pattern again instead of working more optimally for 20 mins to half an hour
- Exercise for 10 minutes, and stop just as the body runs out of glycogen and is about to switch to burning fat
Summary: The best way to burn fat
- Use heart rate monitors available at your fitness club or gym to keep you in the optimum zone
- Don’t exercise for long periods without getting your heart rate into the optimum zone as you won’t burn much fat
- Don’t work harder than you have to so you can exercise for longer in the zone
More information on exercising & burning fat - misc fitness FAQ
How to calculate your training zone heart rate target
- Visit Target Heart Rate Calculator
- Enter your age in the “Calculate your Maximum Heart Rate” section and then click the “Calculate MHR” button
- Depending on which browser you are using you should now see a new set of boxes called “Calculate your Heart Rate Reserve and Training Zones” where you can enter your Resting Heart Rate (which you need to calculate yourself)
- Clicking the “Calculate MHR” link will now show you the various heart rate zones including the range in which your heart rate needs to be to start burning fat
NOTE: In browsers other than Internet Explorer you may not get the “Calculate your Maximum Heart Rate” section (mentioned in the last point of the list above) after entering your age. Instead, the page may scroll down and the box you have just used should be at the top of the page. Instead, click the link to the right of this box called “Calculate your Heart Rate Reserve and Training Zones” and the new boxes should be available to carry out the final step.
(The calculator is linked to in good faith after finding it during researching. I can’t vouch for its accuracy)
Written by Andy(ArT)Trigg on May 2nd, 2008 with
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