Know your Heart Rate when training - Part 2
posted by TransformHERS on 11 Feb 13, 12:34
Categories: Fitness
Knowing and understanding these zones will ensure that you work at the right level to achieve your goals, and it will make your training more accurate. As such, you will notice there are a number of zones that preferentially use fat as an energy source, namely the 50-75% of MHR zone. You could therefore be forgiven for thinking that this was the best way to go about losing weight...However, the reality is that the best way to lose weight, and keep it off, is to burn as many calories as possible during your workout. The best way to achieve this is to use HIIT combined with high intensity weight training because working at higher intensities burns a greater number of calories, which is what you should be concerned with when trying to lose weight, not losing fat. Once you reach your ideal weight, muscle development and tone you can start using more targeted fat loss heart rate zones to 'sculpt' your physique.
Principles of HIIT
It is a cardiovascular training technique that uses short duration, high intensity cardio sessions that incorporate varying degrees of medium to high intensity 'bursts' in a single session. This ensures you work through a wide range of heart rate zones to burn more calories in the same time that you would doing steady-state cardio. The most common and popular form of cardio that uses HIIT is a spinning class
Most HIIT sessions last for less than half an hour, with most being 15-20 minutes because of the intensity level, which has been shown to push athletes past 170% of their VO2 max in some instances. This also means that this training technique is only suitable for conditioned athletes, but its worth developing your fitness to this level as soon as possible, as HIIT sessions can blast away excess weight and fat, not to mention push your fitness to new levels. As HIIT is so physically demanding it is also advised that you gradually build up your training programme rather than jump right in (refer to our sample programme).
The protocol for proper HIIT includes a short warm up, followed by alternating bursts of high intensity work and active rest (medium intensity) periods. For example, on the treadmill you would sprint for 10-20 seconds at an intensity of 75-90% of MHR, then reduce your speed and intensity for a period of 30-40 seconds to actively recover. This should be done at a minimum intensity of 50% of MHR. Once completed it is important to end the HIIT session with a cool down for about five min.
When increasing your intensity it is important to change more than one variable to increase the overall force exerted on your working muscles. This means that you can't simply increase your pedalling speed while on a stationary bike, for example, as you should also increase the resistance or level. Walking or running is slightly different due to the way your muscles work in those movements, so an increase in speed will generally mean an increase in the overall workload, but increasing the speed and incline of the treadmill is a great way to manipulate multiple variables and push the intensity up.
The best way to ensure you are working at the right level is to have an accurate measure of your heart rate at all times, which can only be achieved with the use of a heart rate monitor. There are a number of options on the market to suit any budget and need. Basic heart rate monitors will simply give you a visual reading on the watch of your heart rate at that moment, while others will record all the information for upload to a programme after your session, where it can be analysed and recorded for future reference.
As your fitness level progresses you can then increase the duration and/or intensity of each interval, which will push your lactate threshold and respiratory and cardiovascular systems to their limits. Working as close to your maximum for as long as possible is what turns your body into a calorie destroying machine...Burning more calories and getting fitter!
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