Are You In Your Fat Burning Zone?

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Here goes a doosey of a post.  This post has been bouncing around in my brain since the start of Trainer Momma. Cross your fingers. Make a wish. Here goes nothing.

This is a very simplified explanation of one of fitness’s favorite controversies:

Aerobic Exercise vs. Anaerobic Exercise

or

Cardio Zone vs. Fat Burning Zone

There is a TON of complicated science that goes into this issue, however, I am stripping it down to its bare bones and explaining what matters to us.

Let’s start with an analogy: You are a Toyota Prius. Hopefully the kind with brakes that work. Your body is a hybrid electric car.

Oh yeah.  

That is you.

You are very cool.

You are driving around town, chillin’ like a dillin’ in your remarkably quiet, shiny Prius using battery power. This is all fine until you want to speed up and the electric power cannot cut it anymore. Since you are a Hybrid, and not a golf-cart, you are in luck! The gasoline kicks in and now you are using both functions simultaneously, the electric and the gasoline, to fuel your vehicle. Go burn some rubber.

This same scenario happens when you’ve been driving using the electric power for an extended period of time. Eventually, the gasoline power will join the electric power and you keep on truckin’ - or Prius-ing, I suppose.

Same with your bod. OK, let’s say you are out on your run (if you are not a runner, just work with me here. This can be applied to any cardio you do). You are at a nice easy pace, breathing deeply and just warming up. You are in the aerobic zone and your muscles have ample oxygen available to them. At this point your body is using fat for fuel.

The warm up is over, it’s time to pick up the pace. Suddenly, your breathing speeds up and you notice your heart rate is rising. At this point the oxygen needed to keep you in the aerobic zone is outstripped and glucose (carbs/sugar) pitches in and now you are in the anaerobic zone.

Alert! Alert! Big flashing arrows with lights are pointing to this fact that is missed by most:

 Fat is still being used for energy as much as ever, but is now being helped out by glucose.

It is not an either/or process. It is an both/and process. Fat is being burned in the aerobic AND anaerobic zones. It is just in the anaerobic zone, glucose jumps in and helps out. But, your fat burning capacity did not turn off. It is still chugging away.

So, how does this pertain to you? A few ways.

I was jogging the other day and I needed to stay between 65-85% of my maximum heart rate in order to stay in my aerobic zone (or popularly called the fat burning zone.  I hate that incomplete term).  For me that is in between 141 - 157 beats per minute. Let’s see, I am in that zone for - oh -  all of 8 minutes, if that. For the rest of the run, I am easily in the 160’s and even 170's on the sprints or hills. So, the question is -- was the whole run (minus the first 8 minutes) a complete waste of time? Did I not burn any fat since I was out of the magic “fat burning zone"?

OF COURSE NOT!

Cardio machines, heart rate monitors, or ignorant personal trainers straight out of high school are going to tell you that you are in the anerobic zone, thus you are not burning fat, so you need to slow down.

IGNORE THEM.  They are wrong.  Remember, even though you may hit your anaerobic zone, you are still burning fat and glucose as well.

You want results right? It all comes down to calories in vs. calories out. How are you going to burn more calories? Walking for 30 minutes or running for 30 minutes? OF COURSE RUNNING. Weight is lost when there is a calorie deficit -- so burning calories during a cardiovascular workout is your goal!

Let your body worry about what it needs to use for fuel. It is very good at flip flopping back and forth between aerobic and anerobic, fat and glucose -- with no help from you, thank you very much.  Your job is to DO THE CARDIO. Just get it done! And push yourself. The most effective type of cardio incorporates HIIT -- which leads us back to another post.

I know that there will be exercise buffs, athletes, and scientists pulling their hair out yelling, "But there's so much more to this!"  (The Doc is one of them.  Sorry hon).  But, we are here to understand what matters to us, not necessarily be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  However, if they call I will graciously travel to Stockholm to accept.

To answer the question in the title post, the answer is a loud, emphatic YES!  If you are doing cardio, whether it be aerobic or anaerobic, you are in your fat burning zone!  CONGRATS!

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