Heart Rate Monitor for Fat Burning

Many people trying to burn fat and lose weight through exercise are simply exercising at too intense of a level that is not conducive to burning fat as the primary source of fuel. Whether you are trying to burn fat or improve your cardiovascular conditioning an investment in a basic heart rate monitor is a solid investment to ensure you meet your exercise goals. You really only need a basic heart rate monitor that tells you your heart rate as a number and as a percentage. Let’s save the fancy ones for the professional athletes.

To start a fat burning program, you should work up to exercising in the 50-70% for over 45 minutes to an hour each day. After 40 minutes of exercise in this zone our bodies are using fat for their primary source of energy.

For cardiovascular benefits, we need to work up to doing twenty minutes of exercise in the 70-80% range.

Even if your ultimate goal is to burn fat you still should spend some time in the cardiovascular range to prevent heart disease, and lower your blood pressure and cholesterol.

To determine your heart target heart rates we must first calculate your max heart rate.

Max Heart Rate= 220-your age

So if you are 50 years old for instance, that means your max heart rate is 170bpm (beats per minute). To be in the fat burning range you need to be at about 60% of that which is 102bpm. Now most people will be above that 102bpm with just a brisk walk, and that is why most of us work out and wonder why we are not burning any of that stubborn fat! Still twenty minutes of your work out should be at about 75% of your max heart rate which would be about 127bpm. So if you are exercising for forty minutes the most of the time should be around 100-120bpm and less than half of that time should be spent in the 120-130bpm range.

Follow the specific recommendations from your doctor when getting started on a new exercise plan and be gentle with yourself as you develop a new fitness routine. Remember to schedule exercise in to every single day so that if something inevitably comes up you are at least meeting your goals 4-6 times per week.

What are your challenges with starting or maintaining a fitness program?