Beginner's Fitness Programs

Archive for the ‘Fat Burning Exercise’ Category

Although we sort of knew it, it is now official. According to a Duke University study, an aerobic workout beats weight-training when it comes to losing belly fat. Of course, this means not only the fat just under the skin, but also the fat located deep in the abdominal cavity and covering internal organs. This fat is known to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Sure, we would all love to have six-pack abs, but we also want to live healthier. This is good news.

Of course, resistance-training is not obsolete for improving health. Combinations of aerobic workouts with weight-training are known to improve glycemic and blood-sugar levels, and are especially helpful for people who already are diabetic.

So how long do we need to do aerobic workouts to lose belly fat? According to a University of Alabama study, you may need 80 minutes a week. It may sound a like a lot but a 30-minute workout three time a week is not that bad. Further, if you do intensive interval-training (see article about intensive cardio workout), you can cut this to 20 minutes 3 times a week.

You may have time to go to the gym only three times a week, and each time you can spend less than an hour since you go during your lunch break. If you spend 30 minutes on a cardio workout, you won’t have much time left for weight-training. What can you do? If you replace interval- training for cardio and then add weight-training, you can fit everything (including locker-room time) in less than an hour. But there is another way.

This is called phase-training. One week, you do only aerobic workouts, say 3 times a week for 40 minutes. Then the following week, you do the aerobic workouts for 40 minutes twice a week, and do weight-training once. During the third week, you do one 40-minute cardio workout, then two weight-training sessions. The fourth week, you do all weight-training. Then reverse the course. Some people do this differently: one week only cardio and the next weight-training only.

So what is the advantage of this phase-training? The human body is very efficient in adapting to physical tasks given. If you run all the time, your body gets used to the motion and energy efficiency goes up, which means that you won’t use as much energy as you did when you first began running. Consequently, you won’t lose as much weight as you did in the beginning. By skipping a certain workout here and there and replacing it with another, you are keeping your body always on high alert and from getting used to the same workout. That is why it is always recommended to use different cardio machines at a gym so that your body won’t get used to one particular motion.

You can, of course, phase interval-training, aerobic workouts, and resistance-training. If you combine them with a healthy diet, you can lose unwanted belly fat.

Sources:
The Effects of Aerobic versus Resistance Training on Visceral and Liver Fat Stores, Liver Enzymes and HOMA from STRRIDE AT/RT: A Randomized Trial. AJP: Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2011
Effects of Aerobic and Resistance Training on Hemoglobin A1c Levels in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes. JAMA, 2010;304
Exercise Keeps Dangerous Visceral Fat Away A Year After Weight Loss, Study Finds. University of Alabama at Birmingham 2009, October

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As it was mentioned in the Fat Burning Exercise page, when you want to burn your body fat, there are two approaches. In either cases, you need to know what is your target heart rate. Here is how to estimate your target heart rate.

First, you need to know your resting heart rate. Prepare a watch with a second hand. Go to bed with it at night, and when you wake up in the morning (no alarm clock please!), while you are still laying on the bed, count your pulse rate for one minute. That will be your resting heart rate. You can count your pulse before any major activities in the morning, but the pulse count could be a few counts higher than the real resting rate, but that is OK. This is just a rough estimate, and a few counts of the error don’t affect too much.

Then put your age and the resting heart rate to the equation below:

• (Lower Limit for Your Target Heart Rate) = 0.60 x (220 – <Your Age> – <Resting Heart Rate> ) + <Resting Heart Rate>
• (Upper Limit for Your Target Heart Rate) = 0.85 x (220 – <Your Age> – <Resting Heart Rate> ) + <Resting Heart Rate>

For example, if you are 30 years old, and you found your resting heart rate is 55 counts/minute, then

220 – <Your Age> = 220 – 30 = 190
190 – <You Hart Rate> = 190 – 55 = 135

For the lower limit:
0.60 x 135 = 81
81 + 55 = 136

For the upper limit:
0.85 x 135 = 115
115 + 55 = 170

Therefore, your target heart rate for workout is between 136 and 170. For the lower intensity fat burning workout you should keep your heart rate to 136 or slightly higher, and if you are doing a high intensity workout, you should aim your heart rate to reach somewhere between 160 and 170. If you are doing an interval training, at the high intensity part, you should aim to reach your heart rate to 160 and up, but while slow part, you should aim to 136 and slightly up.

Note that these values are not absolute, and just rough estimates. Depending on individuals, the lower and upper limit may change significantly. Some people who are working out regularly, the upper limit could be much higher than this, and people who have some heart problem is much lower than this. If you are interested to know the real target heart rate, you need to go though a stress test at a proper facility such as at a hospital. I strongly recommend to do so, if you are significantly over weight, or have a potential heart problem.

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