Milaminute and Sparco's Group - Closed (Page 24)

HOORAY FOR ME!!!

Ok -- a little self praise here, but I'm purdy excited!    Although it was on a DREADMILL, I ran a sub 9:00/mile for the first time in over a year!  While my best is in the 7:30/mile range over 5K, I'm really excited about this milestone! 

New Goal -- 8:30 5k by end of February -- Wish Me Luck  Gotta beat he who must not be named come July!

Progress is SO exciting!

wow, the secret font carries over into the mentor thread - impressive

Well yes, of course, Beth... Sal and I are trying to impart the most important knowledge...

BTW -- I think I'm only 10 posts from EXPERT!  

OK, trying to recreate my original post about weight loss... this is the current industry "philosophy" for group fitness and personal training with regard to helping people change their body compositions:

Your body is constantly burning both fat and sugar for fuel.  When you exercise, the caloric burn rate increases.  This isn't news to any of you... uhh... I hope .  However, often people make the mistake of equating red faced, sweaty, tough workouts with weight loss.  Unfortunately, that's not exactly the best approach. 

I remember after I had my first child getting on a treadmill and hitting the "weight loss" program thinking that that would make me shed the pounds in a snap.  I got immediately frustrated with the slow pace.  Sooooo... I did what tons of other people do.  I jacked up the incline and intensity because, obviously, I needed to burn more calories!  However, not all calories are created equal.   Yes, I burned a lot of calories... but no, I didn't see the changes in my body I was looking for.  It also reminds me of watching the same people go to the same spin classes day in and day out... trying to lose the same 10 pounds for months.  They work their tails off in those classes, they work harder than I tell them to even though I tell they why they shouldn't.  Heck, they look like they need an ambulance afterwards... but they aren't changing their body compositions because they aren't burning enough fat during the ride.

In terms of weight loss in connection with heart rate zone training, when you are working in zones 1-3, which are aerobic zones, you are burning primarily fat for fuel.  As you get much higher into Z3 (the point at which you can hold a conversation but really don't feel like it), the fat burn rate decreases as sugar burn increases and, once you start to feel breathless, that ratio shifts even more and you start pulling more sugar.  You only have a limited amount of glycogen that you can use at any given time... it's why you can race a 5K and possibly 10K in Z4 but likely not a half marathon.  Glycogen depletion, as you know, is something we as athletes deal with... but you don't often hear athletes looking for products to replenish their fat stores .

Of course you want to couple focusing on staying primarily in Z3 with healthy eating.  However, be sure to eat enough.  Cutting back on calories too much, particularly as an active athlete, can actually cause your body to start to horde calories.  When you aren't eating enough and training a lot, your body is at risk of going into a "starvation" mode... it sort of thinks you're starving it so it tries to "save" calories.  This can cause a weight loss plateau.

Bottom line is that working out in high Z2 and low to mid Z3 is going to give you the best fat burn rate.  You should focus on spending a majority of your training time there.  Using the 80/20 principle will help (80% of the time, Z2-Z3, 20% of the time Z3-Z4) because you will still get your intervals and speedwork in but will spend a lot of time base building and in that primo fat burning zone. 

If you need to refer back to the RPE cues I posted for knowing your zones, you can find it in the middle of this page.

OK, trying to recreate my original post about weight loss... this is the current industry "philosophy" for group fitness and personal training with regard to helping people change their body compositions:

Your body is constantly burning both fat and sugar for fuel.  When you exercise, the caloric burn rate increases.  This isn't news to any of you... uhh... I hope .  However, often people make the mistake of equating red faced, sweaty, tough workouts with weight loss.  Unfortunately, that's not exactly the best approach. 

I remember after I had my first child getting on a treadmill and hitting the "weight loss" program thinking that that would make me shed the pounds in a snap.  I got immediately frustrated with the slow pace.  Sooooo... I did what tons of other people do.  I jacked up the incline and intensity because, obviously, I needed to burn more calories!  However, not all calories are created equal.   Yes, I burned a lot of calories... but no, I didn't see the changes in my body I was looking for.  It also reminds me of watching the same people go to the same spin classes day in and day out... trying to lose the same 10 pounds for months.  They work their tails off in those classes, they work harder than I tell them to even though I tell they why they shouldn't.  Heck, they look like they need an ambulance afterwards... but they aren't changing their body compositions because they aren't burning enough fat during the ride.

In terms of weight loss in connection with heart rate zone training, when you are working in zones 1-3, which are aerobic zones, you are burning primarily fat for fuel.  As you get much higher into Z3 (the point at which you can hold a conversation but really don't feel like it), the fat burn rate decreases as sugar burn increases and, once you start to feel breathless, that ratio shifts even more and you start pulling more sugar.  You only have a limited amount of glycogen that you can use at any given time... it's why you can race a 5K and possibly 10K in Z4 but likely not a half marathon.  Glycogen depletion, as you know, is something we as athletes deal with... but you don't often hear athletes looking for products to replenish their fat stores .

Of course you want to couple focusing on staying primarily in Z3 with healthy eating.  However, be sure to eat enough.  Cutting back on calories too much, particularly as an active athlete, can actually cause your body to start to horde calories.  When you aren't eating enough and training a lot, your body is at risk of going into a "starvation" mode... it sort of thinks you're starving it so it tries to "save" calories.  This can cause a weight loss plateau.

Bottom line is that working out in high Z2 and low to mid Z3 is going to give you the best fat burn rate.  You should focus on spending a majority of your training time there.  Using the 80/20 principle will help (80% of the time, Z2-Z3, 20% of the time Z3-Z4) because you will still get your intervals and speedwork in but will spend a lot of time base building and in that primo fat burning zone. 

If you need to refer back to the RPE cues I posted for knowing your zones, you can find it in the middle of this page.

Thanks Mila!  I had my VO2 max test yesterday, and the HR zones you talked about seem to fall in line with my test results.  the closer I get to anaerobic threshold the more calories I burn.  Obviously, I want to burn the most fast possible, so I'm going to figure out my zones.  I may need your help.  I'll PM you.