OnFitness Magazine - November/December 2021 - 63

63 WWW.ONFITNESSMAG.COM | VOL 22 NO 3 | 2021
5: FAT-BURNING ZONE
VERSUS THE CARDIO ZONE
" W
hy am I not losing fat when I am
working in the fat-burning zone? This
machine has a fat burning program; isn't
that the best one for weight loss? "
In short, no. The descriptor, " fat-burning zone, " is
essentially a successful marketing tactic. And the
science behind the use of these terms is relative and
misleading when it comes to body change.
The terms " fat-burning zone " and " cardio zone "
simply refer to workout intensity. It's this intensity
that dictates which fuel the body preferably uses to
power exercise.
We're always using both fat and carbohydrate
calories to power activity, whether we're sprinting
down the street, walking down the street, or sitting in
the street. It's the relative ratio of sugar and fat use
that changes as intensity shifts. Relatively more fat
calories are used compared to carbohydrate calories at
lower intensities, while the proportion of recruited
carbohydrates builds as intensity increases.
For example, sitting in the street might burn four
calories per minute total, one from sugar and three
from fat. Walking might burn eight calories per
minute, three from sugar and five from fat. Sprinting
might burn twenty calories per minute, twelve from
sugar and eight from fat.
Thus, the ratio of fuel shifts toward a more carbheavy
use, but the total amount of calories burned
also increases. This is a key distinction because
although it's true that at lower intensities a larger
relative ratio of fat is used to power activity, the
absolute amounts of both carbohydrate and fat calories
are much less.
So, what is more important to body change, total
calorie burn or greater ratio of fat calories compared
to carbohydrate calories, even if this number remains
low?
If the ratio were most important, as we're led to
believe by the descriptor of " fat-burning zone, " then
simply lying down would prove the most effective
activity for body change, considering this is when the
fat to carbohydrate ratio is the greatest.
To take this argument one step further, let's
examine the science of energy substrates not only
during exercise but also after.
Carbohydrates are like high-octane jet fuel for
workouts, they allow you to push to higher intensities
whether you're doing sprint intervals or strength
training. Fat is a lower-quality fuel that allows you to
go for longer durations at lower intensities, like when
distance jogging or on a leisurely bike ride.
Whichever fuel the body recruits for exercise,
depending on intensity, will be somewhat depleted
during exercise, forcing the alternate substrate to be
used during post-exercise recovery mechanisms.
For example, performing high-intensity interval
training cardio will recruit a larger proportion of
burned calories from sugar. However, the workout
lasts only thirty minutes and is very intense. After the
workout is over, stored glycogen (sugar) levels are
somewhat depleted, forcing your body to pull from fat
stores for energy use during post-workout recovery.
Recovery lasts hours and even days after a tough
workout. Wouldn't you rather burn fat for days
post-workout than during the thirty minutes of
exercise only?
Fighting
the urge to
pig-out
A good trick to
practice if you find it
difficult to control the
urge to overeat is to
tell yourself ahead of
time, " I'll stop eating
when I'm feeling
satiation. " This means,
stop eating when
you're eighty to ninety
percent full.
Conversely, a low-intensity sixty-minute workout
such as jogging will keep an individual in the " fatburning
zone " so that a higher ratio of fat calories is
burned during exercise compared to sugar calories.
Post-workout, however, glycogen stores still exist, and
those carbs will be used as energy post-workout,
preferably instead of fat.
Thus, it follows that it can be beneficial to deplete
glycogen during exercise, assuring the twenty-four to
forty-eight-hour window of post-exercise recovery
pulls from fat stores. This scenario only occurs when
performing more intense workouts in the " cardio
zone " or even breaching the lactate threshold.
Current research indicates that interval training,
specifically doing short, hard bursts of cardio followed
by rest periods, not only burns a significant amount of
calories during the workout, but you continue to burn
calories even after your workout is finished, which is
ultimately the key to body change.
It's important to keep in mind the goal of your
workout. If you're an ultra-marathoner and need to
train your body to run for hours and hours without
stopping, it's probably necessary to perform the bulk
of training in the fat-burning zone, ensuring that you
can endure those miles.
However, if the goal is fat loss or improving speed
during endurance exercise, it's necessary to train in
the cardio zone and beyond for increased fat loss postworkout,
as well as improved lactate threshold and
VO2 max.
Have you ever seen a fat sprinter? Who is
skinnier, the group of people at the front of a
marathon or the group at the back? It holds that
intensity always trumps duration when it comes to
improving body composition.
Endurance athletes who want to improve their
times can benefit from dropping body fat as well as
getting more cardiovascularly fit. For a well-rounded
program, We recommend doing steady-state cardio as
well as interval training to keep your body and mind
working optimally.
ORDER
THE-ELITE-9
E-BOOK NOW.
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ebooks/the-elite-9
Commit to this rule
before the dinner
party, before visiting a
restaurant, and so
forth. Satiation is not
when you feel full. It's
when you're no longer
hungry.
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OnFitness Magazine - November/December 2021

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