Excuse My French, But F The "FAT" Burning Zone

Nothing is as depressing to me as seeing someone who, day after day, week after week, month after month...and yes, year after year, mounts their elliptical machines and hits the FAT BURNING button, only to remain stagnant in their fitness pursuits.

The fat burning zone, as dictated by cardio machines is a falsehood, a mean deception to the faithful and uneducated...for true fat burning happens when the body is at rest - notice how you don't seem to work very hard when you press THAT button...that's because you don't! Funny, isn't it? 

My philosophy? The more you sweat the more you lose.

Basically, the harder you work in the gym (ie the more you sweat), the harder and longer your body must recover afterward, and this is when real change happens. Another word for that period of recovery is...yuppers:

REST.

Remember, the human body responds best to variety, so avoid stagnant work outs and improve your fitness by playing between heart rate zones: low intensity (65 - 75%), medium intensity (80 - 85%) and high intensity (90 - 95%). To find your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220 and multiply that number by the percentage...if you're already pretty fit, you'll have to adjust your levels of comfort/non-comfort, since the 220 rule is for a more general population - be accurate in making the high intensity level a true high intensity.

Try this for starters:

1 Minute: Low Intensity

1 Minute: Medium Intensity

30 Seconds: Low Intensity

1 Minute: High Intensity

Repeat 8 - 10 times.

Of course, as you improve, you can play a bit with time: shorten the low/medium intensities, lengthen the high intensities, make your low intensity a bit higher, your medium intensity a bit higher, etc etc