Heart Rate During Cardio

Ive just started back at the gym. I lost 40 lbs 2 years ago, and have gained about 30 of it back. I never really enjoyed cardio, or was able to do it for a long period time. I would go to the gym do about 10-20 mins on the eliptical, and then go into to weight training. I still found myself winded going up stairs, unable to really last any longer than 20 mins on the eliptical. I have started this week back at the gym, taking it slow. I went twice and did 15 minutes on the eliptical. My question is; What should my target heart rate  be? My resting rate is about 80 beats per min, and while on the eliptical i went up to 180. My main goal is to lose fat, as well, be able to run/go upstairs without being too winded. 

Would anyone recommend just doing cardio for the first while to get lose the fat before starting weights? I got the 40 lbs off last time, but changing my diet, and exercising 5-6 times a week. I want to start this time with something manageable, id like to just go to the gym 2-3 times a week, and eat a bit better, but not change my diet completely, so i can manage it.

Thanks!

For you, I recommend a cardio-strength endurance session. Build strength, increase your cardio endurance equals better overall health and fitness...inside and out.

Once you have reached or gotten close to...your goal weight..I would concentrate on lifting heavy...but ask about that at a later date.

PS. Your nutrition is EVERYTHING. IF you manage nothing else...manage that.

i had an arguement recently with one of my work friends who is a physical therapist, she told me that the my MAXIMUM heart rate is my age-220, being 25 that would make my max heart rate 195bpm so my target heart zone is 50-85% of that which meant i should be aiming for a heart rate zone of between 98-166bpm. Now i wear a MIO watch to the gym to help record calories burned and i knew that according to the watch my heart rate regularly went beyond 85% of my target heart rate zone usually up to 90-95% which i was told can cause a dangerous build up of lactic acid (i dont know how much of that i believe). I listened to her advice and thought i would try it at my next workout, that evening i went to my running class at the gym and took my heart rate after the WARMUP and it read 169bpm! and guess what, i wasnt even sweating! needless to say i didnt bother trying to stay in within my heartrate zone after that. what would be the point in doing a running class if i had to run slower then my warmup.

So my personal opinon of "heart rate targets" are not very high. I feel like at the end of the day, i know my body and i know what its capable of, if my body tells me to stop then i stop. If i feel faint or feel like im going to throw up then i know iv gone too far! 

At the end of the day if your goal is to lose weight, then you have to burn more calories then you eat, its as simple as that. So if you want to start slowly then you need to know that your progress will also start slow, and as you make the changes to your lifestyle, fix bad eating habits and push harder at the gym you'll notice faster results...im not telling you to go nuts at the gym, cause like you said that didnt work for you before...you need to do what works for you. Finally about the weights, you need to do some form of weight training, as it will help improve the quality of your workouts. Plus muscle burns more calories then fat does which will help you reach your target sooner. So if your wanting to lose the fat, having muscle helps!

Elly, after reading your post I thought to myself, "holy cow this chick is headed for a heart attack...lol..  Then just for laughs I calculated my own max which would be about 172 (48) and I regularly hit that exact number on the highest intensity runs of my HIIT.  But like you, it feels right.  I can recover right back to 120 in about 60 seconds and my resting heart rate is around 60 and I think that's pretty good for my age and still being about 20 lbs overweight.

One of the best things to lower your resting heart rate is doing HIIT. When I used to do a lot of steady state cardio, my resting pulse rate never really dropped. However, when I started doing HIIT and pushing my heart rate into higher levels, my resting pulse started to drop. Now remember, true resting pulse is right after you wake up in the morning. It isn't when you are just sitting around.

Any number of things can cause your pulse to speed up from being anxious about it, to your system working harder to digest food you just ate. The environment that you are in can also have an effect on it as well. I really can't stand my job right now, and it always causes me a little bit of stress. So even though I am sitting behind a front desk, my pulse is always a bit faster at work then it is at home or somewhere else where I am actually enjoying myself.

When did you take your pulse? Was it right after you woke up, or was it when you were sitting around? If it wasn't right after you woke up, then it wasn't a true resting pulse and your actual resting pulse might be lower than you think.

Oh god not the 220-age thing. It is not accurate! The best way of finding your Max HR is to do a field test. The protocols can easily be found by googling. The scary part is that your friend who is a physical therapist would use the formula. Was she the same person who told you that lactic acid build up is dangerous?

On a side note, I not sure how accurate those strapless HR monitors are. Could also be an issue.

UD

Well technically if I went on the age 220 thing I've died of a heart attack hundreds of times - I am soon to be 50 so my max is 170 -- well just this week while lifting weights ( not doing cardio) my heart rate got to 176 --  I didn't drop dead my heart didn't explode and all I can say is I was feeling the workout and loving the calories being burned.

I do weights and I do interval training ( after my weight lifting) and I also do a step aerobic class 2 nights a week- my resting heart rate has gone from 100  down to 48.  I really have to work hard on a treadmill or other "cardio" equipment to get my heart rate up to even the fat burn zone but weight lifting ( heavy weights) will get my heart rate up very quickly.  Using the large muscles requires the heart to get the blood to those muscles quickly.  I think weights is a great "cardio" workout.

Do varying levels on your heart rate to truly get your cardiac muscle in good shape.  Do some workouts in the low zone , middle and hard.  I have a Polar F11 that programs workout zones to shoot for based on goals and usually most of my workouts focus in the mid range zone.

Wow, the highest I've ever gotten my heart is 165, and then I'm really hurting. I try to stay within 130-150. My resting heart rate when I am lying down is 47. Everyone is different. I wouldn't do any exercise I hated or didn't fit into my life easily. I don't think you should do anything you can't stand, but exercise should be part of everyone's life. If I were you I would probably concentrate more on cardio till I lose a bit of weight, spend some time doing push ups and squats a few times a week, after a couple of weeks add in the heavy weights. 

Original Post by fitnessgirll:

For you, I recommend a cardio-strength endurance session. Build strength, increase your cardio endurance equals better overall health and fitness...inside and out.

Once you have reached or gotten close to...your goal weight..I would concentrate on lifting heavy...but ask about that at a later date.

PS. Your nutrition is EVERYTHING. IF you manage nothing else...manage that.

 

Fitnessgirl, can you give an example of a cardio-strength endurance session?  Thanks.