Burn fat the fitter way

Looking to burn fat? Forget the fat-burning programme.

Ever noticed how in pretty much every gym, pretty much every piece of cardio equipment has "fat burning" as one of its presets.

Unsurprisingly, it's usually the programme of choice for anyone looking to lose weight (ie most of us). But if I were the cynical type, I'd be tempted to suggest that its real purpose is to help cardio equipment manufacturers sell stuff to gym owners. Because although it sounds great, it doesn't really work. And here is why.

It's all to do with your heart rate during exercise. The fat-burning setting is designed to get you working at 55-65 per cent of your maximum heart rate (MHR); it's known as the "fat burning phase" because — guess what? — at this rate, your body is predominantly breaking down fats in order to create energy.

But at just over half of your MHR, you're not working that hard, so while you're burning fat, you're not actually burning that much of it.

Select the "cardio" setting and it all changes.
You will be working at 65-85 per cent of your MHR, and you'll be using approximately 200-220 calories per 10 minutes, compared to a mere 60-90 calories in the fat-burning setting.

OK, at this higher rate, you're not just breaking down fats, you're also using carbs and sugars — but you're still burning significantly more fat every 10 minutes than you would be in the so-called fat-burning programme.

In the end, for anyone looking to lose weight, there are three ways to do it.

a) Consume fewer calories than you burn off (ie eat less, and do the same amount of exercise you currently do).

b) Burn off more calories than you consume (eat the same, do more).

Or best of all, c) Do both — eat less, exercise more.

Which brings me neatly on to diet. Or it would if I hadn't already used up my 300-word allowance. Stay tuned.

David Higgins is a co-founder and master trainer at TenPilates, tenpilates.com.