Its not so much that there is an ideal heart rate, but an activity level you can maintain for a long time without putting your body in to shock, but hard enough to burn lots of energy and break down some fat stores.
The heart rate is more of a guide.
Unable to loose Subcutaneous belly fat
Rusty
#21
lfod14
#22
Yes and no, that was pushed for a long time (mainly from Cardio equipment) but there is some truth to it, but ultimately itās kinda been pushed away since many people find the ranges given for āfat burnā vs āenduranceā donāt really line up with what works for them. HIIT seems to burn fat off the fastest, Intervals on cardio eq is really good as well.
Rusty
#23
Yes, but most peopleās ideas of HIIT is 10 x 1min with 1min rest so your all done and dusted within 20mins, which is way early to finish a workout if you want to burn some fat.
The whole āfat burning zoneā was always a bit BS when they base it on heart rate. But sticking at a speed/tempo you can keep up for an hour is the most sure fire way to ensure you are not only burning your dietary energy, but also breaking down stored fat.
One of the reasons agaiat HIIT being good for burning fat is when, like myself, someone does not have the metabolic condition to provide enough energy for the higher intensity.
For someone who is as unfit as I was 6 months ago, HIIT just doesnāt work. I would have had a sugar crash after 5 sets and not been able to continue. Which means that i would have done 5mins to total exercise.
But I do agree that for someone who is fairly healthy, HIIT ācanā be the fastest way to burn fat.
I have started HIIT again after 20 years, its hard work but I am seeing marked improvement every session.
Jman16
(JK)
#24
What about the rise in Cortisol on HIIT compared with steady state training, for a 55yr Old?
ElgynsToy
#25
From what I understand, a short spike in cortisol actually does some good; itās only sustained stress/cortisol levels that need to be avoided. But then when I do HIIT I keep it to an absolute max of 10 minutes to just get the overall health benefits, and am not going for fat burning with it.
Rusty
#27
HIIT has a ton of positive effects on the body and is the preferred exercise by many. I think it is important to get do all types of exercise. But it is also good to focus on one goal at a time.
Your body will adapt to anything you do, so the very very best thing is to keep changing what you are doing and totally change your routine every 2 or 3 months. If you do the same thing year in year out you wont see any gains.
Rusty
#30
This guy is pretty amazing.
If you want to find out more specifically about him, he has been on joe rogan.
Shinita
#31
I am late here but have some thoughts about cold showers. I started in summer as no way I could start it in winter (when our cold water is, like, 5Cā¦) and it was great, I did it gradually. Now I only use cold showers and yesterday I sadly reached the phase where our cold water (19-20C?) is waaaaay too hot, I canāt even cool down after some exercise outside.
But itās great! In the very beginning I couldnāt last for 3 secs when the water reached my back (that seems to be the part where I tolerate cold the least or one of them. I always started with the easy parts and worked towards my torso and it went well) and now I just stay below the water and I could do it for quite long, sometimes I change between my back and front, my shoulders and arms always need extra cooling but otherwise I could do it for loooong. I just wish it could be colder but making an ice bath would take forever, so much trouble and I suspect I couldnāt exactly handle that 
We will see if it will have (noticeable) benefits but it should, I read beautiful things about it. At least our hot water costs nothing now and I can cool down somewhat in August, my least fav month where I suffer from heat.
It really sounded impossibly hard in the beginning, I canāt just force myself to things I dislike and never liked cold showers. But summer gave me a chance, I started slow (and warm first) and it changed SUPER QUICKLY and now itās so awesome, I enjoy it and wanna see how long I can keep up with this 
I am willing to start running every day to be able to keep it even in the end of September when the weather is coolerā¦ I wish running anyway, I just always neglect it as itās not really my thing but it should be, I am a land animal with legs, healthy enoughā¦
PaulL
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?)
#32
His TED talk was one of the things that got me here.
Jman16
(JK)
#33
It took me about 2 months to have totally cold showers, started with 20 sec cold at the end.
Shinita
#34
I started with maybe 2 seconds on my back I had much more elsewhere but on my back, eek!
I reached full length full cold showers in probably less than 2 months BUT I do it in hot summer, usually right after some exercise outside so I desire, even badly NEED cold. It made it super easy, now I donāt need to be overheated for a cold one though I donāt nearly enjoy those as much, more like tolerateā¦ Good enough, I hope I will continue to improve!
Fangs
#36
I saw on tv a commercial for āCool Sculptingā which targets those small baby areas and apparently ākill the fat cellsā and gives on that lean mean perfect thing they desire.
No idea if this works point blank but that commercial said it did.
just sending along what I saw for those who might wanna be interested.
No idea on COLD killing fat or giving results as they want in targeted areas on their body.
just something I saw and pass it on 
Shinita
#37
I donāt believe in targeted fat-loss (I donāt say I am 100% sure of it but mostly) but Very Serious cold showers/baths have a huge effect on metabolism (I only saw percentages, not duration). I just donāt want to be in an extremely cold bath for an hour to unlock thatā¦ It surely helps when itās in moderation too but not nearly that much, no wonder. I just cool down with my tiny 20C showers, nothing extremeā¦ I do it for other reasons. I focus on my food choices for fat-loss. And exercise but even there my main reasons are different.
Fangs
#39
@coopdawg, what ya plan on doing with that info? if it comes back a wonderful science based issue to handle and go forward 
just wondering
coopdawg
#40
Iāll have a toasty bath and contemplate the meaning of life, and weigh up if I should start taking cold showers or not.