Expert: Ken Alan - 6/5/2010

Question
Hi Ken,

I have a questions concerning steady state cardio...

First of all I am 28yrs old, 1.7m height, 66kg weight, 28% BF%!

I would like to lower by BF% and want to incorporate to my weekly training routine some morning fasted steady state cardio
I have read that in order to burn fat you need to be in your 60%-70% MHR zone, so that for me (29yrs old) would be mean a heart rate of around 115-130. That however sounds very low to me ... i mean, it seems i only need to walk fast to get there!

What i am currently doing is 3 intense whole body circuit sessions on Mon-Wed-Fri, some swimming on Tue and some running intervals on Thu. In the weekends I do 45-60mins of morning cardio (almost fasted, am only drinking a protein drink beforehand) but i keep my heart rate at around 165-175.
So, my questions is, do you think that by doing what i do in the weekends i do more bad than good? Am I just loosing muscle? Or is it actually worth ir? I do put a lot of effort and intensity in my workouts, so i can't actually think of a workout being just "walking"!

What are your views on that?

Thanks a lot,
Anna

Answer
Anna,

The workout program you are doing is good.  If you're not decreasing bodyfat over time, then you need to monitor your food intake [take in less calories], and/or increase physical activity to burn more calories, and/or do more intense strength training to increase lean muscle. As long as you can sustain aerobic exercise with your heart rate around 165, it's probably okay for you.
You are not doing more bad than good.  Can't determine if you're losing muscle without assessing you.  Walking can also be a vigorous workout if you do it vigorously enough.  Glad you're inspired to be active!
Hope this helps.