Thread: The Fitness Reference

As there seems to be a lot of questions/threads about fitness, and sometimes combining fitness with weight loss with diet, I thought it might be good to collect some basic knowledge on the three areas.
This way all the valuable inputs brought in can be found in one place as opposed to multiple threads,and posts.

At this point it's time to start a glossary of terms, so we all speak the same language.
Please chime in...

There are 5 training zones depending on what you.
They all relate to the intensity of the training or heart rate.

HR: 220 - (your age)
We will call this reference heart rate. For instance, if you are 40.
Your reference heart rate (HR) will 180 beats per minute.


Moderate activity: Warm up --> 50% of HR
Weight control: Fitness/Fat Burn --> 60% HR
Aerobic Training: Endurance training --> 70% HR
Anaerobic Training: Hardcore training --> 80% HR
VO2Max: Maximum Effort --> 90% of HR


Weight control: You start burning fat when you heart rate is at least 60% of your HR

Aerobic training: Physical exercise of relatively low intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process. Refers to the use of oxygen to adequately meet energy demands during exercise. Usually you can do aerobic training for quite a bit of time.

Anaerobic training: During anaerobic training you are basically depleting your body of any oxygen, and starts producing lactic acid. Goal being to improve your endurance.

Some weight loss regime involve interval training. You would usually navigate 30 sec in aerobic training level and have a peak 30 sec in your anaerobic training level, and repeat this for 8 to 12 reps.

thanks for sharing. the heart rate info is so important. many people exercise but do not understand the different levels of intensity. that is how walking can either be aerobic or leasure. it all depends on your heart rate!