Spinning Question????

Any spinner out there. I have only been back to spinning for a couple weeks now but when i spun before heart rate and stuff was never talked about. At My gym they put a board up before class for target heart rate which I understand ranges and stuff but my question, being 4 months out, is anaerobic okay for me since I want to aim for fat burning/cario zone??

Anaerobic intervals (maybe 2 -3 minutes long) will be ok, but I would suggest to stay in your target HR Zone and remain Aerobic in order to lose fat and not just burns your carbs. Those intervals will help build your cardio vascular fitness, but again burn calories and not fat. Good luck.... you are doing great!

Thanks for the info!!

I am a spinning instructor and I encourge my students to work smart and to tailor the class to meet thier fitness goals.  If your goal is to burn fat, you really want to stay inthe 65%-80% of your MHR - going higher for long periods of time is actually counter-productive.  

Try googling topics such as aerobic base trainging for more info.

Thanks!! I googled and learned some more and programed by HR monitor so i will try using it in spin class tomorrow!

My understanding is that you burn a greater percentage of fat in the "fat burning zone" but that you burn more calories in the higher zones so when your energy stores are redistributed, the total fat burned is the same.

Since burning more calories is better than less, I go as hard as I can without bonking or being in pain and ignore the target heart rates.

Besides that 220-your age formula is totally bogus. According to it, my max heart rate is 168. But it's no where near that low in actuality. I've gone over 170 at time though I mostly try to stay under 160 just so I can pace myself through my workouts.

So you do what I have been doing. Thanks for the info

I've been spinning 2-3 days a week for the last 6 months. I try to always stay at 80% which for me is 140 ish. (220-my age 48=172 x 80%=137)