Dear Health Conscious Reader,
How bad did you pig out yesterday?
At least you have a good excuse, right? I know I’m back to working out today. If you want to learn how to burn off those holiday pounds fast, here’s what I do:
The secret to really kicking up fat loss is to exert yourself at the “supra-aerobic” level.
But how do you get to where your exertion is at the supra-aerobic level? That’s the key. And that’s why I developed PACE.
When I first tell people about PACE, they almost always go away thinking it’s about high-intensity exercise. It’s not. It’s about incrementally increasing the exertion level while keeping the duration brief.
This doesn’t have to be high-intensity. In fact, some people simply start with walking.
The point is to work out at a level that is challenging your current metabolic capacity. This has nothing to do with the so-called “fat-burning zone.”
Let me explain …
Most fitness gurus will tell you to do long periods of “cardio” training so you can melt fat while you work out. And they’ll have you stay in that fat-burning zone for as long as possible.
But there are several problems with working out this way.
First, you don’t want to melt fat during exercise. Melting fat during exercise tells your body it needs fat. It trains your body to make more fat and store it for your next exercise session.
Next, when you work out at an aerobic level for long periods, your heart gets smaller and your lung capacity decreases. This type of exercise never triggers “after burn.” That’s when your body continues to melt fat long after you have stopped exercising.
In a recent study, researchers compared long-duration and repeated short-duration exercisers.2 The long-duration group cycled 45 minutes without interruption. The short-term interval group cycled in numerous short bursts. They went for 15 to 90 seconds, while resting in between.
The long-duration group burned twice as many calories. So you would also assume they melted more fat. But when the researchers recorded their body composition measurements, the interval group showed the most fat loss. They melted 9 times more fat than the endurance group for every calorie burned.1
Turns out those short bursts of exercise stimulated a greater after burn, which is exactly what you want if your goal is to drop weight.
How to Hit Your Supra-Aerobic Zone Every Time
When you exercise at an aerobic intensity – or in your fat-burning zone – your body uses oxygen to burn calories. It trains your heart, lungs and muscles to work at a certain level. But it does nothing to improve their conditioning or help you melt off that excess fat.
The key to getting the most out of your PACE workout, is to create an oxygen deficit. That’s when you know you’ve reached your supra-aerobic zone.
There are two key indicators to let you know when you’ve done this. The first is your breathing.
When you create an oxygen deficit, you will begin panting and feel winded. This means you’ve entered the supra-aerobic zone.
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Fat-Burning Zone (Aerobics Zone)
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Supra Aerobics
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| Teaches your body to burn muscle mass | Teaches your body to melt fat and build muscle |
| Diminishes your lung capacity | Increases your lung capacity |
| Reduces your secondary sexual features. Men, you’ll lose your broad shoulders and deep voice. Women, you’ll lose breast tissue and your curvy figure. | Enhances secondary sexual features—builds a desirable, attractive figure |
| High rate of injury | Low rate of injury |
| Lowers your overall energy levels | Raises energy levels – wipes out fatigue forever! |
| Takes 60 to 90 minutes, 5 times a week | Takes 12 to 20 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week |
| Hard to stick with | Easy to stick with |
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Finding Your Maximum Heart Rate The most popular equation for figuring out maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. But I find this formula tends to overestimate the maximum heart rate for younger people, and underestimate for older individuals.s As a result, I like to use a different formula: 208 minus your age, then multiplied by .7 = maximum heart rate. That means if you are 60 years old, it would look like this: 60 x .7 = 42 So 166 would be your maximum heart rate if you are 60 years old. |
The second indicator is your heart rate. During your exercise, you’ll want to get your heart beat up to somewhere around 60-80 percent of your maximum, depending on your current conditioning. (To calculate your heartbeat, just count the number of beats in 6 seconds and multiply it by 10. You can feel it by pressing your fingertip against the pulse in your wrist or neck.)
When you finish an exertion period and go into recovery, your heart rate should go up a few ticks. This usually takes place in about 10-15 seconds. This slight increase tells you that you’ve created an oxygen debt.
If you find it hard to gauge your heart rate, I suggest investing in a good quality heart rate monitor. This will help you determine easily when you’ve entered the supra-aerobic zone and give you a sure-fire way to know that you’re doing PACE correctly.
Plus, it will help you…
- Track recovery time. Your recovery time is a marker for your heart health. If your heart rate doesn’t slow down at least 30 beats in the first minute, you’re in poor shape. If your recovery heart rate slows down more than 50 beats in the first minute, you’re in excellent shape.
- Gauge the intensity of your exertion. Measuring intensity is an important aspect of PACE. Under-perform and you won’t get the benefits. Over-perform and you’ll put yourself at risk. If your heart rate is less than your target range during exercise, you can speed up or work harder. But if your heart rate is higher than your target zone, you’ll need to slow it down.
- Monitor your progress. When you start PACE, it may take several minutes to get your heart rate and breathing up. This is perfectly okay when you are out of shape or de-conditioned. But as you progress, you’ll reach your target heart rate more quickly.
My PACE Heart Rate Monitor is the perfect companion piece for your PACE program. It makes your workout easier by doing all the thinking for you. It’s like having your own personal trainer there to guide you through your workout.
Click here to get your own, personal PACE Heart Rate Monitor today.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
1 Tremblay, A., Simoneau, J.A., Bouchard, C., “Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism,” Metabolism 1994;43(7): 814-818
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