The Best Target Zone Exercises With the Quickest Results

If you pay attention to information about fitness, you've probably heard enough about "target zones" and the "fat-burning zone" to make your head spin. It is true that there are specific "zones" that will give you the best results in terms of calorie burn and subsequent fat loss -- but it doesn't have to be as complicated as you might think.

  1. Target Zones

    • Here's the basics of target zones: To burn a maximum number of calories, you have to get your heart pumping at a rate between 50 and 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. If you're within that zone, you've hit the target. You can't calculate your MHR accurately without the help of a health professional, but you can rough out an estimate by subtracting your age from 220. The resulting number is your MHR, which you'll then multiply by 0.5 and 0.8 to estimate your target heart rate for exercise. If you've heard something about the "fat-burning" zone, don't concern yourself with it. While it's true that you'll burn more calories from fat by staying on the lower end of the target heart rate spectrum, you'll burn more calories overall by increasing your intensity and aiming for the higher end.

    Big Calorie-Burners

    • Consider any exercise that gets your heart beating in that zone to be one of the "best" for getting the quickest results. That could include running, walking briskly, swimming, cycling, aerobics or any other activity you enjoy. Among the biggest calorie burners out there -- and the ones that can get your heart closer to the top end of the target zone faster -- are running, jumping rope, inline skating and bicycling at a high rate of speed -- though if you're less fit, you may not be able to maintain these exercises for as long as you'd like. In that case, choosing a lower-intensity exercise that you can maintain for a longer period, such as brisk walking, is probably your best bet.

    How You Feel

    • To test your heart rate during your workout, place your middle and pointer fingers on your carotid artery and count the number of beats you feel in 30 seconds. Then multiply that number by 2 to arrive at your current heart rate. If you don't want to stop to check your heart rate, another way to measure your exercise intensity is simply to gauge how you feel, reminds the American Council on Exercise. If you feel like you're working really hard, you probably are. Think of your exertion level on a scale of 0 to 10, called the "Rate of Perceived Exertion." If you're working at a level of 5 to 8, you're probably at an intensity that will provide you the results you desire.

    Take Notes Over Time

    • If you're the type to really get into crunching the numbers, try monitoring your heart rate or RPE in the middle of a few different types of workouts. Write down that heart rate or RPE in a training journal, along with the type of exercise you did, the date and any other notes you might want to remember, such as the fact that you were feeling a cold coming on, for example. This can help you determine which exercises are the most vigorous and which ones you might want to swap for others.