Running? Jogging? Power Walking? Cardio? Knowing what pace to run to burn calories and fat and improve weight loss will help you create the best workout for your goals and get the many benefits of running.
Misunderstandings about how we burn fat and calories have caused confusion among people who believe that so-called “fat-burning” workouts do more than they really do.
Moderate-intensity “fat-burning” or “cardio” exercises actually burn fewer fat calories overall than more high-intensity workouts. High-intensity workouts, especially sprint training, burns less fat as a percentage of calories burned, but can lead to overall more fat burning because you burn more calories overall – including fat calories.
If this sounds confusing, don’t worry; no matter what your fitness level, you can find the right pace to burn calories to get the maximum weight loss results, cardio and other health benefits and sports training improvement.
“Fat-Burning” Pace
Many fitness websites, books and other materials refer to the “fat-burning zone” as exercise that causes you to burn more fat than glycogen during your weight loss workout. This occurs at lower heart rates than aerobic or sprint training workouts. When you work at a more moderate pace, you use more glycogen to fuel your muscles.
A high-intensity workout, however, burns more calories overall, and thereby more total fat calories than lower-intensity “fat-burning” workouts. This is why some fitness experts call aerobic exercise fat-burning; because it burns the most fat – as a percentage of calories burned. But you burn fewer calories and less fat overall during your workout.
The pace at which you run determines whether you burn more fat as a percentage of calories, or more fat calories overall.
Running vs. Jogging
It’s a good idea to know the differences between walking, power walking, jogging, running and sprinting. If you are looking to create a fat-burning running pace that burns more fat, running (fast) at any speed is too fast. If you consider aerobic exercise fat-burning, then jogging or running at a pace that doesn’t tire you after a short while is the pace you need to set.
Walking and Power Walking
You know what walking is – power walking happens when you increase your walking speed and start breathing harder. You’re not sweating or panting, but power working is a great way to increase your cardiovascular capacity and improve your muscular endurance so you can soon start doing longer and more high-intensity workouts.
You might swing your arms or add some strength training by carrying dumbbells during your power walks. This will increase your health benefits by raising your heart rate and building muscle mass.
Running and Jogging Heart Rates
For a non-aerobic fat-burning workout, aim for a heart rate between 50 percent and 65 percent of your maximum heart rate. This is comparable to walking briskly. To create a traditional aerobic workout, jog or run at 70 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate.
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Jogging and Running Speeds
Jogging occurs when you move at a comfortable pace that gets you breathing hard and starts you sweating, but isn’t near your maximum speed. Running occurs at a faster speed and gets you near your physical limit.
If your weight loss goals include burning fat on a treadmill, a jogging speed of 2 mph to 3.5 mph will get you into your fat-burning zone if you’re a beginner. To get into your aerobic heart rate range and burn more calories, warm up and then start to jog or run faster at a speed between 3.5 mph and 5 mph.
An exercise chart at the website of MayoClinic.com estimates that a 160-pound person walking at 2 mph will burn 183 calories per hour. Raising that 3.5 mph, he will burn 277 calories per hour. A 5 mph jog will cause him to burn 584 calorie per hour. Running at 8 mph, he’ll burn close to 1,000 calories per hour.
Sprint Training
One way to maximize your calorie burn (including a longer post-workout calorie burn) is to sprint train. This occurs when you sprint, then walk, sprint, then walk and so on. You might sprint only one-fourth of your workout, but your heart will remain elevated and you’ll be burning lots of calories and fat while you do your walking recovery after each sprint.
This type of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) should be done after you’ve talked to your doctor or a fitness professional, since you’ll be sprinting at 80% to 90% of your maximum heart rate.
Running and Fat-Burning Bottom Line
If you want to burn the maximum amount of calories and fat, you should walk, jog or run at the maximum pace you can sustain for the longest time possible. If you are a beginner, raise your metabolism so you’re breathing hard, adding more minutes or distance to your weight loss power walk each week.
Increase your workout durations for the first few weeks, rather than trying to raise your intensity before you have built stamina and endurance. During an aerobic jog, make sure you can talk, or you will be running too hard and may have to stop.