Make Fat the Fuel of Choice!! Be a “better butter burner”

BY CEO Robert Forster, PT

Aerobic base training enhances your fat burning abilities!

Research shows exercising in your target heart rate zone is the best way to improve cardiovascular health prevent both under training and over training, and reduce the risk of injury or burnout. “Aerobic exercise” also known as fat burning exercise is the process of combining oxygen with the nutrients in your body to burn fat as fuel. During aerobic exercise your body learns to utilize fat in favor of carbohydrates in order to spare muscle glycogen. Fat is a much more efficient fuel providing more energy than carbohydrates per gram, it is abundantly available, and it does not produce lactic acid.

The best way to find out your optimal fat burning zones is to undergo a (Metabolic test VO2 or Blood Lactate Test). These precision metabolic tests will produce an exact personalized heart rate prescription from which to design your training program for optimal results. Because each person’s metabolism is unique to their personal physiology, Phase IV metabolic testing is the only way to accurately determine your proper heart rate training zones. Eliminate the guess work and frustration by training with science!

Working to maximize your Aerobic Base is a process of educating your muscles to utilize fat as a resource. Top 10 Benefits to aerobic training:

1. Decreased Respiratory exchange ratio: You are burning the same amount of calories for a given activity, but now more of that energy is coming from fat, and less is coming from carbohydrates

2. Increased Vascularization: Develop a stronger network of blood vessels called capillaries, which carry waste products from the working muscles and deliver nutrients and oxygen to promote recovery.

3. Increased mitochondrial density: More lipids are used to generate ATP as a result of the increased mitochondrial density in response to exercise. Research suggests that the enhancement mitochondrial density in skeletal muscle is a key component in the development of performance in endurance sport allowing an athlete to function closer to their maximum potential.

4. Decreased blood lactate levels: As your body adapts you will start to produce less lactate because it will be using more fats than before, and your body will be more efficient at removing lactate. Your body will make more transporters to remove the lactate and transform it into a more usable source of energy (pyruvate).

5. Training aerobically will teach your body to make more transporters to transport fat to the mitochondria. Spares muscle glycogen by using FAT!

6. Increase stroke volume: Prolonged aerobic exercise training can increase stroke volume, which frequently results in a lower (resting heart rate). A reduced heart rate prolongs ventricular diastole (filling), increasing end-diastolic volume, and ultimately allowing more blood to be ejected.

7. Increasing your Aerobic base by training in the right heart rate zones increases the utilization of fat relative to carbs at rest.

8. Aerobic training will decrease lactic acid production and increase lactic acid removal.

9. Glycogen super-compensation: After reducing glycogen stores to minimal with long slow distance(LSD) work in your aerobic zone a 150% increase in stored glycogen occurs

10. You will lose weight more efficiently because you will be burning the fat that is already stored in your body. Can’t get better than that!!

In summary, by training aerobically you will not only be able use fat as fuel but you will be able to work harder for a longer period of time before fatigue sets in. Remember to work in a recovery day each week and one week a month, so to avoid overtraining and injury. The key is to TRAIN SMARTER NOT HARDER!