Thread: heart rate too high?

I have started a fat loss routine along with my boyfriend about 7 weeks ago. Neither of us is new to working out and so far it is going good. The process is very slow and I'm ok with that. My question is this.....both of us have noticed that when we do cardio, on certain machines, our heart rate is very high the whole time. I use a heart rate monitor and it matches so I know it is accurate. We both do about 45 mins of hard cardio but our heart rate is well above 85%. We don't have a very hard time getting through the workouts and it seems like we're not pushing hard enough when we go slower or use less resistance. But is this breaking down muscle the whole time? I don't know if this is having a negative effect on our training or is it ok since cardiovascularly we can handle it? Any comments?

I would say it depends on your goals. Cardio at that intensity for that period of time is going to break down muscle...thats just what happens. You would be better off switching to interval training if you want to maximize fat loss while maintaining as much muscle as possible.

There is always the ideal way to do things and then there are many other ways that work too, just not quite as well. If fat loss is your main goal and you are happy with your cardio routine I would stick to it but make sure your protein intake is high and you are lifting weights as well (preferably before cardio or at a different time of day altogether).

Lose the fat you want then worry about maximizing your muscle starting from a lean bodyfat percentage....thats my opinion anyway.