For the vast majority of athletes, maximal fat oxidation will occur at a very easy pace!


The average from all the tests I've performed to date had maximal fat oxidation occuring at 58% VO2max (~70% max heart rate).

That said, some very well trained athletes can hold max fat oxidation through to much higher intensities (some as high as 80% VO2max). In this case, breaking the workload up into intervals may be appropriate. This may well be the case for the professional cyclists mentioned in the webinar.

Additionally, at a certain point, for aerobic endurance sports, the emphasis will shift from 'raising the fat oxidation roof' to broadening its base into race specific ranges. For example, it doesn't (at least directly) do you much good having 10kcal per min max fat oxidation at 200W if you race at 300W. At this point, the use of sustained moderate aerobic intervals closer to endurance race pace to broaden the fat oxidation may be appropriate.

However, for most athletes, the best way to develop that initial maximal fat oxidation is with very long, very low intensity continuous training. I wrote a little more on that here...

https://alancouzens.com/...ng_fat_burning1.html

and here..

https://alancouzens.com/...ng_fat_burning2.html

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Alan Couzens, M.Sc. (Sports Science)
Exercise Physiologist/Coach
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alan_Couzens
Web: https://alancouzens.com