A heart rate monitor is one of the most useful exercise accessories you can buy. It is especially important for the newbie exerciser and continues to be a staple in the advanced exerciser’s arsenal. Heart rate monitors come in all price ranges with a variety of features.
A traditional heart rate monitor has two pieces. The first is a strap that you fasten against your chest. The strap has on it electrodes that measure the EKG (your heart’s electrical activity) signal from your chest. This information is then transmitted to a receiver which is imbedded into a wrist watch where your heart rate is displayed.
Even the most basic of monitors show your heart beats-per-minute and sound an audible alarm when you are out of your target range. Advanced monitors can provide all sorts of data including workout time, average heart rate, calories burned, and more. Most monitors can even transmit this data to the displays on exercise equipment such as treadmills, exercise bikes, etc.
So, why do you need a heart rate monitor? To protect yourself from the dangers of overexertion and to make the most out of your workout, it is very important to pay attention to your heart rate. You want to gradually increase your beats-per-minute until you reach your optimal level, maintain that level for a set amount of time, and then gradually decrease your heart rate.
Without a heart rate monitor it can be quite difficult to accurately gauge how your heart is performing. Having the information displayed right before you is so much easier than stopping mid-routine to take your pulse and is much more reliable than going by how you “feel.”
As a beginner, you will know exactly at what point you are overdoing it. If you are training too hard for your fitness level, your monitor will tell you. You will also be notified if you are not working hard enough. If you have been working out regularly for some time, it is not uncommon to be working below your optimal level and not even know it – a heart rate monitor can prevent this.
The information provided by a heart rate monitor is a great motivator and will make you work harder. It is much easier to push through an exercise when you work off of actual numbers instead of how you “think” you are doing.
Want to know more than your just heart rate? Some heart rate monitors let you program your exact goals and give you audio and visual alerts on your progress. For example, let’s say you want to maintain your optimal heart rate for a full twenty minutes. You can program your monitor to tell you when you’ve reached that rate and when it is time to begin slowing down.
On more advanced monitors, you can even set a goal to burn “x” amount of calories per workout. This is a great motivator to keep you moving and provides a strong sense of accomplishment when your workout is over. This is information you’d only be able to “guesstimate” without the device.
You can even take your results with you when your workout is over. Some models will let you upload your workout data to your computer. By doing so, you can see your progress in chart or graph form. This visual motivation can help you work even harder during your next workout.
Heart rate monitors aren’t only effective for cardio workouts. You can use one for any exercise routine you do. See how your heart performs during your strength exercise routines or during your yoga classes. Even consider strapping on the monitor during your everyday activities to see how your heart rate fluctuates throughout the day.
