My Heart Rate Monitor
One of my favorite pieces of gear is my Polar F4 Women’s Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Blue Ice). It has been a great tool for weight loss. The ability to accurately track my calories has allowed me to set and meet goals for burning calories. One of the other benefits of using a heart rate monitor is the ability to gage the intensity of my workouts. I like high intensity workouts, because they allow me to burn the maximum amount of calories in the least amount of time. With my heart rate monitor I know when I need to kick it up a notch or when I need to back off a little and give my heart a rest. The heart rate monitor I use is probably one of the cheaper ones out there that has a chest strap, it doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles but it does have all the essentials. Constant heart rate, calories burnt, the ability to set your personal data. A heart rate monitors are great fitness and weight loss tools. I never go for a run or to the gym without mine.
Slow and Steady Still Finishes the Race
-Middalia Wayman
Filed under: Diet and fitness, My Gear
HRM’s are the best. They also indicate the state of your fitness over time. If a run at a particular intensity gives you an average HR of X, it’s easy to monitor how your avg. HR develops in similar runs over time.
Polar is great indeed
I also use a Polar HR monitor but struggle w/ finding the value in it. I love that it tells me calories burned, but my “own zone” is always the same, which is fine, but my pace doesn’t really vary that much. So when I’m not in my zone, I don’t necessarily believe the watch beeping at me telling me to slow down. I guess I need to set my own target HR but I’m not clear on how to figure all that out. Still have a lot to learn in the HR department. Anyway, love your blog and all the posts!
I set my own range and turn the beeping off. I usually exercise at a higher level than the pre set range. Setting your range can be tricky since the conventional formula does not fit everyone. My heart rate is always on the high end, but I know when it goes up to around 190 I should only stay at that intensity for 30-60 seconds, then I need to back off a little. Here is a good article that might help you . Thank you for you kind words
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