The Heart Rate Monitor
With all of the fancy exercise equipment you can buy, how do you know what is worth your hard earned money and what is just another gimmick?
Products that promise you quick results are generally ones that you should avoid, while others that want to help you support your workout are something that you might want to invest in. For example, a heart rate monitor is a good tool for all kinds of exercisers - beginner to advanced - because it helps you see just how hard you're working, without promising to help you lose weight overnight.
What is a heart rate monitor and what does it do?
A heart rate monitor is a device that measures how often your heart beats during a given period of time. It will be placed on a major artery to see how fast your heart is beating when you're exercising. When you measure the number of beats your heart is beating each minute, you will be able to see how intense (or not intense) your workout really is.
This will allow you to measure your progress as you increase your intensity as well as make sure that you are working out in the range that is appropriate for your current fitness level.
There are two types of heart rate monitor systems on the market right now. One works with a strap that is wrapped around your chest, under the pectoral muscles. This strap conveys the heart rate information to a watch like apparatus that you wear on your wrist.
Much like checking the time, you can look at your wrist to see your heart rate throughout your workout. There are also some heart rate monitor systems that work with just a watch like structure on your wrist and show the heart rate on the screen. Both of these systems can also be hooked up to a computer software program so that you can see your progress over a certain length of time.
Who would benefit from a heart rate monitor?
It could be said that all people participating in exercise can benefit from the use of a heart rate monitor. Beginners especially can help their workouts be consistent and moderately difficult by wearing a heart rate monitor.
Sometimes when you are just starting out, you're either working out too hard or too easily, so the heart rate monitor can help you determine if you need to speed things up or slow things down. This can help you get the most out of your workout and increase your gains and improvements over a shorter period of time.
Those that are advanced exercisers can also benefit from a heart rate monitor. When they've already advanced far enough that they don't run out of breath and their heart seems to be moving steadily, watching the heart rate monitor can help them increase their intensity to strength their heart more and more.
By working out at a high intensity, they can train their body to respond in a calmer manner (by the heart not beating as quickly) and thus conserve their energy more efficiently.
