Heart rate training is the BEST way to have the
BEST workout. It is a simple device with complex interactions that gives
you the ultimate result. I don't work for a heart rate monitor company or
do I get commissions off selling heart rate monitors, but as a personal
trainer, I HIGHLY recommend them to all my clients for MAXINUM results. How
else would you know how to push yourself a little harder? How else would you know to rest 30
seconds longer? Without knowing
what your heart rate is after each exercise you can’t.
What heart rate monitor should I buy? There are
thousands of heart rate monitors on the Internet. Just like any other
product some are very high quality and some are very bad. The company
that makes the best heart rate monitors for a relatively economical price is Polar.
For a beginner, I would recommend their FT 7 heart rate monitor watch, which
you can buy on Amazon for only 65$. Here is the link FT 7 Polar. The FT 7 will give you your
heart rate and how many calories you burn from each workout you track.
Some of the more expensive model will tell you which ZONE you are in and
for the amount of time spent in each zone. This is a very cool perk, but
don't worry I am going to show you how to calculate this on your own using the
FT 7 so you can save your money!
How does a heart rate monitor work? The
monitor works by putting a strap around your chest that is going to pick up
your heart rate with the device connected to the center of the strap. MAKE
SURE BEFORE YOU PUT THE STRAP ON YOU GET THE METAL BOLTS ON THE BLACK DEVICE
WET OR ELSE IT WILL NOT PICK UP YOUR HEART RATE. Once the strap picks up
your heart rate it will send it to your watch and tell you what your heart rate
is throughout your workout. There is more detail on how to use the
buttons on the watch that you can find in the instructions manual once you get
your watch.
How do you use your heart rate monitor? Ok so
this is the practical section of this article. To use your monitor you
first need to know what your heart rate max is. This is a very simple
calculation (220-AGE). So for me my max is 220-24= 196. Now that
you know your max so you can figure out your training zones. Zone 1 is
60-70% your max heart rate so for me it would be 196 x.6= 118 196x .7 137.
So when my watch is from 118-137 I am in zone 1. Zone 1 you burn
the most calories from fat but you also burn the least amount of calories.
It is the zone I like to use for recovery after going into zone 2 and 3
for a short period of time it is always good to come back down to zone 1 and
the faster your heart rate comes back to zone 1 the better shape you are in.
Zone 2 is 70-80% and Zone 3 is 80%+. So for me zone 2 would
be anywhere from 137-157 and zone 3 would be 157+. This is also easy to
calculate, just take your max heart rate and times it by the percent of each
zone like I did for zone 1 above. Zone 3 you will be burning the most
calories and really pushing your heart to the max. It is good to only
stay in zone 3 a couple minutes at the MOST at one time. After an intense
moment in zone 3 come back down to zone 1 to recover. Training like this
will not only burn 700+ calories per workout it will increase your aerobic
capacity very fast and significantly. If you are not doing zone training
I suggest you buy a heart rate monitor and start today. It literally is
your own personal trainer. If you are working out and can't get out of
zone 1 it will push you to work out harder and it will also give you the appropriate
amount of rest that otherwise would not be possible.
