Pulse Management
or Heart rate monitoring.
I often go for 10,000
steps and feel good about it, but I'm a fair-weather exerciser and if
the ground is too soggy I will find routes through the streets unless
it is raining! I understand the necessity to increase my heartbeat and
feel that a heart rate monitor will benefit me.
Looking at the ranges
available, you can spend £20 to £200 or more depending upon
your requirements. The basic ones will provide information relating
to your heart rate but although it looks like a sports watch, it won't
tell you the time. Generally the more expensive heart rate monitors
are that download data onto a computer for analysis. Some cheaper models
may contain more of the features that are suited to you because the
expensive ones have features that you don't understand or might never
use. Think of the future though, you may regret not buying a more expensive
feature rich heart rate monitor sooner than you think.
If you don't want
to wear two watches look for a heart rate monitor with real time facilities
or you can keep your existing watch and buy a heart rate monitor that
resembles a pager, just clip it to your waste band.
Initially I thought
rather naively that the sports watch styled heart rate monitor actually
felt my pulse. The reality isn't too far away though. A sensor band
goes around the chest and monitors the heart rate. It then sends a wireless
signal to the wristband that displays the heart rate.
Some heart rate
monitors will have 'training zones', these provide information on which
range your heartbeat is at any given moment. You can then adjust your
pace, up or down so that your exercise regime fits within the heart
rate monitors training zone.
Let's take a look at what some of the features mean or do;
Clearly the most obvious feature of a heart monitor is the ability to
measure your heart rate. Also, because they are worn on the wrist, most
heart rate monitors feature a display that has all the functions of
a sports watch, as well as a feature that allows you to set adjustable
heart rate limits. If you are using your heart rate monitor in the darker
hours of the day a back lighter and larger digits might be more useful.
Equally consider the weather, you might want a water resistant or waterproof
model.
Some heart monitors will automatically record your MHR and your lowest
heart rate for a workout, and to make even more complex calculations,
such as overall averages, disparities between high and low rates, and
the like. On the feature list you might see Complex Data Analysis. Other
heart rate monitors estimate the number of calories you are actually
burning and also measure the ambient temperature. Other options could
include altitude measurement and estimate your VO2 (a value related
to your body's oxygen consumption).
Memory can play an important part in your heart rate monitor. Many basic
heart rate monitors are capable of recording only one workout at a time,
leaving you to record data elsewhere after every use of the monitor.
Heart rate monitors with larger memory banks are capable of recording
multiple workout results without erasing important records from previous
activity. This is really convenient if the monitor is not computer compatible,
and recording results must be done manually instead.
However, if you wish to record your results instantly, a heart rate
monitor that can be plugged into your computer is the answer. After
a workout or indeed after several - you can download your results onto
the computer using the software provided, and analyse the data in a
number of different ways on your PC or laptop.
Heart rate monitors have two separate components, the chest strap and
the watch; the information from the sensor strap on your chest is transmitted
to the wrist display. If that signal isn't coded, the interference caused
by jogging with another runner or passing a person who is also wearing
a heart rate monitor can occur, providing inaccurate readings. Look
for Coded Signal.
Some of the more expensive models have features for use when riding
a bicycle; they can measure distance and even have a memory bank for
more than one bicycle's wheel size, excellent when sharing the heart
rate monitor with the family
Quick
& Easy Weight Loss
Why
Buy A pedometer
Heart
Rate Monitors Explaned
