If you are a fitness enthusiast I am guess that you have some type of a home gym or other personal exercise equipment. I am also guessing that you are always looking for new ways to get into better shape and help you get past your latest plateau. I have recently discovered the benefits of using a heart rate monitor and am sure that you could benefit too.
Heart rate monitors have been around the fitness industry for a long time but until recently I didn’t pay them much attention because they were simply too difficult to use. I didn’t want to strap a meter around my chest and have to mess with keeping it adjusted and in the right place during a workout. I was pleasantly surprised to find a wrist based heart rate monitor that requires no additional meter.
This allows me to easily keep track of my heart rate and maximize the benefit of the time I spend exercising. A heart rate monitor can be used in a few different ways. I must first say that your heart rate gives you some very valuable information. Determined by your maximum heart rate you can quickly determine your real exertion levels.
This means that your 95% perceived exertion level may not really be as high as you thought. If your max heart rate is 200 and you are only hitting 185, then you still have a little ways to go before you hit your max exertion level. Having this information can be very instrumental in breaking through barriers.
Another very important heart rate level is your ideal fat burning zone which is actually only about 60 – 70%. Many people automatically think that harder is better and it is for building endurance, but if you are trying to burn fat you need to slow it down. Watching your heart rate is the best way to stay right where you need to be and get the most out of your time.
There are numerous workouts that you can do based on your heart rate and a heart rate monitor can be a great learning tool. This addition to your home gym can go a long way towards helping you reach your goals. A heart rate monitor is a small piece of fitness equipment that can have a major impact.