Yay! I got the heart rate monitor I have been wanting! I've had it for about a week and use it for all my workouts. There is a chest strap that I wear just under my sports bra and a watch that tells you your heart rate, how many calories burned and whether you are in the fat burn or fitness zone.
It is the Polar FT7, which looks like this --->
For awhile I was thinking that it was best to have your heart rate in the Fat Burn zone rather than the Fitness zone, but I realized I had this backwards when I went running and all my time was spent in the Fitness zone (obviously because I was working a lot harder). Typically on the elliptical, it balances out about 50/50 in each zone.
It was very interesting to see that when I went running, I was in the Fitness zone 52 minutes out of 60. HOWEVER, I burned pretty much the same amount of calories as I would on the elliptical... why is this? If I am working harder shouldn't I be burning more calories?
All in all, I'm happy I got this and am able to track how hard I am working. It pushes me to work harder. Like when I am on the elliptical, sometimes I'll use my arms and do punches or overhead lift things just to get my heart rate up higher. And if I am getting lazy and see my heart rate going down, it pushes me to kick it up a notch and get it back up.
*Also, thanks for all the great encouragement on the running! You all are giving me hope that if I stick with it, it will get easier! That's good motivation, so thank you. I will keep at it.
Attitude of Gratitude: I kinda love that I care about this stuff now. A year ago, I never exercised and now I have a heart rate monitor and work out every day. Craziness...
1 comment:
Awesome! I want one eventually. I hope you talk about how you like this particular model once you get a chance to get more and more used to it. Enjoy!
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