Hi, Guest
04-04-2008, 05:40 AM
So I know a bunch of folks are doing the ol' healthy lifestyle make-over.
And while I started last year, took a break in the fall, and got back into it in the new year, it's been difficult gauging my weightloss requirements and workout requirements against each other.
Now I've spent over a year humming and hawing over a heart rate monitor, but I buckled... found a sweet deal for a Polar AXN 500 and went for it.
And even as a skeptic, the numbers are showing that this thing is working wonders for me.
Besides giving me altitude, electronic compass and barometric/temperature graphs/readings, it does an amicable job of tracking my heart rate (nice graphs too), and tracking my calorie expendatures as well as fitness level.
When I started using it, I found my workouts plateauing -- calorie expenditures and intake weren't matching up with my weight loss (or lack thereof).. and it was a bit demotivating.
However, the heartrate monitor pointed out the problems.
1 ) I wasn't as fit as I thought I was -- my fitness index rated in the 'low', just one step above 'very low'
2 ) I wasn't expending as many calories as I thought I was. 1 hour on a stair climber wasn't burning 1100 calories, it was burning 580 -- a mere 40 calories more than an hour on my bike trainer.
3) I was resting too much between sets when working out -- my heartrate would fall back to resting within 30 seconds while I waited a minute between sets.. not good for building muscle endurance.
Since using the HRM religiously for nearly 2 weeks, I've accomplished the following
1 ) reduced my resting heart rate by nearly 5bpm -- getting closer to a fitness rating of 'normal'
2 ) can track my calorie expenditure more accurately, leading to a 500% increase in weightloss in the past 2 weeks -- without starving myself as I would have been tempted to do
3 ) my strength has SHOT up in 2 weeks -- I'm a bit sore, but the gains are a month ahead of where I was at this point lastyear... so it's encouraging...
it's been good to track another metric and find a way to step quickly towards my overall health goals.
so If anyone's considering a HRM, I recommend it.. I truly do... as long as you do what it tells you to do, it's all good!
here's looking forward to great results heading into spring!
And while I started last year, took a break in the fall, and got back into it in the new year, it's been difficult gauging my weightloss requirements and workout requirements against each other.
Now I've spent over a year humming and hawing over a heart rate monitor, but I buckled... found a sweet deal for a Polar AXN 500 and went for it.
And even as a skeptic, the numbers are showing that this thing is working wonders for me.
Besides giving me altitude, electronic compass and barometric/temperature graphs/readings, it does an amicable job of tracking my heart rate (nice graphs too), and tracking my calorie expendatures as well as fitness level.
When I started using it, I found my workouts plateauing -- calorie expenditures and intake weren't matching up with my weight loss (or lack thereof).. and it was a bit demotivating.
However, the heartrate monitor pointed out the problems.
1 ) I wasn't as fit as I thought I was -- my fitness index rated in the 'low', just one step above 'very low'
2 ) I wasn't expending as many calories as I thought I was. 1 hour on a stair climber wasn't burning 1100 calories, it was burning 580 -- a mere 40 calories more than an hour on my bike trainer.
3) I was resting too much between sets when working out -- my heartrate would fall back to resting within 30 seconds while I waited a minute between sets.. not good for building muscle endurance.
Since using the HRM religiously for nearly 2 weeks, I've accomplished the following
1 ) reduced my resting heart rate by nearly 5bpm -- getting closer to a fitness rating of 'normal'
2 ) can track my calorie expenditure more accurately, leading to a 500% increase in weightloss in the past 2 weeks -- without starving myself as I would have been tempted to do
3 ) my strength has SHOT up in 2 weeks -- I'm a bit sore, but the gains are a month ahead of where I was at this point lastyear... so it's encouraging...
it's been good to track another metric and find a way to step quickly towards my overall health goals.
so If anyone's considering a HRM, I recommend it.. I truly do... as long as you do what it tells you to do, it's all good!
here's looking forward to great results heading into spring!
Contribute to focuscanada.net's future!
Donations of $20 and over get a custom title!