Stay on Track with a Heart Rate Monitor this Holiday!

Posted 8 December 2008

by Coach and Trainer Dr. Alinda Perrine – ZoneX™ Sensible Heart Rate Training
Have you gotten off track with your fitness routine? The holidays can be anything but routine…

Here’s a tip on fitting in fitness during the busy holiday season. Consider your time and consider your intensity. What types of workouts can you do in 20 to 30 minutes? If you want to use a familiar cardio routine, but you are in a hurry, here’s a tip. Use your heart rate monitor and increase your heart rate by 5-10 beats. You will work at a higher intensity for a shorter amount of time. You will notice the result may be an increase in speed, pace, or grade. Plus you will maintain a base level of fitness.
The advantage to using a heart rate monitor is you can measure the intensity of your work. Without the heart rate monitor, you may work too hard and not complete your workout. Or you may become disappointed if you can’t hold the speed, pace, or grade. Remember, perceived effort does not always coordinate with your heart rate. Research shows that many people think they are working harder than they are. By observing your heart rate and coordinating heart rate with other data- speed, pace, or grade- you begin to associate intensity with output. This feedback is motivational. In fact, you may find that “I don’t know if I have time” attitude quickly disappears and is replaced with “Let’s see what I can do today.”
Try the following 30 minute workout. Record your data. The workout is written for the treadmill, but can be applied to any cardiovascular machine workout. Use the Effort Descriptors and include in your final analysis.

“Stay on Track” Workout
Record your effort, heart rate and pace as you perform this workout.

The following questions will help you analyze your data.

Questions for “Stay on Track” Workout
1. In Step 3, did perceived effort match your increase in heart rate? This workout is a great example of how effort and heart rate may not coordinate. What was your analysis?
2. In Step 4, how many total heart beats did you recover? Twenty or more beats is the goal. If you did not recover 20 beats, consider performing workouts to enhance your recovery rate.
3. Did your pace increase during Step 5 and 6? Was the change incremental?
4. Did you feel the warm-up was sufficient for the work expected? If not, increase your warm-up time.
5. How many beats did you achieve during the cool down? As a coach, I prefer that athletes cool down at least 30+ beats before exiting the cardiovascular equipment.

Stay on Track and Happy Holidays,
Coach Alinda Perrine
ZoneX™ Sensible Heart Rate Training

For the most comfortable and accurate heart rate monitoring try NuMetrex. NuMetrex heart monitoring apparel provides a comfortable alternative to the traditional heart monitoring strap. The seamless NuMetrex heart sensing garments have sensors knit directly into the fabric. A small transmitter snaps into the front of the garment, captures your data and sends it to your watch or cardio equipment. Heart rate is a great motivator that enables you to monitor your fitness goals and calories burned.

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