Thursday 23 June 2011

Testing For Overall Fitness In Just A Few Minutes With A Heart Rate Monitor

To begin with I have to let you know I'm not a health care professional. You really should check with your own doctor before performing this method. A strong heartbeat recovery is proven to be the optimal indicator of overall individual fitness. The theory is that the more beats a minute your heart rate (HR) drops after peak exercise the more fit you happen to be. If you run hell for leather for several minutes, reaching near maximum HR, a good quality recovery would be for your personal beats to decrease a minimum of 15 in that first minute after maximal physical effort. Here I plan to give you the breakdown of the best way to execute the test and obtain your number.

Firstly, you will need to have an estimate of your max. It is an benefit to know this number simply because the goal for this test is to get your heart beating near this number. If you get nowhere near it, then you've not exercised laborious enough. Simply take the number 220 and minus how old you are. What that equals will be the approximate maximum number. Remember the number for reference at a later point.

Second, you need to have a heart rate watch. You might take your pulse the old fashioned way: fingers on neck or wrist counting your pulse for ten seconds then multiply by six (to get the beats for each minute). But utilizing a heart watch is less work and in all probability more accurate. A strapless or chest strap empowered monitor will suffice. Here I will assume you have one.

Third, for the very best results you will have to perform some sprinting. Sprinting is basically really fast running. Drop by an open area exactly like a park or track. Take your heartbeat before starting sprinting to check your watch is functioning. This readout varies person to person but is generally from 50 to 90 beats each minute in healthy adults. Ok now what you will have to do is sprint as fast as it is possible to for as long as you possibly can. After you have achieved maximum exertion: stop and take your HR. The number requires to be not less than 85% of your max HR estimate from the first part. If it is not, then you really must do sprints until you obtain a readout that's more than 85% of your number from above. Keep in mind that “maximum HR” you just got after your sprints and wait one minute.

Fourth, right after one minute has transpired since you maximally exerted yourself sprinting, take your heart rate again and remember that number. Now take your measured “max HR” and subtract the number recorded after one minute and you will, hopefully, have a number above 15. The number you get, nonetheless, is your recovery heartrate number. The bigger the number the more fit you are. If your HR decreases to your initial resting rate during the first minute from peak then you are of exceptional fitness.

But if your number is in fact no more than 15 don't let yourself be alarmed. It simply means you may reap the benefits of heart rate target zone training. Zone training is that act of keeping your HR raised for extended length of time. The various zones are just referring to the different stages of maximum HR. Persist with the 55% to 70% of max HR zone if your number was under 15 above. Over time your recovery heart beats will improve.

I can help you pick the best heart rate monitor for your test as well. Just come and have a look at my heart rate monitor reviews website here to see which heart rate monitor suits your needs the  best.

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Price Ranges of Heart Rate Monitors


Have a look at my series on brands of heart rate monitors first.

I'm talking over heart rate monitors here. Each time you fork over money for it you realized that it is efficient. Thus whether you would spend $40 or $400 you are always picking up a monitor that spits out your same pulse rate. Merely one includes a ton of other impressive characteristics like data files logging, GPS, live tempo etc. And the other is without a doubt basic and give you time and also a heart rate. Deciding which is best for you is pretty simple: How many other features do you wish along with your heartrate watch

For $50 or less you'll get the entry-level monitors. These come with the cabability to supply you with live pulse rate (whether that be with a chest strap or perhaps not). Some have the capability to log minor quantities of data for you to verify average and peak heart rates. If you’re really lucky and come upon a sale you might find a watch available in this range to have manual pulse rate zone functionality. This allows you to maintain zone training perfectly.

For monitors which range from $50 to $150 you get everything in the cheaper range and several cool extras. For sure, pulse rate zone training automatically on most them. You'll receive a monitor that beeps whenever you exit your heart zones telling you to slow down or accelerate. You'll likely be able to upload your data to the Internet with the watch in this range of prices. You will get fitness testing, precise calories expended and logged and coded signal between the chest belt and the heart monitor. An abundance of these watches even have pedometers to measure your day-to-day steps, which isn’t too bad for $100 approximately. Undoubtedly you have access to a great deal more, however, you get the idea.

For those big spenders seeking to spend $150 plus you will definately get everything offered in the other monitors plus you will receive a lot more. You will most probably get a GPS receiver built-in and enjoy the capacity to find your speed, distance and thus pace all in real time. You'll get a monitor that trains you - the real deal. It prompts you to work much harder, advise you whether you are fat burning or only doing aerobic cardio work. The most pricey heart rate watches are mini computers on your wrist. They've got altimeters, barometers and compass. If you want all that and more get your wallet out.

When you go to buy your heartrate watch just think really hard about what you need. I only need to know my heartrate at certain points in my workouts - at the end of a sprint for instance. Lower end monitors suit me perfect. If you want to learn more about what each watch features visit my heart rate monitor reviews and peruse. I hope you find your monitor. Visit www.heartratemonitorreviewstips.com for additional information.

Buying Guide For Heart Rate Watches Part 2: Which Brand Series?

Please check out my Chest Strap or Strapless Series Before Continuing

There are many kinds of pulse rate watches which exist for you to order. Exactly how are you presently to be aware of what kind to acquire? Many items will sway your final decision: means, brand and testimonials. Following I look at the leading three manufacturers I think of when I think of heart rate monitors: Polar, Timex and Garmin.

Polar. The forerunners. Polar made the first cordless heart rate watch. These guys shipped the pioneer version out their Finland factory doors in 1982. Consequently they have molded outstanding working friendships with the athletic industry. These people work tirelessly with their specialist athletes to optimize their watch main features. Over the years they've grown to a immense range of heart rate watches. Polar seeks to fill the needs of three communities of people that fitness train: amateurs, intermediate and high performance sports stars. The monitors called: FT1, FT2, FT4, FT7, RS100 and CS100 are the newbie ones. The varieties named: FA20, FT40, FT60, FT80, RS300X, CS300 and CS200cad are tailored for the more advanced beginner fitness trainer. Last but not least they have the souped up state-of-the-art range: CS400, CS500, CS500 Tour de France, CS600x, RS400, RCX5 and RS800CX.

All you really want to understand is the C in the name is for cycling, R is for running and FT is for (general) fitness training. That being said straight up it is possible to filter the watches to what you are: cyclist, runner or general exerciser. Following that you can filter to what level you are: beginner, intermediate or performance athlete. I would often advise to people to go with the best monitor in your range. So if you were definitily a starter I’d go the FT7, RS100 or CS100 and so on. Any time you do not match perfectly into any of those groups my most effective word of advice would be to go with your intuition and then move up one: on the ropes between the two rookie and intermediate - just pick intermediate.

Timex. The established watch conglomerates but pulse rate monitor young guns. Timex merely moved into the heart rate monitoring market after it was restructured in 2008. As a result they have fairly minimal working experience in the niche. Even so, principally because of Polar innovation and modern computers it hasn’t taken Timex many years to prove themselves as a key participant.

Their specific range if made simple would be: Less than 1 hundred dollars T5G series and over 1 hundred-$ Ironman series. One of the T5G heart rate monitors is actually the bestselling monitor on Amazon - that's remarkable. The biggest difference among Polar and Timex is the visual appeal of the watch. The Polar monitors look very “wrist computery” whilst the Timex look very much like a ordinary watch. Little question this is the legitimate reason Timex acquired the top spot on Amazon as heartrate monitoring becomes more mainstream. Timex has a rather exciting future in the sector.

Garmin is very first a GPS sea and aircraft device company that in 2003 acquired a company identified as Dynastream Innovations that constructed personal monitoring products. So , Garmin bought into the heartrate watching niche with that acquisition. Garmin appears to like the top end price tag wise of the monitoring game. They have their Forerunner series which all come complete with GPS technology and are billed in excess of $200; for the runners who desire to find out real-time pace etc. They have also their Edge line geared for cyclists. For the trustworthiest GPS characteristic I would go for a Garmin.

Quite a few criteria come into play when buying a heart rate watch. It doesn't matter if you buy based on brand name knowledge, beauty or attribute you will most certainly want to see each individual heart rate monitor reviews, right? I do my very own brand of critique at heart rate monitor reviews and tips please come by, have a read and let me know how else I can help.

How To Buy A Heart Rate Monitor Part 1 Chest Strap or Not?

Heart Rate Monitor Reviews
So I’m sure at this stage you've heard that fitness training the good way is by training inside your heart rate zones. If you wish to increase aerobic, anaerobic, lactate threshold as well as VO2max fitness it's essential to train at different heart rates. It is without saying then that you desire a heart rate monitor able to detecting your heart rate during training. With regards to your style of training you'll need a heart rate monitor which includes a chest strap or one without. How does one make this decision and which are the differences you may perhaps ask, I wish to help.

Chest strap Heart Rate Monitor Reviews

Heart rate monitors with chest straps are capable of constantly and flawlessly finding your heart rate during training. The monitor is made up of chest strap and watch - not having the chest strap the watch cannot sense heart rate.

The chest strap is engineered with a half decent electrode fitted inside. After you place the strap close to your chest with the electrode over the breastbone it feels your hearts electrical signal (heart beats) and transmits in the watch.

If you're a cyclist and want to train the heart rate way you need a monitor making use of a chest strap since your hands will not be free (you need both hands free for around 10 secs or maybe more with strapless monitor). If you're a runner, sprinter, weightlifter, swimmer or other athlete where the hands are available you have the choice: chest strap or strapless.

Great List of Strapless Heart Rate Monitor Reviews

Heart rate monitors without chest straps feature a patented technology to sense heart rate with only a watch. How it works is the sensing technology is built into the watch with a sensor on the back of the watch and sensor on top of the watch. However, they only work if you use the hand with no watch to touch and hold the sensor on the topside. After you make this happen you are essentially closing the electrical loop allowing the technology contained in the watch to detect your heartbeats.

The steps to making the decision?

The watch perfect to you personally is within your range of prices and training method. It genuinely boils down to if you need continuous live monitoring of your heart or if checking you heart rate at different instances will suffice. The strapless monitors are commonly cheaper compared to chest strap ones. The chest strap can be uncomfortable and annoying but obviously enables continuous monitoring.

For anybody who is planning to buy your first heart rate monitor I do heart rate monitor reviews and tips of all my favourites at www.heartratemonitorreviewstips.com