For those of you who are unsure what a fitness heart rate monitor is, it is a piece of technology that can monitor your heart rate. They aren’t a very new invention, but they have come a long way and have recently become more popular. The earliest models were big, bulky, noisy, and inconvenient. The newer models strap right over your chest making it much easier to monitor your heart rate. This new design on old technology has allowed the fitness community and a lot of other people to easily practice heart rate training.
When you strap the monitor over your chest it picks up on the electric signal which is sent through your heart creating a heartbeat. The technical name for recording heart activity is electrocardiography. The way a fitness heart rate monitor works is that this electric signal is picked up by the hard plastic on the chest strap, the signal from there goes to the clip on transmitter, from there a microprocessor constantly monitors the heart rate, the signal is then wirelessly transferred to a receiver.
The receiver is the part of the technology that will display the information you want to know. Sometimes you might experience some difficulty getting an accurate reading so you want to make sure that the sensors are on properly and moist from a little water or gel. Avoid any magnetic fields, they can mess with your signal. Hair can also mess with the reading. Also, make sure the strap is tight enough and the batteries are still good.
It might not be clear to you as what people in the fitness community actually use this technology for, but you can tell a lot about your body and training from your heartbeat. When you run or work out there are specific zones your heart rate needs to be in to get the most effective workout for you. The first zone is referred to as the easy zone; this is for someone who hasn’t exercised in a while or at all. This zone will help you increase your level gradually without putting too much strain on the body and you will burn fat.
The next zone is the fat burning zone which focuses on improving the supply of energy going through the muscles. It is great for your heart and any stored body fat that you can’t get rid of will burn in this zone. The aerobic zone is great for when you want to increase your cardiovascular capacity and pace; you will burn stored fat and increase the strength of your muscles. The anaerobic zone is used to increase anaerobic threshold and is something commonly found in interval training. The last zone is the red zone and should not be used unless you are a serious or professional athlete and should only be used for small period of time. Athletes use this to increase pace and develop their speed.
You should always monitor your heart if you are exercising seriously; your heart rate can help you know that you are in the right zone for the results you wish to achieve. You should never push yourself over the edge and having a fitness heart rate monitor is a great way to keep track of how you are doing. You can find them easily in any fitness or sports related store; you can also find a great variety of them online where you can shop, compare and buy any fitness equipment you might need for your workouts. Including a fitness heart rate monitor into your fitness routine could help you get the results you want faster.