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What’s the Purpose of Personal Heart Rate Monitors?

Bowflex Personal Heart Rate Monitor

You see them at the gym and you see them on your favorite home workout DVD, but what’s the purpose of personal heart rate monitors and do you need one? Like any other piece of fitness equipment, you want to do your research and ensure there’s really a need for it before you spend your money. With so many useless fitness gadgets on the market, this is completely understandable. But personal heart rate monitors are not some gimmicky scam, meant to waste your time and hard earned cash.

Yes there is a legitimate purpose to personal heart rate monitors. Yes they are a useful and worthwhile tool to have in your arsenal. And yes, we sell them here.

Let’s look at what personal hear t rate monitors do. Heart rate monitors measure your pulse, or how many times your heart beats in a single minute. Obviously when you work out your pulse increases as your body demands more oxygen be pumped through your veins. A measurement of this rate not only tells you how hard you are working (by way of your heart) but it also provides a means by which to measure your fitness progress over time.

You’ve seen people stop in the middle of a workout to check their pulse. They want to ensure they are working out hard enough to burn calories and fat. It’s a measurement of effort. But overtime, you’ll find as your body gets fit, you have to work harder to elevate your heart rate in the same way. In this way, personal heart rate monitors provide another avenue to track your fitness progress.

As you’ve likely seen people stop mid-workout to check their pulse, you’ve become privy to another benefit of personal heart rate monitors. Sure, you can get the same information from pressing your fingers against a major artery and counting the beats. But personal heart rate monitors do this for you—they take the hassle out of pulse checking and they allow you to monitor your pulse in the midst of a workout.

Like most fitness tools, personal heart rate monitors are optional. You don’t have to have one to be successful. However, among fitness accessories, heart rate monitors are a truly legitimate aid. They are a worthwhile tool and something that can come in handy as you work towards fitness training goals.

Here at ExtremeBody Workout, we carry a few different monitors from Bowflex. One with a strap, one without, and a model made just for women. Be sure to check them out!

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What is the purpose of heart rate monitors?

If you’re like me, you’re cautious about what you spend your money on. Sure new gadgets can be fun and cool and they are basically the adult equivalent of a new toy. But, if they don’t serve a unique and useful purpose then what’s the point? These are likely the sort of things you are thinking if you are wondering what is the purpose of heart rate monitors. But, unlike other gadgets and toys, heart rate monitors are more than a useless cool techie toy and they actually serve a purpose.

There are many tools out there that can help you achieve your overall fitness goals. But when your goals go beyond weight loss, a heart rate monitor is crucial. Sure you may want to lose weight but why? Although it likely has something to do with how you look, your overall health is crucial and a healthy weight can be indicative of a healthy heart. When wondering what is the purpose of heart rate monitors, it is often related to your cardiovascular health.

What is the purpose of heart rate monitors? To monitor the work and overall health of your cardiovascular system.

A heart rate monitor measures how many times your heart beats per minute. Called your heart rate or pulse, this number is a good indicator of how hard your body has to work just to keep blood circulating. A lower heart rate is usually the indication of a strong heart, as it takes fewer pumps to keep fresh blood moving throughout the body. Elite athletes sometimes have resting heart rates within the 30s or 40s, though the average person’s is around 60-70.

Keeping your heart rate within a specific range while working out is another reason that many people use these gadgets. For them, what is the purpose of heart rate monitors is as a way to track their level of exertion during workouts. In cardio work, for example, if your heart isn’t working within a specific range, you aren’t getting the most out of your workout.

When it comes to heart rate monitors, there are several reasons to add them to your fitness toolbox. This is definitely one of the necessary fitness tools to have handy as it allows you to track your progress and simultaneously ensure you are getting the most out of your fitness regimen.

You can find high quality heart rate monitors right here at ExtremeBody Workout. Check out our lineup of Bowflex Monitors including one with a chest strap and one monitor without!

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What is my target heart rate for weight loss?

Exercising for your health is an excellent idea. However, more people exercise with a weight loss goal in mind. For those people, maximizing their calorie and fat burning during exercise is very important. Knowing your target heart rate for weight loss can be a good tool in ensuring that you are exercising at an intensity that will maximize your fat burning and weight loss potential.
 
There are a few ways of determining your target heart rate for weight loss. The easiest is to take your age and subtract your age from 220. This is what is called your maximum heart rate. When doing a cardio workout, you can maximize your calorie burn by working out within 70-80% of your maximum heart rate. To determine this number simply multiply .70 x your maximum heart rate and .80 x your maximum heart rate. This will give you the optimal range for cardio workouts.

Example for a 30 yr. old man:
220-30= 190 (maximum heart rate)
.70 x 190= 133
.80 x 190= 152
Target heart rate: 143- 162 (approximately)

A quick internet search will show you there are several ways to determine your target heart rate for weight loss. Any of them will do as they come up with very similar results. This one is simply the easiest. If you are looking for more precise results, you could try the Karvonnen formula or a newer formula from the Harvard’s Men’s Health Watch, available here.

Once you have determined that ideal range for caloric burn, you can periodically monitor your heart rate during cardio activity. Keep in mind that as you become more fit, so does your heart. The intensity that once brought you to your target range may now not be enough. As you get fit, you will have to increase your level of intensity to maintain your target heart rate for weight loss.

A heart rate monitor is a great tool for staying on top of your heart rate. One that helps keep an eye on your target zone is a perfect companion to your fitness and weight loss goals. There are heart rate monitors available that use a chest strap to send ECG readings to a watch style receiver on your wrist. There are also slightly higher end heart rate monitors that require no chest strap and deliver quick results with the push of a button.

Heart health is just as important as weight loss. By being aware of your resting, target, and maximum heart rates, you can ensure you are working within a healthy range for your goals and your overall health.

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