Exercise With A Heart Rate Monitor

I have been walking and jogging on the beach every morning (minus a day off on the weekends) for the past three months. This physical workout in the morning helps me feel connected with nature. It supports me completely... body, mind and soul. I often feel refreshed and recharged after an hour of exercise.

However, I realized that I was making very little progress toward my goal which was to run the 2-3 miles from start to finish. I was stuck at a certain level, although I've been trying to walk less and run more of the distance. Often I was burned out and tired after the run. I was pushing myself very hard to run a little more every day thinking that's the way to go.

Then last week I met with a friend in the morning. He totally changed his life three years ago and transformed his businessman's belly into a very healthy, athletic body. Last year he competed in the Hawaiian triathlon and he placed in the first ten in his age class. By the way, he began his life of fitness at age 48!

That morning he gave me his heart rate monitor (a belt and a watch) to tryout and check on the effectiveness of my running. After only five minutes this watch started beeping. I looked at the screen and it showed my heartrate was at 165. My friend told me to slow down and walk until the screen shows 120. I didn't know why, but after the walk he introduced me to the importance of monitoring the heart rate and I had some major insights.

I was running at a very unhealthy heart rate for my age most of the time. The effect was that I didn't burn any fat, only carbohydrates. After all that work, I was hardly getting any benefits out of it! No wonder I didn't see any improvements.

What I learned is that you should never go over your maximum heart rate at all. To determine your maximum heart rate, take 220 and subtract your age. This is your maximum and from that you determine 50%-60% for a optimum fat burning results. At 60%-70% you are in the temperate zone where you still burn more fat than carbohydrates. At 70%-80% you are in the aerobic level where you burn less fat, you burn carbohydrates and you start to build stamina.

You really should not go over 80% of your maximum heart rate. The benefits are fewer and the risks are high. Remember ~ to burn fat and lose weight stay between 50%-60% of your maximum heart rate.

Visit the following web site to find your maximum heart rate and to calculate automatically the different zone levels for your exercise program.

http://www.heartzone.com/zone_calculator.htm

After some training with my friend's heart rate monitor, I've decided to purchase my own. Now I feel much more confident about my training knowing that I am burning fat instead of carbohydrates. I really encourage you to do your excercises and fitness training with a heart rate monitor.

You will find a description of the most popular heart rate monitor from polar in the next paragraph. I have also included a special offer from drugstore.com to get you the best deal for a heart rate monitor.

What the polar company has to say about the heart rate monitor:

When you have a strong heart, you feel active, healthy and energetic. At the same time this will reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases and problems connected with aging. The stress level during daily tasks will decrease and you will be able to work more effectively. To achieve all these benefits of regular aerobic exercise, it is important to do the workouts safely at the right intensity level.

Polar wireless Heart Rate Monitors measure the electrical frequency of your heart, the number of beats per minute at which your heart is operating. In contrast, pulse meters (photo-reflectance models) use sensors to measure the mechanical pulse of blood flow through your capillaries, which is then converted into a beat-per-minute readout. Polar Heart Rate Monitors are so accurate that readings obtained simultaneously by Polar monitors and by electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors are almost identical. This is not true for photo-reflectance monitors.

Heart Rate Monitors measure your cardiovascular and physiological stress during training sessions and during daily living. They provide you with an accurate gauge of the intensity of an exercise, as this will be reflected in your heart rate.

The harder you exercise the higher the heart rate. Because hard work alone does not guarantee better results, it is important to exercise within your personal target heart rate zones.

Whatever your goals - improving your overall health, weight management or winning athletic competitions - you can eliminate guesswork by exercising within a specific target heart rate zone. You can exercise effectively within target zones only if you know how fast your heart is beating throughout your workout. And now, thanks to advanced Polar technology, wireless electronic heart rate monitors make heart rate monitoring easy and fun to do.

Here are the two special deals for you:

Polar Heart Rate Monitor - Polar M21 - $119.95
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Regular Price 149,99 - You save $30

This Package Includes:

* Polar M52
* wrist receiver.
* Polar transmitter.
* Polar Exercise Guide.
* Customer Care Charter.
* User's manual.
* Customer Registration Card.

Features:

* ECG accurate.
* OwnZone determines your target zone.
* OwnCal calculates your calorie expenditure.
* OwnIndex measures your fitness level.
* You & I settings for two users.
* Average heart rate of an exercise.
* Time in target zone.
* Out of zone alarm.
* Watch functions with date.
* Exercise reminder after three inactive days.
* Backlight.
* Water resistant to 100 feet.

Click here to order this product at drugstore.com
http://www.drugstore.com/product.asp?pid=53336&aid=316917

Polar Heart Rate Monitor - Polar M52 - $139.95
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Regular Price 179,99 - You save $40

This Package Includes:

* Polar M21
* wrist receiver.
* Polar transmitter.
* Polar Exercise Guide.
* Customer Care Charter.
* User's manual.
* Customer Registration Card.

Features:

* ECG accurate.
* OwnZone determines your target zone.
* OwnCal calculates your calorie expenditure.
* Average heart rate of an exercise.
* Time in target zone.
* Out of zone alarm.
* Watch functions with date.
* Exercise reminder after three inactive days.
* Backlight.
* Water resistant to 100 feet.

Click here to order this product at drugstore.com
http://www.drugstore.com/product.asp?pid=53337&aid=316917