Heart Rate Training is completely misunderstood by the majority of people, even those who exercise regularly.  If you’ve been relying on the standardized charts commonly found in gyms and on cardio equipment, you’ve been missing out on significant training benefits.  Those charts are completely inaccurate.  At best, they are a rough guess!

The importance of knowing YOUR unique Heart Rate Zones cannot be understated.  If you do ANY type of cardiovascular activity such as walking, jogging, running, cycling, hiking, skiing, etc. then the effort you put in can be focused for specific results in a shorter amount of time by knowing your unique zones.  Anything else is a shot in the dark in the hope that you are targeting the correct training zones.  However, that is not the focus of this article.  If you would like specific information on how to find out your personalized HR zones and metabolic efficiency during exercise, just contact us.

In general, tracking your heart rate during exercise (and at rest) is a valuable tool to boost your performance.  Here are merely a few of the reasons:

• Gauge your improvement over time in an easily quantifiable way
• Know that you are hitting specific intensity/effort levels during your sessions.  This is important to get specific training results.
• Your resting HR is measure of overall fitness level
  • <100 is normal (though if it’s over 80 I would start to be concerned about your levels of fitness and health)
  • <60 considered athletic (less than 50 is excellent)
• Using a HR monitor keeps you consistent and helps you track progress.  Many will download (or upload) your data to a training log and analyze the results without any additional effort on your part.
• Changes in exercise and resting heart rate can help show you when you are getting sick/recovered/fatigued, etc.

HR monitor options

• Basic = HR, calories and simple zones with watch features
  • The bare essentials for real-time tracking purposes
• Medium = Multiple zone alarms, fitness tests, exercise reminders, advanced watch features
  • Recommended for most users, even those just getting started
• Advanced = GPS, altitude, barometer, compass, speed, distance, cadence (bike), pace, downloadable to computers, upload to website, recovery and volume tracking, EPOC, tracking software
  • Perfect for those who perform multiple types of activity (run/bike/hike/strength training/etc.)
  • Recommended for high volume use and for those who have an interest in tracking specific training results.
• If you are interested in heart rate monitors, FRESH! is a distributor for both Polar and Suunto.  Garmin is another excellent brand on the GPS side.
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    ortunately we do not carry Garmin at this time.  However, both Polar and Suunto have options with GPS capabilities.  Click here for more details or to order.

• Eliminate the guessing and get your HR zones calculated properly with a VO2 test
  • Train Smarter, Not Harder
  • Get the most out of the time you put in.
  • Can be done with walking or running test
  • just contact us here.