Heart Rate Monitors

Hellooooo!

So on Thursday last week I discovered the greatness of heart rate monitors!

I used to think that they were just something extra if you felt like/could afford one that gave some kind of slight benefit to your training sessions, but only if you really knew anything about heart rates and things like that (which I don't, really).

However, I was totally wrong!

So obviously they're not a necessity but if you're thinking about getting one I encourage you to do so! I didn't really know anything about heart rates and the zones and whatever before but in the few days I've had it I've learnt quite a lot from it, and it helps me to maximise my workouts for the most effectiveness and really shows me exactly how hard I'm working during the workout!

Because of my 12WBT membership I got a discount on Polar heart rate monitors and I've heard only good things about them so I decided to go with the Polar FT40. I liked all of it's functions, but it was also pretty :P that's always important, right? hahaha.

So you have the watch part which displays everything and then that thinh that says POLAR is the transmitter which you attached to the chest band thing which records your heart rate... pretty cool.

So this is the screen when you're during a workout it shows your heart rate on that bar. Up the top where it says "Fitness" - that's what range your heart rate is in. So for me above 135 is my fitness improving heart rate, and under that would be my Fat Burning heart rate. Very clever hey haha :)

and then this is what is displayed after you end your workout. Calories burned, the percentage of calories burned that were from fat, and the total time of your workout. Pretty useful and great to keep track of how effective your workouts are! I found this really easy to use, but I haven't tried any other models or anything so I'm sure any decent heart rate monitor that tells you this kind of stuff is going to be just as useful. I just really like the layout of this one and then look of it. (It looks way bigger than it is though in the photo, I think it's cause I have unusually tiny wrists haha).

Anyway yeah if you're considering getting a heart rate monitor I definitely recommend it! I'm kind of obsessed with mine now and wanting to use it gives me some extra motivation to get into the gym everyday :P It's a really handy device and can help to help you keep track of and maximise your workouts!

Danni
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