Heart Rate Monitors

With any exercise program,  it is important to know what your goals are in order to achieve optimum results. Do you want to lose weight? Improve your general health? Or train for a sports competition? Obviously, the person training for a marathon will need to work a lot harder than someone just trying to stay healthy. This is where you determine how long and hard must you work out to see results.

So how hard are you exercising, anyway? If you were able to track your heart rate, you'd know since your target heart rate plays an essential part in judging the intensity of your workout. You might be sweating, but are you working out hard enough? Could you be pushing too hard? With a heart rate monitor  you can be sure that you'll stay on track during your workouts so that you exercise efficiently and effectively. This guide will outline some of the major features available for your fitness needs. Remember you should always consult a physician about your target heart rate to make sure you are maintaining a healthy rate.

Why Buy a Heart Rate Monitor

Most people are not aware of how important their target heart rate actually is. In fact, it is a crucial step in meeting exercise goals. If you work too little, you will not be able to burn calories and build muscle. Likewise, if you overwork your body, you are putting yourself at risk of injury. Also, when you go beyond your target heart rate you push your muscles into anaerobic mode, which in turn produces lactic acid, causing cramps and premature muscle fatigue. This directly counteracts your ability to work within your target heart range for the minimum 20 minutes required, thus it reduces the amount of fat that can be burned.

Now that you understand the importance of monitoring your heart rate, you can make the decision to buy a heart rate monitor  to help track your health and fitness progress. The only question that remains is: what are your fitness goals? There is no need to spend extra money on a plethora of useless features when all you want is to measure the number of heart beats per minute. However, if you need to do some serious training or you have very specific weight loss goals, then you certainly won't skimp on getting the full-featured model of your choice to aid in your fitness-tracking requirements.

Features for Your Fitness Level

To determine which model you need, you must first assess your current fitness level, exercise goals and training routine. As you can see from the chart below, the more you pay, the more features you get. Each level has its target audience, just as you have your target heart rate to track. Then again, with all models, do remember to look for the following things:

• A Comfortable Fit
• The chest strap should fit snugly and not slip when moving. One very comfortable model to try is the EKHO E-15. 
• The wristwatch  should feel comfortable and be lightweight, adjustable, flexible and not too bulky.
• Ease of Use
• A big, easy-to-read LCD screen is a must.
• Look for intuitively placed buttons with which you can easily manipulate the monitor's functions. One model by Oregon Scientific  doesn't even have any buttons.

Basic Cardiac Fitness Your needs: Something simple and easy to use; minimal number of buttons; and an easy-to-read interface. What you get: Measures heart rate per minute, also has a clock and an alarm. What it costs: $20 to $100. Check out: Tanita 6102 Cardio Heart Rate Monitor.	Weight Loss Your needs: Something simple but thorough to help you stay motivated on your weight loss program. What you get: Heart rate per minute plus calories burned. Optional features include time elapsed, calendar, clock and auto target zone calculations. What it costs: $50 to $150. Check out: MIO Shape Elite.	Fitness Enthusiast Your needs: Setting goals and reaching them; detailed information on performance for reaching particular fitness goals. What you get: Heart rate per minute plus many other features. Typically includes: stopwatch, programmable target zone monitor, recovery time, clock, calender... What it costs: $70 to $300. Check out: Polar RS400 Running Computer.	Athlete in Training Your needs: A comprehensive monitor to track you progress and help you be the best you can be. What you get: The basics, plus a lap time monitor, time spent in target heart rate and in recovery and interval timer. Other features include GPS system; PC compatibility for storing and tracking your results; and optional dehydration monitors. What It Costs: $200 to $500. Check out: Garmin Edge 305.

General Features

Cutting Edge Technology

Adidas and Polar have fused to create something spectacular. It is the first system of its kind to integrate an advanced heart rate monitoring system that tracks your workout down to the last detail. As you can see from the picture, this is a fusion of an AdiStar Fusion Top  (shirt or sports bra), AdiStar Fusion Shoe,  Polar RS 800 heart rate monitor  running computer and Polar s3 Stride Sensor.  The amazing thing about these products is that when combined, they are able to communicate from one to the other, except for the shirt that really just acts as an anchor for the sensor. The sensor gathers accurate information about your heart rate and tells your watch. At the same time, your shoe is telling the watch about how fast you are going and how far. Then the running computer takes all this information and compiles it in a nice, neat form to read while sprinting down the road. After the workout is over, you can go home, upload the information to your computer, and track exactly how you are progressing. The catch? Each item is sold separately and the total cost of the whole fusion line will run you around $680.

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External Links

• Wikipedia.org: Background information about heart rate monitors.