Before, when we exercise, we have to stop what we were doing and count our pulses manually. If they are way beyond our target heart rate, we decrease the intensity of our exercise. Way below target heart rate, and we increase the intensity of our exercise. Or, we can gauge our exercise level by the way we breathe and talk when we exercise. For example, if we cannot say three sentences and are gasping hard for breath when we are doing the treadmill, then that means that we are exercising more than we should have been doing in the first place. If we can still talk easily as well as breathe just as well, then we are not optimizing our exercise.
Modern Way of Monitoring Heart Rates
With the advancement of technology, we also saw a lot of improvement in terms of exercise machines as well as devices like heart rate monitors. Now, there are heart rate monitors attached to treadmills, and these monitors we can attach to our chest area to monitor our heart rates. This is a good way go gauge the intensity and level of our exercise without stopping and counting the pulse rate or assessing our breathing. Heart rate monitors are not seen on treadmills alone as they can also be found in other exercise machines like elliptical trainers as well as stationery bikes.
Kinds of Heart Rate Monitors
There are two common kinds of heart rate monitors. One is the heart rate monitor watches. As the name implies, this heart rate monitor device is attached to the wrist. You can simply attach to your chest the chest strap that comes with the device, and it will monitor your heart rate where it will then send the recording to the watch. This kind of heart rate monitors is widely used by athletes as well as those that people that exercise in the convenience of their homes since this is lighter in weight.
The other kind is the strapless kind, which is more convenient to use. In this device, you no longer have the chest strap, and you can easily monitor your heart rate by placing two fingers onto the sensors provided in the device for about 5 to 15 seconds before you will get a reading. This kind of heart rate monitors is more for the casual monitoring of heart rates.
Benefits of Using Heart Rate Monitors
There are a lot of benefits that one can get from wearing heart rate monitors when exercising:
1. They are more convenient than stopping the exercise program and manually counting the heart rate.
2. They are more accurate than manually counting your heart rate.
3. This easily helps you monitor your exercise level and increase the level and intensity accordingly until you have reached your target heart rate.
4. This will give you a signal if you are overexerting yourself and needs to slow down a bit.
Tips in Purchasing Heart Rate Monitors
Here are some tips if you want to purchase a heart rate monitor.
1. Know your purpose. If you are only going to use it at home for your aerobic exercises, then the low-end heart rate monitors are for you. If you are an athlete and need it for your training, then it is much wiser to get those with additional features.
2. There are so many brands out there to choose from, and the best way to choose among them is to read forums and reviews regarding heart rate monitors. You will get the best review from those who have tried a brand and found them helpful or not.
3. The best way to buy heart rate monitors is to buy online where you will be given a variety of designs and brands as well as functions.
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