Archive for August, 2009
August 29th, 2009 -- Posted in Womens Heart Rate Monitor |
I’ve heard people advised that there is no need to use a women’s heart rate monitor. All you need to do is listen to your body.
In my local Gym there was a large poster which had a chart of perceived exertion effort ranging from 1 to 10. If your effort was 1 , you wouldn’t have made it as far as the gym to read the chart in the first place. If your effort was 10, you were unlikely to be going home afterwards except via the local Emergency Ward. Somewhere between the extremes there was a light workout pace with slight sweating but able to hum a merry tune; conversational pace; then stilted conversation; polite nod’s only; hand waving; and finally a high exertion where you’d blank your own mother lying in the gutter.
Okay, so I may be changing the category descriptions a little, but the principle is the same. Often, there is very little guidance about what level you should be working out according to your goals. They tend to tread the safe path of “sweating, but conversational” pace – okay if you want to bore yourself to death with your routine.
The idea behind it would be great if everyone’s perception of exertion was the same, but you’d be lucky if you could get even two people to agree on all the levels. Frankly, it’s all a bit of a farce and riddled with problems as it’s too easy to fool yourself.
The biggest danger is that someone works out too hard at every workout without even realising it. Perhaps they do a couple of planned hard workouts a week, then cut-back on their remaining recovery days. However, if they unwittingly do not cut-back far enough with their training they will eventually burn-out due to glycogen depletion.
Have you ever exercised enthusiastically for a number of weeks, only to find that you are completely worn-out and overwhelmed by the process? Enthusiasm wanes and all too soon there are other priorities in your life. Exercising was just a waste of time! Well, the chances are that you simply trained too hard.
In addition to the problem of overworking, is the lack of motivation that comes from seeing no progress with your training. You may well be getting fitter over time, but you have no measure of that progress other than what you may perceive. It’s not a very reliable measure, I can assure you.
For my money, the heart rate monitor is the answer to the pitfalls of guessing your level of exertion. Combining the Karvonen Method with a knowledge of your maximum heart rate and resting heart rate, you can ensure that you genuinely workout as easily as is necessary on your recovery days. This way you will recover from harder workouts and make steady progress without getting burned-out.
With the growing number of women’s heart rate monitor models available, there is no excuse to waste another moment guessing how hard you should be working out in order to achieve your goals. Comparing your progress over time will motivate you to continue training and make it a lifestyle habit.
After some time getting used to the feeling of working out at different levels of exertion, you may genuinely find that you can judge your perceived level of exertion if you forget to pack your heart rate monitor. But without the prior experience of seeing what levels of exertion are doing to your heart rate, you will only be guessing based on an intangible unit of measure.
Your heart is a great exertion-measuring device. Use it!
August 26th, 2009 -- Posted in Heart Rate Monitor Reviews |
I love Garmin fitness watches. The features they pack in are mind-boggling! I have used a Garmin 305 extensively even though it is, well, a little on the large size. It originally felt like I had strapped an entire tracking satellite to my wrist until I eventually got used to it. The features, however, made it worthwhile as a very valuable training aid. So, when I heard that Garmin were releasing a new designed women’s heart rate monitor watch I just had to take notice.
Garmin FR60 – Lilac Women’s Heart Rate Monitor
The Garmin FR60 was released in February 2009 featuring two separate designs for men and women. It features ANT+ compatibility, which means that it is compatible with any other ANT+ wireless exercise device. The ANT+ logo on devices means that you can expect seamless interoperability, which helps to simplify your purchasing decisions.
In addition to the watch and the lightweight, flexible heart rate monitor strap, selected bundles also include a foot pod. The foot pod is attached to the runner’s shoe to gather very accurate data about the speed and distance travelled. It does not use GPS to measure this information, which is a feature of some other Garmin devices (such as the 305/405). It is definately worth looking at a bundle with the footpod if you want to measure your distance and speed, as this is cheaper than buying separately. It does take the guesswork out of how far you have run during training outdoors. If you exclusively intend to train on a treadmill, then you do not really need the footpod.
The watch keeps track of the time spent working out, the distance travelled and calories burned and can store up to 15 hours, or 100 laps of detailed exercise data. So you can review your runs on the watch itself to see how your heart rate changed during a workout. The data can also be wirelessly transmitted to your PC (or Apple MAC). This gives greater ability to analyze the post-run data using the “Garmin Training Center” software.
I should also mention that it is also great for other disciplines, such as cycling and swimming!
Garmin have once again included a “virtual partner”, which means that you can compete against a digital person. This can help you to maintain your goal pace, by reference to whether you are in front of your virtual partner, or lagghing behind.
The battery is user-replaceable (CR2032), which is an important consideration. Some other watches must have the battery professionally replaced – which adds to the long-term cost.
It is a very easy watch for setting up and customising the displays to your liking. I had no problem pairing the watch with the foot pod. It is a very comfortable, lightweight watch and is also stylish.
In a nutshell, the Garmin FR60 women’s heart rate monitor is like a 305 without the GPS, which makes it less bulky while retaining all of the features you need to track a quality workout – as long as you utilise the footpod. It is reasonably priced to reflect the lack of the GPS feature. Crucially, for the ladies, it will fit small wrists and is very comfortable to wear.
www.womensheartratemonitor.com
Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, Heart Rate Monitor Review, Womens Heart Rate Monitor
August 24th, 2009 -- Posted in Running Program |
My previous idea of a running program plan was to run on the treadmill for ten minutes each time I worked out. This seemed okay to me, until boredom with the routine set in and I turned my attention to a different workout gadget. Well, any workout gadget other than the treadmill, if I’m honest.
“We’ll get to the specifics later” my mentor told me. “For now, I just want you to make a start on the treadmill to see how you get on based on these numbers”.
Oh, hell. Now I was going to have to do some work.
Once I was ready to start, my mentor bashed in a quick-start on the treadmill console. I was off – but only at walking speed.
“We’ll get you warmed-up gradually”.
Over the next few minutes my speed was gradually increased to faster walking until I was at my “I’m going to be late for [work / the bus / X-Factor]” pace.
For the first time, though, I was watching my Heart Rate Monitor reading on the LED display. I was quite amazed at how fast it appeared to be rising – though I hadn’t even started running yet!
My mentor explained that, if my heart rate went over my 70% Recovery Ceiling for more than a few seconds, then I had to slow down a little, until it fell back below the ceiling. I still had some way to go at this point.
Now I was slow-jogging and moving up the pace. At no point did my mentor increase the incline of the treadmill for this session. “There’s no need for that yet” he told me.
By about seven minutes I was jogging along reasonably comfortably, when my heart rate hit my recovery ceiling. In less than one more minute it went over the limit so I was instructed to reduce my speed by 0.1mph.
What was surprising was that I was not running as fast as I did in the past when I ran on the treadmill. I expected to be running significantly faster, so I was feeling a bit disappointed by this discovery. Perhaps it meant that we had calculated the recovery ceiling incorrectly?
Anyway, having reduced my speed by 0.1mph my Heart Rate Monitor reading dropped down, as if by magic, and was again just below my recovery ceiling. Then within a minute I had to reduce the speed again, then again, then again.
We continued the process and I quite quickly got to the point where I was practically walking! I was mortified by this, and felt not just a little embarrassed. My mentor instructed me to reduce my speed still further to bring my heart rate right back down in a cool-down period.
At the end of the process he asked me how I felt. “Embarrassed!” was my honest reply.
“Let’s look at what just happened” he said. “You continued on the treadmill for more than twenty minutes on your first session – even though you admitted to me that you never used a treadmill for longer than ten minutes in the past.”
“Further, you stuck to the plan. You didn’t allow your preconceived ideas get in the way of a very informative session. Ideas such as no pain no gain have been very damaging, in my opinion. How did you feel physically during the workout?”.
I told him that I felt like I wasn’t working hard enough. Although I had clearly worked up a sweat and was breathing more heavily, I felt like I should have been running faster.
“That’s brilliant. That’s how I wanted you to feel.”
He went on “The fact is that you worked-out for more than twice as long as you ever did before, with a plan in mind – and that is a great starting point!”
“Now, before we construct your running program, I want to give you one of my top tips to get the most out of your future training…..”
Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor
August 21st, 2009 -- Posted in Womens Heart Rate Monitor |
You’ve probably realised by now that there are new lines of heart rate monitors purporting to be specialised women’s heart rate monitors. So there must be a lot of differences, right?
Well, the answer’s “Yes”, err… and “No”. Let’s look a bit deeper.
Are there physiological differences between the heart of a man and the heart of a woman?
Yes.
A woman’s heart is about twenty-five percent smaller than a man’s, but the structure and power of a woman’s heart is otherwise the same as a man’s. A man’s larger heart size means that he will have greater heart volume than a woman, which allows the man to more easily pump blood. A man’s blood also carries more (somewhere around 10% more) oxygen than a woman. So, men more easily pump oxygen to their muscles than women, which gives them an advantage and makes them faster runners.
In general the heart of a woman beats faster than that of a man (about 6 to 8 beats per minute faster) due to relative size of women compared to men (i.e the smaller the size – the faster the heartbeat). Studies have also shown that there may be some differences in the heart rate increases of men and women in response to stress. But, the maximum heart rate between individuals (both male and female) will vary, as will their resting heart rate. This is what heart rate monitors are designed to measure. There is no difference in the way it is measured according to size, height or weight of the individual. The heart rate at any given time is the heart rate. Period.
A heart rate monitor, at its most basic, reads your pulse – albeit in a more high-tech way than using your fingers and some mathematics. At this level, are there any differences between measuring the beat of a man’s heart compared to that of a woman? No.
From the functional point of view for simply measuring the heart rate, it makes no difference whether you are male or female.
If that’s the case, then why are you running a site called Women’s Heart Rate Monitor?
Because not all heart rate monitors are created equal.
A decent model will allow you to input factors such as your sex, height, weight, and age which can help to determine calories consumed in a workout. In addition, models made specifically with women in mind may be smaller and lighter than the men’s version, in a more slimline form that is more comfortable on feminine wrist sizes.
Then there is the transmitter, which is most commonly a chest strap. Some are more comfortable to wear than others. Some bra’s have been designed to make the wearing of a heart monitor strap more comfortable. There are also strapless heart rate monitor models which have more recently come onto the market. Doubtless there will be more innovations.
For some women, the style and colour may also be important considerations. If you’re going to appear on TV during the New York Marathon or the London Marathon, then you want to be looking good even if you feel like death on legs!
There is more choice than ever before about which make and model you can choose. Some are not cheap, so it makes sense to ensure that the model you choose will meet your needs – now and in the future.
I aim to cut-through the hype and give you reasoned facts and experiences about women’s heart rate monitor training. I will use my own experiences and those of friends and acquaintances to help you in your purchasing decision, and guide you in your training progress.
If you have any personal experiences using women’s heart rate monitors, or just heart rate monitors in general then I will be happy to hear from you. Also, please let me know if you have any questions or subjects that you would like covered in future articles.
Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, Womens Heart Rate Monitor
August 19th, 2009 -- Posted in Heart Rate Chart, Womens Heart Rate Monitor |
Having adjusted the strap as best as possible for a more comfortable fit, and having remembered to wet the electrode areas, the women’s heart rate monitor was now transmitting the beats of my heart for anybody with an appropriate receiver. I was going to have to stop telling lies, probably.
“All set?” my mentor asked. I nodded and motioned that the strap was in place.
He beckoned me to an area of gym mats and asked me to lie down.
Resting Heart Rate
“Ideally, you should take a note of you resting heart rate as soon as you wake up. This number should represent the lowest rate that your heart beats. We will get close to that number now, but I’d like you to take an early morning measurement when possible, so that we have an accurate measurement.”
He got me to close my eyes and relax while he looked at his watch. Not through boredom, he assured me. He was checking my heart rate. “Keep still and relax” he reminded me.
After a short while he decided that we had gotten close enough. The lowest reading was noted as my resting heart rate (RHR). He also did a couple of calculations and jotted them down too.
The recovery ceiling was calculated as follows:
Recovery Ceiling
Start with your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)
Subtract your Resting Heart Rate (RHR)
Multiply the result by 0.7 (i.e. 70%)
Finally, add back your Resting Heart Rate.
((MHR – RHR) x 0.70) + RHR
If you have a MHR of 200 and an RHR of 60, the calculation is
( (200 – 60) x 0.70 ) + 60
(140 x 0.70) + 60
98 + 60
158
In this case your Recovery Ceiling is 158.
The last number he worked out was the Threshold Floor calculated as follows:
Threshold Floor
Start with your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)
Subtract your Resting Heart Rate (RHR)
Multiply the result by 0.85 (i.e. 85%)
Finally, add back the Resting Heart Rate
((MHR – RHR) x 0.85) + RHR
So, continuing with the above example the calculation is
( (200 – 60) x 0.85 ) + 60
(140 x 0.85) + 60
119 + 60
179
So the Threshold Floor is 179.
“Now we have the numbers we need” my mentor announced “we can make a plan”.
Technorati Tags: heart rate, recovery ceiling, resting heart rate, threshold floor, Womens Heart Rate Monitor
August 16th, 2009 -- Posted in Womens Heart Rate Monitor |
At this point I probably should explain some basics about what a heart rate monitor actually is, plus a little about how it works.
A heart rate monitor is really two devices. One is the transmitter, which is generally (though not always – as we shall later discuss) worn around the chest. Commonly, the actual transmitter area is made of flexible plastic, to which is attached an elasticated strap that passes around your back to hold the device in place just below the bust. When putting on the chest strap, it is often a good idea to wet the electrode areas that are in contact with the chest. This ensures that the best signal is picked-up from the outset. As you workout, the sweat will do the job nicely for you The chest strap feels a little uncomfortable to start with, though it becomes less noticeable in time. There are a couple of accessories that can help women in this respect.
The second device is the receiver which is built into specialist wrist watches, or into some gym cardio machines – such as treadmills, cross-trainers and stationary cycles.
The advantage on the cardio machines is that it is easy to keep an eye on the current heart rate reading on the machines LED display. Some cardio machines cycle the displayed information with other data such as calorie count, unless you “lock” the display.
My experience is that people who have a magazine sitting on their display panel are
a) not measuring their heart rate, and
b) probably not working hard enough!
Though I do have a sneaking admiration for anybody who’s eyesight is good enough to be able to focus on a magazine article while running, it’s probably no coincidence that they are nowhere to be seen in the gym within a few months of starting their program.
There are a good number of heart rate monitor watches to choose from. I was not aware of any at the time I began training, but I am certainly now aware that there are an increasing number of women’s heart rate monitor watches available.
One thing to be aware of is that heart rate monitor’s are subject to interference, which can lead to occasionally inaccurate readings. If you see your heart rate jump fifty beats a minute while running through a field of microwave towers, this is probably not cause for concern (though I would question your choice of running route). On a cardio machine, a more likely source of interference may be the person on the machine next to yours. They may also be wearing a transmitter and may be within range of your equipments receiver.
Some watches may be “paired” with your transmitter, which prevents interference from others using transmitters near to you. The “pairing” is only usually necessary when you use the watch and monitor strap combination for the first time, and it is a trivial task.
The more expensive watches are mini-computers that can keep a whole raft of data during and after your workout. More on this in a future article.
In my next articles I’ll describe how my mentor found my “resting heart rate” and how he used this information to calculate my initial workout plan.
Technorati Tags: exercise heart rate monitor, fitness heart rate monitor, heart monitor watches, heart rate monitor running, heart rate training, heartrate monitor, Womens Heart Rate Monitor
August 13th, 2009 -- Posted in Heart Rate Chart, Womens Heart Rate Monitor |
The next time I reluctantly met my new mentor he sat down with me to explain some things before we started the training.
“You may have seen some information about heart rate monitor training printed in leaflets, or on the treadmill itself. Perhaps you’ve looked at the pretty graph of heart rate training zones. For example, they say you can check your heart rate to ensure that you are training in the fat burning zone, or the aerobic zone. Well, I want you to forget all that nonsense!”
“The heart rate monitor training method I’m going to show you is simple and effective.”
He had my attention. Simple and effective is good.
“The first thing we need to do is establish some numbers to work to. I’m afraid I’m going to have to be indelicate and ask your age, because I can then estimate your maximum heart rate. Unless you would prefer to start with a stress-test to get a more accurate number and keep your age secret?”.
Stress Test? Two of the worst words in the English language! I gave him my age.
“Right. Now I’m going to apply a quick and dirty formula to estimate some very important figures. Namely your Maximum Heart Rate, your Recovery Ceiling and your Threshold Floor.”
He wrote the calculations down for me. This was how he did the first one:
Estimated Maximum Heart Rate
Start with 205
Subtract half your age
Add 5 for women (0 for men)
If you are following along with this, 40 year old men would have an estimated maximum heart rate of
205 – (40 / 2) + 0 = 185
Whereas 40 year old women’s heart rate monitor maximum would be estimated as
205 – (40 / 2) + 5 = 190
[Note: This is the first number that will be entered into your personal heart rate chart when calculating your own heart rate training program.]
Clearly, not all 40 year old men or 40 year old women will actually have maximum heart rates to match those numbers. In fact, I’ll warrant that statistically, the majority will not match those numbers. They are nonetheless a useful starting point, and far better than anything that I had used up to that point – which was zilch.
“I’d now like you to put this Heart Rate Monitor strap on, so that I can reasonably calculate the next number.”
He could see that I was looking a little worried about what was coming up next.
“Don’t worry.” he said “In fact, it’s very important that you are very chilled-out and relaxed for the next step. Now, before you go to put this on I should point something out…..”
“The heart rate monitor strap has some electrodes at the front and we want to make sure that we get a good reading – even though you haven’t started exercising yet. So please remember to wet the sensor’s that are in contact with your chest.”
Technorati Tags: exercise heart rate, exercise heart rate monitor, heart moniter, Heart Rate Chart, heart rate monitor running, heart rate monitor women, heart rate training, heart rate zones, heartrate monitor, normal heart rate, Womens Heart Rate Monitor
August 11th, 2009 -- Posted in Womens Heart Rate Monitor |
In the days before I had even heard of a Heart Rate Monitor (never mind women’s heart rate monitor), I used to hate running. I would have rather stuck pins in my eyes than don a pair of running shoes and hit the streets, or worse, the treadmill. Nonetheless, I was bombarded with messages telling me that I needed to lose weight and get fit (all true, sadly). So I forced myself to include ten minutes of running that had been prescribed in a gym program. My least favourite ten minutes of the whole program, it has to be said, and I used the word “prescribed” because it certainly felt like some horrible medicine that I was required to take for my sin of over-indulgence.
I still remember the dizzy feeling that I felt when I first stepped down from that treadmill. I also remember thinking how little benefit there seemed to be in this activity. In ten minutes I had apparently “burned” about 100 calories. Whoop-de-doo. Later, I consoled myself with a glass of wine, which instantly added back my 100 calories – but at least the wine was enjoyable!
I persevered and even began to run a little faster, but I never enjoyed the experience. Ten minutes seemed to drag. It was purgatory. You get the picture? I just could not see where I was going with this activity, so it was soon dropped from my routine.
Some time later, I got talking to a guy at the gym who told me that he was a keen runner and a personal trainer. I frowned and told him what I thought of his precious activity! He found my attitude amusing and not in the least surprising. “I’m afraid that the chances are high that you were training too hard, and training without a plan. Running should be a very enjoyable and motivational activity.”
I protested that I did have a plan – which was to run for ten minutes at the start of my routine.
“That’s not a plan”, he smiled. “How do you measure your current fitness? How do you set your goals for improvement? How do you ensure that you are not over-training? Conversely, how do you ensure that you are training hard enough?”
I sheepishly replied that I didn’t know. All I had ever been shown was to run ten minutes to warm-up for my gym program!
“Well, if you want to transform the way you train. To enjoy your training and be motivated to improve – I can show you how. All you need is a simple and inexpensive piece of equipment to start with. That is a heart rate monitor.”
I really didn’t want to get involved with this. I hated running and couldn’t see how this heart rate monitor gizmo could help me – other than confirm that I was not a natural-born runner, perhaps. So I respectfully declined.
“I’ll tell you what” he said, “I’ll loan you one of my own heart rate monitor straps for a month – just to prove to you that it will totally transform the way you train for the better”.
Although at that time there were no stylish women’s heart rate monitor models available to feel good wearing, I felt backed into a corner, but eventually agreed after another couple of hundred calories of wine.
I’m so glad I did, and I’ll tell you why in upcoming blog posts!
Technorati Tags: Womens Heart Rate Monitor
