Women’s Heart Rate Monitor – Introduction
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!
August 11 2009 09:34 am | Womens Heart Rate Monitor
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:17 pm
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