If you are the sort of person who will tip the scales in your favor just to reward yourself with an extra half hour in bed, there are some excellent workout tools available. Aerobic exercise is for your heart. Therefore, why not measure your workout objectively instead of relying on your will power, and eliminate the temptation to cheat entirely? With a heart rate monitor, your workout becomes simpler—you are tailoring your workout toward maintaining a target heart rate.
The best way to perform an effective aerobic workout is to maintain your heart rate at a given target level for at least 20 minutes per workout. When the exercise is performed at the right level, usually 55 to 65 percent of your maximum, it increases your metabolism and burns fat and calories.
Beginners start at the lower end of the spectrum and increase their target heart rate slowly as they get fitter. Be careful, though. If your heart rate is too high, your activity can be counterproductive. It can cause your body to produce lactic acid and thereby become anaerobic. It will then burn less fat and might leave you with muscle strain.
In order to use a heart rate monitor, you need to know your maximum heart rate (MHR). MHR is calculated by subtracting your age from 220. Many athletes are convinced that interval training is the way to go. Interval training is aerobic exercise performed in 2 or 3-minute intervals at their MHR, dropping to a lower intensity between each interval and then working back up to it. The utility of a heart rate monitor in this form of exercise is obvious.
Heart rate monitors are worn like wristwatches, and typically combine the heart rate monitor with a wristwatch and stopwatch. If you want to keep a constant eye on your heart rate during your workout, a heart rate monitor is the way to go. You can get one with a device that has a monitor that attaches to your chest for the most accurate and continuous readings. Basic heart rate monitors cost about $75, and increase from there.
You may think accessories like heart rate monitors are extraneous to a good workout. Yet fitness accessories make exercising and tracking your progress more convenient, however. Although fitness accessories are inessential, they can make working out more appealing. Working out is all about making progress, and there a heart rate monitor will help you make progress.
Gadgets that track your progress motivate you by measuring progress you can’t detect with the naked eye. While you can work out without fitness accessories, they make your workout more enjoyable and your results more visible.
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