"Monitor" Your Fitness for Impressive Results

One of the best ways to get the most out of your workouts this is to monitor your training with a heart rate monitor. These affordable tools can be almost coach-like in their ability to inform you about your body and motivate you to push yourself. Here are some tips on buying these great training devices and advice on how to use them.

Ways of Measuring Exertion
If you're following an iShape training program now, you're likely checking your workout intensity by monitoring what's known as "perceived exertion." This is certainly a good method once you've worked out enough and know your body well enough to be able to gauge your effort effectively.

Another way to measure output is by speed. You might run a loop regularly and time yourself. Then you could try to better that time on hard days. Or you might use average speed on a loop if you're a cyclist. But this method has faults: outside influences can affect your speed. On a bike for example, you face headwinds, bad roads, rain and other elements that can change your average speed. It might appear as if you took an easy day, when even though your average speed was pitiful, you worked extremely hard.

Taking the guesswork out of the equation
Which brings us to heart rate monitors. These are available at price points down to $50. They're easy to exercise with and understand. And here at iShape, we feel every serious exerciser ought to have one.

There are many available devices that measure heart rate, and we've tried most of them, even one on which an annoying electronic voice tells you your heart rate and other things through earphones ("Get Going! Pick up the pace!"). But our advice is to purchase a wireless heart rate monitor. These units are comprised of two parts: an elastic chestband that includes a transmitter, and a wristwatch that receives the reading of the heartbeat sent by the transmitter and displays the readout on the watch. This type of heart rate monitor has been around for years and is the accepted standard among athletes.

Chestbands vary in design. They can affect comfort, so it's worth fitting a few or at least discussing with friends which work best. A stiff band may chafe. Certain models may fit better worn with sports bras, etc.

The band is wrapped around the chest so that the transmitter is in the center and the band is under the pectoral muscles. It should be snug enough not to move as you run or bike, but it should never restrict breathing. Before putting on the chestband, moisten the rubber contacts on the inside face of the transmitter to allow the transmitter to read your heart beat.