Should I Wear a Heart Rate Monitor While I Workout?

A heart rate monitor is worn to measure the heart rate in real time, in other words, as it is pumping during a workout.  The monitor was initially used by professional athletes in the late 1970’s as a tool to monitor the different intensities while they prepared for their event. It gained widespread popularity in the 1980’s as a tool for interval training or training that involved elevating and relaxing the heart rate for peak performance.  In the 1990’s the use of this device became commonplace amongst athletes as well as participants in gym aerobic classes or joggers. 

The monitor is simple to use, if you chose the basic model. There are some that calculate your caloric burn, time of day, heart rate and so much more.   For the most part, simply look at the monitor when you want to know what your heart rate is and where you are in your workout.  Many monitors also record your workout highs and lows so that you can see where your intensity picked up and the recovery during slower periods.  Rcovery time is important because it is the truest test of heart health.  In the not so past, instructors would call out for everyone to stop jumping, find their pulse and count the beats while he or she timed them.  This was not only disruptive to the workout but also left a lot of room for error firstly because of the speed of counting and secondly when you depress the radial artery it slows the pulse.

The heart rate monitor technology is simple, there is a chest strap which has electrodes that pick up the electrical voltage of the heart and transmits that data to the monitor, often worn of the wrist.  There is nothing else for the user to do.

Heart rate monitors are a great tool for measuring the improvements in your cardiovascular respiratory endurance as well as measuring the intensity of your workouts.  It is possible to think you pushed yourself to never before experienced limits when in reality, you barely reached 70% of your maximum effort.  The monitor will measure your training zone or will have a manual that will lead you through the very simple formula to input your numbers.  The basic formula is: 220 minus your age = Maximum heart rate.  Multiply that by .7 and .85 and you have your training range to plug into the monitor settings.

You can set your monitor so that if you are exercising below 70% of maximum intensity it will sound an alarm and if you go above 85% it will again sound an alarm.  This way you know you are training at neither too high nor too low an intensity.  There is nothing wrong however with really going for it a few days a week and taking it easy another day.  You just don’t want to train too high everyday because that leads to the increased risk of injury and training too low may not be maximizing your efforts.

The drawback to using the monitor is the reliance to it.  It is a useful tool to gauge the amount of work being done and to measure the improvements over time but there is also value to knowing your body and learning to read the signs it puts out.  For example, Borg’s Scale of Perceived Exertion is an excellent tool to learn to read and listen to your body’s signals.  You are asked during a workout to rate your effort based on easy, moderate and extremely difficult intensity levels.  Although not as specific as a heart rate monitor, it is just as important.

I believe you should be aware of your training zones whether or not you are interested in running a marathon.  Make your workouts effective as well as efficient but don’t rely solely on technology. Listen to your body and learn the signs and signals it sends to you as well.  Make your workouts about getting to know you inside and out.

---

By Christina Leon, Staff Writer