Tech Talk - Heart Rate Monitors

You have probably heard of a heart rate monitor (HRM) from magazines or seen ads on TV. 

What do they do and why do people use them?   

Well in a nutshell, HRMs count the number of beats from a strap worn around your chest and then relay this information to your watch.  The strap counts the pulses of your heart.  Thus you can see how hard your heart is working during exercise.

Who uses them? 

Outside of the medical industry, HRMs are used as training tools.  Your heart has a theoretical maximum number in which it can beat at.  There are many ways of trying to obtain this number (very taxing, please use caution!).  This number however can set up different zones to train in.  They are summarized below:

<60% - Recovery Zone

60-80% - Aerobic Zone - Aerobic means "with oxygen", and refers to the use of oxygen in a muscle-generating process.

80-85% - Lactate Training - When you exceed your aerobic, or lactate threshold, your muscles strain and plunge into oxygen debt (anaerobic).  This creates lactic acid or the burning sensation in your legs.

85%+ - Anaerobic Zone - Anaerobic exercise refers to the initial phase of exercise, or any short burst of intense exertion, in which the glycogen or sugar is consumed without oxygen, and is a far less efficient process

A sprinter for example, would train mainly is the anaerobic zone.  This is because over short distances, the athlete will not need a lot of oxygen.  Endurance athletes train more in the aerobic zone.  They do need a lot of oxygen so they train there systems accordingly.

Is a HRM appropriate for you? 

An HRM is usually the standard upgrade to a normal timing watch.  If you want more information after a workout than just the time and want to know what your body had done, then an HRM might be for you.  If you just like doing exercise for the fun of it, than sticking to a simple watch might be your best bet.

A plain HRM can run for as little as $30.  This includes the chest strap and some watch functions.  This can be shown is Figure 1.

Figure 1 - Sportline Solo 920M

 There are many types of HRMs on the market today  that include lots of built in functions.  The more you pay however, the more functions you will get.  For example the watch,in Figure 2 has a foot pod with GPS.  This system tracks your distance by the motion of your feet.  All the information than can be downloaded directly to your computer.  This is costly however, running with a price tag of $500.00.

Figure 2 - Polar RS800G3

A good in between watch that will save you some pennies but also have more than just the basic features is seen in Figure 3.  With a price tag of just over a hundred dollars ($119.99), this is a great starter HRM.  There are lots of different functions and this watch is very easy to use.

Figure 3 - Polar F6

If you’re looking for a step-up from just a typical watch and want some more feet back on your exercises, pick up a HRM.  With so many different varieties of HRMs on the market today, picking the right one just requires a little research.

Checkout Polar watches (polarusa.com) or Suunto watches (suunto.com). 

Hopefully this will lead you to the right HRM!