So lately I’ve been doing my cardio based on percentages of my maximum heart rate (MHR). It allows me to better judge how much work my body is actually doing. I also do a lot of high intensity interval training (HIIT) which means I speed up and then slow down and usually repeat quite a few times. But I’ve learned, through this process of going by heart rate, that I need to invest in a heart rate monitor, and here’s why:
Last week, I was trying to reach 85% MHR during my faster pace of HIIT. Yes, the cardio machines are supposed to monitor your heart rate. BUT they are SO SLOW at catching up with you. Sometimes, it wouldn’t even find my heart rate and just go blank. A lot of times, when it was lagging behind me, I would naturally push harder to try and make it change faster.
The danger with this is that you can be working with too high a heart rate. Although it’s good to get your blood pumping, it’s not good nor healthy to get your heart pumping too hard for too long.
The good news is, I got in an amazing cardio session from trying so hard. The bad news is, every once in awhile, it would actually start working and I’d see I was working my heart rate around 216 bpm which is way too high. And thus my resolution: I need to buy a heart rate monitor.
Notice how the highest heart rate is only 200 for a 20 year old? Holding on to 216 bpm because the machine didn’t tell me any different was NOT a good idea.
How have you guys found the cardio machines at your gym? Do they keep up with your heart rate or do they mess around like the ones at my gym? Any recommendations on a heart rate monitor? I’ve never bought one before!
Calm in Christ and Fitness 