Tips on How to Use a Heart Rate Monitor

When used properly, a heart rate monitor can serve like a car speedometer. It will tell you if you have gone past the limit, or motivate you to push further in order to reach your goals and improve your performance. A heart rate monitor will tell you if you are training within the appropriate level of difficulty or what they call a training zone.

Wearing the Device

Typically, a band is needed to be worn around the chest that is in contact with the skin. Electric signals from the heart are detected by the sensors from the band. The hard, plastic portion must be pressed directly against the skin. Sometimes, it would be necessary to wet the skin with water or perspiration to conduct electric signals better. There are also specialized straps that allow more comfort for women wearing them. Commonly, a wristwatch must be worn by the user to receive the information from the chest strap.  Make sure that this watch also has good contact with the skin.

Setting the Numbers

Heart rate monitors are very helpful for athletes and the health buffs. However, unless you understand what the numbers on the screen mean, you won’t be able to maximize its use.

For you to achieve the health benefits of working out, you must first determine your target heart rate range. To get this, you will need to know your maximum heart rate or the highest heart rate an individual can achieve in a minute and the level of intensity you intend to work on. This can be estimated through simple calculations, however, the best choice is to be tested by a specialist as the result is variable depending on the person’s age and lifestyle. We can estimate this by subtracting your age from 226 or 220 for women and for men respectively.

For example, for a 30-year old woman the maximum heart rate would be 226-30=196. If this woman wants to exercise with an intensity that is 60-70% of the maximum heart rate, we multiply the results with that percentage. In this case, 196 x 0.60= 118 and 196 x 0.70= 138. We now have 118 beats per minute as the lower target heart rate to 138 beats per minute as the upper target heart rate.

In short, with a low intensity exercise the appropriate heart rate that this woman should work on is higher than 118 bpm, but not more than 138 bpm. This is her target heart rate at a particular level of intensity. Keep in mind that these calculations are rough estimations only and vary depending on the desired intensity.

Using the heart rate monitor is all about setting the wristwatch receiver with the appropriate target heart rate prior to working out. HRMs typically include an alarm if you are going higher than the predetermined range. Some models may even automatically calculate the calories burned with each session you go through.