I think I’ve become a little bit of a fitness nerd. Ever since starting as a wellness consultant, I’ve gotten the chance to try out some really cool gadgets, the latest being the Polar FT60 heart rate monitor watch. Two words: life changing.
No seriously, it’s pretty amazing. It takes your resting heart rate, age, weight, activity level and calculates your fitness level and creates a custom workout plan. You then wear a heart rate monitor when you work out and track your progress. There are three fitness programs: weight loss, improve fitness and maximize performance, and they calculate weekly goals based on your activity level. Every 6 weeks the watch will evaluate your progress and increase or decrease your goals. I’m currently working on a maximize performance program that’s about 5 and half hours per week. I have no trouble meeting the overall time, but I definitely get my most time logged in zone 1.
The zones are your heart rate zones – check it out. Click to enlarge. (see, a chart! I’m nerding out!)
Zones 2, 3 and 4 correspond with zones 1, 2 and 3 on the FT60. (Some of the even higher end heart rate monitors track all 5 zones.) I find zone 2 (zone 3 on the chart, 70-80% maximum heart rate) to be the hardest zone to stay in. I’m either walking or running and need to be better about jogging! But the good news is that walking – zone 1 (zone 2 on the chart) – is the best fat burning exercise. Walking the dogs + yoga = lots of zone 1 which = no fat, yay!
It’s really a great way to track your activity and calories burned. I was surprised by how much I got some days and how little other days. Last week I wore the heart rate monitor for a full day and burned over 2,000 calories. I guess that’s why I can eat so much – I am pretty active for my size!
You can pretty much wear it for anything too. It’s waterproof, so great for swimmers, and I wear it to yoga all the time (I can tell a really good power yoga class from what zones I reach!) and haven’t felt restricted by the watch or chest strap. It comes in a raspberry color (I think they call it purple – I find it more on the pink side) and black for women, and plain black or black with a red display for men. I got my boyfriend one for Christmas and he loves it too – kinda cool to compare our activity levels and calorie expenditure too.
It’s not cheap, and there are lower-end versions that can perform the essential functions, but for anyone working towards a goal who likes having data and feedback, I highly recommend it!
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