A Heart Rate Monitor is the Most Important Workout Gear You Can Buy

Measure Your Heart Rate

A heart rate monitor may sound like a fitness nerd gadget, but it’s one of the most valuable tools you can use to track and optimize your fitness. By targeting a certain heart rate during your activities you can maximize your fat burning. This, together with a natural foods diet, is the surest way to slim down.

Record Your Workouts

Another item that goes well with the Heart Rate Monitor is a Strava account. This is a service that allows you to track your fitness. It works with many devices. Whether you’re a cyclist, swimmer, hiker, or walker you can find a device that works for you.

Maximize Your Fat Burning

By using Dr. Phil Maffetone’s 180 Formula you can find your best heart rate for sustained fat burning. By taking 180 and subtracting your age you arrive at a good estimate of the heart rate at which you are burning the most fat. This is because you’re burning oxygen and fat for energy in your aerobic zone. Once you exceed that heart rate you start to enter the anaerobic zone, where you are burning the glycogen that you have stored in your muscles. If you’re exercising at an intensity that has you jumping right into the anaerobic zone, such as doing burpees or sprinting uphill, then you aren’t going to burn any measurable amount of fat. You’ll just make yourself hungry for more sugar filled carb snacks that will have your fat gain continuing or even worsening.

Cycling, running, and hiking are great low impact activities where you can monitor your heart rate and adjust your exertion level accordingly. Activities like racquetball or weight lifting are going to make it much more difficult to maintain a steady heart rate.

I would love the opportunity to work with you so that you can improve your fitness and lose weight in a sustainable way.