Thursday 18 November 2010

Heart Rate Monitoring

The Polar FT1
Basic but does everything I need it to
I have lost 17kg since I started cycling without really trying. I would like to lose more but have been finding that difficult to achieve over the last 9 months or so. I think my appetite has increased so despite being more active I have reached a plateau (either that or I find I can eat and drink what I want and not put weight on!). So I have joined a gym.

Getting out on the bike is something I love doing but some other varied exercise can only make the cycling easier and being that much lighter will also help. Never one to do things by half I now have a personalised gym plan and aim to attend three times per week. To make it useful I have been given heart rates to aim for while doing various exercises, so while not essential I thought this was a great excuse to get a heart rate monitor. 

I wore it out on my normal cycle commute the other day and was amazed at how quickly I went from resting heart rate (56bpm) to moderately active (75bpm) to very active (140bpm) and more importantly how quickly I returned to my resting heart rate after arriving at work - less than 2 minutes so quite chuffed. Will be using it at the gym today for the first time so will find out how I do using different muscle groups and movements.

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