Your body requires more oxygen when you exercise because oxygen is necessary for energy metabolism. The harder you work, the more oxygen you need --- meaning that your heart rate increases as your work rate increases. Heart rate monitors record that data and give you immediate feedback. They are a beneficial tool to help monitor your cardiovascular fitness, but they are not necessary for everyone.
Benefits
Heart rate monitors record your heart beats per minute and are a useful way to estimate your exercise intensity. Many monitors also record your calorie expenditure. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, heart rate monitors are one of the most practical physiologically based methods to estimate energy expenditure. You can calculate your target heart rate zones and maximum heart rate in order to know exactly what your heart rate should be for different types of training runs.
Negatives
A limitation of heart rate monitors is the inability to assess outside factors such as hydration status, ambient temperature, emotional state and type of muscle contraction, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. Those factors will affect your heart rate and vary each day. If you do not like tracking each run, prefer to vary your run intensity by the way you feel each day or do not like the added stress of a watch and numbers, then a heart rate monitor is unsuitable for you.
Helpful For All Runners
Heart rate monitors are helpful to all levels of athletes. As a runner, they are especially useful if you are trying to achieve a personal record or goal. Whether you are training for a 5K or a marathon, runners that use a heart rate monitor will be able to train specifically for their body and fitness level. If you simply enjoy tracking quantitative data and get a kick out of technology, then a heart rate monitor is a great fit for you.
Perceived Exertion
If you do not use a heart rate monitor, you can still measure your exercise intensity by measuring your perceived exertion. While not as accurate as a heart rate monitor, the rating of perceived exertion or RPE, is a subjective measure of intensity by an individual based on fatigue. The scale ranges from six to 20, with six to 10 being very light activity. The scale increases from 10 to 11 light, 12 to 13 moderate, 14 to 16 hard and 17 to 19 very hard and a rating of 20 is maximal effort.
References
- ACSM's Resource Manual For for Guidelines For for Exercise Testing And Prescription" and Prescription, Fifth Edition; Edition"; American College of Sports Medicine; 2006
- Marathon Guide; Heart Monitor Training; Alex Sinha
Member Comments