Heart rate plays a vital role in enabling you to take your workout to the next level by introducing a few changes to how you train your body and monitor it. Similar workout routines (i.e.the duration of the swim distance) will bring better results once you plan it with the heart rate in mind. Today, we’ll discuss the advantages of a heart rate  monitor and show you how heart rate monitoring can improve your heart health by making your workout more efficient.

Is Heart Rate Monitoring Necessary For you?

Of course! Let us tell you why… Your heart rate is the most important, realistic,and accurate way to identify and measure your workout intensity in any exercise you may be engaged in. Moreover, you can use this information to figure out on any given day whether your body is running at your peak levels or exceeding the current fitness level. When it comes to physical activity, you get to know yourself. Tracking this information is crucial and valuable when assessing your overall physical condition and fitness level. Cardio Critic recommends a medically approved EKG or ECG sensor for anyone concerned about heart health. For instance, the Kardia Mobile ECG is smaller than a credit card and records a medical-grade EKG in less than 30 seconds. It can detect signs of atrial fibrillation and irregular heart rhythms with medically proven accuracy. You can share these traces with your doctor for a more proactive treatment plan. Furthermore, Kardia enables you to track shortness of breath, palpitations, dietary habits, exercise, and sleep patterns. Let’s check out the advantages of using a heart rate monitor.

#1: Source of Constant Feedback

Ever heard the term “Awareness is power?” If so, then you know that wearing a heart  rate  monitor  will  have  a  precise  evaluation   and   indication   of   your cardiovascular system’s condition while doing physical activity. Many of us believe that a hard workout indicates much sweating. That’s not always a reliable indicator, however. A heart rate monitor gives you objective feedback on the  intensity of your exercise. Also, you can wear it while burning calories by participating in non-structured workouts like housework, hiking, etc.

#2: Safety Exercise

If you have a heart rate monitor, it’ll help protect yourself from working out for too long and inadequately. Without this gadget, you won’t be able to tell when you need to stop or rest. The signals you receive on a heart rate monitor while exercising make this an easy and obvious choice. Whenever your heart rate rises, you know it’s time to pause, rest, take a deep breath, and summarize the sets you’ve done.

#3: Enhanced Fitness Level

As you’re becoming more aerobically fit, odds are your heart rate will come down more quickly after a workout. With a heart rate monitor, you can efficiently monitor your recovery heart rate. Here’s a pro tip:

o Take note of your heart rate value after each workout

o Pause for 2 minutes

o Recheck the value

o And finally, subtract the first value from the second one

The difference should be more significant as you improve and become more fit. Recovery heart rate is, in fact, a marker for higher cardiovascular mortality, which is why it’s essential to monitor your heart rate recovery, whether you use a heart rate monitor or not. Changes in recovery heart rate, and an unexpected boost in recovery time, could be a sign of overtraining. Luckily, a heart rate monitor  makes  measuring your recovery heart rate easy. With more advanced heart rate monitors, you can save the data daily or upload it to your training  log.

 #4: Make Quick Workout Adjustments

Some find they workout harder when they have the feedback heart rate monitors offer. As mentioned earlier, a heart rate monitor provides objective information you can use during a workout to adjust intensity. This means that when you look at your heart rate monitor and notice your heart rate is lower than usual, you can quickly adjust to returning to your zone. As you can see, ensures you don’t waste time working out at an intensity that is too low. Similarly, you can check when your heart rate is getting too high and lower the intensity a little to avoid over-exercising. So, a heart rate monitor acts as your coach. It will show you when to pull back and when to pump it up! This helps you determine what you want to achieve and ensure the best outcome for the time you put into your workout plan, improving fitness safety. 

#5: Some Heart Rate Monitors Offer Additional Features

If you visit a few websites, you’ll see that some of the newer monitors have extra features to track your overall fitness. For instance,  with some heart rate monitors, you can save the data to an online log to record your average heart rate, recovery heart rate, and peak heart rate on a regular basis. Some monitors have features like calorie data and an interval timer, allowing you to set a target zone for your heart rate. So, the monitor will start beeping whenever you exercise outside your predetermined zone. While having these cool features come with additional costs, being able to upload and analyse your heart rate data regularly will help you shape your workout. 

Wrapping Up

A heart rate monitor is one of many ways to monitor workout intensity. It is, however, one of the easiest and safest ways to take good care of your heart health. Also, newer models monitor calories burned and offer additional features, as explained above. Overall, it’s a great way to ensure you work out a proper intensity to maximize your health benefits.