I’m going to let you in on a fitness secret that you won’t find on any of the motivational posters down at the gym… working out, as a means of pursuing a weight loss goal, is BORING AS HELL. If you’re in training for your next triathlon or inspired by Britain’s Commonwealth Games successes to be the next big story that’s one thing, but if you are merely slogging away to burn fat and get in shape then you are in for a long and repetitive haul.
It works though, which is why I was prepared to invest a little in trying to keep my motivation going. Trendy gym gear wasn’t really an option, despite my minimal successes I am still a long way from wanted to draw attention to my body shape with any designer-tagged lycra workout wear… I did ‘treat’ myself to one or two good exercise/health books though: not the “You too can have a body like mine in just 6 weeks!” books (I know I will never work out at home, it’s hard enough with a skinny stranger yelling instructions at you!), but some serious stuff about the science of exercise.
A bit of reading soon made me realise I wasn’t actually giving myself the best chance of fatburning, as (to judge by the state of breathlessness, purple face and closeness to total collapse) I was generally working at too high an intensity relative to my (pathetic!) level of fitness. Furthermore this wasn’t likely to be doing me any good, especially with a history of heart disease in my family, I really had no idea what I was doing and decided I needed to get my fitness properly assessed. I decided to investigate heart-rate monitors.
First of all I found out I could buy a ‘sender’ unit only, for 10 pounds, that would work with the receivers fitted to all the machines at the gym. This was all very well, but I knew that slogging away on a treadmill or bike bored me to tears. Counting heartbeats wouldn’t make it more interesting, aerobics classes were my only real option for exercising regularly. Which meant I would have to invest in a dual unit, i.e. one which both measured my heart rate and transmitted this info to something that could calculate whether it was what it should be.
After investigating what was on offer I finally settled on the Polar M21 (85 pounds from Argos, although you do see them much cheaper secondhand at auction). This was far from being the cheapest (Polar do a basic model for 39.95) but had one massively advantageous feature for me, from the motivational point of view: the ‘OwnCal’ calorie monitor.
This was what was going to keep me going when I would rather collapse in a heap. Basically, as well as monitoring your heart, this smart little machine also tells you how many calories you have burned! How does it work? Well it’s all based on your heart rate, combined with other information you input via a series of menus, eg your age, weight, sex etc.
The monitor consists of two parts: The sender unit, which is worn next to your heart (obviously). This is a lightweight moulded plastic strip, connected at both ends to an adjustable electric strap, which fits snugly across the body. It’s very comfortable and you quickly forget it’s there, if you’re wearing a minimising sports bra it slips easily under the strap. I do wonder if it might be less discreet, or less comfortable, on a bloke simply as he wouldn’t be used to wearing anything strappy around the chest? It has to be right against the skin.
The receiver unit looks like a chunky digital watch, in fact on top of everything else it does indeed tell the time, although it’s much too bulky for every day use for me. This is where you input your personal info, and keep your counts and logs of exercise taken, calories burned, minutes spent in your ‘OwnZone’ (the heart rate range calculated as most effective for steady aerobic fat burning), as well as sports watch features such as stop watch, backlit display, and even a reminder/ alarm feature (to remind you to get your big backside down to that gym like you planned..!)
Both units are waterproof, so you can use them for swimming (or at least give the cloth chest strap a really good wash after a sweaty workout – Yuck!) The sender unit is completely sealed though and has to be returned to the manufacturer when the batteries fail – I have yet to reach this point and don’t know what it costs, though I believe they replace it with a new one.
It’s child’s play to use. You only need the manual the first time when you are playing with it at home and inputting your data, there’s no fiddling around when you reach the gym. The only thing you have to remember is to dampen the contacts on the chest monitor before you start exercising (once you get into your zone you will generate enough moisture to keep it electrically sound, don’t worry!)
Then you need to find your ‘OwnZone’, ideally by following a structured 10-minute warm up as detailed in the manual, although in practice you only need do this once if you are following a similar exercise programme regularly. After that it can rely on previous calculations, or failing that a predicted average based on your weight, age, height and sex (for me they come out to about the same measurements, must mean my fitness is about average (for an overweight, under-tall, 31yr old woman!)
One thing I quickly realised was that I was often working at too high an intensity in my aerobics classes… if you go over or under the limits of your OwnZone the receiver beeps at you (loudly enough to make you notice and walk it out, but not to turn heads in a busy studio with the music on). I found calorie burning was more effective if I kept to a steady pace and did a longer class, keeping my heart rate in the zone for longer, rather than exhausting myself till I collapsed in a virtuous heap.
As you are working out your heart-rate is displayed on the monitor, but a flick of a button will bring up either your minutes in your Zone or the number of calories burned. This also cumulates so after a few weeks you can find out you’ve actually burned over 8000 calories down at the gym! (so why aren’t I a size 10 yet??????????). As you pass each 100 calorie milestone during your workout a bullet is illuminated on the main display, so you don’t need to keep flicking around. As your heart rate drops during the floor work and cool down period you just flick it off when it starts beeping, you can retrieve all the data later on.
If you prefer working out in a keep-fit studio you won’t need to look at your wrist at all, as the standard receivers on all the treadmills, bikes etc will pick up your rate. And as the transmitter is coded, rather than random, you know it is picking up YOUR heart rate rather than that of the marathon runner in training on the next machine.
All in all this clever little gadget got my vote, despite the pricetag. Polar do make more expensive monitors, the M51 and M71, but the main advantages of these seemed to be the ability to hold recorded data for more than one user, which wasn’t a requirement for me. If you’re planning to share your monitor with a real-life gym buddy then the three-figure asking price might be worth splitting between you (but you’ll want to get your own chest straps however great mates you are!)
Now if you are following a calorie-controlled weight loss diet you know how bloody difficult and restrictive it can be, once you’ve worked out your generous allowance of around 1000 calories a day… you know that exercise not only burns calories but also speeds up your metabolism for the rest of the day, but you’re probably to exhausted from your starvation rations to contemplate a workout at the end of the day.
But here’s the good bit – once you know that, say, a one-hour ‘bums and tums’ class burns 350 calories, you can add them to your allowance with a clear conscience! Half an hour on the treadmill buys you half a bottle of wine. A 90-minute fat-burner aerobic class, which I can actually complete now that I am basically stomping rather than jogging, earns me over 500 calories, so you can actually eat a proper dinner instead of yet another plate full of repetitive greenery or diet ready meal…
Not much makes exercise and dieting easier or pleasanter, but I find this monitor a real help with the motivation and reward. I have a long way to go, and don’t always get to the gym as often as I would like, but this certainly helps me get the maximum benefit and reward when I do.
Health warning: do NOT use if you have an electronic heart pacemaker fitted. If you are considering embarking on an exercise programme for the first time, particularly if you have any heart health concerns, seek medical advice first.
