| By :
Roger Brown
People who are really into their health have started to really value the health benefits of having watches with pulse readouts available to them during exercise. This can be a real enhancement to the workout experience because it gives feedback on how the body is responding to the stresses of the activity. But, could it be that these heart rate watches are not all their manufacturers have led us to believe? These devices that monitor heart rate are just about everywhere you look in a gymnasium these days. Elliptical machines and the stationary bikes all have grip sensors that you can use to tell what your heart rate is all during the process of the workout. It seems like everybody just wants to know if they are working in the "fat burning zone". So, what's the problem with that? The real issue is the way devices in a gymnasium or the sensors that come with watches with pulse functionality do their job. What I mean by that is the way the formula they use to calculate what your pulse rate is. The way they tell your pulse rate requires them to make a lot of assumptions. The first one is the age that you put in when the device asks you for baseline data. Age has traditionally been the primary determinant in figuring out what your maximum heart rate should be. The maximum heart rate of course determines what your zone should be for your workout. It is been found that for women for example, the data that has been used to calibrate sensors comes from a study of males and their heart rates. The old formula of taking your age subtracting that from 220 is being the max for heart rate should be for your workout is out of phase when it comes to determining what a woman's pulse rate should be. Now, studies indicate that women should subtract .88 times their age from the number 206. That should give the maximum heart rate they should experience during a workout. So, the zone that women should find themselves in for most of their exercise activities is a good bit less than that. Therefore, women should not feel like they have to push the limits set by trainers, who may be basing their valuations on the previously accepted scale. Instead, women should use how they feel as a good indicator of whether they are operating in the zone. Use your pulse rate watch or the monitor on the gym equipment, but your body will tell you if your push too hard or not. But, how should a man or a woman know if they are operating too far outside of the pulse rate work out bandwidth for them? Here's a short list of things you should keep a weather eye out for when you're working out to make sure you aren't pushing too hard: * Getting dizzy * A feeling of lightheadedness * Getting over fatigued * Blurred vision Watches with pulse can be a great enhancement to your workout whether you're a man or a woman, but you have to take the information they give you with a grain of salt. You can't live by the number you see on the watch for exercise equipment like it was the law. You have to use your feel for the situation and your understanding of how your own body works to make sure your workout is safe.
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