Well... I thought if I was going to be serious about this then I need the right equipment which not only includes trainers, clothing and a sports bra but something to track the improvement in my fitness and accurately count the calories I'm burning during workouts.
So I set out in my quest to find a heart rate monitor which fitted what I was looking for. I did some research online into what are the features any decent heart rate monitor should have, look at various brands and the prices (as you might guess they're not cheap) to see what I could get for my money and where to buy from. I also talked to a few people who I know use them and asked what they'd recommend.
I was looking for 4 things:
- a product priced between £50-£70
- a nice looking watch as I wanted to wear it day to day as well
- easy to set up and use (anything too complicated and I wouldn't use it)
- a strap and watch combination (you can get some which are just a watch unit)
Kate and Emma at work are both very into their fitness, Kate is marathon training and Emma is training for a least two events whether it be triathlons or some crazy obstacle event. They both said straight off get a Garmin Forerunner 110 https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/sports/running/forerunner-110/prod63511.html which as you can see if a nice looking watch, has a good display and has GPS all ready to go.
Now if I was a runner I think I would have jumped at this, the spec is good, it looks easy to set up and use and you get a lot of features online however I'm not! In fact I rather dislike it as I'm not very good at it! Also it was is out of the price range I was looking to spend even when I was looking on Amazon, my fail save for all purchases.
Just before Christmas I did a session with Lydia at The Training Shed and she lent me her heart rate monitor to see how many calories I burnt and what my heart rate looked like during what I have to say was a very tough session. Her heart rate monitor is a Polar FT2 I believe which is very simple to use and when I spoke again to her about what to get, it is the brand they, at The Training Shed are partnered with and would recommend. So I started to look at these specifically, on their website and where I could purchase them from.
Finally I got it down to two different Polar Monitors:
- FT4 http://www.polar.com/uk-en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT4
and
-FT7http://www.polar.com/uk-en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT7
And drum roll.........
I decided on the Polar FT4! For a number of reasons, I didn't want anything over complicated, I only wanted to spend so much which this fitted into nicely, I wanted a good brand and something good looking. I did buy from amazon as I was given a voucher for my birthday along with some other money.
It arrived yesterday! I was so excited! I had it open in minutes, reading the instructions, getting it set up and ff to the gym I went to test it out. And so far I love it!
It's so easy to use, set up took about 5 minutes in total and I took great pleasure in tracking my progress last night ( I burnt 532 calories) and that of the whole work circuits class tonight who all found it very interesting that it tracking me burning 530 calories in 55 minutes. I'm pretty sure its going to be a weekly feature! Next time we are aiming for 600.
Anyway I hope this is helpful but please remember there are loads of brands out there and you need to find the right one for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment