Heart Healthy

I've been thinking about buying a heart rate monitor. A friend of mine planted the seed in my head recently, and I never forgot it because it shocked me so much. I know that we all have target heart rates which we should all maintain when we exercise, because they are fat-burning zones. But I didn't know that if you go over those target heart rates, you may not burn off any fat, because your heart goes into a sort of panic state when it is exerting too much energy.

I got concerned about this today when I was on the elliptical in our home. I hadn't been on an elliptical in a very long time, so I was pretty winded within a few minutes. Initially, I tried to do a workout on an incline, but I quickly realized that I couldn't do that quite yet, so I lowered the incline to the lowest setting. Even at this level, I was feeling tired. I checked my heart rate by gripping the stationary handles, and it seemed a little high...I think it was around 175. Part of me thought that I wasn't burning any fat because my heart was working too hard.

So, I think I'm going to venture out tomorrow to the local sporting goods store and see what I can find. This Timex model is the highest rated heart rate monitor by Consumer Reports, but this Omron model is the best seller on Amazon, and I've heard a lot of great things about the Polar models. Price is an issue too...I don't want to cheap out on one, but I don't really want to splurge on a heart rate monitor.

OK, that's all I got for today. The weekend is upon us...go enjoy it.