Tag: cardio

If you spend a lot of time around the club, you’ve probably heard talk of Heart Rate Monitors (HRMs). 

Courtesy of Polar Electro.

Trainers are recommending them to clients, group exercise instructors are recommending them to their classes, and friends are comparing their “calories burned” in the locker rooms. 

But will a HRM work for you? 

Like all things in life, that depends.

Heart rate monitors can range from $50-$450, it’s important to decide whether a HRM is a good investment before you buy one.

Here are 5 ways a HRM can help you, and what other considerations are necessary to make sure your expectations are met as safely and effectively as possible. 

HRMs can help you:

1. Improve your health: HRMs can help you find and maintain the right exercise intensity to reach your goals.  If you are working to attain the 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise (50-70% of maximum heart rate) 5 days per week recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the device will tell you whether you are doing that.  Higher-end models can provide specific zone intensity and time requirements to reach weight loss and fitness performance goals.  

Unfortunately, your HRM won’t tell you what activities to do, how to do those activities correctly, or how to balance the other components of total health – nutrition, sleep, etc.  From inexperienced exercisers to elite athletes, additional input from a doctor or trainer may be needed to paint a complete picture of an individual exercise program.

2. Measure your effort: Measuring the work-rate of the heart is the most accurate method of determining how much benefit you are deriving from your workout, and using a HRM is more accurate than interrupting your workout to take your pulse manually.  Apart from user-error (e.g. the strap falling off, or accidentally stopping the training computer during a workout), HRMs are pretty dependable, as long as you always remember to use it!

3. Exercise safely: Feedback from HRMs can help prevent you from exercising too hard in a single session (and thus burning yourself out for several days), and from over-training in general.  A heart rate that is higher than you expect it to be before, during, or after a workout, can be a signal that your body needs more rest.  Most models don’t see the whole picture, however. 

For example, certain medications can affect your heart rate, and your monitor can’t account for working an active job (think construction worker) if you only wear it during structured workouts.  Again, listening to your body and asking for advice from a health or fitness professional can round out the picture.

4. Track your progress: Some HRMs are able to store and display weeks’ worth of training sessions, which will help you identify possible training errors, or hopefully just reinforce that you are staying on track!  From the perspective of someone who never really liked math and can’t always remember how much she ran three days ago, it’s a nice benefit.  However, all of the tracking and reporting tools are usually not available unless additional equipment or software is purchased.

5. Put the fire back in your program: Most of us probably never thought we would be taking orders from computers, but I have to admit, I can’t help feeling a little guilty when my HRM tells me “incomplete training week” or “train a lot more.”  That is usually enough motivation to get my butt to the gym. 

Some of you may prefer a social or physical push to exercise that can make a digital reminder more of an annoyance than a motivator.  But at least for me, having that little screen tell me that I met my training goal for the week feels like the extra pat on the back I couldn’t give myself.

What do you think?  Is a heart rate monitor worth it?

Today marks the debut of a regularly occurring feature called “Ask the Trainer.”

At some point, each of us has likely had a question about our training programs, our workouts, our injuries, or whether that glazed doughnut we ate at 11pm will add back on every calorie burned in that day’s spinning class.

The Midtown trainers have graciously made themselves available to answer your questions in person (of course), but also here on this blog.

The first trainer who was willing to submit himself to my line of questioning was Bruce Hedlund.

Bruce has 14 years of personal training experience and has run 17 marathons (including 10 Bostons). He has spent his entire career helping people get fit, stay fit, and strength-train:

Kristi: Tell me about your background.

Bruce: I started training when I was 16 years old. The owner of the gym where I worked out encouraged me to enter the field. I realized very early on that training was the only job I ever wanted. I graduated from SUNY Cortland with a B.S. in Exercise Science, and I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.  In addition to working as a trainer for Midtown, I am also the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Rochester Americans, and for Penfield High School.

Kristi: My friends and I are always debating whether it’s best to work out in the morning or at night. Which is best?

Bruce: Some studies show that working out in the morning may boost your metabolism and expend more calories throughout the day; however, the best time to work out if when you have available time. If you’re not a morning person, it doesn’t make sense to exercise in the morning. The first step to creating a workout schedule is finding a time that you can consistently stick to.

Kristi: What’s the best way to firm up the abdomen and strengthen abdominal muscles following pregnancy and childbirth?

Image courtesy of Spencer Olinek

Bruce: I would recommend strengthening the deep abdominal muscles via plank (prone position) variations. Also, performing dead bugs and belly flatteners will help strengthen the deep abdominal muscles. Also, include lower back strengthening exercises such as: lower back extensions, side bridges and bridge variations.

Kristi: What’s the best way to treat shin splints?

Bruce: The Dixie cup ice massage! Fill a small bathroom cup with water and freeze it. Once the water is frozen, take out the cup and use it to massage your shins for 15 minutes each. Also, perform some strengthening exercises with a resistance band (or even a towel). However, while you are experiencing pain, reduce your activity, and take the time to ice, stretch, and strengthen.

Kristi: If a person has limited time to work out and wants to lose weight, should he/she spend more time on cardio or weights?

Bruce: Both! Shorten cardio time by performing intervals: After a three-minute easy warm-up, perform 20 seconds of a “hard” phase followed by an easy phase of 40 seconds. Perform 10 reps. This 13-minute workout will be a quick way to burn calories! For strength-training, include multi-joint exercises such as: dumbbell squats to shoulder presses, or reverse lunges to bicep curls. Include a “pulling” exercise, such as a lateral pull down or a free-motion lateral pull down, or a Technogym seated row.

Kristi: Do you advise eating or fasting before working out? According to several recent studies, if the goal is to burn fat, fasting is best. What do you think?

Bruce: I would recommend eating prior to exercise. They key is to eat something that doesn’t upset your stomach. Even 12 ounces of a sports drink (like Gatorade) would assist you in your workout. Another option is to eat a banana and half a bagel with peanut butter. You want to take in calories to give your body energy for the workout plus stay hydrated.

After exercising, you should refuel to help you recover from your workout. Try to eat something like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread or drink a Myoplex recovery shake within 30 minutes after exercise. 

Kristi: You’re in great shape, so tell me about your workouts.

Bruce: I work out six days a week. I strength-train 3x a week, and I run about 30-35 miles a week. For cardio workouts, I include jump rope intervals, hill repeats, metabolic circuits with medicine ball throws and tire flips, and long runs of 10 miles each.

Kristi: What do you like best about being a trainer?

Bruce: Watching my clients make progress and changing their lives!

Thanks, Bruce!

Got a question you want a Midtown trainer to answer? You can post your question as a comment, or email it to me at kristi@meetme-atmidtown.com. If you email the question, I will ask it anonymously on your behalf, and post the question and answer (but not your name) on the next “Ask the Trainer” post.

Let’s hear it. What do you want to know?