Fitness Heart Rate Monitors and An Exercise Regimen

The current guidelines from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend 30 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity on most - and preferably all - days of the week. That amount is enough for most people who are already fit; but for weight loss, you need to expend a minimum of about 200-300 calories a day on a MINIMUM of 3 days a week.

Research shows that for the best calorie burning, greater amounts of exercise at a lower intensity are better than high intensity for shorter periods. With your fitness heart rate monitor you want to make sure that you don't exercise at the top of your Target Heart Rate Zone.

To begin your program, perform your exercise routine. Take note of your heart rate before you begin, after you warm up, when you reach your target and then after the cool down. As the weeks continue and you begin to lose weight, you will begin to see a pattern and will be able to determine which weeks were the most effective - what the best Target Heart Rate is for YOUR weight loss.

Expending 2,800 calories a week in exercise, as the folks in the weight loss industry say is best, may sound like a tall order if you're among the 78 percent of American adults who are either totally sedentary or not active enough. So how do you go from doing very little or no exercise to developing a daily routine? Make it a HABIT! The easiest way to do that is to commit to exercise every day.

That's 7 days a week! Start with 20 minutes of walking every day. You can do two 10-minute walks if you need to. Just commit to 20 minutes a day.

After about 2 weeks, lengthen your walks to 40 minutes. In another 2 weeks, lengthen them to 60 minutes. Gradually increase the intensity of your walks each time to increase the duration.

Be kind to yourself. Your fitness heart rate monitor will let you know if you're exercising to hard - or not hard enough. The main point, in the beginning, is to form a solid habit of exercising everyday.

The more you weigh, the more calories you burn. It's a simply a matter of physics - Moving a heavier mass takes more energy than moving a lighter one. In people terms,a 250 pound person burns twice as many calories to walk the same distance as someone who weighs only 125 pounds.

For example:

20 Minutes of aerobic dance burns 128 calories if you weigh 134 and 170 calories if you weigh 183 pounds

20 minutes of walking burns 100 calories if you weigh 134 and 134 calories if you weigh 183 pounds,

20 minutes of swimming breaststroke burns 200 calories if you weigh 134 and 268 calories if you weigh 183

As you lose weight and progress into higher levels of exercise intensity, your going to have to make your heart work harder in order to get the same benefit from your exercise as you were before.

This is where your exercise journal and fitness heart rate monitor will be most beneficial. Adjust your intensity and the length of your exercise sessions for best results. During the most intense periods of the session note how much harder you have to work to maintain that level. Keeping within your Target Heart Rate Zone for longer periods of time will ensure maximum benefit.

*****Be aware, as you lose weight your resting heart rate will most likely decrease so make sure to adjust for this in your calculations.

NuMetrex has designed several wireless, fitness heart rate monitors to make keeping tabs on your heart rate a breeze. Like the The NuMetrex Heart Sensing Racer Tank for women. It features a shelf bra with special sensing fibers knit directly into the fabric to monitor heart rate. A tiny transmitter snaps into a pocket in the shelf bra to send data to a compatible monitoring device. The Heart Sensing Racer Tank is made of quick drying nylon Lycra® with a second-skin fit that offers medium support.

The best fitness heart rate monitors are those by NuMetrex. Their cardio shirt for men and the Racer Tank for women are compatible with Polar® heart rate monitors and the Polar WearLink u2122 transmitter. So if you already have a monitor all you need is the garment to replace your old chest strap!