Heart Rate Monitor

The concept of using a heart rate monitor during my workouts did not even occur to me until mid this year when I felt like I was dying during my workouts and hence I didn't really push myself much further. Similarly there were occasions where I would just push myself a bit too far :) so to control this I got myself a heart rate monitor. I bought the Pyle Sports PHRM38 from Amazon, which has pretty decent reviews.

I had no idea how this device would change my workouts and enable me to go to another level. Basically you wear the strap with the transmitter on your chest and the watch on your hand and you can observe your heart rate on the watch. You can set maximum and minimum heart rates for which you can get it to beep if your heart rate goes over or under. The watch also has many other functionalities which I won't go into.

The wonderful thing now is I know when sometimes I feel like I'm dying I'm really not and push myself that much more but still stay within the safe zone and the second I go above a set maximum I stop, let my heart rate settle and off I go again with just the right amount of rest. The resulting workouts are amazing. I love it and I can't believe I never used one before. This is also great for jogging and cycling to maintain an aerobic heart rate throughout the workout. I highly recommend anyone that wants to make most of their workouts to get one.