Why use MyZone? Why workout with a heart rate monitor?

“I am sure others have asked you that question and your answer may have varied around “It’s cool” or “It’s important,” but you may not know exactly why. The heart is a muscle that will get stronger with consistent exercise. Whatever form of exercise you choose to perform, your muscles need more oxygen compared to when you are at rest. All of that oxygen is successfully delivered due to the heart working harder and pumping at a much faster rate (heart rate). Therefore, your heart rate measurement will be able to show you the true intensity and effectiveness of your workout. As you continue to exercise consistently, you may begin to notice that your heart rate is now lower on an exercise you have performed previously. This is because your heart is getting stronger and becoming more efficient for the same workload. Try to utilize MyZone to see fitness progress by using heart rate as a metric of fitness, rather than just a number you’re trying to increase! Try to take advantage of the real time heart rate, effort readings and instant access to your exercise intensity to take your workouts to the next level! If you’re always checking your calories burned after a cardio session on the treadmill or elliptical, it is important for you to know that a heart rate monitor will provide a much more accurate number compared to a standard summary received from the cardio machine. You will find that the heart rate monitor is giving you a different number because it is actually measuring YOUR effort and exertion according to your maximal heart rate and other biometric measures.”

“With MyZone, you are able to live track your effort with a real-time display of the percentage of your max heart rate during your workout session. Shortly after you take off the belt, you will receive a post-workout summary email showing you how much time you spent in each zone and how many MEPs (MyZone Effort Points) were earned. MEPs are how MyZone rewards your efforts based on the intensity and the duration of your exercise session. American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that each healthy adult perform a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise each week. The MyZone system encourages each user to accumulate 300 MEPs per week, giving them the estimated goal of reaching 1300 MEPs per month each month, in order to continue moving toward the next status. Hopefully this answers a few of those general questions you may have in order to tell others about how great MyZone is for your workouts!”

Blog written by our new MyZone Tech Manager, Casey Cordon. Casey is our MyZone expert and a certified personal trainer at the NAC. For questions about the MyZone belt, how to effectively use one or where to get one, Contact Casey.