Exercise Heart Rate Monitor

It is vital to keep an eye on one's heart rate while exercising, as one needs to keep their heart rate in the target heart rate zone out to get the full effects of a proper workout. Therefore most people use some sort of an exercise heart rate monitor to check their real time heart rate. For example two walkers walking at the same speed may have two different heart rates; therefore one might be getting a really good workout, while the other receiving hardly any work out. When one improves on one's fitness, one can walk faster at the same heart rate.

The most accurate heart rate monitors are the ones which uses a chest strap. Where the user straps the chest strap just below his chest and the strap can read the electrical activity of the heart. This recorded activity passes onto a screen, where the user can see his or her real time heart rate. This type of exercise heart rate monitors are usually found in treadmills. One major disadvantage of using the above mentioned exercise heart rate monitor is that it sometimes hinders movement and some users feel uncomfortable using the chest strap. A chest strap is hardly used in treadmills in gyms because there are a lot of people using the same treadmill during a short time span, therefore there is a lot of sweat getting accumulated in the strap and some may feel that it is unhygienic to wear it.

The most common exercise heart rate monitor is the heart rate detecting watches. These watches have a price range which spans from fifty to four hundred American dollars. Although the heart rate detected is not as accurate as the chest strap, most people tend to choose the watches is because it creates no hindrance for movement and most importantly there are many additional features found on the watch which can be vital for a person's workout. Some exercise heart rate monitor watches not only measure the heart rate but the amount of calories burnt, the time elapsed time, the time, a stopwatch, a timer and most importantly for people who do outdoor sports it has a Global Positioning system, which makes it possible for the to do their outdoor sports even in the most extreme of terrains. One major drawback of these exercise heart rate monitor watches is that, when the manufacturers try to add more options to the watch the watch tends to become chunkier, which can sometimes be a difficult for a person who has to wear it for long periods of time.

Some of the latest exercise heart rate monitor watches are water proof, therefore a person who is involved with outdoor sports does not need to pay that much attention about his watching getting wet and hence can concentrate more on what is his doing.