Polar Heart Rate Monitors
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Introduction to Heart Rate Monitors
What are heart rate monitors?
The Polar heart rate monitor is an electronical device that is used to keep track of an individual’s heart rate while they are participating in physical activity. The Polar heart monitor has a device that wraps around your chest and it transmits physiological data to a second device, which is a wristwatch. The wrist watch not only collects heart rate data from the chest device, but it keeps time and has a stopwatch to track how long you are participating in physical activity.
Why should I use a heart rate monitor?
The most important muscle of the body is the heart. It is extremely critical for people to understand the importance of getting proper cardiovascular exercise multiple times per week. Heart rate monitors can be used to allow a person to see if their heart is working properly during any type of cardiovascular exercise. There are many benefits to using a heart monitor when exercising. The heart rate monitor can be used to keep track of a person’s physical training and to make sure that their heart rate is in the correct target heart zone. When an individual monitors their heart it can help to prevent overtraining and injury. In addition, the heart rate monitor allows a person to create a fitness plan that can in turn give them the cardiovascular results that they want.
Heart rate monitors have the capability of measuring your physiological and cardiovascular stress during exercise sessions. The monitors give individuals a precise gauge of the power and intensity of a cardiovascular workout, which is exhibited in a person’s heart rate. If a person engages in a very intense workout session then they should reflect a higher heart rate. When the monitor shows that there is a change in the heart rate this indicates that there is a positive response or could indicate a negative response to what is happening within the heart. The heart rate monitor will give a person the information that they need to take care of their body. Using heart monitors will help a person learn about how effective their workouts are, help individuals to train properly without overtraining, and let a person know if they are pushing themselves too hard during a workout.
Classroom Uses
Make running more interesting
The Polar heart rate monitor is an excellent electronical tool that makes a valuable contribution to the weekly middle school physical fitness run day. The typical run day at the middle school that I teach at consists of students running laps around the field for a timed grade. The students know that they have to complete a certain amount of laps during a specific amount of time for a letter grade that they want to attain. What the students do not know is, if they are running in-between their target heart rate. The Polar heart rate monitor takes care of this problem by keeping track of the student’s heart rate as they run. This allows the student to be aware of their body’s physiological response to cardiovascular training.
The students are taught how to calculate their target heart rates before they run. When the students are finished with their run, they can see if they were in-between their target heart rate while they run by looking at the heart rate monitor. The watch also gives them a stopwatch reading so they can keep tract of their time as they run.
Benefits for Teachers and Students
The heart rate monitor is an excellent way of keeping the students motivated and focused on the benefits of cardiovascular training. Not only does the heart rate monitor help teach required California Physical Education Standards, but it is a great technological device that can enhance the learning and enjoyment of running in the Middle School physical education curriculum. Students are able to keep a journal of their heart rate from their multiple runs in order to determine the effectiveness of their extensive training and cardiovascular workouts over time.
