If you are anything like me then you have been on a fitness rollercoaster almost your whole life. From one fad to another, from ever-changing diets to different fitness trends, it’s hard to know what really works and what doesn’t. The latest trend seems to be heart rate monitors and just like so many of you, I decided to give Garmin Vivofit 2 a try.
This heart rate monitor tracks all my movements, calories burnt per day and even how many hours I’ve slept for. It comes with a year-long battery life, meaning no charger needed, audio alerts and move bar which remind you and motivate you to stay active. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised so today I’ll be going over all the things I learned from using my Garmin Vivofit 2 heart rate monitor.
- The first thing I noticed was how inaccurate the calories you burn on exercise machines actually are. This also includes all those claims about how many calories you will burn trying out some class. This has nothing to do with how hard I actually worked so those results would be totally inaccurate.
- You can’t lie to yourself about how hard you actually worked; when you’re exercising you can add a few calories here and there because you feel that you worked hard. With a heart rate monitor, you can’t actually lie as the results are all right in front of you.
- You don’t have to worry about over doing it either, and you can easily stick to the zone you need to be in. How many times have you over compensated at the gym because of what you have eaten only to end up feeling ill and over doing it. This way you can safely stick to the zone you are supposed to be in.
- If you are someone who is trying to lose weight then you need to start interval training. I never realized just how little you burn when you are just jogging or doing something at the same pace. Now with all the results I’ve recorded with my it’s easy to see that interval training really is your best option.
- Knowing how many calories you are burning doing regular chores and activities will motivate you to do them more often. This is probably something to do with the placebo effect, either way, you feel great about cleaning the house afterwards.
- Sweating doesn’t actually mean you are burning any calories. I used to think that if I was left really sweaty after a class, I had burned a lot of calories but this simply isn’t true. After a long yoga class, I would be lucky to have burned 100 calories but I would be left sweaty and gross, it’s all about keeping your heart rate up.
- Having said the last point, not everything should be about burning calories, so take a break sometime! Do something that you love just because you love it not because you are looking to burn off your lunch.
- Your workouts will also have to adjust the way your body does. Getting your heart rate up and keeping it up will become more and more difficult. Breaking a sweat and getting my heart soaring was easy in the beginning, now not so much so you constantly need to push yourself to get the results you want.
