I (Heart) My Polar Heart Rate Monitor

So I did get the new heart rate monitor for Christmas. There are lots of things I like about it. The first is the size. It's made for women, so I don't have that huge wrist watch anymore. I love the calorie counter. It's exactly what I wanted! I can also set it to a zone so that an alarm goes off if I'm below (or above) my target zone. However, it's the calorie count that I like the best.

I also discovered very quickly that some days with Maya will burn more calories than others. I did an hour yesterday with an upper body concentration and burned almost 400 calories. Today I did 30 minutes with a core concentration and only burned about 98 calories. The upper body keeps my heart rate up, and the core exercises don't (as soon as I lay down, my heart rate plumments: this is a good thing actually, as a quick recovery is a sign of a strong heart).

My last evaluation, my resting heart rate dropped, and this is good too. It's now at 66. A lower resting heart rate means that my heart doesn't have to beat as often to pump the blood thru my system. I'm surprised that Maya doesn't track the resting heart rate, as I think it's a better indication of cardio than elevated. I'm not really sure what my goal for elevated heart rate is: that's something Maya doesn't tell you and it falls into a grey area for me as to which is better: higher or lower (I know that an endurance athlete: ie: Lance Armstrong, can get their heart rate up to almost 200 bpm during a race, and I don't think there's atheletes with better cardio conditioning than professional cyclists).

I will say that I think Maya is working me a bit harder. I'm really sore from yesterday's upper body workout. She's cut back a bit on the cardio and working me a lot harder with the weights. (maybe it's because I still can't do pushups... I think it's the extra 10lbs strapped to my chest). Maybe they'll get easier as I lose weight.

Today's Positive Comment:
I received my new bra in the mail yesterday and it fits!