Stay Motivated with Exercise Using the PACE Heart Rate Monitor Watch

The PACE Heart Rate Monitor Watch is a powerful tool for making your exercise activities more effective and preventing loss of motivation. Read on for more info.

Starting an exercise program is hard but quitting is easy. There’s a lot of mental inertia to overcome to begin a fitness program. We can all find reasons why it’s going to be hard – time, right routine, time, equipment, time… did I mention time?

Well, I know from personal experience committing to taking a large chunk of discretionary time away from other activities is easier said than done. And our workout schedule is one of those activities we look at as being optional if the day gets hectic.

Okay. I can hear the fitness freaks crying out that exercise is not optional and it can’t be discretionary… yada – yada – yada. But in the real world life happens. And exercise does become optional for many if they doubt it’s making a difference. Why would you continue to do something you’re not convinced is benefiting you?

The #1 reason for people quitting their exercise program is because they don’t see or don’t feel they’re getting the results they expected.

Most of the time this is not true though and the body is benefiting from exercise - in fact it loves you for it. But if you look in a mirror and don’t see any external confirmation, especially if you’re on an exercise for weight loss program, then hanging up the gym shoes is a natural response.

Enter a piece of equipment called the PACE Heart Rate Monitor Watch that can change all that – and you can get for the price of a cheap pair of jogging shoes.

Fitness is generally measured by how efficient our heart pumps blood around our body.

Yes, six-pack abs and tight buns are great to show off but they’re empty calories when it comes to determining your fitness. The most accurate way of determining how efficient our heart is operating, is our “at rest” heart rate, and how quickly after exertion we return to the same “at rest” rate.

A heart rate monitor is the most practical equipment for measuring our beats per minute (BPM), and it can also be used during exercise as its name implies – to monitor our heart rate.

So whatever your exercise program consists off make note before you ever begin what your current heart rate (or pulse is), and then make note after you’ve exercised for a specific time how long in minutes and seconds it takes to return to that exact same heart rate. Wearing a heart monitor watch makes this easy as you don’t have to do any counting, etc.

Log this in a journal – this is important! It becomes your evidence of progress or not.

Don’t be taking these measurements every day. Once a week is fine, but do repeat the process after 4-6 weeks. If you’ve been consistent with your exercise program, and been pushing yourself to progress then you should see a significant improvement in your “at rest” heart rate, and a reduction in the time to return to it after your workout.

The PACE Heart Rate Monitor watch is a simple and easy to use device that makes taking these measurements easy.

Log your progress of the coming weeks and you should see a steady improvement providing you’re continuing to expand your limits when you workout.

Steady progress is your goal not rapid improvement as this likely indicates you’re pushing yourself too hard too quickly, and in risk of injury. As you get fitter you’ll also find you can go longer and faster during your exercise routine, and again verification by a heart rate monitor watch of your BPM during exercise will keep you motivated.

So don’t worry too much about seeing changes in your shape externally as this isn’t a good indicator of fitness, but rely instead on the internal “shape” of your body as measured by your BPM.

And if you’re not seeing improvement in your “beats per minute” or you begin to stagnate, this is usually a symptom you’ve reached a plateau and need to step up the exertion or try a new exercise program.

First, you need to wear and use it!

I know this sounds silly and obvious but unlike a pair of shoes or shorts you just put on and start using – no instructions needed – a Heart Rate Monitor Watch (HRM) is equipment, and you have to learn about the buttons and operation before you can put it into practice.

Frankly, some of the HRM devices on the market are overpriced and way too complicated for the simple requirement of displaying your heart rate in beats per minute.

When you’re deep in the middle of a tough section of a treadmill routine you don’t usually need to know what time it is in Hong Kong – unless that’s your home town.

And this is why most of them end up hidden away in the “great ideas but don’t use it drawer” gathering dust.

So, the first thing you need to know about a heart rate monitor is you’ll need to wear and use it at every workout session for 30 days. Then it becomes habit and you’ll feel naked exercising without it. But at first it will take some practice and discipline.

The other quirk about these watch devices is they usually come with a chest strap.

There are models that are strapless and measure your heart rate through the pulse in your fingers on some pressure points on the watch, but this requires you stopping and taking precious seconds to perform this ritual.

The chest strap may seem distracting at first but it provides the most accurate and convenient way of monitoring your heart rate.

Exercise and getting fit is one of those areas where you can get really focused and just want to test your limits at every workout. This is not wise.

You should calculate your maximum target heart rate, and as a rough formula you should take the figure 220 and subtract your age. This will provide you some indication of where your ceiling should be – don’t go beyond this maximum.

Most exercise routines – I use the PACE 12 Minute Fitness Revolution and Exercise for Weight Loss program as my guiding schedule – provide target heart rate range and you should stay within this range. You can set the PACE Heart Rate Monitor Watch to trigger a warning alarm if you go outside this range.

This ensures you’re not overtaxing your body or heart or lungs, and keeps you free of injury.

Of course you can also set an alarm to warn you when you’ve dropped through the floor of your target heart rate and where the effort you’re expending is wasted unless you speed up a bit. Think of that alarm as your yelling coach back at high school telling you to pick up the pace – be honest, didn’t that motivate you then? Maybe more out of fear, right?

And this brings us full circle in using a heart rate monitor to stay motivated.

The PACE monitor watch makes an ideal compliment to not only the PACE: 12-Minute Fitness Revolution exercise program but any workout routines when you need to accurately monitor your pulse.

Seeing the verification you're making progress in strengthening your heart and and lungs keeps you motivated and progressing towards your goal of getting fit and feeling healthy.

Discover more about Dr Al Sears PACE Heart Rate Monitor Watch here.