How hard am I working?

Heart rate monitor for under $50

Working too hard. Yup, that was me. I felt like I have been putting in so much hard work and effort and was yielding nothing in the form of increased fitness or weight loss. Well, after doing a little more reading I think I have discovered why. Simply put, I was overworking! See I think that I have to put in maximum effort in order to get a result. Problem is, this maximum effort usually sees me very tired for the rest of the week- which is counter productive. Whilst re-reading Crunch Time I read about the use of a heart rate monitor. Well, on the weekend John bought me one and we sat down to figure out my Maximum Heart Rate and what I need to be working at in order to burn fat.

My MaximumHeartRate (MHR) is 180. My minimum fat burning rate rate is approx 117 and my highest/best heart rate during exercise is 158. I had been heading up into the very high 100′s…as in 180 – 190. This does in fact burn calories but not fat stores. So in all my work I was working against my goals.

Today I did a Billy Blanks Bootcamp session (DVD) and was surprised to know that I did in fact reach my MHR. It was tiring and sore but I was not at the same point that I had been previously. TaeBo is a form of HIIT as well as strength training so it’s a good workout.

Do you use a heart rate monitor? How do you use it?

The other thing I’m trying to develop is my thinking. Yes, I certainly am free to eat that one (but really, who can stop at just one?) delicious Subway cookie but I need to be prepared to workout for a good 30min just to burn off the cookie! So if I workout I won’t even be burning fat, just the cookie. Is it worth it? Sure I am free to eat it…but is it worth it? This is the kind of thinking I’m trying to develop. It should come easy to me for teaching my own children about making wise choices and choosing consequnces is what we spend quite some time on- so why am I finding it so hard?

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