How to Buy a Heart Rate Monitor

By eHow Sports & Fitness Editor

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Monitoring your heart rate is easy: If you're living, you've got one. A heart rate monitor allows you to effectively train at your target heart rate for optimal results during competition.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Step1

Understand how monitors work. Most look like wristwatches and combine timekeeping functions with heart monitoring. For constant heart rate readout, purchase one with a chest strap transmitter that sends heart data to the wrist unit. Devices without a chest strap provide heart rate data but only when you are touching the unit with your hand.

Step2

Basic units cost about $75, more sophisticated units about $120. Popular brands include Polar, Reebok and Lifesource. You can buy online, but a knowledgeable shop can better educate you about the devices. Read the instructions.

What to Look For:

Easy to use
Comfortable chest strap
Knowledgeable shop

Tips & Warnings

Get a unit with an audible signal if your heart rate falls above or below your specified range.
Some monitors can store data and download it to a computer to chart your progress.

Comments

xiaoxiatong said

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on 1/31/2008 my heart rate is 56/min in the mornng when i was wake up，Resting heart rate (Resting HR) is the number of beats in one minute when you are at complete rest. Your resting heart rate indicates your basic fitness level. The more well-conditioned your body, the less effort and fewer beats per minute it takes your heart to pump blood to your body at rest.