Literally, owning a heart rate monitor will change your life. It will change the way you train, and it will give you motivation. If you take Spinning classes, a heart rate monitor is essential for making sure you’re working in the correct heart rate zone. If your goal is weight loss (burn more calories than you eat in a day) then getting an exact read of how many calories you burn in a given workout is really helpful.
The best heart rate monitors have chest straps. If it doesn't have a chest strap, you have to stop exercising for something like 20 seconds while you press your fingers into sensors on the watch while it takes your heart rate. Kind of sucks. Strapless heart rate watches are also not quite as accurate as the ones with the straps. I personally like being able to look down at my watch while I’m breathless and struggling in an aerobics class and see what my heart rate is. You end up developing a good sense of what your maximum heart rate feels like.
The strap gets really sweaty and gross, so you have to wash it often. You can un-snap the sensor in the center and throw the strap in the washer. Easy Peasy.
Polar is the best brand (in my opinion) and they have tons of different styles. I own the Polar FT40 (pictured above) and I absolutely love love love it. The chest strap is one of the most comfortable straps around–which doesn’t mean it’s completely comfortable, but it’s less bad than the others. You can buy the same one I have on amazon for about $100 here.
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