When it comes to exercise, no one wants to be seen as having all the gear but no idea. That is, owning one of the The best fitness trackers, best smartwatches or, for the most accurate readings, heart rate monitors can really help improve your physical health and fitness over the long term.
Ultramarathon swimmer Ross Edgely, whose previous stunts included swimming 157 days and 1,792 miles across Britain, is no stranger to useful fitness technology. In a recent interview with TechRadar to encourage new ones DisneyPlus series Limitless with Chris Hemsworthwe asked the author, who tops the charts, which piece of equipment he found most helpful in his daily workout.
Edgley says you don’t have to exert yourself to start your fitness journey, and advocates “Zone 2” aerobic exercise like a slow and steady jog, swim or bike ride. He recommends using a heart rate monitor as a measure of intensity to make sure you don’t overdo it.
“I think one of the best things [you can buy] is any kind of heart rate monitor, especially when it comes to Zone 2 [aerobic exercise]’ Edgley tells us. “It’s so counterintuitive for a lot of athletes – anyone who’s training just wants to kill themselves like it wasn’t a good workout unless you’re lying on the floor sweating and wondering what happened. The idea of zone 2 fitness is to build mitochondrial efficiency so your heart rate never goes above the 120, 130 bpm mark. It’s so important to use your heart rate as a measure of intensity.”
Edgley continues, “There was a study — a meta-study, a study of thousands of studies — to determine what the best form of cardiovascular activity was in a given sport. And in the end they found out there isn’t one. This polarized approach to training where you spend 80% of your time training in Zone 2 aerobics and 20% training anaerobics during those hard-hitting lactic sessions — it’s so important.”
To be clear, strapping a heart rate monitor to your wrist doesn’t automatically make you the he-man of the workout. But as Edgley explains, the idea of these machines is to make you more aware of how your chosen workout is affecting your body’s cardiovascular performance.
“It’s really interesting that so many people, when they’re exercising blind without a heart rate monitor, they find themselves in this weird in-between phase where their bodies are saying, ‘What should we adapt to physiologically?’ It is neither aerobic nor anaerobic. That’s one of the biggest things [that a heart rate monitor can improve].”
Heart rate monitors also tend to be better at tracking your heart rate (surprise surprise!) than expensive smartwatches. The latter use optical sensors that are easily affected by sweat, hair and exercise, while specialized heart rate monitors use electrodes that pick up electrical signals from your heart.
So if you were lucky enough to get a fancy new heart rate monitor this Christmas: congratulations! Now get out there and outrun the turkey. For those who haven’t delved into this particular branch of fitness technology, don’t worry. Our guide to the best heart rate monitors Feature options for budgets big and small – and you’ll also find a roundup of today’s best heart rate monitor deals.
For more fitness insights from adventurer Ross Edgley, check out our report Chris Hemsworth’s absolutely ridiculous training program for Extraction 2. We’ll also be sharing more of Edgley’s expert advice during TechRadar’s Get Fit For ’23 week, beginning January 2, 2023.
