I wanted to say a few words about hear rate monitoring and the valuable information derived from both active and passive heart rate monitoring. Of the two, the low tech ability to feel your heart rate at any time by finding an artery under the skin to palpate with your fingers, is a source of great information about your overall health and well-being at this moment in time. More on this is a minute (no pun intended).
Until about 15 years ago HRM were accessible only to elite athletes. Today, with the advanced technology, HRM are available at almost any sports store. They range from less then $100 with just a few basic features, to a mini wrist computer that can be wirelessly connected to your computer and show you your progress in a coloured graph as well as temperature/humidity compensation for similar runs, GPS measured distance, elevation etc. When choosing the HRM, one should take into account ones needs. Recreational athletes don't need all the features that a competitive athlete may want. The key features are heart rate and stopwatch. Additional features may include upper and lower HR range with alarms, interval timer, GPS for distance,elevation and speed, calories burned based on age and weight, software for analysing your workout and many more.
HRM are an indispensable tool for monitoring your training. If you run/swim/bike the same distance at the same pace as a few months before, but with lower average HR, it means that your training has been effective.
Enough about active heart rate monitoring. Let’s consider the low tech wisdom of paying attention to your heart rate while passive. The information obtained from passive heart rate monitoring relates to recovery and is a good barometer of general health and well-being. A benchmark for this sort of valuable information is your morning heart rate. I am referring to your heart rate upon natural waking, of course, not after the alarm or clock radio has yanked you from a deep sleep to a heart rate of 100 beats per minute!
If you haven’t tried monitoring your morning heart rate it is easy. Gently feel your chest, wrist, ankle, deep abdomen (if you are normal weight) or other areas where an artery can be palpated. Count the number of beats you feel in a ten second period. Start your counting with the word “zero” (at the moment of starting the count) and count the number of beats you feel in that 10 second period.
Try keeping a morning heart rate journal for a period of 30 days. You may want to keep a journal in general once you begin working with the professionals at Zenergie Holistic Health and Fitness Studio. As outward training is also an inward journey, you will want to “log the miles” so to speak.
As a general rule, the lower your morning heart rate, the better rested and recovered you are. When your waking pulse is higher than normal, use that information wisely. Rest versus over do it. Avoid stimulants like caffeine, drink plenty of fluids, breath and avoid stress. This is answering the call of your body’s inner wisdom, expressed outward as a natural piece of bio-information presented to you by your attention!
Thank you for reading,
Christian Heno, Owner
Zenergie Holistic Health and Fitness Studio
Zenergie is a private fitness studio owned and operated by Christian Heno, BCRPA-Certified Personal Trainer, martial arts instructor, and practictioner of Tui-na, traditional Chinese massage. Zenergie's professional staff specialize in working with both the body and mind to enhance health, improve fitness, and restore capacity in our clients.
