*2 images from Gymbags and Gladrags, edited by me
Being a massive fitness blogger follower on all social media I regularly come across pictures of the Polar Heart Rate Monitor Watches. In the fitness blog world they are the equivalent of the Naked Palettes in the beauty blogger world or disco pants in the Fashion Blogger world, a must have!
So a few months ago I treated myself with some birthday money and ordered the Polar FT4. I got mine for about £60 which isn't bad as I think the RRP is about £100. Upon receiving it, I gave it a first go at Kendal Bootcamp Class. The whole process is pretty easy to understand; put the band on round your chest, just underneath your bra strap area, ensuring that the electrodes on the front of it are touching your skin. Then put the watch on, set it up my adding your info such as sex, age, height, weight and when you start your exercise press start twice and off you go.
The first time I put the strap on it was very noticeable, not uncomfortable as its very elasticated, but noticeable, however I persevered and now never feel it when working out. Although I bought the watch to monitor my heart rate and see if I am actually working hard during my workouts of if I'm just slacking, I find the other tools very useful. At the moment I am calorie counting to ensure I am on track and find that knowing how many calories I've burnt in a workout is a great motivator to eat healthy for the rest of the day as I don't want to undo all the hard work I have done. The fat burning zone option is interesting however during bootcamp my heart rate is rarely in this zone as bootcamp is tough! You can very easily scroll through the different displays while working out; your heart rate, your calories burnt, how long you've been working out, whether your in the fat burning zone and the time. I normally keep mine on the heart rate display so I know when I'm warmed up, whether I am working out hard enough, and when I have cooled down.
The watch and strap are very study, I've accidentally dropped them on the floor a few times, and my watch even survived the wettest bootcamp session I've ever been too! I'm talking ten minutes in the rain and I am soaked to my bone! So it's doing very well.
I would definitely recommend it to those who are looking for their first heart rate monitor and take their training seriously. It doesn't have millions of fancy options like GPS like some tracker do, but for a beginners watch it is perfect. I love mine, use it everyday and don't think I need anything more fancy. I couldn't actually imaging working out without it now, as I feel it really motivates me and is a great way to keep my on track and monitor my progress.
Do you use a Heart rate Monitor when training? Do you use a Polar watch? Do you love it as much as I love mine?
Check out Jennifer's gorgeous, cute and fun lifestyle blog Infinitely Charming. Full of beauty, crafts, fitness, life and more; all with Jennifer's humorous edge on top... what's not to love.
