Heart Monitors Can Help Your Workouts

It sounds funny to say, but getting a heart monitor has made working out more fun.

I know that a heart monitor doesn't seem like a very fun gift, but I think I'd say it is my favorite gift that I received this Christmas.

A few months ago, Crossfit Dartmouth introduced Myzone Heart Monitors to their athletes. It kind of looked fun. There's a TV monitor mounted on a wall at the gym. On the monitor, you can see your heart rate, but you can also see how hard you are working. The monitor shows the number of calories burned, how close you are to your peak heart rate, and even your effort points.

What is so great about the monitor is that it is an equalizer for the athletes. It allows a scrub athlete like me to compete with even the Crossfit coaches that may be working out alongside me. We can compare calories burned and effort points. The longer you stay in the yellow and red zone (80 percent and 90 percent of your max heart rate), the more effort points are earned.

There's also an app that allows you to store your workouts and log often and how hard you've worked out over the past weeks, months and years.

Adding my heart monitor to my workouts has brought a video game element to Crossfit. It is a lot of fun to compare your workouts to others, and even your current workouts to your previous workouts. It has seriously helped me get off the couch and into the gym on many occasions since getting the Myzone heart monitor.