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In my last post, I mentioned needing to do research on heart rate monitors so I can start a cardiovascular program to increase my endurance. Today, I’ve got a nice treat for you all. Rusty Squire, President of the Heart Rate Watch Company and an expert on heart rate monitors, graciously agreed to share his knowledge on heart rate monitors.

- Bonnie

Dancing is a very physically demanding activity requiring long hours of practice. It truly is an endurance sport combining strength, speed, endurance, balance and grace all into one package, but how do you know if you are practicing too much, too little, or are you recovering properly? Are you eating too little, or too much, based upon your caloric burn rate?

Your heart is like the engine that propels your entire circulatory system with oxygen being transported to rejuvenate the muscles. This makes your heart rate much like the tachometer on a race car. Rev the engine to high and it is difficult to recover.

Most world-class endurance athletes use heart rate as a way of gauging their current and future workload. They can’t go 100% all the time and often require recovery days or active rest days where they exercise at a much lower percentage of their maximum to allow their bodies recovery, especially leading up to a big event.

There are three basic measurements that, if watched regularly, can help us improve our fitness:

1. Resting heart rate – This is your heart rate while relaxed and inactive. I find it is best to take it the same time every day. Like first thing in the morning when you get up. What this does is it helps you create benchmark data. If your normal resting heart rate is 60 beats per minute and you wake up one morning and it is 70 this tells me you did not recover well or have been over-training and need an active rest day.

2. Zone heart rate – this is a range of heart rates that is established for specific days of exercise based upon intensity. Normally endurance athletes train between 60% and as high as 85% of their calculated maximum heart rate. This allows for developing pacing that can be sustained for long periods of time. The idea is to know when you are going too hard or too easy so the watch acts like a coach giving you alerts.

3. Recovery heart rate – the amount of time it takes you to recover from a high level of intensity back to 60% of maximum heart rate. The quicker the recovery is the better your overall fitness. This is a good measure for dancers who dance at high intensity and may often go above 90% of maximum heart rate for short durations. The question is how long does it take you to recover back to 60% of maximum heart rate?

Using a heart rate monitor as a dancer can help you in many ways by gaining a better understanding of your body, your fitness level and how you recover. My wife’s sister danced for Joffrey Ballet in New York City for many years and dancer’s tend to be very driven people who, as a group, can easily subject themselves to over-training.

CRITERIA DANCERS SHOULD THINK OF IN BUYING A HEART RATE MONITOR:

First, many dancers are petite, so the size of the actual wrist unit needs to be considered and should be small enough to fit the wrist without feeling awkward.

Chest straps with ECG sensors should be flexible and small enough to fit comfortably. I’d recommend soft, flexible chest straps like those made by Polar, Garmin and Suunto. They are more comfortable and less noticeable in my opinion. So make sure you are getting a comfortable strap that is sized to fit.

For dancers who are petite these criteria are especially useful. As a result of small wrist and chest sizes it is essential to get the wrist unit and the chest strap sized to fit. Models I would recommend for smaller females include the Polar FT7, Garmin FR60 and Suunto t1c.

MEASURING YOUR DATA:
I have an old saying: "That which gets measured is that which can be improved". Without measurement we are walking around guessing at our level of improvement, in other words we have no compass to point us in the right direction.

Measure calories used to plan your dietary needs. Measure heart rate to see your fitness and recovery, as well as to manage your overall training load. Many heart rate monitors have data transfer devices and free online software where you can store the data from your exercise sessions. Most notably
Polar Personal Trainer software and Garmin has Garmin Connect. Data is generally transferred from some type of USB connection, either wirelessly or hard wired.

GETTING UP TO SPEED QUICKLY:
Garmin, Polar and Suunto provide training videos to help you get your heart rate monitor up and running quickly. These are far preferable to going through a technical manual.

If you need further expert advice in selecting a heart rate monitor, Rusty has offered to provide free consultations. You can give them a call at the Heart Rate Watch Company 866-586-7129.

Rusty is also a former three-time All-American, a World Record holder for the most vertical feet skied in 12 hours and has coached numerous athletes, several who have gone on to compete in the Olympics.

Similar Posts:

• Learn to Train Efficiently Pt1. My Experience with Metabolic Testing
• Learn to Train Efficiently Part3: Understanding Nerdy Physiology