My Newest Fitness Gadget: The Polar FT60 Heart Rate Monitor
I remember as a kid, anytime a new piece of machinery or vehicle—tractor, dirt bike, ATV, snowmobile, truck, etc.—would appear in the driveway, my mom would shake her head and say, “Dad got himself a new toy.” And I couldn’t think of a better way to describe how I feel about getting new workout gear or fitness tech gadgets: it’s like I’m six years old again opening up a Barbie.
As you may recall from my post about the certification process, my first time using a heart rate monitor was just this May when going through the Spinning instructor program. Perfect timing because just as I realized how useful this little gadget was, FitFluential gave me the opportunity to try out one of Polar’s newer models: The FT60. It can do so much that I feel like I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface, but I’m already obsessed. I’ll give you the general breakdown of its functions and then share how I’m going to use it (both personally and for the blog!).
The Polar FT60 Heart Rate Monitor
The FT60 has a ton of features to help interpret and quantify your training intensity, which they refer to as Smart Coaching. You can set goals and create training programs using the monitor and at polarpersonaltrainer.com, and if you’re a runner, the FT60 syncs with GPS sensors (you’d need to buy the accessory separately) so that you can integrate distance into your training plan.
When you look at your data from each workout, you’ll see that Polar uses three HR zones to help analyze your training session (Zone 1 being your lower HR rage; Zone 3 being your highest HR range). The zones are individualized based on your age, height, fitness level, etc. (Polar calls this personalization OwnZone). As you can see in the screen shot below, the FT60 tells you how your time was divided among the three HR Zones during your workout.
Using this same personal data and your heart rate throughout a session, the FT60 can also calculate the numbers of calories expended during a workout.
Another way the FT60 helps you track your progress is with the Fitness Test feature. I haven’t tried it yet, but the monitor walks you through a 5-minute fitness test, which you can take regularly to compare data and see how you’ve progressed. Pretty cool!
Polarpersonaltrainer.Com
While you can access your workout data and/or training plan right from the watch, Polar also has an online portal that allows you to upload all your info using the Data Transfer Unit (sold separately from the heart rate monitor). You create an account at polarpersonaltrainer.com, and then all your info is synced from your monitor. I love this feature.
In your account, you can see your workouts and also go in and edit them. I like to change the name to what the workout was so that I can easily compare classes/routines. As you can see in the screenshot, now when I look at a training session, I know exactly what it was. Ah, so a Barry’s Bootcamp class burned x amount more calories than the HIIT workout I did at home. Or hmm that class keeps my heart rate up the entire time, while this one seems to allow for more recovery time.
The site also allows you to see clear charts of how much time you spent in each heart rate zone throughout a workout. I like this because if I see that for two days in a row my workout had my heart beating out of my chest the majority of the time, I’ll consciously aim for a workout that keeps my HR a little lower the next day. High intensity training is awesome and should be integrated into your workout routine, but not every day. You need to mix it up.
If that sounds overwhelming, Polar can make those decisions for you with its Training Load feature. On polarpersonaltrainer.com, you can see a graph of you cumulative training load, and based on the time spent in each HR zones, duration, etc., it will show you when you’ve recovered enough for another tough training session or recommend that you take it easier.
The Polarpersonaltrianer.com community also gives you the option to share your workouts via social media and connect with other Polar users, which I could see being fun if you had a training buddy who also had a Polar HRM. I don’t though, so I’ll probably refrain from bombarding my Twitter followers with my HR stats.
How I Personally Use the FT60
- Find out the heart rate zones I was in during my workouts. Super high heart rate the whole time = maybe I’ll just stick to Pilates, yoga or a light jog for my workout the following day.
- Get a sense of calories burned. While I am the Anti-Calorie Counter (with both food and workouts), I actually find it fascinating to see what different workouts do for the body in terms of caloric burn. The knowledge just helps me be that much more informed as a fitness professional. And moving forward, I think it will be a fun addition to my workout posts on the blog to be able to include an estimation for how many calories it burns. While I don’t personally track these things, I know it’s extremely helpful for all those on a fitness or weight-loss program who are logging numbers.
- Become more in tune with my body. During the Spinning training program, our Master Instructor talked about how she wears her heart rate monitor so frequently and has become so in tune with where her numbers are during different workouts and activities that she can tell when she’s about to get sick before she even feels symptoms solely based on raised numbers. That stuck with me because such a large part of my definition of “health” is knowing your body, and being so completely tuned in to it and how it feels that you intuitively know what it wants and needs at any given time.
Get 10% off a Polar FT60
If you’re in the market for a new heart rate monitor, you’re in luck: I get to offer P&I readers 10% off the FT60! It retails at $179.95 at Polar.com and you just need to use the discount code FitPolarFT60. The code is case-sensitive and expires 10/11/2014.
Do you regularly use a heart rate monitor during your workouts? What do you love most about it?
