INSANITY and heart rate monitors

Our new Garmin Heart Rate monitor

This week is our recovery week. We are doing the DVD Core Cardio and Balance. I did not preview this DVD until the night before we started recovery week. In my mind I was thinking that this week would be easy and restful. It is not. Core Cardio and Balance is a difficult workout! It starts out with cardio but it's a bit slower. You ramp up your speed with jumps and drills and end the workout with balance drills. The shoulder burners are just the beginning of deep muscle work. You'll feel it! My heart rate skyrocketed during the ISO movements! NEW MONITORS Rob and I found the Garmin Forerunner 50 at Target. It was on clearance for $51.00. It had a retail of $113 so we grabbed them up. This one has the sensors that go around your ribcage and transmit to your watch. I like this one so much better because I don't have to push buttons with my fingers to register a pulse. This device does lots of things but the heart rate portion is so helpful for INSANITY. I noticed that my heart rate stayed in my official 'target' heart rate zone*** for much of the workout as opposed to my maximum heart rate.+++ I find I workout in the 165 bpm area through most of INSANITY's cardio. During Core Cardio and Balance your movements are slow and controlled to focus in on core. However, just because you are controlled, doesn't mean you don't workout hard. Some of the slower ISO movements were pushing my heart rate into (MHR) range! Using a heart rate monitor like this one is so helpful because you can really see the peaks and valleys of the intervals as well as know if you are where you need to be working for max results. If you don't have a sensor monitor like this one, be sure to check them out. Polar also makes one in the 60 dollar range. ***Target heart rate zone is 70-85 percent of your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). You can figure this out by taking 220-your age and multiplying that number by 70 and by 85 to give you your range. +++Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) (roughly calculated as 220 minus your age) is the upper limit of what your cardiovascular system can handle during physical activity.