When it comes to working out, no one wants to be seen as having everything but knowing nothing. That said, having any of the best fitness trackers, the best smartwatches, or the most accurate heart rate monitors can really help improve your physical fitness and fitness in the long run.
Ultramarathon swimmer Ross Edgely, whose previous feats include a 157-day, 1,792-mile swim in the UK, is no stranger to useful fitness techniques. In a recent TechRadar interview to promote the new Disney Plus line Limitless with Chris Hemsworth, we asked the #1 author which piece of gear he thinks will be the most helpful when it comes to his workout routine.
Edgley says you don’t have to work hard to start your fitness journey, advocating “Zone 2” cardio training, such as slow and steady jogging, swimming or biking. He recommends using a heart rate monitor to gauge intensity to make sure you’re not overdoing it.
“I think one of the best things [you can buy] Is any form of heart rate monitor, especially when it comes to zone 2 [aerobic exercise]’ Edgeley told us. Wondering what happened. The idea of Zone 2 fitness is to increase the efficiency of your mitochondria so that your heart rate never goes above the 120, 130 beats per minute mark. Using heart rate as a measure of intensity is very important. “
Edgley continued: “There was a study — a meta-study, a study of thousands of studies — to determine the optimal form of cardiovascular activity for any given exercise. In the end, they found that there was none at all. However, this A polarized training approach, where on those ball-to-wall lactate workouts, you spend 80 percent of your time in Zone 2 aerobic and 20 percent anaerobic—that’s very important.”
To be clear: strapping a heart rate monitor to your wrist won’t automatically turn you into a He-Man in motion. But as Edgley explains, the purpose of these devices is to give you a greater understanding of how the exercises you choose affect your body’s cardiovascular function.
“It’s very interesting that when a lot of people train blind without a heart rate monitor, their body says, ‘What do you want us to fit physiologically?’ It’s not aerobic or anaerobic. It’s the most one of the important things [that a heart rate monitor can improve]”
Heart rate monitors tend to do a better job of monitoring your heart rate than expensive smartwatches (surprise!). The latter use optical sensors that are easily affected by sweat, hair and movement, while dedicated heart rate monitors use electrodes to detect electrical signals from the heart.
So, if you were lucky enough to receive a snazzy new heart rate monitor for Christmas: Congratulations! Now go out and run away from that turkey. For those of you who haven’t dabbled in this particular branch of fitness technology, fear not. Our guide to the best heart rate monitors offers budget-sized options – you’ll also find a roundup of today’s best heart rate monitor deals.
For more fitness-related insights from adventurer Ross Edgley, check out our report on Chris Hemsworth’s utterly ridiculous Extraction 2 training regime. We’ll also be sharing more of Edgley’s expert advice in TechRadar’s Get Fit For ’23 week, starting Jan. 2, 2023.