Day 9 Plyometrics Week 2 & Heart Rate Monitor Review

It is getting better.  I could do about 90% of the workout this week.  A vast improvement on last week’s pitiful attempt at jump training.  I must confess that with about 11 minutes left I stopped.  Not because I could not finish, but my dog (Ivy) had a present waiting for me.  Not fun, but it had to be cleaned up.  By the time I was done, my heart rate was down and it just seem futile to go on.  I am definitely putting her outside from now on.  She tends to walk around me when I am trying to workout and gets under foot.  Tomorrow is Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper X.  I am still on the fence with the recovery drink.  It is a bit pricey and the alternatives seem to be as well.  Right now I either have an Ensure or an Instant Breakfast.  I am not sure either is quite up to par.  But I cannot spend an enormous about of money either.  Maybe taking the vitamins I tend to shirk will suffice.  It is so complicated.

See what others are accomplishing @ Mommy Snacks and Fat Burnin’ Friday.

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Now for the review:

I also want to review the heart rate monitor I purchased at Walmart last week specifically for these workouts.  I purchased the MioZONE heart rate monitor.  This was one of the lower cost monitors since I did not want to spend a lot of money [that I do not have].  Priced at $30 it was not exactly cheap, but not as much as some others I found.  You wear it like a watch and when you want to check your heart rate you are to put your middle finger on the sensor at the top, your index finger on the black button on the lower end, and place your thumb on the strap under the index finger for stability.  The instructions state it should take 4-5 seconds to read, and then it will beep and display your heart rate along with the percentage [zone] you are in.  The zone is determined by your age which you enter when you program the watch/heart rate monitor.  I have used this twice.  Last week during my Kenpo workout and again today during Plyometrics.  I removed it during the beginning of my workout today.  Why?  Because I have determined it to be a piece of junk!  The whole point of checking your heart rate is to determine if you are in the zone for burning maximum calories.  Whenever I attempt to do this nothing happens.  I have spent the entire 30 second breaks trying to determine my heart rate only to be frustrated and not get the information I need.  I will be returning this next week.  I would not recommend this or any other monitor by this company.