100 Calorie Bonus

Today’s Exercise Monday Post:

Well, how are those resolutions working out so far? HMMMMM??? Don’t worry, you have a whole year to accomplish them and if they don’t happen, then they aren’t meant to be.  You will put your time and energy where your heart is.  Sometimes that means doing nothing for a while for whatever reason.  I won’t hold it against you.

The post for today is kinda weird, but I was thinking about it when I was actually walking the dog this morning.  It made sense in my mind at the time, but now it seems a little out of context…no matter; I’ll continue with the weirdness. I was thinking about ways that I try to incorporate movement and getting outside into my daily life.  Perhaps I mentioned this before, but if I don’t plan on doing things (like actually writing them down in a daily planner according to time) nothing gets done. That literally means I won’t get out of bed until 1:00 pm. This is not a recipe for a productive life. So, one of my goals for the new year was to be more organized with my time and part of that goal is walking the dog in the morning.

I once wore my heart rate monitor on the dog walk to see how many calories I burned for the hour we strolled the hood.  I then checked this number against wearing it doing normal activities, such as reading blogs and puttering around in the kitchen. It turned out that I burned an extra 100 calories on that hour walk. (This does not include my workout time.  I have a separate time for that which also burns calories.) Now 100 calories may not be much, but yet it is! That’s an extra glass of wine, or 2 pieces of fruit, or just an extra 100 calorie bonus burn-off!  When I don’t do the walkies, I feel like I really miss the 100 calorie bonus and the dog is devastated.

So, how does this apply to you? Not sure, but I think that I wanted to point this out because it is an example of how to get more movement into your daily life outside of exercise time. (The dog needs a walk despite my needs, otherwise he would tear up the house.) What are some things you could add to your daily life that could burn an extra 100 calories? Gardening? Cleaning the house? Walking to the grocery/drug store? Parking really far away all the time? Just ideas. I think it’s a good thing Martha.

Heart Rate Zones & Monitors

Today’s Exercise Monday Post:

If you are already a whiz at cardio vascular exercise and know-all-about-it, then this post is moot for you.  But I would like to say that if you don’t use a heart rate monitor, you should be; and that’s all I will say on the matter to you.

For the rest, I think that you should get acquainted with a heart rate monitor if you have been exercising (cardio) for a good amount of time and feel ready for the next challenge.  It is crucial that you go to the next level when you body feels ready for it.  Don’t try and push it.  Why do you need a heart rate monitor? Because you want to be checking your heart rate zones regularly throughout your exercise sessions. This will ensure that you are working out hard enough and not just spinning your wheels.

There are many to choose from.  Get one that fits within your budget and does the job without breaking down too quickly.  They run on batteries that need to be changed every 2 years or so; at least in my experience.  I have one that is generic, one that can go under water and has alarms, and one that tells me the caloric burn I’m getting. They all/most strap onto your chest and transmit a frequency to your wrist band.

Here is my video on the subject where I discuss in detail about heart rate zones and the levels you should be aiming for:

P.S. The heart rate monitor should strap onto your skin underneath clothing. I usually place it right under my exercise bra strap so that it doesn’t slide down while I’m working out.