MYX Partner Spotlight: Polar
MYX believes the most important measure of fitness is your cardiovascular fitness. That is why we have partnered with Polar to offer every MYX customer a Polar OH-1 Heart Rate Monitor. This allows us to integrate zone-based heart rate training in order to maximize efficiency in each and every workout. To learn more about our zone-based heart rate training, check out this article.
Continuous Heart Rate Based Tracking
While you should absolutely be tracking your heart rate during your workouts, it shouldn’t end there. According to Polar, continuous heart rate based tracking is an easy, yet insightful, tool to monitor your daily activity and achieve your fitness goals. By tracking your heart rate around the clock, you will be able to see progress, identify areas for improvement, and garner a better understanding of what impact your daily routine, including your sleep, has on your health and fitness.
How It Works
The continuous heart rate feature is based on timed measurements and your wrist movements. The timed measurement checks your heart rate at regular intervals, and if your heart rate is elevated during the check, the feature will begin to track your heart rate. This can also start based on your wrist movements. So, if you are walking at a fast pace the tracking will begin. Tracking stops automatically when your activity level drops low enough. Continuous tracking can also begin when you have been seated for a while. Your heart rate is tracked continuously to find your lowest heart rate reading of the day.
In order to get the most accurate reading of your heart rate, it is important that the physical settings in your Polar Flow account are up to date. It is also important to check and update your resting heart rate from time to time. To measure your resting heart rate, follow these steps provided by Polar:
- Wear your Polar device. Lie down on your back and relax.
- After about 1 minute, start a training session on your wearable. Choose any sport profile, for example “Other Indoor”.
- Lie still and breathe calmly for 3–5 minutes. Don’t look at your training data during the measuring.
- Stop the training session on your Polar device. Sync the wearable with the Polar Flow app or web service and check the training summary for the value of your lowest heart rate (HR min)—this is your resting heart rate. Update your resting heart rate to your physical settings in Polar Flow.
What Are The Benefits?
Continuous heart rate tracking automatically captures high-intensity activity and tracks burned calories. It is a great complement to the 24/7 activity tracking that your Polar watch also includes. This heart rate reading can better track the intensity of your physical activity. For example, if you are biking to work and your arm is not swinging, the 24/7 activity tracking may not pick up on the fact that you are participating in a high intensity activity, but since your heart rate has significantly increased, continuous heart rate tracking will more accurately estimate your activity levels and calorie consumption.
This more accurate reading will allow you to see how your heart rate is reacting to certain factors such as physical activity or stressful/emotional situations. It can also help you determine the physical activity that is most beneficial for you. You may find that you are able to hit your daily activity goals quicker than before because of the new level of precision of the heart rate and activity algorithm.
For a list of the Polar products that are compatible with continuous heart rate tracking, check out the Polar website. MYXfamily members get 20% off the Polar Ignite Fitness Watch with GPS, the Polar Vantage M GPS Running Watch, or the Polar OH1 with code MYXFITNESS and 10% the Polar Verity Sense with code MYXVERITY. (The Polar Verity is a new version of the Polar OH1 and pair with the MYX.)
