Scosche MyTrek health monitor

If you’re the kind of person who breaks out in a cold sweat at the thought of going to the gym, or if you’d rather stick pins in your eyeballs than go out for a run, look away now. Scosche’s MyTrek is one of a relatively new breed of fitness accessory for smartphones. It connects to an iDevice using Bluetooth and, when …

[Some Beggar]

I'm possibly out of my depth here technically so apologies for the naive question.

But could somebody tell me if staring at your pulse in a gym is more or less useful and exciting than watching an odometer tick over a thousand mile mark while trundling along a commuter queue?

Thanks.

[SkippyBing]

Re: I'm possibly out of my depth here technically so apologies for the naive question.

Actually it's more like watching the rev counter. Depending on what you're training for it can be useful for setting your pace, e.g. to improve stamina you work at 70% of your max for an extended period.

[Some Beggar]

Re: I'm possibly out of my depth here technically so apologies for the naive question.

OK. Thanks.

So it's more like a crutch for people who are desperately out of touch with their own bodies?

[Antony Jones]

Re: I'm possibly out of my depth here technically so apologies for the naive question.

No, your heart rate is an objective measure of how hard your cardiovascular system is working. How you perceive your effort can be very different.

The main point is to fine-tune your training, so you go at the right level of effort. As you train, you should get fitter, so you try to keep your heart rate constant but increase the workload as it gets easier. If you're recovering or unwell you back off the effort. The smart way to train is to split easy and hard intervals rather than go at a constant pace, and the monitor is a tool that helps that. I use a Polar HRM that records speed and cadence on my bike as well as altitude and heart rate. After a ride I can compare the same route to see how I'm progressing (or not...). A bluetooth monitor would be handy as it could integrate with the GPS on my phone.

Whether this is useful to you depends on how serious you are at training.

[Patrick R]

less is more

So it does less than the cheaper Jawbone. Let's give it a higer score, shall we ?