Weight loss is one major issue that most of us go through at some point in our life. Last year I realized one thing that aerobic exercise alone is not going to help me to shed pounds. I need to do some strength training to shed some inches. So took a couple of personal training sessions and it helped a lot. I did learn about strength training but along with that learnt about Protein and about proper balanced food. I never did any dieting as such and never restricted or changed any food habits. Portion control and addition of right amount of protein helped a lot. I will write about protein separately. I started strength training at home and being in a sunny state I wanted to explore outdoor activities. Got a great group of friends and started to walk, hike and bike :-)
I use run keeper for these activities and this year I wanted to run but wasn’t sure how to monitor my heart rate while running and strength training. I want to maintain it at the desirable level. Don’t want to overstress myself. My main goal was to be in fat burn zone and to avoid palpitations. That’s when I found this beets blu HRM (Heart Rate Monitor). Beets Blu HRM is a wireless Bluetooth Smart technology HRM that pairs up with the workout apps. All you need is a smart phone and this HRM. You are good to go. It is a lightweight device that you wear in your chest and it has adjustable straps. What I liked about the device,
1) Its light weight and very comfortable to wear.
2) Long battery life.
3) Set up is easy (I complicated it though ;-) )
4) Lot of compatible apps. I felt iPhone had more than android but in general you have a lot of compatible apps.
Here is what I did to complicate the process; I could have avoided this if I would have read the instructions patiently.
1) Don’t try to pair up your mobile and the device. Once the device is on, the compatible app will find the device and pair it up from the app. For example, I use BLE HRM app in android. When I open the app, it searches for the available devices and pair it up from there and you are all set.
2) Slightly wet the electrodes before you start to work out which I completely missed.
These troubleshooting videos come in handy.
The device was worth the buy.
Along with this I saw this beets blu paper tag and got it. I will tell you why. The kiddo of mine, who is a lover of cars, uses our keys to play. He assumes his bike as car and uses our key to start (pretend) and play. One time he happily kept the keys inside the bike box (truck as he says) and I spent more than 15 mts. of the precious time in the morning to search the keys. Enough of blaming that poor guy, I by myself especially in gym will misplace the key during training. Now with the paper tag I don’t need to worry. I use it for keys but you can use it for any valuables. It is a blue tooth based tag to keep track of your valuable like keys, valets, laptop bag etc. All you need to do is install the paper tag app in your phone and insert the tag in your personal item. This tag helps you to detect the proximity of the lost items and alerts when goes outside the range by an alarm.
Disclaimer: I have not received any remuneration for this review. Its just my personal opinion
I should really try and get this, especially considering my increased heart rate.
One line of yours caught my eye and made me think. I know California is supposed to be a sunny state but I never really thought it was sunny enough. Even my cousins who are born and brought up there say SF and the bay area in general is kind of chilly most times, (not comparing to other states in the US), but still..I thought Mark Twain summed it up really well when he said, ‘The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco’.
I don’t know how most people think North Cal is hot and people willl wear shorts and thin tees all the time. I always found it rather cold to be engaging in too many outdoor activities :(
Yeah I agree with you regarding SFO.. The wind factor and cold pacific always keeps it cold. We were in folsom (Sac valley) before moving to bay. That had extreme weather. Veryyy sunny. In fremont, during summer also I go with sweat shirts. Once I cross the warm up zone, I start to sweat and remove the jacket. The cool weather will be a bliss at that time and I don’t feel that much tired. I usually for walk in Coyote hills or around Lake Elizabeth.
Sounds like a grt product:-)
Yup :-)
Good gadget ..
Thanks