It’s no secret that fitness has become digitalised – next time you’re at Third Space, take a look around. There will be plenty of people tracking their workouts on a smartwatch, logging their food on an app and measuring their cardio with reactive fitness software. In a world of Apple Watches, Fitbits and sleep rings, it begs the question: which technology should you be investing in to push the needle in your training sessions?
One such device making big moves in the fitness space is the Myzone belt. Worn around your chest, this red band uses a central module to measure your heart rate, monitor physical activity and quantify it in a result that can show you how hard you’re working, how many calories you’re scorching through and how challenging your workout is
Measured in MEPs, Myzone helps to gamify your workout, posting your results onto a social channel that pits you against like-minded hard workers in the gym, runners on the trails and track; and cyclists on the road, to name a few. Third Space members and staff alike regularly use Myzone to monitor their output. Here, Chris Stanton, Third Space Performance Master Trainer and triathlete coach walks you through a few key elements of the MyZone device that can help boost your workout game.
“Myzone is an innovative, wearable, chest-based (MZ3) or wrist-based (switch) heart rate monitor with accompanying software,” says Stanton. “Your heart rate increases as a response to physical activity and increased demands, and is displayed as a percentage of your max heart rate (MHR) and is relative to the individual.”
What’s more, certain percentages are then grouped together to create zones and given a unique colour to make it very easy to determine how hard an individual is working. As Stanton explains, there are five key areas that can benefit from using a MyZone device:
- The harder you work, the more calories you will burn
- Prolonged periods spent in the higher zones will lead to an increase in cardiovascular fitness and greater tolerance of workloads
- Your resting heart rate will become lower as your heart becomes more efficient
- You can limit your heart rate to promote effetive lower-intensity sessions or recovery days
- You can monitor the speed of recovery between intervals
“All this, given time, will equal tangible results. Members will get more from their training as they have a stricter adherence to training programs and exercise,” says Stanton. “The best way to become accustomed with MyZone is to use it.”
