I am a big fan of Heart Monitor training.
Talk about being put in your body...just look down @ your wrist and you can see what you body is up to.
It's a  popular tool for runners, but I use it with all different types of training from strength training to even surfing.
When the surf is real big I can be just floating in the ocean waiting for the next big set and my heart won't drop below 140 BPM because of adrenaline.  With practice and the watch I have learned to chill and conserve my energy by curbing my anxiety. This way I can be more relaxed and hold my breath longer when I go down in heavy surf.

Anyway, we are getting Michael C. Hall in tip-top murderer shape for the new 4th season of Showtime's "Dexter". 
Here is a great workout we do using the heart rate monitor:

• Do a 20 minute warm-up of any type of cardio.
• After the first ten minutes, get your heart rate up to 75%.  Everybody has different thresholds and just refer to your watches manual to customize your own.
• After 20 minutes, it's stomach time - NO REST. We do three ab exercises - very slow and intense
• Then, jump on a treadmill and rocket the heart to 85% for two minutes, for us 85% is about 163 BPM.
• Then, back to stomach for another round.

We do this back and fourth for four sets.

• Then, without rest, pick another cardio machine and for 5 minutes keep the heart rate above 165 which is 87% capacity.

After the 5 minutes, it's time for water, light stretch, and a breather, but the rest period is controlled by your heart rate - "the watch".

• When your heart  drops down to 120 it's time to go go go !

The better in shape your are the less time you rest because your heart recovers faster.

After the 5 minutes we pick a single body part - today it was "biceps".

• So, once again we slow it down get perfect on form, breath, and knock out some slow paced  preacher curls.
• Then, it's back to a treadmill for 2 minutes getting the heart rate up!

And repeat for four sets. 

After the four set, it's another 5 minute cardio interval at 87% or 165 BPM.

After the 5 minutes, we take another break till the heart goes to 120 and do a final body part - today it was serratus / obliques.  So, we did straight bar pull downs and round house kicks.  Now, you would be amazed how quickly your heart races with any form of kicking, so it's a slow controlled grueling kick - staying in the cardio zone .

Again, repeat this for four sets and end with a final 5 minute dash.

This routine took us 1 hour and 15 minutes today - a little longer workout than usual, but all good !

We burned 776 calories and  45% came from fat.

AWESOME !!!!

Gosh, if you burned 776 calories every workout, the sky is the limit for you and your health.

The cool thing is all this structure and information came from a watch.  I love the basics when it come to exercise, but also love technology.

We all must flow with and transcend to the times - what an amazing time of change we are all living in.

Have a great day !!!

posted by Gregory Joujon-Roche in Cardio , Celebrities
Print me! | Send by email | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)