HRM making me a little obsessed

[fitme40]

I started using a GWF to monitor my workouts last year and felt really good about calories burned during my workouts. About a month ago I decided to get a HRM. Well, first the HRM(which I feel gives a more accurate calorie burn) showed numbers much lower than the GWF. I was okay with that but realized I wasn't burning as much as I thought I was. My new HRM also shows what intensity I'm working out at and that's where the problem lies. I'm at my goal weight and I'm just trying to achieve greater fitness. I feel that if I'm not in my target zones long enough I'm not doing enough. I've started working out for longer to meet calorie burn goals and target goals. It's becoming a bit crazy and I really need to get a grip but am having a hard time. I'm not doing my "fun" workouts much and I'm sticking mostly to my killer workouts-IMAX, Insanity, etc. Also, I have a hard time getting into zone 3 on my monitor which for me is above 140BPM. Anyone else experience this? Any advice?

 

[mspina]

Greater fitness in what way? Do you want to be able to run longer/farther, or run faster? Do you want to build muscle, or build muscular endurance? Depending on what your specific goals are (greater fitness is WAY too broad a goal), your workout plan will be different. Also, even if you want to increase your VO2Max, you won't be doing high HR workouts all the time - you'll be doing a lot of steady state work first (meaning, doing IMAX's all the time aren't the best way to achieve this type of fitness).

So........ what do you want to be better at, specifically?

 

[RapidBreath]

hrms

I hear you. When I first got my hrm I did the same thing, I would add another 10-15 minutes onto my workouts just to get the calories in. I use Cathe workouts as a low impact (I know) alternative to my jogging workouts so I don't look for that ultra calorie burn that I get with jogging. But, its going to be tough to get the calorie burn because you are at your target body weight. I had read somewhere that to lose weight a person needs about 60 minutes in THR and to maintain it was only 40 minutes. So, maybe it would be ok to see that you were in your thr for just 40 minutes. I hope that made sense.

When I first got my hrm I was 30 pounds heavier than I am now and I could get that great 800-1200 calorie burn with an hour of jogging but now that I'm 30 pounds lighter I get 600 calorie burns. Its a bit of a bummer but maybe that is why it gets harder to lose weight as we get closer to our target body weight. Since you are already there I wouldn't worry about the calorie burn all that much at all (unless you see your body fat go up.)

I think its awesome that you are at your target body weight and are working on fitness now