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Learn More About Heart Monitors
The Physical Education Department is pleased to announce the use of Polar Heart Rate Monitors in classes. The monitors were purchased with money from the Carol M. White Physical Education Grant. Heart Rate Monitors are the newest technology for helping students to determine what level of exercise keeps them in their Target Heart Rate Zone. Exercising too strenuously (causing injury) or not strenuously enough are both problems that keep students from meeting their fitness goals.
Heart Rate Monitors are the only true way to measure the appropriate intensity for a safe, beneficial workout. Continuous heart rate is recorded for each student wearing the combination heart rate monitor and electrode/transmitter, which is encased in a chest strap. Monitors are more accurate than taking your pulse repeatedly during an exercise session- students can simply look at the watch monitor and know their correct heart rate at any given time. In addition, the monitor “beeps” to let the student know that they are either below or above their Target Heart Rate Zone, thus allowing the students to easily monitor their own intensity level. Using Heart Rate Monitors enables students to take control and ownership of their fitness workout. They are a fun; useful tool that we feel will encourage students toward achieving positive results over time.
Teachers and students can check student effort after class by the use of a read out obtained by downloading data from the monitors into a computer.
Students in grades three and higher will be learning to use the monitors in the next few months. If you have questions regarding the program or the monitors, they can be addressed to your child’s teacher or to Sunny Linden, Coordinator, at 483-4477.
Why Monitor Heart Rate?
The simplest way to determine how much physical activity is enough to achieve good health is to listen to your own body- your heart.
Doctors say that 20 minutes of “good” cardiovascular exercise 3 times a week is essential to good health. “Good” cardiovascular exercise depends on keeping your heart rate in the “target zone” for your age.
What are the parts?
"Watch" type monitor
Elastic Strap
Transmitter
Why use Heart Rate Monitors?
More accurate than manual methods of taking pulse (manually, the higher the pulse rate, the greater the potential error).
The best means for measuring physical effort is a heart rate monitor. It takes the guesswork out of determining effort.
Using a heart rate monitor helps keep us from pushing students too hard, it makes exercise safer.
Puts the student in control of their grade, by looking at and listening to the HRM, they can keep themselves in their Target Heart Rate Zone; whether they are an athlete or not. When the class objective is to stay in their THR for a period of time, everyone is capable of an “A”.
Allows teachers to potentially “catch” irregularities that may be a “heads up” for parents as to the health of their child.
They are fun and motivating for children. In this era of technology- it allows students to use technology in a way that benefits their activity level.
How do we sanitize?
Elastic Straps are laundered in washing machine.
HRM and Transmitters are washed in soapy water , then dried before returning to storage.
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