SAN FRANCISCO, Ca., February 20 — You’ve kept your New Year’s Resolution and stuck to an exercise routine, but you’re noticing it doesn’t work like it used to. All the minutes and miles you’re logging, and your fitness level has hit a rather discouraging plateau. You’re already devoting as much time as you can to the cause, so maybe it’s a sign you should just give up the fight, put up your feet, and chow down on the Cheetos, right? Wrong.
How did Australian swimmers and Scandinavian skiers help make you a better athlete? In the Beginning. If you’ve watched any of the last few editions of the Summer Olympics, you might have noticed Australians doing disproportionately well in the swimming events. Thanks for that is due in no small part to Dr. Robert Treffene, a physicist who invented the first heart-rate monitor a few decades back to help Aussie swimmers optimize their practice routines based on benefits of training in certain heart-rate zones. Dozens of small-country medals later, the experiment has proven, well, golden.
Innovations
The idea — targeted training within certain heart-rate zones — was applicable to everyone, but the technology — chest straps and bulky wires hooked up to intricate monitors — was not. Until, that is, 1977, when Finnish company Polar Electro Oy developed the first EKG-accurate wireless heart-rate monitor to help hone the Finnish cross-country ski team’s regimen. The idea of intensity-based athletic training boomed in the 1980s (what didn’t?), and by the 1990s, everyday folks were using the devices to hit less grandiose fitness goals.
What’s in it for you?
Streamlining. No, no — not your glorious new physique (although, come to think of it, your shape will improve pretty obviously as well). Most of today’s most popular monitors are nothing more cumbersome than souped-up wristwatches, which usually include things like time and date along with all the egghead fitness data that will have magical effects on your body. Of course, you can still find chest straps that hook directly to your favorite treadmill or elliptical, where you can store workout data to track your longer-term progress. Stamina. Train in the right zones for long enough, and you’ll have a bigger, more robust heart and more efficient lungs. And you’ll be better at burning fat. Or, as laymen might say, you’ll be able to run — or bike, swim, what have you ’ forever(ish). Speed. "Anaerobic training" might sound scary, but it means you’ll be able to take in more air, fight off more fatigue, and generally raise your threshold. That’s why this zone is associated with another, more promising phrase: performance training.
Strength. We’re not saying you’ll get bulging muscles or anything, but what could be more empowering than building a healthier, happier heart and set of lungs.
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