How to Use My Polar Heart Rate Monitor With Life Fitness Equipment
Most types of Life Fitness cardio equipment offer Polar heart rate telemetry with heart rate control programming. If you’re wearing a Polar heart rate monitor, the treadmill, bike, elliptical trainer or stair stepper you’re working out on can monitor your heart rate and adjust speed, incline or resistance automatically to keep you within a target heart rate range. You can either purchase a Polar chest strap heart rate monitor from Life Fitness or use your own.
Moisten the electrodes on the heart rate monitor.
Position the heart rate monitor around your chest, centered and as high as possible underneath the chest muscles. For women, the heart rate monitor usually sits in the same place as your bra band. The electrodes should be flat against your skin.
Select the desired heart rate control program from your exercise equipment console. Some Life Fitness products offer several heart rate control options to choose from, including Heart Rate Hill and Heart Rate Interval programs. The fitness equipment should automatically detect the wireless heart rate monitor.
Begin exercising. The Life Fitness treadmill, elliptical, stair stepper or bike will automatically adjust resistance, speed and incline to keep you within the selected target heart rate zone.
Tips
If the heart rate reading is erratic, you may need to moisten the transmitter electrodes again and check that they are flat against your skin. If the fitness equipment doesn’t pick up the reading at all, your transmitter battery may be depleted.
Always wash your wireless heart rate monitor with mild soap and water once you’re done working out, and wipe it dry before putting away. If you store the heart rate monitor while it’s still damp, or store it in a nonbreathable container that allows condensation to develop, the wet electrodes can signal the transmitter to stay active. This will quickly deplete its battery.
References
- American Heart Association. Know your target heart. Updated June 2015.
- Edwards S. The Heart Rate Monitor Guidebook. Velo Press. 1999.
- American Heart Association. Know your target heart rates for exercise, losing weight and health. Updated June 2015.
- Harvard Medical School. Do you need to talk to a doctor before starting your exercise program?.
- Brookreson N. Using Heart Rate Monitoring for Personal Training. American College of Sports Medicine.
Writer Bio
Lisa Maloney is a travel and outdoors writer based in Anchorage, Alaska. She's written four outdoors and travel guidebooks, including the award-winning "Moon Alaska," and regularly contributes to local and national publications. She also has a background in personal training, with more than 6,000 hours of hands-on experience.