Polar FT40 Heart Rate Monitor : L-Before Coach. R-With Coach
Coach : How long have you been exercising on the machines? And your calorie burn?
Me : 40 min, 556 kcalories.
Coach : Ok, gimme a sec to strap on a heart rate monitor (HRM) chest strap and let’s do some serious interval training.
Me : My brain just went DING OH OH!
Coach : Haha! Then we’re going to exercise until we kao kao si! (really really dead – panting until our tongues hang out)
Me : Si si! (Not sure whether I meant die-die or yes-yes (spanish))
Coach : We do speed for one minute and then incline level 10. Push yourself to 6.2 kmph walk.
Me : Okie dokie! (Brain : DING DING DING DING DING! Feels like fire alarms ringing off)
15 min into the treadmill interval :
My HRM (heart rater monitor) watch started beeping away.
Coach : Your HRM sure is busy.
Me : Getting me fit!
Every few mins, the HRM beeps
Coach : We know the exercise is working.
Me : Yeah, I remembered what you mentioned when you first told me to get it. If it doesn’t hit 200 beats per min (bpm), I’m still fine.
Coach : What is it now?
Me : 171.
Coach : Ok, you can push gently harder
Me : (laughing!) You know, when I laugh, it doesn’t hurt as bad.
To reach 500 kcalories, I did it faster when I had my Coach with me. It’s fun to exercise with her and that’s what we do sometimes, after 1.5 hrs of a fitness class, we’ll both do cardio together for an extra 30 min at the gym.
Interval training helped to push my metabolic rate especially when I become stronger and it becomes harder to push my body to sweat. What helps is also having a friend.
What is interval training? In a nutshell, it’s when you are pushing your body in bursts of speed to speed up your heart rate. At higher heart rates, your body would switch on to a higher metabolic rate. Do this for short bursts and then slow down to a steady rate but still a respectable heart rate. I usually training between 30% of my maximum heart rate and 60% of my maximum heart rate.
I bought the Polar Watch FT40 from Athlete’s Circle in Malaysia who are the distributor. They are the distributor for Singapore too. It was cheaper to get it from them than other fitness shops. You can also check out the Polar Official Website to find out where you can get the Polar watches.
And my coach? Check out her profile here. The Jillian Michaels of Borneo – she doesn’t hold her punches but has strong empathy as well. And honestly? Her eye stare is exactly the same and her stance. The major difference is that she is a lot taller so she means business.
Stay tune for the next post as I explain more about interval training. It’s real easy to do and extremely effective for people who are short of time (like me.) For regular updates, sign up via email below or join my Facebook Fan Page! Or leave a comment below on what you think about this page. 
Cheerio and have a great day everyone!
