How does a heart rate monitor benefit an athlete?

Answer 1

To gain the most benefit from training, athletes want to remain within their target heart rate. If their heart rate goes too low, aerobic benefits are lost; while if it goes too high, they're putting themselves in danger of a heart attack or other debilitating conditions.

In general, your maximum safe heart rate is 220 beats per minute (bpm) less your age. (For example, the maximum heart rate for a 25-year-old would be 195 bpm.) If you're an athlete, you generally want to keep your heart rate between 70% and 85% of that maximum rate for as long as possible.

A heart rate monitor allows you to check your heart rate while continuing to exercise, and in as little as 2-3 seconds (as opposed to the 10-15 seconds it can take to count your heartbeats and calculate your heart rate manually). Advanced models can even register and record heart rates continuously, a valuable tool for both athletes and coaches.