Good morning y’all!!
After confessing to my Secret Snack Hoarding yesterday, I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my chest. To combat that newfound lightness, it only made sense to talk about something else that goes on my chest! (well, at least partially).
The Garmin FR60: The Little HRM That Changed Everything
I actually was lucky enough to win this bad boy last September from a blog…. that I don’t even remember, because last September I spent most of my time on my Tumblr blog CaseInPoints, and didn’t understand these crazy “wordpress” blogs… Oh, how naive and young I was (says the word-presser of like, 66 days).
Anyway, I had been jonesing and lusting after these so-called “HRMs” for a while before I was lucky enough to win one, and thought they were only for hardcore runners. I saw the giant 310XTs of Triathletes and the 305‘s of racers, and thought “I don’t run… I don’t bike…. But I wanna know.”
I wanted to know:
- The length of my exercise
- My average heart rate during different classes like BodyPump (or Pilates…. where I think my heart actually just stopped beating and took a nap.)
- How many calories I truly was burning
I noticed a lot of variety when I used machines like ellipticals, and had no clue what I was burning in a group fitness room. It was very important to me, when I was deeply engrossed in my weight loss journey, to know exact numbers, and I hated not knowing. But that all changed.
BEHOLD! My first tracked workout!! (from September of last year, wow!)
What you see is what I normally post regarding my workout. That is a graph track of my HR throughout the near-hour of class, featuring the average HR on the left as well as the Max HR. You can also change what type of workout you did on the top left, but I didn’t really utilize that option. I did all this on Garmin Connect which I set up when I first received the FR60.
The Whole Kitten Caboodle
These are the three pieces that I use to track and upload my exercise. These are the only three pieces of my package that I received (other than the online program) that matter to me, FR60 wise.
The Wiggity Watch (and my attractive left wrist.)
This is the piece I look at the most, the watch. I was lucky enough to win a cute purple one, which is great because purple’s my second favorite color (after green.) I heard this HRM is water resistant, but have never tested it. One thing to note is the FR60 is NOT GPS-enabled. If you’re looking for a HRM that is, you may have to look into spending a few more doll-hairs. On the Garmin Website, you can buy the FR60 package for about $200 and that includes a foot pod (which is an accelerometer, better suited for runners I think.) But my package just came with the three pieces (no pod.) Just to get what I got, though, it runs about $129. The watch is smaller than the big’uns I’ve seen others wear and honestly, I’ve worn it as a watch before (not with anything nice, but out and about definitely.) It’s also very comfortable to wear and doesn’t slip, even at my sweatiest.
I'm with the Band!
The band that goes around my chest has only ever bothered me a few times, once I realized that you can NOT have it set too loose on your body (or else you’ll be adjusting it more than a strapless bra at your cousin’s wedding.) Every now and then, when I’m doing ab work on my back, I’ll have to shift so that the adjustable part doesn’t sit on my spine. Other than that, it’s great. You can wash it with soap and water (and even throw the removable strap into the wash) and it fits so nicely that most of the time, I forget it’s there.
Sneaky little bugger
It’s the ANT stick, though, that puts it all together. Your link to Garmin Connect, and the only way you can pull your data from your device! Once, I lost this. It’s very small, the size of any jump drive, and I absentmindedly didn’t put it in it’s little trunk next to my bed…. never saw it again.
I caved and bought a new one on ebay for about 15 bucks (they normally sell, separately, for $50!!), because I just couldn’t deal with not knowing.
And now…. you know!!
Also, I have a feeling that, if I wanted, I could use even more functions on this bad boy but honestly…. it gets all the jobs done that I need. As a gym rat, but not much of a runner, this is great for me AND if I wanted to become a runner, I get a foot pod and VOILA it’s set for that!
Do you have any questions about the FR60? Thinking about getting a HRM? I’m an open book!!
Do you have a HRM that you love? Which one? (I always like to stay hip on the HRM knowledge)
Food, Sweat, and Beers 