Have you ever had a stress test at the office of your physician? This the wonderful activity when you were put on the treadmill and are hooked up to all sorts of monitors to determine what your heart is doing while you sweat your guts out. Now you can do this for yourself in the comfort of your own home with a treadmill heart rate monitor that is equipped with your treadmill. No longer do you have to go to the doctor or get hooked up with all the extra equipment when you exercise. A treadmill heart rate monitor will do it all this for you.



However, not all treadmills come with a heart rate monitor. This is only available on the newer models, and generally the more expensive models possess this feature. The thing is that the monitor is a very good feature to have on your treadmill. Today treadmills are considered to be one of the finest forms of cardio exercise, so if your treadmill comes with this feature of monitoring your heart rate, you most certainly should use it to see how your heart is doing.

The treadmill heart rate monitor will sometimes be a strap that is wrapped around your wrist while you jog on the treadmill. This strap will have a wire on it that runs back to the treadmill allowing you to see your heart rate readings on an LCD screen. Other treadmills have the heart rate monitor located in the handles or in another spot where you can grab the handles and hold onto them while the sensor checks your heart rate and then displays it for you.

Either one of these treadmill monitor options is pretty comfortable to use; it just depends on your preference. The wrist strap has you attached to the treadmill, which a lot of people do not like. The handle bar monitor makes you reach for it and hang on for a few seconds, which may be an inconvenience for other people. But you have to admit, both options are so much more comfortable than the way they do it at the doctors office.

In order to get the best use of your treadmill heart rate monitor, it is important to know your optimal heart rate before, during and after your workout. This way you can see if your workout is doing the job or if you need to step it up or slow it down a bit to achieve the best results.

It's a good idea to ask your physician what your optimal heart rate should be before, during and after a workout. Write these numbers down so you don't forget. It is a good idea to keep them posted someplace where they are easy to see during your workout. Compare the results on your heart rate monitor with these figures.

Using the treadmill monitor wisely and consistently can have a big impact on your workout and on your overall health. You can exercise smarter and get the best results more quickly with proper monitoring of your heart rate.