So after yesterday’s post I was really excited to go to a spin class and see my stats from my Polar F7.  Because of my issue with the feet saddles, I arrived outside the class very early so I could peek in the room of the class before and see which bike already had saddles on so I could go downstairs and sign up for that bike. The signup sheet is on the 3rd floor and spinning is on the 5th floor. I saw 2 in the back of the room right away that had saddles, so I signed up for one of them. Smart move! From now on I will always do it this way.

So I went back up to 5 and waited for the other class to finish. Then I went in and adjusted my bike settings — and I must say I did pretty well! I think I will be fine to do that again. And I noticed these 3 women who I see in the gym ALL the time — they all took spin while I was waiting, were drippy and sweaty, and 15 minutes later were taking this spin class too! In a row! How do these people do it?! One class kills me.

Anyway, class started and I started my monitor. It is a teacher who has a reputation for being awesome and playing great music, and I have taken his class before. While I am in class, I always hate it which is why I basically never go.  This time, I was very excited.

So the heart rate monitor transmits information to the bike, which means the little screen on the bike displayed the workout time, heart rate and RPMs. That was really great because the teacher instructs based on how many RPMs we should be at, so it was great to finally have an idea of where I should be and get it right. The music was great, my heart rate was in the 180s the entire time with a couple of dips into the low 190s and high 170s. Even though I was hating it, I was also loving it and enjoyed monitoring my stats. I was looking forward to the end to see my totals.

And then…. one of my foot saddles popped off! I jumped off the bike and tried to get it back on, but it is impossible and I am hopeless. After trying for awhile I had to just leave the class – I was about 30 min in and it is a 45 minute class. Grrr! I was SO angry. I ran down to the locker room (1st floor) and grabbed my headphones, and back to up the treadmill (4th floor). I wanted to RUN!

Of course, that didn’t work out, as the stomach cramps started as soon as I started running, so I did a run/walk and had to stay at the gym longer than I would have if I could just stay in spin!

So now I will be going to another spin class at some point in the next week to try again. I hate the stupid feet saddles!

The good news is, I was dripping with sweat during spin, and the stats of the workout up to the point I stopped make me want to do it again – so hopefully I will get into spinning more and start hating it less!

And to respond to a question from B Healthy from my previous entry – the only difference between the Polar F6 and the Polar F7 is that the Polar F7 has a more comfortable chest strap. The F6 strap is plastic, the F7 is a softer material. Comfort is VERY important to me while working out, so it was worth it to spend the extra $20 on the F7.

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I always knew the calorie counts on exercise machines aren’t accurate. But I continued to rely heavily on them during my workouts. After reading some blogs and doing some research, I decided to buy myself a present – the Polar F7 heart rate monitor watch.  I read that it is difficult to set up, but I had no problem at all. I am very smart.

I’ve used it twice so far — and I am in love. After going on my second machine with it, I realized that it actually transmits my hear rate onto the screen on the machine! Of course, being obsessive as I am, I constantly look at my watch while I am exercising. I’m excited for my shoulder to get better (bone marrow edema) so I can start doing better workouts and get stats for when I am in classes. Right now, I can only do exercises that don’t move my arms, which really sucks. I am basically limited to the elliptical with no arms, the treadmill and the stairmaster. I miss my favorite kickoxing class. I also miss Zumba and this pilates-like class called Body Contour. 

I can spin though, so I am also looking forward to getting my stats during a 45 minute spin class. I just don’t spin much as I’d like because my gym is very fancy and they don’t keep the feet saddles on the bikes because most of the people wear spinning shoes, and it is VERY difficult to get the saddles on myself. Also, I never know exactly how to do the settings on the bike, even though I was told a couple times. It is all very stressful for me! I will go to a class soon though since I am dying to know how many calories I’d burn and where my heart rate is!

Today I plan to set up my target heart rate on the watch so that I will know if I am in my zone. Soon I will start uploading my stats onto the computer. I just have to set it up and haven’t gotten around to it yet. But working out is already far less boring! The watch inspires me to run faster and longer. I am sure the novelty will wear off, but hopefully the motivation will not!

 

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