A GPS wrist watch is an unprecedented tool for anyone exercising outdoors. Progress in design of consumer electronics is making this application of GPS technology increasingly more affordable and the quality is improving as well.
A GPS wrist watch tells you how far and how fast you're going, and can even give you directions home when you've finished your workout. Since GPS wrist watches can be outfitted with heart rate monitors, they are more popular than ever. Heart rate monitors were once considered suitable for only professional athletes, but today these units are meeting the needs of the increasing population of the exercising public. More and more amateur exercisers are using heart rate monitors to gauge the intensity of their workouts.
The only function on a GPS wrist watch that does continue to work if you exercise is the heart rate monitor function. To work around the lack of GPS signal indoors, many athletes are making use of additional units called pods for their sport. For example, a runner would use a foot pod, which attaches to the shoe laces and starts to work as soon as there is motion. The pod gives all the information needed, such as distance, speed, and running cadence. There are cycling and swimming pods as well as other pods.
GPS wrist watches are becoming so popular as we learn that manually taking your pulse during exercise is unreliable and impractical. Another tool we are encouraged to make use of is the perceived intensity of a workout, and this also too subjective and should not be left up to chance. A heart rate monitor is the only way to create a truly scientific workout regimen based on your target heart rate for your age group.
There are two ways to take the heart rate. The most popular is by using a chest strap apparatus. These are battery-operated, and the most popular designs are those that allow consumers to switch out their own expired batteries, rather than mailing their monitor back to the manufacturer for battery replacement. Women can take advantage of this same technology built right into special heart rate monitor sports bras. Another, but less popular, method of monitoring heart rate is a fingertip sensor on the watch to measure heartbeat. This means there's no chest strap, but reviewers say it's difficult to place your fingers on the sensors while working out.
One popular feature of GPS watches is the ‘personal trainer’ function. A virtual runner/walker/swimmer is programmed to set the pace you choose, and your progress is tracked adjacent to the virtual trainer. In a glance you can see the icons of the assistant and yourself and can easily see if you are ahead or behind. This one function is worth the price of the units for most professional athletes, who often train alone yet need to awaken the competitive spirit within. Many report the virtual trainer function accomplishes this goal.
GPS wrist watches can store runs/walks/swims and all the statistics related to them for your perusal later, or to recall later if you want to repeat a course. Some GPS wrist watches can store one thousand laps of a run. This is one of the most popular functions of GPS wrist watches. A second popular feature is the ability to download them onto your computer for analysis. Newer models even have automatic data transfer when you are near your computer, no cables needed. Throw away those log books! Software is included with the GPS wrist watches so you can analyze and create your workouts. As your fitness improves, the software suggests workouts to keep you in your training heart rate zone.
When shopping for a GPS wrist watch, be sure to choose one with a display that is large enough for you to read at arms length. And be sure the buttons are easy to find and push with your fingers while you're on the move.
