Healthy Living Weekly Post: Fitness Gadgets

There are so many fitness gadgets out these days, from pedometers to iphone apps to special shoes & clothing for every activity or sport. For many years, my favorite exercise was walking, which doesn't require anything but a good pair of shoes. However, over the past few years, I've acquired a few gadgets that I enjoy and thought I would share with y'all today.

First, my pedometer which Robbie gave me as a birthday gift several years ago. This one actually came with headphones and a built in radio, but I rarely use that feature. I typcially slip it on when I'm heading out for an exercise walk to measure how far I walk. This particular pedometer shows results in miles, kilometers, calories and steps. My favorite thing about this gadget is that I can track how far I've walked, compare that to the time I walked and see if my speed is increasing over a period of time. I'm hoping to use this much more now that spring is arriving!

For walking, I love my Sketchers Shape-Ups. These new shoes are perfect for walking. I decided when I got them for Christmas in 2009 that I would only wear them when I was out for an exercise walk. Obviously from the looks of them, I did not do much walking in 2010 - that's about to change!

Over the past six months, my favorite exercise has been using the stationary bike. The model we have has a display area that shows the time you've ridden, number of miles, calories burned, pulse rate (as long as you are holding the handlebars, which I rarely do because I read while I ride), and speed. I record each ride in my calendar so I can compare how I'm doing. Since last September, I have increased the tension (how difficult it is to pedal) from level one to level three. On level three, I was originally averaging 8 miles in 30 minutes, however that has increased to an average of right at 9 miles over the past several months.

My newest gadget is a heart rate monitor that Robbie gave me for Christmas this past year. I wear this model like a watch and when I press it down with the index finger on my other hand, it determines my heart rate. It also has a watch, chronograph, countdown timer, and calorie display. I like that I can wear this anytime and can track how long I've exercised and how many calories I've burned.

And the last gadget that I like for healthy living motivation isn't really a gadget at all, it's my blog. The fact that I've committed to posting each week about healthy living motivates me in my quest for a healthier lifestyle. For example, today I wanted to share about my gadgets and give you an example of how the stationary bike display compares to my new heart rate monitor display when I ride for 30  minutes, so of course I had to ride the bike! :>) Here are the results from today's ride - 30 minutes on level three, 8.91 miles. The bike says I burned 373 calories and the heart rate monitor (which takes into account gender and age and which I used to check my heart rate every three minutes) says I burned 403 calories. [You guessed it, I like the heart rate monitor better! LOL]

I'm so glad I have these gadgets to help me in my quest for healthy living, but I must remind myself that they don't do anything if they are just sitting on a shelf not being used! Next week I'll share about some of my exercise equipment (weights, jump rope, etc) and how often I use those items. [Now that should motivate me to use some of them this week!] Do you have any gadgets that you use to help motivate you to exercise? What about gadgets that are just sitting on the shelf that need to be used?