Cardiosport TZ: Your Running Coach
Written: Oct 13 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Time-In-Zone; Audible beep; Backlit display; Stopwatch; Replaceable transmitter battery; moderate cost
Cons: None I know of
The Bottom Line: It was on sale at Performancebike.com. It is a great running coach. Accurate, reliable, useful.
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| yellowlablover's Full Review: Cardiosport Heartsafe TZ |
This is for middle-aged people who have never run before, not for you experts out there.
You need a heart monitor so you don’t over exercise or under exercise. The right heart monitor acts like a coach, telling you when to speed up and when to slow down so you stay in the ideal heart rate range for your age.
Here’s how to find your ideal heart rate (taken from “Fit or Fat” by Covert Bailey, 1978 edition):
Start with the number 220. Subtract your age. This is your theoretical maximum heart rate. Exercising at or near this rate will hurt you. It could kill you if you are a heart patient with a damaged heart. And of course, any strenuous exercise program should be overseen by a qualified doctor and best done after taking a stress electrocardiogram (the treadmill test). Begin hard exercise at your own risk! But that’s what’s good about this system using a heart rate monitor—it’s not really hard exercise. You will be surprised how mild the exercise is, especially you manly men out there ready to conquer the world. Take it easy. Work up.
After you find your max heart rate, strap on your heart rate monitor and sit down for a while. Note your resting heart rate. It should be around 70, but it could be higher (bad) or lower (good). Subtract this Resting Heart Rate (RHR) from your Max Heart Rate (MHR).
Multiply the result by .65 (65%) and add your Resting Heart Rate back in. This result is your Target Heart Rate—the zone you want to exercise in for 12-15 minutes, 4-6 times per week or at least every other day.
Here’s the formula again:
220 minus Age = MHR
(MHR minus RHR) times .65 + RHR = Target Heart Rate
Example for a 50 year old with Resting Heart Rate of 70 beats per minute:
220 - 50 = 170 (max)
170 - 70 = 100
100 x .65 = 65
65 + 70 = 135 (Target)
Now you are ready to use your heart rate monitor. I really like the Cardiosport TZ because it does exactly what I want it to do.
First, set the clock so it tells the right time.
Secondly, set the TZ (Time In Zone) mode. Here you set the range you want to work in. I use four beats below and four beats above my target rate. For the example above, set the high limit to 139 and the low limit to 131. Also, set how often you want the wristwatch to update your display. I chose every five seconds. You can set it to update your display up to every 300 seconds if you want.
Now dampen the transmitter sensors with water (to get a good contact) and strap the transmitter on your chest over your heart.
Hold the (lower left) Mode button in on the wristwatch until the heart monitor turns on. You also have the option to make the beat audible—perhaps the best feature. The audible indicator is the “coach” telling you to speed up or slow down so you stay in the zone.
Start jogging slowly. I carry a couple of small dumbells to work my arms a bit and in case I have to bonk the occasional terrorist I might run into. The watch will be beeping at you annoyingly until you get your heart rate into the lower limit of the zone. For me, it’s about a block and a half of jogging. As soon as you reach the lower limit (you will be breathing heavily, which is what you want), the beeping stops and the TZ stopwatch automatically starts, telling you how much time you have spent in the zone. This is another great feature.
According to Bailey, you don’t get any good from exercise unless you exercise in the zone for a minimum of 12 minutes. And you can damage yourself if you over exercise beyond the zone. So stay in the zone. With the Cardiosport TZ, if you go too fast and get your heart rate over the upper limit, the TZ stopwatch quits counting automatically and the watch starts beeping at you again, telling you to slow down. That’s the “coach” nagging again.
If you are running at night and want to see the numbers, press the large light button on the bottom of the face and the large LCD numbers become backlit for a few seconds and are easily read. Some have said the watch is too big and ugly, but I like how big the numbers are because I can see them without my reading glasses. And I might be running at 9:30 at night. Who cares about watch style when I’m running in broken down old tennis shoes and a sweaty tee shirt on an empty street by myself or with my dog at night?
The Cardiosport TZ will tell you to jog down the hills and walk up the hills so you always stay in the zone. My 15 minutes takes about 1.5 miles and if I plan my route through the neighborhood properly, I end up right at my front door.
Now another feature comes into play: the normal stopwatch mode, used to measure Recovery Rate.
Just as you quit running, press the Mode button three times to get from the TZ mode into the stopwatch mode. Note the heart rate and start the stopwatch just as you stop exercising. The rate should be right near your target, say 135. Sit down and wait one minute by the stopwatch. At the end of the minute, note your heart rate again. It should have dropped—perhaps 35 beats, perhaps more or less. Subtract the end number from the start number. 135 – 100 = 35. Divide that result by 10. This gives a Recovery Rate of 3.5. Not bad. A Recovery Rate in the 1 or 2 range is bad. Your heart needs work. Between 3 and 4 is okay. 5 is great and 6 is fabulous.
Your heart is now reaching its plateau. It might stay at this elevated plateau for an hour or more. Not to worry. How fast it recovers to your Resting Heart Rate is irrelevant. It’s that first minute of recovery that tells the story.
Now take off the transmitter and wipe it clean. It has a replaceable battery, which I like. Some other brands do not—I guess you buy a new transmitter when it quits working.
If you desire, you can mount the watch to your bike handlebars with the little piece of foam and Velcro they supply. That way you can see the watch while biking.
There is a Record function, to keep track of multiple runs, but I always zero everything out when finished so it’s ready for the next time. Another nice thing: all the features work all the time. If you change from one to another, it doesn’t cancel out what you were doing. The TZ auto-stopwatch starts whenever you are within the lower and upper range limits, even if you are not in the TZ mode. This is good when you start running but forget to set it to the TZ mode. The unit seems hardy enough. It’s also waterproof but the transmitter may not work too well if you use it while swimming.
Be clear. I hate running (well, I used to). Now I like it. It’s not hard because you are doing only what is necessary and not overdoing it. It’s not boring because it becomes a game to stay in the zone. And the little wrist mounted coach is always there telling you how you are doing and how long you must go before finishing.
According to Bailey, if you want to get into shape faster, run in the target zone for more than 12 minutes, not harder. Stressing your heart beyond your target rate does damage. Better to run or walk in your target zone longer than 12-15 minutes than to exhaust yourself and damage your heart. The greatest irony of all is to begin exercising so you can live longer but while trying to prevent one, trigger a heart attack and die.
A side note: I looked into this heart monitor business a full six months after I lost all the weight I sought to lose. I do not exercise to lose weight. I exercise to condition my cardiovascular system.
If you want to lose weight, eat according to the principles of the Zone Diet. This is a fabulous method of balanced eating. It is real food and lots of it, taken in a ratio that constantly feeds your body what it needs: 40% of calories in carbohydrates, 30% in protein and 30% in unsaturated fat. It is a magic combination that will balance your body’s hormones (especially insulin, which when stimulated is the true reason we get fat) and will make you feel so good you will want to start exercising.
The best single book I have found to apply the Zone Diet to your life is called “The Formula” by Gene and Joyce Daoust. They have a new edition coming out in January of 2002. It is basically a cook book, simple to follow, and will bring results without fail. For theory instruction, read “The Zone” and “Mastering The Zone” by Barry Sears, Ph.D. He explains what is going on at the cellular and hormonal level. He has taken eating to a delicious science. Food becomes interesting and valuable. These books have changed my life beyond description. I went from an uncontrollably heavy 221 lbs, 40” waist, 25% body fat to 175 lbs, 34” waist, 15% body fat in six months. It involved only changing the way my wife and I eat--no other “magic” potions, pills, custom meals, help groups or club memberships. I have more energy and focus and my life is mine again to do as I please.
The Cardiosport TZ heart rate monitor is a late arrival to my program of health. It is a good addition.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
yellowlablover
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Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 2 members
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