@mioglobalchile nos sorprende con su nuevo monitor cardíaco de muñeca con tecnología láser, MIO SLICE, olvídate de las molestas bandas pectorales y súmate a la tecnología PAI monitoreando de manera automática el 100% de tu día y noche, analizando todas tus actividades y tus horas de sueño efectivo! Encuentra todo en: www.dreamsports.cl #mioglobal #mioglobalchile #mioslice #pulsometros #pulsometrosdeportivos #pulsometroslaser #dreamsportschile #tecnologiadeportiva #tecnologíadeportiva #deportechile (en Dream Sports Chile DS)
FuelFam Tested Mio Global Challenge: Two Week Update
Two weeks ago, we gave both Dave, a senior iOS Developer and Justin, a Chemist, their own Mio FUSE heart rate monitor. They set up their heart rate zones, downloaded the app and were then on their own to explore how tracking your heart rate can affect workouts and health. Click here to catch-up.
Read their thoughts so far below:
DAVE, The BMX Racer
Click here to follow Dave’s workout plan
In his own words:
The app is simple and user-friendly. I synced the Mio Fuse without any hiccups, set up my target zones, and the tracking began.
The Mio Fuse allows me to track my sleep (side note: I never had a sleep tracking device and my interest was piqued). I tried it and saw that I was only getting a few hours of sleep at night. It also gave me my resting heart rate (see below) while sleeping — which is good. From this, as well as my heart rate and stress level the following day, I was able to glean that I needed to be going to bed earlier.
First set of workouts:
The first set of workouts were on rollers. Bicycle rollers are a great way to stay on your bike during the frigid east coast winter months. It also works your core as you have to balance yourself on the bike. There are two ways to log a workout. One was to go into the app and select the “Begin A workout” button, the other is to just start working out. I assume it detects an activity which would switch the device into tracking mode.
Second set of workouts:
In the initial set up, I increased my target zone. The target zones are broken down in the profile settings screen by color, which I never really paid attention to until this roller session.
While on the rollers, and after the brief warm up, I would spin/roll out, which is a term where in the rider would go faster than the gear ratio on the bike, and looked down at the MioFUSE and noticed the LED was flashing red. Red indicates that I was in my max targeted heart rate zone. I stayed at that speed for a while, then slowed to a relaxing pace and noticed the LED switched to blue. Then I would spin back up (BMX is a series of stops and starts). When you stop you don’t come to a dead stop, but when you start you try to get up to a full sprint as quickly as possible.
A typical lap time is within a 30-40 second time frame all done on 4 straights. So that is what I emulate on the rollers and my workouts. Stop-start (full sprint)-stop-start (full sprint)-stop-start (full sprint)-stop-start (full sprint).
JUSTIN, The Casual Chemist
Click here to follow Justin’s workout plan
In his own words:
Testing the Mio Global Fuse has been a bittersweet experience. I’ve been wearing it nonstop now for about 3 weeks, and in that time, I’ve gotten to know the hardware and multiple software options that pair with the app.
My first day with the band was so exciting, and I couldn’t wait to get back home to workout. It was a bit tough to figure out how to get the heart rate tracking started in preparation for my workout tracking started on the band because the touch-sensitive areas on the band weren’t immediately clear to me. Once I got the band recording my heart rate, I was excited to see what I could learn during my workout. Seeing my heart rate fluctuate so evenly and predictably through cycles of lifting (100-130 bpm) and rest (80-90 bpm) was not only amusing, but enlightening.
I started to think that maybe instead of waiting a generic 90 seconds between sets, I could just to monitor my body’s progress using heart rate. Instead of waiting that 90 seconds, I could wait until the reading dips back below 90 bpm.
On most sets, these two things consistently occur at just about the same time. However, if I’m lifting a weight that is much more challenging to me on that particular day, maybe it will take my heart two or three minutes before returning to that 80-90 bpm rest range.
I was surprised and a bit disappointed that my heart rate didn’t get up much higher during my sets. But I’m only doing 5 reps at a time, so it’s fair that my heart rate wouldn’t have time to climb much higher than 130 bpm.
Another benefit of rocking the Mio Fuse is that I’ve been increasing my workout frequency. I was working out 1.5 days/week before I started wearing the band, and now that I have it, I’ve bumped it up to the 3 days per week prescribed by my training program, so I’d say that is a huge win for me!
I’ve gone on one run with the Mio Fuse and the heart rate data I collected was even more enlightening than the heart rate data from my weightlifting sessions (see below).
While running, I was able to reach a much more elevated heart rate, and thus understood at which point in my run I was really struggling, and perhaps when I fell into a rhythm or slowed my pace necessarily to stop my heart from beating out of my chest.
If I can run at a similar pace for the same distance in the future (after months of training) maybe I can decrease both my resting heart rate and the heart rate at which I’m comfortable running. In contrast, the heart rate at which I have to slow down will climb through this training.
As far as wrist-worn heart rate monitors go, the Mio Fuse appears to be in a league of its own. At a physical the other day, I turned on the heart rate tracking on the band at the same time that my doctor was checking my pulse with a blood pressure cuff, and the values given by the band stayed within 1 beat per minute of the information provided from the digital blood pressure cuff.
(psst: Read more about Justin’s running experience with Mio Global & Pear here)
So far, the experience with the Mio Fuse has been great. I hope I can stay on the consistent workout grind, and maybe even see some small changes in my resting heart rate and running heart rates!
For more about the FuelFam Tested Challenge, click here. And to learn more about Mio Global, click here.
Mix up your routine! From Athletics8 sponsored athlete @spartandylan - every course can be an obstacle course if you try hard enough #Athletics8 #AboutTime #mioglobal
Be the best athlete you can be with Mio LINK, a strapless, continuous heart rate monitor wristband. Buy now. Free shipping.
The best? Really? Even without any of the data backed up??
For the past year and a half, I have been running with a Polar Bluetooth heart rate monitor (HRM) snapped into a Lululemon special edition sports bra with a HRM band. I have really enjoyed having all the extra data about my run performance. Watching my HR helps me figure out when and how long to take a break, when to take easier run days, and what it looks like when I put in 95% effort versus 90% effort, etc. I've been getting a bit bored by cycling through the same 3 sports bras for a year (first world problems, I know), and I do not enjoy using the HRM strap that came with the Polar HRM (even though it was a soft strap, it tended to chafe me).
My husband hated the strap from his Polar HRM so much that he stopped using the monitor altogether. This is a real shame because (1) he is in better cardiovascular shape than I am and needs to find some way to compensate for how easy it is to keep up with me and (2) he needs the numbers to kick him in the ego about how hard his effort was during a solo workout. (He's a team sports kinda guy anyway.)
I considered getting the Mio ALPHA when I first read about it, but the price was really too high to get me to close the deal. I'd been considering giving up using an HRM for all but my interval days when I came across the Mio LINK through a random Google search. Uhhh...there's a strapless HRM that can work with all the other gadgets I've already got AND it won't chafe me? Yes, please. So I ordered two of these babies: a small white/grey one for me and a large black/grey one for the hubby.
I was so excited at the prospect of this invention that there was necessarily a let down when it arrived, and I tried it out for the first week. Unfortunately (but obviously) I can't use my Polar app on my iPhone. The MioGO app is by far an inferior substitute for the Polar app. It offers no audio feedback whatsoever. This is a major problem if, for whatever reason, the HRM disconnects and you need to reconnect the device (which happens - often). Additionally you necessarily must use GPS within the app, which is a major phone battery suck. No thanks. Finally, and this is the biggest negative, the app doesn't even keep a history of my heart rate throughout the workout that I can see. It will give a max and an average - why not a chart? What an absolutely worthless app! To get any benefit from it, I would need to stare at my phone often during the workout. No thanks; I'd rather see where I'm going and enjoy one of the precious few moments I get to be outside on a workday.
On the plus side, the MioLINK is still pretty useful. It has a color-coded flashing light that indicates when I cross through different training zones, and you can adjust the range of the zones. (I wish I could adjust my max heart rate because my fast-beating heart does, in fact, go above 187 bpm.) I like the visual feedback I get from this flashing light, and I've been using it with no problem so far to monitor my HR on long, slow runs and during my rest intervals for fast runs. So far my husband is quite satisfied with the physical aspects of the Mio on his wrist as well. (Update - his Mio disconnected from the app during a workout this week as well.)
I have been able to sync the Endomondo app with the MioLINK. This app does give audio feedback and has not caused random dropped connections with my HRM. The problem, of course, is that I must pay for Endomondo premium in order to gain access to additional tracking of my heart rate during my exercises. Call me cheap, but I've already paid $100 for a fancy new HRM. For all the benefits of the Polar app, I only had to pay $70 + chafing for the Polar HRM. I have such high hopes for the MioLINK. If the company would improve their app, I think this product would be hands-down the best HRM on the market.
Obviously, I have not been paid to write my opinion by any of the companies mentioned above.
