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Mark of Fitness Strapless Heart Rate Monitor (MF-180)
Chest-Belt-Free Design
No Interference
Continuous Heart Rate Information
Simultaneous display of heart rate and % of maximum heart rate
Calories burned during exercise
Stopwatch with simultaneous display of heart rate
Automatic calculation of % of maximum heart rate (after entry of a profile – age, weight and sex)
Out-of-zone alarm
SPECIFICATIONS:
Pulse Measurement: 30-238 beats per minute
Measuring Principle: + 3% of reading
Measurement Location: Upper and Lower
Supported Conditions: (settable from 30-200 beats per minute in bpm intervals)
Measurement Range: On or Off
Accuracy: Off, or at 4, 8, 16, 32, or 60-second intervals
Out of Zone Alarms
Pulse Synchronized Beep
Pulse Recording
Total Recording Length
Pulse Recovery Check
Pulse Rate Level Indication: 8 points (0, 32, 60, 92 seconds, 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes)
Time in Zone: in % of theoretical maximum (based on 220 - age)
Calorie Calculations: in % of total exercise time
Calories Burned: Activities no harder than jogging
Calorie Indication Range: Calculation During Timing
Calorie Records: 0-9999 kcal (by 0.1 below 1000)
User Profile: Up to 8 Records
Clock: 15, 30, 60, 120, or 225 minutes (226 data points)
Information Displayed: Age, Sex, Weight, and Height (lbs. & ft./in. or kg & cm set at factory)
Alarm: Hour, Minute and Second (choice of AM/PM or 24-hour formats)
Stopwatch: Single Setting
Maximum Time: 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 59 Seconds
Lap Recording: 8 laps
Miscellaneous:
Operation Buttons: Mode, Start, Set and Select
Back Light: Electro-Luminescent
Battery: 1 x CR2032 Lithium Button Cell
Battery Life: 3 months (based on 50 minutes use per day)
Main Unit Size: approx. 2.4 x 1.8 x 0.5 inches (mm)
Weight: approx. 1 oz.
Water Resistance: During Normal Activities (sweat, rain, etc.) Do Not Use During Swimming or Diving
PC Communication FacilityPC Communication Interface: RS232C at 19.2kbps (output only)USB Interface (optional)
Green light opto-electronic plethysmograph
Base of Index Finger
CHOOSING YOUR EXERCISE
by Wayne Baker -
OK, so if I’m going to have to exercise, what’s the best exercise? Simply put, the best exercise is the exercise that you will do! For cardiovascular health, your heart rate must be increased, and that increase must be sustained for a period of time, generally 20 minutes or more. If an exercise does not do that, it only benefits your heart and circulatory system slightly.
The “Big 4” aerobic exercises [running (or jogging), walking, bicycling or swimming] are the ones to consider first. Many exercises that are often referred to as exercise (and they are) do not raise the heart rate continuously, so they don’t do much to benefit your cardiovascular system. Among these non-cardio sports are bowling, golf (unless you walk the course), tennis, and many others.
So, what do I recommend? Unless you have joint trouble, consider walking first. Since it only requires a pair of comfortable shoes, it has the lowest starting cost. It’s as close as your front door (and some people chose to walk in place indoors, so going out the door need not even be necessary. Everyone knows how to do it, but learning better technique will pay you dividends.
Though I’m a runner, the next sport I’d suggest, and one of the best for those with joint problems is bicycling. The smooth, rotary motion of cycling avoids the pounding of knees, ankles, feet and lower back that running, and to a lesser degree walking, puts on an athlete. A decent quality bicycle today costs in the $400-500 range, but you can often get a good, used bike for a fraction of that. Be sure that you get a bike that is sized properly for you. Proper cycling clothing will cost a couple of hundred dollars more. Always wear a helmet when cycling, I know many people whose lives have been saved by helmets or who have avoided long hospital stays by wearing them. Most smart cyclists recognize it’s not “if I crash,” it’s “when I crash.” Brain injuries don’t heal; wearing a helmet is your best protection. Unfortunately, because gripping the handlebars may cause problems with sensing and because of the risk of having the sensor wire tangle and possibly cause a crash, Mark of Fitness’ policy is “Do Not Use the MF-180 when bicycling.”
Running is the most intense, and potentially most damaging to your body, of these sports. It pounds the feet, legs and lower back; so if you select this as your primary sport, understand that injury is often part of the picture. While we all ran as children without detrimental effect, as we age and get out of shape, the likelihood of injury rises. Wear good shoes, listen to your body.
Swimming is the one sport I cannot speak about from experience. I describe myself as a slow drowner. While I am comfortable in water, I never learned to breathe well in the water. Swimming does offer a non-impact, non-weight bearing exercise. This makes it excellent for many people with joint problems or those who are so heavy that other exercises are difficult. The MF-180 cannot be used for in-water activities such as swimming.
Are other types of aerobic activity OK? Yes, but note that aerobics classes at a gym are often high-impact classes. Seek out low-impact classes, if they’re offered, don’t hesitate to take classes designed for senior citizens (even if you don’t qualify), they are often much less risky than standard classes, though they may lack the level of intensity you require.
Regardless of which exercise you choose, try to find a workout partner or a local club to help support you. Exercising with others makes you feel responsibility to exercise and adds camaraderie to the process.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS -
How do you monitor my heart rate without a chest-belt?
Technically, the MF-180 is a plethysmograph, that’s essentially a monitor reading the changes in reflectivity of your skin each time your heart beats. This is a well proven technology that’s often used in medical and exercise laboratories to monitor various bodily functions. The MF-180 uses digital signal processing and error correction technology to ensure accurate readings. Each time you turn on the monitor, it tells you the strength of the signal (a display of L0 [weak signal] to L3 [strong signal] is shown).
I’m having trouble getting a good reading, what should I do?
This monitor looks at changes in skin reflectivity due to blood flow in the skin, as a result, anything that compromises blood flow or transparency of the skin can impact the ability to get a good reading. Double check that the sensor is set flat against the pad of the finger and that the finger wrap is tight enough to turn the oval into a circle. Are your hands cold? Cold hands result in reduced blood flow and can prevent strong signals. The good news is that this will correct itself as you exercise. Putting on an over-glove will also help. Is your skin very dry? Because your skin needs to transmit light well, extreme dryness can be a problem. Skin lotion should eliminate this problem.
I sometimes have trouble pressing the buttons. Do you have any suggestions?
“Pinch the monitor” between your thumb and forefinger, that will keep the monitor from “squishing” around as you try to press a button.
USING A HEART RATE MONITOR TO HELP MANAGE WEIGHT LOSS
by Wayne Baker -
(Note that this is general information and may not be appropriate for you, especially if you have any of several conditions including diabetes, coronary or arterial disease, digestive disorders, etc. You are responsible for your actions, Mark of Fitness, Inc. and Wayne Baker cannot accept responsibility for anything you do. Additionally, Mr. Baker is not medically trained, he bases his advice on his extensive readings and other information he has gathered on the subject, but should not be considered as either specific or expert advice. Speak with your doctor, coach or other person familiar with your situation to determine if this information is appropriate and likely to be effective for you, and never begin an exercise program without clearing it with your doctor.)
The MF-180 can help you to lose weight by giving you more information about what your body is doing. It can do this in several ways: first, it can help you to minimize or avoid the fatigue that undermines many exercise programs; second, it can provide you with good information about how many calories you are burning through exercise; third, the ability to track something can help to keep you involved in a program, so you don’t feel like nothing is happening; and there are other, more subtle things that a monitor can also help you with.
Let’s look at each of these individually. First, how does a monitor help you in avoiding fatigue? Fatigue usually occurs when a person exercises at high percentages of maximum heart rate (HRmax). Without going into the math involved, by keeping the exercise intensity below 80% of HRmax, most fatigue can be eliminated. A monitor, like the MF-180 can help you to stay below that level, and can remind you to pay attention to how intensely you’re exercising by sounding an alarm when you exercise too hard.
Exercise is a very personal thing, and using a chart to estimate calories burned can be terribly inaccurate. If we look at walking as an activity, you can burn as few as about 350 calories an hour while strolling, but if you racewalk rapidly, you can get that number up to 800 or 900 calories hourly. A good chart might break walking into easy, moderate and hard rates, but even these are just guesses and how do you know which category a given walk should be placed into? Using a monitor that calculates calories burned during exercise will give you a more accurate estimate than any other system because it is using actual data from you and your workout.
One of the best tools for keeping motivated as you’re trying to lose weight is an exercise log. It allows you to see and track your progress, even if it doesn’t show on the scale. For various reasons, your body may not lose weight for a week of two. This lack of weight loss (or even slight weight gain), but can be demoralizing. A log helps you to see that you’re doing the right things, and can help you to stay motivated. It’s worth the minute or so a day. It also lets you see how your ability to exercise has changed over time (usually improving, but if you’ve had an injury or other setback, you know where you had been). We’ve provided an exercise log (insert hyperlink on words “exercise log page”) page for you, which you can find in our resources section.
So, use a heart rate monitor to avoid overstressing the body, to quantify some of the benefits of exercise, and gather information for your exercise log. It’s a valuable and useful tool, and as you get into the habit of using it, you’ll come to love it.
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