Coronado Fitness Club has introduced a new way to track the benefits of each fitness workout with a wearable heart rate monitor, called Myzone, that measures all heart rate activity and provides an added motivating benefit: fun, social interaction. Much more accurate than “wrist wearables,” Myzone, a belt that is comfortably worn around the chest under clothing, measures the heart’s aerobic activity with 99.4 percent accuracy, comparable to an EKG machine.
“For our members who wonder if they are getting a really great workout, Myzone takes the guesswork out of it,” said CFC owner Chris Foote. “My research into all heart rate monitors told me that Myzone was the best. It allows you to be in competition with yourself and it provides even more fun and motivation when used in classes with group interaction.”
CFC Myzone classes are offered five days a week, at 6 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, and 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. Using wireless technology, each participant’s real-time activity is posted on a large overhead screen. While the gym’s live effort display provides an engaging social platform, users can choose a number or a pseudonym if they wish to remain incognito. Through a downloadable app, which gym staff will help users program, results can also be sent to mobile phones.
At its first challenge (Nov. 18 – Dec. 18, 2016), CFC members were challenged with earning MEPs (short for Myzone effort points), a metric for measuring physical activity. MEPs accumulate for every minute of activity that a user spends in the five effort (intensity) zones based on an individual maximum heart rate. The more effort that is put in, the more MEPs are earned by participating in any and all forms of exercise. Three winners in the initial challenge earned 3,727 MEPs, 2,600 MEPs and 1,000 MEPs and were rewarded with 90, 60 and 30-minute massages. The gym will offer its second Myzone one-month challenge competition beginning in February.
CFC offers a free demonstration class and use of a Myzone belt free of charge to Coronado residents; the gym also sells the belts for $99 (compared to $150 online).
CFC’s MyZone classes include seven minutes of spin (on bikes) and seven minutes of strength training (dumbbells, kettle balls, TRXs and bodyweight exercises); then the cycle repeats for a full 30-minute workout.
Myzone belts can be used for all classes at CFC – yoga, spin, Barre, bootcamp and Zumba – as well as general workouts at the gym or as the user is out and about throughout the day.
Myzone goes far beyond counting steps, Foote noted.
“This is a far more sophisticated approach to monitoring your true activity level than a wrist tracker,” Foote said. “Wrist trackers lose activity if you aren’t moving in a fairly rhythmical manner, or if you clench your fist or move your wrist.”
Wrist counters also don’t count push-ups, yoga stretches, spinning, planks or many other common exercise moves. Myzone’s technology allows the wearer to program in goal setting and has built-in data storage data to track history and progress.
CFC is located at 875 Orange Avenue, just across the street from Vons. A class schedule can be found at CFC’s website, coronadofitnessclub.com.
