Heart 2

We've got great visitors from out of town with us right now, so I'm taking a wee break from training. I've been to the classes for my level, but have skipped three White Belt and two open-mat sessions.

Besides all the beach walks and restaurant eating, I've been thinking about the results recorded by my heart rate monitor from Thursday's sparring.

The device divides heart activity into a number of zones. These are determined by a person's age, weight, height, and resting heart rate.

On Thursday, I rolled for 2 five-minute rounds. As I wanted to do it under maximum stress, I chose the two biggest guys as partners.

How would my body react? Subjectively, I think I handle it well. I judge myself as very able to relax even when being crushed under an opponent and under imminent threat of submission. Would the monitor agree? Have I been fooling myself?

Well, the numbers are in. As expected, during sparring my heart rate went up. Surprisingly, it was only in my top zone for 83 seconds. This fits in very well with my subjective self-evaluation.

I look forward to playing with my monitor during bike rides. How much effort goes into those, and is it really a great form of exercise? With my bum knee running is still out of the question. I'd love to get some figures to compare biking and running.

The investigating continues....