Making Home Workouts Feel A Bit More Like Studio Ones (or I Do Still Wish I Was In-Studio)

This past week was supposed to be the week I went back to Orangetheory to have in-studio workouts. I had been so excited to be going back, but I also understood when they had to announce that the re-opening had to be postponed. I’m so grateful that they are more concerned about safety and health than rushing to re-open so they can have business again. And as I get to 4 months of home workouts, I’ve got the routine down. I have gotten some things that make my workouts better, but for the most part, I have a system each time.

And I noticed that whenever I would start a home workout in the OTF app, it would try to connect to my heart rate monitor but couldn’t find it. I couldn’t figure out why because it was connected to my device and I was using it on another app. After the first few home workouts, I just gave up on it and didn’t bother. But for some reason, this past week I decided to figure it out and see what I could do.

It ended up being a really simple fix (even though my monitor was connected to my device, I needed it to also be connected to the app). And I’m so glad that I did it. Because now, when I do my workouts at home I can see my heart rate information on the screen. It’s so much more like being in the studio.

And this is really a big difference for me. Even though I have an idea of what my heart rate is or what zone I’m in based on how I feel, I like having the data and information to track it too. It holds me more accountable for my work and gets me to push myself if I’m close to the orange zone. I know that having it on the screen doesn’t necessarily change my heart rate, but it changes my work and that can change my heart rate.

I did really notice a change in my workouts this week. I was going harder. I was more aware of what I was doing and if I was pushing myself enough. It almost made me feel like I was being coached because there was no denying my heart rate numbers. If I thought I was doing enough but my heart rate was really low, I knew that I wasn’t doing what I should.

And just like the week before, I felt it after each workout. I was sweating so much and was sore after each one. I really tried to step things up a bit and seeing my heart rate on the screen really helped me to do that. And I’m glad I had 2 good weeks in a row because I’m coming up on when I will likely have bad weeks. As always, I’m trying to be optimistic and hope I’ll feel fine. But I’m also realistic. I know it’s very likely that I won’t be feeling great. But I’m also thinking that having my heart rate visible to me the entire workout will make me feel a bit better about having a harder time in my workout. It’s a sign of what I am doing even if I don’t feel like I’m doing much.

I’m still working on improving my home gym equipment and figuring out what I want to spend money on to have in my house. I have so many ideas. I’m just lacking in space and money and the inventory of some things is lacking too. But I’m dedicating some time this week to look online and make some decisions about what I really want to get. Hopefully soon, I’ll have some new stuff in my house to help my workouts. But at least for now, I have some equipment already here and now I have better monitoring of my heart rate.

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