"Using Heart Rate Monitors in PE Classes" by Paula Summit

If you are considering purchasing heart rate monitors for your school, I would recommend you purchase the AccurexIIa directly from POLAR. (Joseph.Atocha@polar.fi) The HRMs are well constructed and are available to the education sector and Olympians. They are not available to the general public. POLAR also has an education support program.

The Accurex IIa HRM would be the easiest to use on the kids. (I teach elementary 1-5.) You put the transmitter on, hold the monitor next to the heart where the transmitter is located, and the monitor will start. I have a sign up on the wall for the target heart rate zone and I mention the zone when I put the HRM on the kids. (We use 150-190 for elementary school.) I send them home with a slip of paper with the name of the activity, the "starting" heart rate (when they put the monitor on), the average heart rate, the above the zone, in, and below the zone. If the kids remember to push the red bar on the watch when they switch activities, they will also have the exact heart rate when they stopped or started a new activity.

Start out small...one or two kids at a time so that you show them exactly what to do with the HRM. As they become more familiar with the HRM, you can add more to each class.

As for funding, I wanted to supplement the International Life Science Institute grant that allowed me to obtain my first heart rate monitors. I attended a PTO meeting 2 years ago with written information and a proposal about how I thought the HRM could be implemented in class. I took the POLAR booklet information and a written plan. The parents loved it and I got some funding for the program. The PTO appreciated the organized approach to presenting the proposal. I offered to do a presentation for the parents on how the HRM works at a later meeting. I talked about how having the HRM during our daily jog after warm-ups changed, and the changed emphasis from who is first to finish to who is in the target heartrate zone.

We were able to purchase an AirDyne bike (ILSI grant) with the optional heart monitor that also interfaces with the POLAR transmitter. It is great. Each child will have a turn riding the bike during warm-ups. Right now, I have whoever is riding the bike wearing the HRM. I record the distance traveled and the time spent on the bike on the HRM information sheet. Once everyone has worn the HRM once, I will use all 12 at the same time, depending on the activity of the class. Once again, start small...add a few HRM every year. One is better than none.

When the people with the money see how effective the HRM are for a few students, they might be willing to invest in a few more for the program. I also have the Vantage XL that downloads to the computer. Although it is more expensive, I like it because it doesn't have the automatic start feature and I can record exactly what I want when the students are doing a timed run. I also use these monitors on the kids I want to monitor more closely (i.e., the overweight kids, the asthmatics, the hyperactives, the kids who don't like to run when we jog outside). This way I can give them a printout and show them whether they were working appropriately or not. That paper goes home to be signed. I do not have a computer station in the gym, so they don't get this paper right away, but we do discuss what they achieved when they get the sheet.

The Vantages work a little differently than the Accurex IIa's so I start them for the kids...they still push the red bar every time they do a different activity. The disadvantage to this HRM is that you cannot see the results immediately after the activity unless you download them immediately.

As for classroom management of the transmitters, our locker room bathrooms are right off the gym. I have the students rinse off the transmitters using soap before they return them to me. I am using the POLAR management system for storing the transmitters, receivers and straps. It works very well. I would think that dropping the transmitters into a bucket of soapy water would work, but you'd have to change the soapy water often and you'd have to rinse and dry the transmitters. That could get sloppy in the gym. Do not use alcohol on the transmitters...it will disintegrate the material.

When I start using all the HRM in class, I will have students pre assigned to who is using what HRM so they will know in advance who is wearing the HRM and they can pick up the transmitter when they walk into the gym. I will have a Vantage XL in the rotation so that everyone will eventually get to wear that receiver and get a printout. Some of the kids put the strap on themselves. I help the younger ones...they pull their shirt forward and I put the strap on for them. I wet it in the water fountain, so it is always cold and we joke about how cold it is going to be when I put it on them. We are able to do this right in the gym. I take them into the locker room hallway if I sense they are a bit uncomfortable. I am never actually out of the gym. I am very aware that many of you will be uncomfortable doing that...my kids let me. The older kids put them on themselves. You can always work out a buddy system...you will work out a system that works for you.

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