BY Considered a pioneer of wearable sports technologies and sports analytics, Polar Electro was founded in 1977. The brand built and produced the world’s first portable heart rate monitor for sports training use, and over the next four decades has often been seen as the benchmark from which other competitors draw inspiration from.
With detailed analytical mechanics and community-based training functions through its smart-phone apps, the Polar eco-system is one of the most comprehensive and well-supported networks on the sports technology scene. The new Polar Vantage series takes your understanding of training data to the next level.
Polar Vantage Series
Pro-level multisport watches designed to help goal-oriented athletes reach their full potential, the Polar Vantage watches go way beyond the earlier Polar products and are unique in their accuracy, design and technology.
Both the Polar Vantage M and Polar Vantage V come with cutting-edge Polar Precision Prime sensor fusion technology and a new approach to measuring your Cardio, Muscle and Perceived Training Load as a whole. They offer a true multisport experience with more than 130 sports profiles and a multisport mode to track different sports in the same session.
The difference between the two is that with Polar Vantage V, you can take your training and performance even deeper into the pro level with longer battery life, recovery measurement, running power from the wrist and a barometer.
- Polar Precision Prime sensor fusion tech
This unique sensor fusion technology with Polar’s customised smart algorithm claims to set a new standard for wrist-based accuracy. Polar Precision Prime measures your heart rate from the wrist with nine LED colors and skin contact measurement, ruling out any disturbances to the heart rate signal. It is accurate, always on and tracks your heart rate without a chest strap, even in the most demanding conditions and training sessions.
- New Approach to Training Load
A next-generation feature in the Polar Vantage series is the new Training Load Pro. It measures three aspects of training load. In addition to Cardio Load, you can measure Muscle Load and combine these measurements with your subjective feeling for Perceived Load.This way you’ll know how strained each system of your body is and you can optimise your training by working the right system at the right time. You get a numerical value, verbal feedback and a visual bullet scale for each training load.
In addition to the training load from individual training sessions, you can monitor how Cardio Load builds up over time, which allows you to keep the total training volume in control, optimise the timing of training at different intensities and know whether your training has been progressive.
- Training Benefit
Training Benefit gives you textual feedback on the effect of each training session, helping you to better understand the effectiveness of your training. The Flow web service, Flow app and Beat app are used to display the data records.
To get the feedback, you need to have trained for at least 10 minutes in the heart rate zones. Training Benefit feedback is based on heart rate zones. It reads into how much time you spend and how many calories you burn in each zone.
- Running Power on your Wrist
A measurement of mechanical work rate. In running, the human body works against gravity and friction. While there is no universal definition, Polar defines it as a positive change in mechanical energy of the centre of mass over on step cycle divided by step cycle time, where mechanical energy is the sum of kinetic and gravitational potential energy.
The Polar Vantage V features an onboard power sensor, so you can measure your running power without any additional sensors or pods. Measuring running power is possible with Polar Vantage M, too, but you need to pair it with a third-party running power meter, like Stryd.
The Polar Vantage V retails for S$779. The heart rate set, which includes Polar Vantage V and Polar H10 heart rate monitor, is available for S$829. The Polar Vantage M is available for S$469 at all authorised Polar retailers.
Your device is showing you plenty of statistics, but what do they mean?  Cadence Simply put, this is how many steps you take per minute, counting both feet. It’s a commonly measured running metric and can tell you a lot about your form. For example, at a given pace, quicker cadence and shorter stride length result in smaller forces at many places throughout the body, such as at the ankles, knees and hips. The reduced magnitude of these forces is widely believed by experts to also reduce injury risk. It’s clear that running cadence can be increased only so far, but for more injury-prone runners in particular, working on increased cadence could be beneficial. An often-cited target for running cadence is 180 steps per minute, though taller runners tend to have somewhat slower cadence. Interestingly, higher cadence is also associated with lower vertical oscillation and shorter ground contact time. |
Find out more about this season’s fitness wearables in the Tech Specs feature, in the June/July 2019 issue of RUN Singapore, available in digital and print formats.
Find it at all leading book stores or order online here: https://www.runmagazine.asia/product-category/magazines/
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