Born with Skis on Their Feet


Some people are said to be born with skis on their feet. There's one company from which you can say the same. Polar saw daylight on a sunny Sunday when a professor in electrical engineering met a professional coach on a cross-country skiing track in Kempele, Finland. At that time athletes measured their pulse from their neck or wrist. It wasn't accurate and their coach couldn't get a clear insight into their performance, so the professor came up with a solution - a personal, wireless heart rate monitor for athletes. Polar was born. And a lot has happened since 1977.

Today, Polar works in partnership with the FIS, the International Ski Federation. You might have seen live heart rate on TV of some of the best cross-country skiers in the world. That's the most visible part of Polar heart rate, giving TV viewers important information on the athletes' performance. On top of that, most of those cross-country skiers are using Polar products while they're training for the events. That's how the Swedish, Norwegian and German national cross-country skiing teams have taken their performance to the next level and are now willing to set the bar even higher in the 2011 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo, Norway.

Pro cross-country skiers exercise a lot in special conditions such as high-altitude training camps. With changing conditions it's extremely important to get heart rate based guidance on which intensity to train at when you cannot trust just on your own gut feeling. By displaying your heart rate, altitude and speed data, a Polar training computer can support coach's decisions and help athletes optimize their training. Knowing your heart rate can work wonders for you as well!

Unfortunately far too often Sunday cross-country skiers swear by a steady pace which results in them pushing themselves a bit too hard. Improving your performance, however, calls for both hard and light intensity sessions instead of your heart rate wandering somewhere in between. A Polar training computer can be an irreplaceable tool, helping you find out how you should train today. It's the reason why Polar products have been a part of everyday training for cross-country skiers since day one.

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Polar training computers recommended for cross-country skiing: Polar RS800CX, RS400, RS300X, RS100, FT80, FT60, FT7, and FT4.

For further information contact:

Karen Siems / Mark D. Seng

Polar Electro GmbH Deutschland

Hessenring 2

64572 Büttelborn

Tel: 06152-9236-836 / 834

Email: /
