GLOBAL – When it comes to staying fit, it’s vital to keep an eye on your workout regime in order to achieve maximum efficiency. Sports Tracker is a great app for keeping you on top of your performance, and the optional extra Heart Rate Monitor lets you know exactly how your body is responding to your workout.

Why would you use Sports Tracker? Well, it’s a good way of setting up a routine and sticking with it. And it helps you to stretch yourself by showing personal bests, so that you can beat them.

You can set it up to record a large range of activities, such as running, walking, cycling, hiking, rowing, and golf.

When you’re performing any of these activities, Sports Tracker will plot where you are on a map and track your route, perfect for running or cycling. Your speeds and distance are always logged, too.

While this is all very useful on its own, there’s also the option to connect a Heart Rate Monitor to your Nokia N9 for €69.90. This will record how fast your heart is beating during exercise.

There was only one way to test this, and that was to strap a Heart Rate Monitor to our resident fitness-fanatic, Danny Brewer (who is participating in this year’s London Marathon) to see how the Nokia N9, Sports Tracker and the Heart Rate Monitor works in the real world.

Using the Heart Rate Monitor is really very easy. You charge it up with the cable provided, and attach it to the belt that goes around your chest. After a quick Bluetooth pairing of the sensor and your Nokia N9, you’re ready to go.

These screenshots from the Nokia N9 show how he got on after a 30-minute run around town.

We asked Danny about the benefits of using the Sports Tracker with the Heart Rate Monitor.

“If you’re interested in keeping fit, as I am, it’s absolutely essential. The mapping element is spot on and I love that I can follow my exact route. And the Heart Rate Monitor is a great way of keeping in tune with your body,” he said.

Once you’ve finished your daily activity, you can share it with the rest of the Sports Tracker community at sports-tracker.com and also with your friends and followers on Facebook.

Are you into keeping fit? Would you find Sports Tracker and the Heart Rate Monitor useful? Let us know, using the comments section below.