Photography as Fitness Activity (workout)

• Heart rate, calorie, & distant monitoring of a wedding photographer at work
• Wedding photography can be an intense workout.

VenturaPhoto.com is the first (& only) to monitor physical activities of a
wedding photographer on the job - Just for fun

I used to be obsessed about physical fitness.  I used to bench-press 225lb 5 years ago.  I still workout but I'm not that obsessed anymore.

For last 5 years, my ongoing question was "How much exercise do I get from a wedding photography gig?"  So I decided to make this my new project.

In order to do this, I had to upgrade my heart rate monitor.  The heart rate monitor I had was too old (and not fun).  I purchased a very sophisticated heart rate monitor that will transfer data to my computer.  With this, I will have a comprehensive understanding.

Heart rate monitors: Old and New

First, I wanted to know what my 9 to 5 workday was like.  So I wore my new heart rate monitor to work one day.  As you can see below, I was absolutely not getting any exercises at work.  I mean it looks like I was a hospital patient.  Below graph also shows my lunch time (between the mark 1 & 2).

My Typical 9 to 5: Burnt 637 Calories, walked 1.1miles, avg Hart Rate 66 b/m

Finally, I had my first opportunity to test my heart rate monitor at a real wedding.  I recorded my physical activities from the time I got out from my car to the time I came back to my car.  I worked 6 hours and 19 minutes total.  

Key info: June 28 Wedding: 6 hrs, 2754 Calories, 5.8miles, 112 b/m avg Hart Rate

Measuring physical activities at the wedding only takes a few seconds.  I find it entertaining to monitor my physical activity at the wedding.  I believe I am the only person in the world providing this kind of data.

If you don't see a series of fitness data below click here

I believe I set the record today.

I burned most amount of Calories (3396).  And I worked the logest hours (11 hours).
I was extremely tired today.  But it was just as rewarding.

* I was in pain.  I better get into a better shape.

Today's wedding was at Wedgewood Golf Club & Banquet Center

Key stats:
Burned 2482 Kcal. Worked 7.5 hours. Walked 7.2 miles.  Average heart rate 125 bpm

Wedding on Saturday August 30, 2008.
All over Oxnard:  Home - Church - RiverRidge Gold Club

I worked more than 8 hours today (no extra charge, of course).
My heart beat almost 60,000 times while I was working.

Wedding on Saturday August 23, 2008 at Bella Victorian Vineyard, Camarillo CA 

Wedding on Saturday August 16, 2008 at Saticoy Country Club, Somis CA

Blog story on today's wedding is located here

Oh, shoot.  I forgot to turn on my foot pod when I arrived at the wedding site.  So my total walking distant is shorter than what it's supposed to be.

Wedding on Friday August 1, 2008 at Calamigos Ranch, Malibu 

This was my third wedding with my heart rate monitor.  I am beginning to see the relationship between the temperature and calories burn.  I burn more calories when the weather is hot.  My heart beats faster when the weather is hot.  Today was not as hot as last 2 weddings.  Today I burned the least amount of calories. I burned 1844 calories (compared to my other 2 wedding with 2754 & 2208 kcal expenditure)

I walked 4.8 miles today.

Above: red circle marks the time I was driving from Poin Mugu to Simi Valley

Wedding: July 12, 2008