Weight Lifting and Heart Rate Monitor

Soccermavrick

I have been looking at introducing a Heart Rate Monitor (Probably a Polar) to my exercise routine, which consists of a half hour of cardio, followed by an hour to an hour and a half of weights. This question is for current HRM users. Have you found that the monitor does you any good? Do you feel like you get more bang for your buck? If used correctly would it help me to better track my effort and performance? I have noticed one or two threads out here recently where someone trashes HRM as useless during Weight training that they think you are doing cardo and are completely inaccurate. Now while I have a hard time believing that they are useless, it has me questioning my thought of buying one to begin with. And if this is a problem with Polar then who?

_Calypso_

HRM are best for steady state cardio.

The burn you get from lifting will not be accurate, but can give you an idea of your burn.

jmoneycgt

Polar is fine. There is really no HRM meant for calculating calories for lifting, unless you are doing supersets (lifting without rest in between). They are super excellent for cardio though.

sijomial

HRMs are calibrated against people doing steady state cardio in a lab and just give a fairly generic estimate. Running, rowing & cycling should be pretty reasonable (consistent and useable anyway).

Far too many variables in weight lifting and in reality your heartrate is no indication of energy expended, you can spike your heart rate to the same level doing curls and deadlights for example.

Having said all that..... I weight train in a high tempo, circuit training style (push/pull/upper/lower...) with no rest. I do use my Polar FT7 just as a very rough guide. Any correlation is really accidental, more heartbeats would be a general indication of more volume lifted.

if you are training for that duration I assume you are doing lift & recover style? You might just as well pick a number out of the air TBH.

ChrisH135

I tried my new Polar H7 for both my weights sessions and cardio. The calorie feedback (probably for the reasons stated earlier in this thread) for the weights session was way too excessive so I disregard the calorie count for weights but do still find some interest in the heart rate statistics for those sessions.

My HRM stats for cardio calories has given me a boost compared to the gym machines - I'm burning a few more calories according to the HRM than I used to record using the gym machine only - and again I do find the HRM stats quite interesting - it tells you how long you have been in certain training zones in each session ie warm up, fat burn etc etc.

All in all I am pleased with the H7 - but I do admit to buying it on the mistaken assumption I would be able to more accurately record calorie burn during weights - but despite this not being possible I would still recommend one if you have an interest in more accurate calorie count for cardio and HR statistics etc.

(By the way, I hope your injury is improving? I would estimate my tricep is around 90% recovered but I am still waiting for physio to start - not sure it will ever be 100% but I feel there is a little room for more improvement. It has changed the way I train - I'm now training with far reduced weights on all exercises and I'm fine with that - I have switched from a calorie surplus to a defecit and using this opportunity to drop some bodyweight and therefore hopefully some bodyfat. When I come to the next bulk and heavier weights then that's when I'll need to be perfect with my form. No room for error any more - the last 2 or 3 months has been very frustrating and it was wholly avoidable if I listened to my body better.)

kdb247

I use my HRM for ALL workouts.

Cardio: I monitor zones, recovery, time and calories.
Weights: I monitor my HR between sets and zones during Circuit Training. Also calories, time and recovery.

I focus a lot on recovery because I tend to over do it.

I've owned (2) Polar HRM in my lifetime and I will not buy another. Without going into crazy detail, both Polar HRM broke down too early in the game. It was too much for everything from the purchase price down to shipping to THEIR repair place. I am now in love with my Timex Trainer HRM.

HelloDan

HRMs are calibrated against people doing steady state cardio in a lab and just give a fairly generic estimate. Running, rowing & cycling should be pretty reasonable (consistent and useable anyway).

Far too many variables in weight lifting and in reality your heartrate is no indication of energy expended, you can spike your heart rate to the same level doing curls and deadlights for example.

Having said all that..... I weight train in a high tempo, circuit training style (push/pull/upper/lower...) with no rest. I do use my Polar FT7 just as a very rough guide. Any correlation is really accidental, more heartbeats would be a general indication of more volume lifted.

if you are training for that duration I assume you are doing lift & recover style? You might just as well pick a number out of the air TBH.

I thought the inaccuracy was because the HRM used heartrate to estimate oxygen uptake, which it then used to calculate calories. In steady state cardio, the oxygen uptake and heartrate are fairly correlated, but with weightlifting, this is not the case, as the primary cause for heart rate change is not for oxygen uptake.

So if you're doing a circuit type lifting session (like you sometimes are), the HRM will probably give you a decent estimate, but for a traditional lifting session, it will be much less accurate.

janesmith1

I find that weight lifting and doing abs doesn't burn a lot of cals - I use my HRM anyway. It's not a chest strap one, it's an epulse2 watch type and I love it. I have 2 of them.

MMulder68

My husband and I both use a polar FT7. We both lift heavy and do cardio. He burns a whole lot more than I do. We use them just as a help in our caloric intake. I am sure they aren't completely accurate buy I am steadily losing weight and hubby is looking great! So, I feel they are accurate enough to help us with our food intake. My hubby also watches his closely for timing his rest periods and making sure he keeps his HR in the right zone.