Do I or don't I?

Skylark74
Skylark74 Posts: 58 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hmm considering buying an HRM device as well as my fitbit flex.....what do people recommend.

I've initially been looking at the polar FT4 watch n strap but I can't quite make up my mind. Also how would I go about linking recording the output either on here or via the fitbit site.

I tried setting the treadmill in the gym to fat burning but I didn't like having to hold on to the sensors for the length of time it needed to record my heart rate.

I love the flex for general use and the sleep tracking/ silent alarm aspect but I think I need a bit more when it comes to exercising. I tend to put the band around my bra strap to avoid over counting when I'm working on my arms.

All advice gratefully received.

Replies

  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    It depends what activities you're performing and what data you want to track. Fitbits are good at tracking step based activities but cannot provide information on your cardio-respiratory improvement. HRMs are great at tracking heart beats during steady state cardio activities ... cycling, running, brisk walking ... but the caloric burn estimations are only as good as the algorithm programmed into the software.

    I have a flex and a Polar H7 HRM that links to my phone. The flex is great for showing me how active or lazy I am on any given day. I use the HRM to see trends in my heart's response to known stresses like the big freaking hill I run up regularly, how quickly the rate drops when exertion returns to a normal level after a hill or sprint, how well the rate returns to resting after my workout is over, etc. When using it for calorie burn, I get up to a 350 net calorie difference for the same workout between three different programs.

    If you get a HRM, do your homework on it. Find out if the one you're looking at reports net or gross calories expended. Understand that what it gives you is just a more refined estimation based on a few more data points entered into a calculation. If you buy one ... linking them is simple. On MFP, connecting apps is done on the APPS tab ... in Fitbit it is done through the settings.
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    The polar FT4 was recommended to me but I also wanted something similar to a fitbit so I bought a Polar Loop and I can purchase the Polar H7 hrm and the Loop will sync with it - the Loop however does NOT sync with MFP

    I am not sure how it all works but could you not just enter the workouts you do with the HRM separately from the fitbit?

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