Question About HIIT and HRMs

bowlerae
bowlerae Posts: 555 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have a Polar FT4 HRM with chest strap. I know HRMs in general are not reliable for HIIT or weight training...only steady state cardio. I was curios though about how to judge the amount of calories I burn.

I typically HIIT a stationary bike for 20-30 minutes at a difficult level of resistance throughout the entire workout so even the low intensity intervals give me a good workout. I sprint for 20 seconds, go easier for 40. Some minutes I do 30/30. At the end of the session my HRM typically reads in the range of 240-280 cals burned. Again, I know this is not exact. However, if I do regular cardio on the bike at the same resistance level for the same amount of time but with no intervals of sprinting/resting, my HRM will read in the range of 210-250 calories burned.

I'm wondering, is the calories burned on my HRM for the HIIT workout too low, too high or pretty accurate? I would expect more than a 30 calorie difference from a HIIT workout vs a regular cardio session.

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