HRM's and Non-traditional sports

kennedar

I have a question for you guys. I do a fair amount of non-traditional activities, including curling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling) and yoga. My question is, how accurate is an HRM in this type of setting, particularly for curling? I know I am exerting myself because I sweat and am sore the next day. When I first joined MFP and didnt have an HRM, I thought the calorie burns on here were way to high and would only count like 100 for 2 hours. But my HRM matches what MFP says within 30 or 40 calories. Of course, because a game is so long I subtract what I would have burnt anyways, but I am still getting a burn of 600 calories in 2 hours. That just sounds way to high! I have played my whole life and my HRM has indicated that my heart rate gets up into the 90% range at times, but that is only for 45 seconds at the most before there is a minute or 2 break!

When I was curling competetively, I would have completely agreed with the numbers I am getting. I was in much better shape and able to sweep much harder. But now that I am just playing rec intuitively it doesnt seem right!

meggonkgonk

idk about curling, but its not meant for accuracy in non-cardio workouts, so for Yoga its proly not very accurate. Same goes with strength training and such. My understanding is that HRM calculations are based on raised heart rates and such.

BoresEasily

As said above, useless for yoga/strength training/cleaning/cooking and most likely curling as well. Heart rate monitors are designed to measure heart rate during aerobic activity. They're not designed for non-aerobic activities as mentioned above. 600 calories for 2 hours seems reasonable I would imagine. If you think it's too high - go for 85% 510. I prefer to underestimate rather than over-estimate myself.

Azdak

I have a question for you guys. I do a fair amount of non-traditional activities, including curling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling) and yoga. My question is, how accurate is an HRM in this type of setting, particularly for curling? I know I am exerting myself because I sweat and am sore the next day. When I first joined MFP and didnt have an HRM, I thought the calorie burns on here were way to high and would only count like 100 for 2 hours. But my HRM matches what MFP says within 30 or 40 calories. Of course, because a game is so long I subtract what I would have burnt anyways, but I am still getting a burn of 600 calories in 2 hours. That just sounds way to high! I have played my whole life and my HRM has indicated that my heart rate gets up into the 90% range at times, but that is only for 45 seconds at the most before there is a minute or 2 break!

When I was curling competetively, I would have completely agreed with the numbers I am getting. I was in much better shape and able to sweep much harder. But now that I am just playing rec intuitively it doesnt seem right!

Sweating and soreness are poor indicators of exercise intensity, so those two thing don't really mean anything.

If you are sweeping, from what I have seen of curling, there is a lot of upper body work. Upper body causes HRMs to overestimate calories because the HR is elevated without as much an increase in oxygen uptake.

On one hand 300 calories per hour is not completely unreasonable. However, in two hours, you would be burning a number of calories moving around anyhow.

Plus, as many studies have shown, engaging in two hours of activity like that, even at a recreational level, means that you are most likely decreasing your casual activity for the rest of the day (esp if you are feeling fatigued and sore). So, over 24 hours, you are probably not burning that many "extra" calories at all--you are just compressing what you would have burned anyway into a compressed period of time.

If you want to track activity, as a motivation to be more active, then give yourself a "number". But I would not include those "calories" in your eating plan.