Lower BMP on HRM = Higher calorie burn?

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spicypepper
spicypepper Posts: 1,016 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey MFP I noticed something today while I was on the Arc Trainer at the gym. I always wear a HRM with a chest strap that syncs with the machine so I can see what my BPM is without having to constantly look at my watch.

I typically average 155-163 BPM when I'm on the Arc Trainer and break a decent sweat (I usually go 45 minutes at a time). Today however, my BPM range was lower; between 145-153 and I was sweating so much and my calorie burn was the highest I've ever had it so far.

I'm pretty dense when it comes to HRM/BPM/Calorie burn, so can someone enlighten me on why my burn (and my sweating) would be greatly affected? It felt like I wasn't really having to try as much today as I've been, kind of like my body found it's place. I recently upped my level to Level 2-2.

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  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I am assuming you are getting your calorie burn from the machine, not the HRM.

    The most common reason would be that your fitness level has increased and and you are working at a higher workload. (The sweating is irrelevant to calorie burn).

    Machines measure actual workloads--which, along with body weight is the primary factor in calories burned. If you increase workload and weight is the same, rate of calorie burn increases. If you can measure workload and weight, then heart rate is irrelevant.

    The reason why some machines have inaccurate calorie counts is because they use poor or inappropriate equations to estimate calories. One of the (many) reasons why HRMs are inaccurate is that they often do not take increased fitness level into account and therefore interpret the lower HR as a lower workload.

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