Finally figured out the problem with my HRM

ehilgeman

I was going CRAZY. My HRM was cheating me on calories, and I knew it was low, just couldn't figure out why. I killed myself in a Zumba class, worked at least as hard as the lady next to me, but her HRM had her calories at 600-ish, while mine said 359. I have a good HRM, Polar FT60, and it seems to be reading everything correctly. I put in all my information and double checked it.

After a couple of weeks of this, I finally went and did some internet research tonight, and figured out the problem is the VO2 Max setting the watch had assigned me. This was based on a "fitness test" which consisted of me sitting on my couch for a few minutes. Based on that, it assigned me a VO2 max of 24 which, according to a chart I found is for people in "poor" physical shape. Well, I exercise 4-5x per week, run several miles every weekend, etc. I may be overweight, but I am not in poor physical shape by any means. I did some of the calculators online and, by increasing my VO2 max to the average for someone in "good" shape (I didn't get vain and go for "excellent" or "superior"), I should get to a reasonable calorie burn number.

Whew. I haveta say, I was getting ready to return the darned thing!

NikkisNewStart

Have you tried out your theory yet? My calorie burn has consistently decreased as I have shrank and got in better physical shape. I used to pull huge numbers back in the day compared to the amounts I burn now... so what you're thinking doesn't quite make sense to me based on what I've personally observed... I dunno though! I have a Polar FT40. I hope you have it figured out for you though!

WarmDontBurn

I HATED my polar f7 for that reason. The V02 max was too hard to figure out and it never seemed accurate!
I have the FT4 now and no problems at all!

I had a whole post on here all about V02 max, testing and all my issues.

ehilgeman

Had my first post HRM-fix workout today and the calories seem much more right on with what I would expect. Looks like it worked!

TrainingWithTonya

I can get you a formula from one of my books to be able to estimate your VO2 max from a treadmill test so you can get a more accurate VO2 for you to enter into your HRM if you want. It may take me a bit because I have to find that book and the formula in it, though, since I don't use it often enough to have it memorized. Just let me know if you want it.