Polar Ready Cardio Machines

dragonflydi

A few weeks ago I was thrilled to discover that the treadmills, ellipticals and bikes at my gym are Polar Equipped ... meaning that they will read my chest strap automatically. I still wear my watch however, b/c the machine doesn't have all the other information that my watch does to most accurately calculate my calorie burn, etc. and I like to log my exercise at the end of the day, so I want the saved training files.

That being said, I scared the living daylights out of one of the trainers at my gym last week. I had just finished working on the elliptical and was slowly cooling down when he hopped on the bike next to me. He kept fiddling with the settings and I finally asked him what he was doing.

He tells me "I'm trying to figure out why this damn machine is telling me my heartrate is 146 already when I just sat down and have been on this for less than 2 minutes! That can't be right". I looked at my ellipctical and my watch and my heart rate was 146 on both - his bike was ALSO reading MY chest strap! That was MY heart rate he was seeing

He was very relieved to discover that ... and I realized that if people around me are not actively using the hand pads to measure their own heart rate on the cardio machines and I'm using my chest strap, they will all know how hard MY heart is working at any given time! LOL ...

46and2

I'm the guy without the Polar and the machine picks up random heartrates enough that after about 15 minutes of reading Polars instead of the grips, it cuts to 'manual'.

I'm getting a Polar for X-mas..

ninpiggy

I was delighted to find that the machines at the gym I go to are also Polar equipped. I use my watch though too since I like to keep track of my progress, etc. Have you noticed a difference in calories burned on the machine vs. your wrist watch? I have.

dragonflydi

I'm getting a Polar for X-mas..

I'm pretty happy with mine ... and who knew it would give me an unexpected chuckle! Thank goodness I am good friends with that trainer ... I was able to just tell him his heart was beating that fast b/c he was sitting next to me! LOL

dragonflydi

I was delighted to find that the machines at the gym I go to are also Polar equipped. I use my watch though too since I like to keep track of my progress, etc. Have you noticed a difference in calories burned on the machine vs. your wrist watch? I have.

Noticed a BIG difference. The machine does not have your age or your height information to help more accurately determine the burn. Someone 6" shorter than me and my weight would be burning a lot more calories than I do - but the machine itself only knows how heavy you are and nothing else. I have a few machines that under calculated and a few that over calculated. I'm much happier using one consistent method now, even if it is not perfect

MinnieInMaine

Our gym's machines pick them up too. It's much easier to keep track of your heart rate when it's right there in front of you instead of having to glance at your wrist all the time! My gym buddy and I used to laugh about it because she didn't have an HRM and the machine she was on next to me would pick up the heart rate but slightly lower as the transmission was faint. Always threw off her calorie count! Now she's got my old HRM (after I rec'd a new one for my last b-day) and it's much easier to keep track of our own stats!

Azdak

For exercises such as walking and running, weight is really all you need. The intensity of running or walking at any given speed/incline combo (assuming one is not holding on to the handrails) is the same for everybody--the difference is the body weight of the individual.

Picking up someone else's heart rate on a machine should not affect the calorie count at all. Machines are programmed to estimate calories based on the actual intensity of the work being performed. For simple, well-established movements like walking and running, the intensity of the work is very consistent, so that method can be more accurate than using heart rate. For machines like ellipticals and cross trainers, the calorie numbers are way off because there is no standard way to measure workload--so most of the time, they are just estimating.

dragonflydi

For exercises such as walking and running, weight is really all you need. The intensity of running or walking at any given speed/incline combo (assuming one is not holding on to the handrails) is the same for everybody--the difference is the body weight of the individual.

Picking up someone else's heart rate on a machine should not affect the calorie count at all. Machines are programmed to estimate calories based on the actual intensity of the work being performed. For simple, well-established movements like walking and running, the intensity of the work is very consistent, so that method can be more accurate than using heart rate. For machines like ellipticals and cross trainers, the calorie numbers are way off because there is no standard way to measure workload--so most of the time, they are just estimating.

I don't use the machine for the calorie count, I only use my watch and what I get and when I do treadmill, it's usually for HIIT, for which the intensity of the movement is not at all consistent. In any case, my HRM estimates better than any elliptical machine. The intensity for someone my weight but several inches shorter will be much higher than me. I don't ever rely on the machines. Regardless.