Polar FT4 "Zone" Question

cathyAprice
cathyAprice Posts: 81
edited October 3 in Fitness and Exercise
I just got a Polar FT4 heart rate monitor (previously used a Timex). Does anyone know what to set for your zones? I did an EXTREMELY high impact workout (Turbo Fire), which I normally burn almost 500 calories (depending on my intensity--jumps, etc) and this is the first time I've used my Polar for that workout, only burning 299 calories. That doesn't seem right. I'm 181 lbs (5"4") and this was for 30 minutes. I don't quite understand the zones--should I put LOW as my resting heart rate and HIGH as my max heart rate? I wore it one other time cleaning our church for 78 minutes and it was 510 calories--much more than I expected for just cleaning toilets, etc.

Thanks!

Replies

  • Gemnildy
    Gemnildy Posts: 124 Member
    BUMP - I am looking for similar information! Not sure what to set my highs and low at!
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    289 seems like about what I'd burn doing 30min of Turbo Fire. High intensity reboils burn about 10 calories a minute.
  • lhurtubise
    lhurtubise Posts: 693 Member
    I was also using a TImex before the Polar and i find that my counts were much higher with Timex. I think the Polar is much more accurate (from the reviews I have read) and that Timex was just giving me really high numbers that were not accurate. As for the zones my personal trainer told me to set my minimum no lower than 100bpm my resting heart rate is 72bpm so I usually start my hrm after warm up. My high is set at 165bpm because at this point I am burning muscle instead of fat. I have lost a great deal of weight with this trainer so I trust him. Good luck!
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    I'd consider burning 500 calories in 30 minutes to be nearly miraculous. Pushing it HARD I can burn 11-12 per minute. Timex is known to overestimate. About 300 calories in 30 minutes sounds right to me.

    Personally, I completely ignore zones.
  • _GlaDOS_
    _GlaDOS_ Posts: 1,520 Member
    I was also using a Timex while doing TurboFire until recently when I decided to also get the FT4, and noticed the same difference in calorie burn. The Timex does not allow you to enter in the same information as the FT4 does, for example, gender and height makes a huge difference, and I think most of the unisex Timex HRMs only allow you to enter weight and age (or maybe it's height?). Anyway, I would go with the Polar HRM.

    There are a couple different calculations you can use to figure out where you want your heart rate to be, but I set my zone at something like 155-175 bpm, which is 80-90% of my max HR, just so I can keep track of how long I'm in that zone during TF, especially during HIITs. I'm sure there are more in-depth explanations of target HRs, but I think a simple chart like this one is generally good enough: http://tinyurl.com/43bwzkv.
  • cathyAprice
    cathyAprice Posts: 81
    I was also using a TImex before the Polar and i find that my counts were much higher with Timex. I think the Polar is much more accurate (from the reviews I have read) and that Timex was just giving me really high numbers that were not accurate. As for the zones my personal trainer told me to set my minimum no lower than 100bpm my resting heart rate is 72bpm so I usually start my hrm after warm up. My high is set at 165bpm because at this point I am burning muscle instead of fat. I have lost a great deal of weight with this trainer so I trust him. Good luck!


    Thanks so much! I just figured I burned much more than 299 calories because of my weight and the workout I did.
  • cathyAprice
    cathyAprice Posts: 81
    I have found that Timex reports much higher too! Time to change things up if I'm not burning NEAR that much! :tongue:
  • cathyAprice
    cathyAprice Posts: 81
    289 seems like about what I'd burn doing 30min of Turbo Fire. High intensity reboils burn about 10 calories a minute.

    mind sharing your height and weight? my weight is why I think I've burned more...
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    289 seems like about what I'd burn doing 30min of Turbo Fire. High intensity reboils burn about 10 calories a minute.

    mind sharing your height and weight? my weight is why I think I've burned more...

    Could be. I weigh 150 and am 5'9". I also have the FT4.
  • cspence2270
    cspence2270 Posts: 229 Member
    I have a Polar FT7 and it set my zones for me. I had to enter my date of birth, weight and gender and it set my target heart rate for me thus my high and low zones. I was questioning if they were correct and googled target heart rate and found several web site for target heart rate calculators and my HRM was right on.
  • cathyAprice
    cathyAprice Posts: 81
    289 seems like about what I'd burn doing 30min of Turbo Fire. High intensity reboils burn about 10 calories a minute.

    mind sharing your height and weight? my weight is why I think I've burned more...

    Could be. I weigh 150 and am 5'9". I also have the FT4.

    yes, since I'm clinically obese, I know I should be burning more (for now LOL) but I want it to be accurate so I can meet my weight loss goals...I'm going to adjust the zones--my heart rate usually peaks at around 165 bpm because I'm on heart meds to slow down my heart rate (heart condition). Thanks for sharing!!
  • krisney
    krisney Posts: 56
    You could also try to manually verify the heart rate displayed on the monitor (I do this often). At a given displayed heart rate I'll stop and check the pulse in my neck for 10 seconds. Multiply times 6 for the heart rate per minute, and compare it to the number you were seeing on the monitor. If the numbers match or are close, then the monitor is giving an accurate reading.
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