Which reading is right? HRM or Treadmill?

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japruzze
japruzze Posts: 453 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I went to the gym this morning and did 60 minutes on the treadmill using the HR program. Interestingly my HRM was being read by the treadmill so my wrist band and the treadmill both had my heart rate through out and were within 1 of each other. At the end the HRM showed I had burned 433 calories and the treadmill showed 755 calories. Both have my weight and age. The HRM has my height too. So which one is correct? I know which one I want to believe!

Replies

  • mrskesler
    mrskesler Posts: 73 Member
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    I'd trust the HRM.
  • Hayesgang
    Hayesgang Posts: 624
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    HRM for me.
  • ZyheeMoongazer
    ZyheeMoongazer Posts: 343 Member
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    Trust the HRM. Gym equipment is just a general average.
  • Pollyfleming
    Pollyfleming Posts: 147 Member
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    HRM for sure.
  • daphnemoon
    daphnemoon Posts: 216 Member
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    Definitely the HRM. Funnily enough though, I was in the gym today and did a short run, at the end the treadmill and HRM were identical, maybe within one or two cals. When I tried the same thing on the cardiowave, the wave was telling me I had burned FIVE times as many calories as the heart rate monitor - naughty!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    What were you doing for that hour on the treadmill? If you were running at 7mph, then I'd believe you burned 700-some, but if you were walking or running at 5mph or less, the 400-some is much more likely.
  • judgejava
    judgejava Posts: 88
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    HRM will always be more accurate than the treadmill, the treadmill is doing it purely on your body stats which is a general algorithm like MFP uses.

    A HRM takes into account how hard your body is working based on the heart rate.

    To get even more accurate you can go get a Vo2 max test at many places where they can give you a 99% true figure of what you really burn along with lots of other data.

    Cheers
  • judgejava
    judgejava Posts: 88
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    What were you doing for that hour on the treadmill? If you were running at 7mph, then I'd believe you burned 700-some, but if you were walking or running at 5mph or less, the 400-some is much more likely.

    That only applies to the usual math involved in body stats and distance.

    The true calories burned is often different per person based on their own metabolism and how hard the body is truly working such as heart rate, oxygen intake etc.

    Cheers
  • Newf77
    Newf77 Posts: 802 Member
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    As the general vote states, go with the HRM. I have a Polar FT7 and it reads on the cardio machines at the gym but the burns are usually different. I will spend an hour on the treadmill but will shadow box, curl light weights use different gaits or do interval run/walk. The HRM takes all that into account since it is getting the reading directly from the strap,
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    What were you doing for that hour on the treadmill? If you were running at 7mph, then I'd believe you burned 700-some, but if you were walking or running at 5mph or less, the 400-some is much more likely.

    That only applies to the usual math involved in body stats and distance.

    The true calories burned is often different per person based on their own metabolism and how hard the body is truly working such as heart rate, oxygen intake etc.

    Cheers

    True, but as an overall estimate, it's still a decent way to gauge if your reading is wildly inaccurate or not. If I ran my butt off for an hour, I'd be very disappointed if I only burned 400 calories, and I'd be surprised as hell if I burned 700 walking. No one's body is going to be working harder walking an hour than running an hour, unless they were walking in knee deep mud. :wink:
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    Both are just an estimate, but in general I feel like an HRM with a chest strap is going to have an estimate that's closer to reality. It has more info on you and is reading your heartrate continuously to get an idea of the effort you're putting into the workout. There are a few reasons that HRMs would not be as reliable for some people, certain medications and medical conditions that alter heartrate without respect to effort, but if you don't have anything like that going on then I'd stick with the HRM.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    HRM will always be more accurate than the treadmill, the treadmill is doing it purely on your body stats which is a general algorithm like MFP uses.

    A HRM takes into account how hard your body is working based on the heart rate.

    To get even more accurate you can go get a Vo2 max test at many places where they can give you a 99% true figure of what you really burn along with lots of other data.

    Cheers

    An HRM will not "always be more accurate than the treadmill". In fact, for walking on a known brand commercial treadmill (Life Fitness, Precor, Technogym, etc), there is a very good chance that the treadmill will be more accurate than a HRM (unless one is holding on to the handrails).

    The energy prediction equations used by treadmills are pretty accurate when it comes to walking (level or incline). That's because they are based on the actual energy cost of the activity, not an indirect estimate. In fact, if someone tells me there is a large discrepancy between their HRM readings and the treadmill (when walking), it is almost always because of poor setup of their HRM (or a cheapo HRM that is nothing but a toy anyway).

    The negative tone in your comments about "algorithms" is somewhat confusing, since HRMs use algorithms exclusively to estimate calories. That's why they need so many other variables (gender, age, height, etc) to improve the "accuracy" of their estimates.
  • visiri
    visiri Posts: 173 Member
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    Unfortunately the HRM - I've been using the calories from my stepper - got an HRM and lo and behold the stepper heart thingie reads my strap. Anyhoo - got the same # of calories as I always do on the stepper -but different calories on the HRM. I agree with the other poster that says it just uses averages.
  • Nana_Booboo
    Nana_Booboo Posts: 501 Member
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    HRM. :sad: Sad because the Treadmill is so much higher....however, weigh in would be sad if you went by the machine.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,663 Member
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    So I went to the gym this morning and did 60 minutes on the treadmill using the HR program. Interestingly my HRM was being read by the treadmill so my wrist band and the treadmill both had my heart rate through out and were within 1 of each other. At the end the HRM showed I had burned 433 calories and the treadmill showed 755 calories. Both have my weight and age. The HRM has my height too. So which one is correct? I know which one I want to believe!
    Your HRM. Treadmills (along with other cardio machines) are hardly ever calibrated and with all the usuage they get, it's easy to have the calibration go off.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    So I went to the gym this morning and did 60 minutes on the treadmill using the HR program. Interestingly my HRM was being read by the treadmill so my wrist band and the treadmill both had my heart rate through out and were within 1 of each other. At the end the HRM showed I had burned 433 calories and the treadmill showed 755 calories. Both have my weight and age. The HRM has my height too. So which one is correct? I know which one I want to believe!
    Your HRM. Treadmills (along with other cardio machines) are hardly ever calibrated and with all the usuage they get, it's easy to have the calibration go off.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Commercial cardio equipment cannot be "calibrated" once it leaves the factory, nor does it need to be. The displays are based on sensors, microprocessors, etc. After years of wear it might require more power to maintain the same speed on a treadmill as the belt starts to wear, but the accuracy of the display does not diminish over time.
  • judgejava
    judgejava Posts: 88
    Options
    HRM will always be more accurate than the treadmill, the treadmill is doing it purely on your body stats which is a general algorithm like MFP uses.

    A HRM takes into account how hard your body is working based on the heart rate.

    To get even more accurate you can go get a Vo2 max test at many places where they can give you a 99% true figure of what you really burn along with lots of other data.

    Cheers

    An HRM will not "always be more accurate than the treadmill". In fact, for walking on a known brand commercial treadmill (Life Fitness, Precor, Technogym, etc), there is a very good chance that the treadmill will be more accurate than a HRM (unless one is holding on to the handrails).

    The energy prediction equations used by treadmills are pretty accurate when it comes to walking (level or incline). That's because they are based on the actual energy cost of the activity, not an indirect estimate. In fact, if someone tells me there is a large discrepancy between their HRM readings and the treadmill (when walking), it is almost always because of poor setup of their HRM (or a cheapo HRM that is nothing but a toy anyway).

    The negative tone in your comments about "algorithms" is somewhat confusing, since HRMs use algorithms exclusively to estimate calories. That's why they need so many other variables (gender, age, height, etc) to improve the "accuracy" of their estimates.

    Completely disagree.

    No matter how much you spend on a treadmill and what stats you input it can only assess on those stats and apply a universal equation to workout calorie count it has no idea the true intensity workload being placed on your body without heart rate.

    Also commercial cardio equipment can easily be re-calibrated and they are done quite often in many places.

    I recently had my v02 max text done again for the second time in about 4 years, this time a a bupa centre with an overall fitness assessment. My caloric burn is about 250 shy from most equipment i use without the use of my HRM, my current Garmin 210 gives the same output as most gym equipment based on my stats unless i wear the HRM and then it is within about 25 of the actual caloric burn quoted to me from Bupa.

    Cheers

    http://www.treadmilltalk.com/treadmill-calories-burned.html

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