Using an HRM during strength training

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jonnyk82
jonnyk82 Posts: 24
in Fitness and Exercise
I thought I read somewhere on here that using an HRM during a strength training work out will be wildly inaccurate. However, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Perhaps I'm just imagining things.

What are you opinions on using an HRM during strength training?

On a side note regarding HRMs, mine seems to say I'm burning about 11 calories a minute during cardio. I get the impression that that is unusually high. Is there possibly something wrong with my HRM?

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  • QuietDissidence
    QuietDissidence Posts: 32
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    That doesn't make sense to me either. My HRM is a watch+chest strap kind that I purchased last year and I haven't had any problems with it during my strength training or cardio sessions. Mine works in tandem with the Precor machines at my gym so I know the readings are accurate. Do you have the watch and chest trap combo or is it just a watch? I've been told by various people the latter tends to be less accurate.

    Speed and weight will definitely play a factor.... as will your current health level. For me 11cal per min seems a bit fast for weight lifting as thats about how much I burn during a medium to med-hi intensity cardio session on the elliptical. I tend to take it slower when I'm weight lifting as I don't want to injure myself.

    Dunno if you do cardio or not...if not maybe do a cardio session so you have something to compare it to...
  • jonnyk82
    jonnyk82 Posts: 24
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    Bump
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    i use it and i think it's been accurate for me.
    11 calories per minute average doesnt seem high at all, depend on your height and weight. that's about what i burn during my lifting sessions since i lift heavy, and i cant definitely do that in a cardio session, especially cardio like stairmaster, running and versaclimber
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
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    If you are doing resonably intense cardio (ie your heart rate is averaging 130+) that is a perfectly reasonable number. I generally get 600-800 cals in an hour for a moderate to hard cardio session. That number was higher when I was carrying more weight too.

    As for weight training, I still wear my HRM. The number is lower than it is during a cardio workout - as you would expect, but still reads higher than the MFP standard. Some exercises really raise my heart rate (squats always do this to me), I can get into the 140's without doing any cardio!
  • jonnyk82
    jonnyk82 Posts: 24
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    Thanks for the responses!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    I thought I read somewhere on here that using an HRM during a strength training work out will be wildly inaccurate. However, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Perhaps I'm just imagining things.

    What are you opinions on using an HRM during strength training?

    On a side note regarding HRMs, mine seems to say I'm burning about 11 calories a minute during cardio. I get the impression that that is unusually high. Is there possibly something wrong with my HRM?
    It's very simple, weight training is an anaerobic activity. HRM's only measure aerobic activity. They are two completely different metabolic systems, and burn calories in completely different ways. an HRM relies on your heart rate, and it's variance from resting heart rate. That's fine for aerobic work, which is related to your cardio system (hence cardio exercise.) However, anaerobic activity does not utilize your aerobic system at all, therefore just measuring changes to your aerobic system doesn't give you an actual picture of your real calorie burn. It tends to overestimate actual calorie burn.
  • dwiebe85
    dwiebe85 Posts: 123
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    bump
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
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    bigger people burn more calories while exercising, because you have more to move. i burn anything from 16-25 calories per minute during cardio.
  • warmachinejt
    warmachinejt Posts: 2,167 Member
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    i always wear the hrm at the gym. I burn about 500 calories in the hour lifting in average. I trust it because it is a suunto and it never shows any weird readings.
  • mistyladidah
    mistyladidah Posts: 210 Member
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    I thought I read somewhere on here that using an HRM during a strength training work out will be wildly inaccurate. However, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Perhaps I'm just imagining things.

    What are you opinions on using an HRM during strength training?

    On a side note regarding HRMs, mine seems to say I'm burning about 11 calories a minute during cardio. I get the impression that that is unusually high. Is there possibly something wrong with my HRM?
    It's very simple, weight training is an anaerobic activity. HRM's only measure aerobic activity. They are two completely different metabolic systems, and burn calories in completely different ways. an HRM relies on your heart rate, and it's variance from resting heart rate. That's fine for aerobic work, which is related to your cardio system (hence cardio exercise.) However, anaerobic activity does not utilize your aerobic system at all, therefore just measuring changes to your aerobic system doesn't give you an actual picture of your real calorie burn. It tends to overestimate actual calorie burn.

    So, I do a combo workout (video "game") that seems to be a few minutes of cardio, followed be the same amount of time of strength (lunges and squats with and without weights, situps, and pushups type stuff), alternating for anywhere up to 20 minutes at a time. My heart rate does go down during this time sometimes, but always stays within my zone of 62-82%. Do you think I'm getting an accurate read from my meter? It's the kind with the strap.

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