HRM and Swimming?

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arshness
arshness Posts: 60
in Health and Weight Loss
So I keep seeing I should use an HRM to measure my calorie burn...
But my main exercise is swimming.

I don't see a lot of waterproof HRMs.
Does anyone know of any? And how do other swimmers deal with finding an accurate measure of their burn if HRMs and water don't mix?

Thanks.

Replies

  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    My Polar FT4 claims to be water *resistant* but not completely waterproof - the instructions say not to push any buttons on the watch while in the water. I think I've seen people discuss using HrMs for swimming before and some noted that sometimes it might lose the signal from the chest strap. You would also want to be sure to clean it really well afterward to remove chlorine I'd think.
  • arshness
    arshness Posts: 60
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    I don't know enough about HRMs to make a good choice. :(
    I don't know which one to get...

    My budget can't handle one of the really expensive ones right now but I wanted to get one to log my exercise.
    Then I thought about the fact that swimming is my main exercise since I'm so overweight that I need the impact taken off of my body really badly.

    How can I get any accurate idea of my caloric burn so i can control it if I can't measure it...

    I don't know what to do right now.
  • elysianashes
    elysianashes Posts: 100
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    Just use a stopwatch and check yourself every half-hour or so to make sure your heart rate is still up maybe? There are a few heart rate based calorie calculators online, you could check it against that later. For example, this one [http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx] shows that at your weight and age, 120 minutes of cardio at 121bpm is about 500 calories burned... and at 160bpm it's about 900 calories burned.

    From what I've seen, I think MFP greatly overestimates calories burned on a lot of things.
  • dogacreek
    dogacreek Posts: 289 Member
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    I have a Polar FT7 and have worn it for water aerobics and aqua zumba for several months now. I've never had any trouble. I press start when I get in the water, but haven't tried pressing the buttons while in the water because I'm usually too busy. :wink:

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