hrm at theme parks

mormas

I'm off to Legoland for two days and won't be able to exercise, however I will be spending about 10 hours each day walking around the park. I am considering wearing my HRM to see how many calories I burn. What do you guys think? And will the scary rides that get my pulse racing effect my calculated burn by giving a higher calprie burnt figure? maybe I'll wear it but pause the count when on the rides. Any thoughts welcomed.

CMmrsfloyd

I don't think it would be very accurate if you kept it on the whole time - you're not going to be walking the entire time you're there, you're also going to be standing in line a lot and sitting down on the rides a lot. You probably WILL burn significantly more calories than on a 'rest' day, but I don't think an HRM would give you an accurate representation of the actual number b/c of the amount of time that you wouldn't really be exerting yourself.

UponThisRock

The rides thing is a good example of why HRMs aren't terribly accurate

carolann_22

A HRM would not be really accurate for that kind of thing. A bodybugg or Fitbit would do a better job estimating.

erickirb

No, HRM's are only meant for steady state cardio, it uses HR to estimate intensity of exercise. If you HR is elevated for other reasons or is low the HRM will over estimate your actual burn by a wide margin.

What you could do is set your activity level to active or very active to see the difference vs. what you burn day to day, and that should be a good estimate.

IrishHarpy1

HRMs are designed to be accurate for more intense forms of exercise, so unless you're planning to jog or run around the park it won't really do much good. You may want to just invest in a pedometer or something like a Fitbit to help you track the more "everyday" type of exercising like walking, climbing stairs, etc.

LottieLou13

I wore my Fitbit around Poultons Park last week, I can't go on any rides at the moment and logged 600+ calories just from walking around. I'm gonna be doing the same for Lego Land next Sunday...gives me lots of calories to have an ice cream with :drinker:

kdiamond

I would think that you're probably breaking even with all of the ice cream, cotton candy, and junk you'll be eating (at least, I'd be eating). Just enjoy the day!

courtneymal17

I actually meant to wear my HRM the last time I went to Disney (We actually *were* speed walking/jogging through the park most of the day & not standing in the lines lol!), but I forgot it before I went *oops!* So I just basically timed myself walking & kept a note of how much walking 'time' I did in my phone then recorded it with my usual walking from the HRM