HRM Reading: When to stop it from reading after workout.

SanyamKaushik

Hi All.
One question to you experts out there: Shall I let HRM continue to read the heart beats during cool down time and count those towards calories burnt figure.

The reason I'm asking this : During a run, treadmill shows lets say 500 kcal. HRM at the same time shows 400ish. But If i continue to use HRM for next 5-10 minutes (after stopping the run and while the heart rate is still high, then HRMs calorie count matches somewhat that of treadmill). I guess this is right approach but just wanted to confirm.

Thanks.

christinekojack

I do continue to keep mine running during the cool down. The reason i do this is because my heart rate is still high so i'm guessing i'm still burnng calories! I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do though,, but it's working for me! Hope that helps.

mruntidy

I'd never even thought of this to be honest, I have seen some people mention afterburn though. I just stop mine when I am done and walking into the changing room.

FerryfieldLad

I always leave mine on till my heart rate returns to my resting heart rate. I think that's fair.

emmalecras

I stop mine once I finish but can see the benefit in keeping it running until heart rate is back down to "normal" as whilst it is still elevated then you are burning calories.

Flab2fitfi

Glad someone else posted this - I was wondering the same thing?

dollipop

I stop mine as soon as I finish my workout but I understand the body continues to burn cals for quite some time afterwards, especially after weight training.

BrianSharpe

I press the start button on my Garmin as I leave the driveway and the stop button as soon as I'm back, but that's more a case of me wanting data specifically regarding the run.

I think waiting for your heart to return to its resting rate may be somewhat excessive (if you think about it, your heart rate is only that low periodically during the day, the rest of the time it will reflect your normal level of activity), perhaps shutting it down when your HR hits 90-100 would be more realistic.

kennie2

i posted something like this a while ago and everyone told they stop straight after the workout
however i usually get a huge after burn so i stop mine when the heart rate goes to about 110
seeing as i dont do a proper cool down (my walk home is my cool down) it works out quite well, by the time im home and have had a drink i usually stop it

Spokez70

I keep mine going until my heart rate drops out of the target range- like a minute or two.

mrsmerrithew

I usually start my HRM about 2 mins into my warm up and I stop it after my workout, generally once I've made it to the locker room. My heart rate is still elevated, but no where near my workout readings.

PrinnyBomb

I stop mine as soon as I'm finished. Don't know if it's the right thing to do though.

RoybieOfTheRovers

I stop taking readings as soon as I finish my workout. But I do not deduct my BMR calories from the calories shown on the HRM. I figure that the afterburn probably cancels out the BMR.

SanyamKaushik

Thanks to all you for your inputs.
I normally start with cardio in the range of 130-165 ish for about 40 minutes. Then do weight, hear rate drops at that point and finish off with another 10 minute stint of cardio followed by stretching; and finally into locker room.. So BrianSharpe, I have seen that by the time heart rate drops to around 100ish, HRMs calories count matches the cardio machines'. So that would be fair point of stopping the reading. Would everyone agree?

I certainly dont want to over-estimate the calories burnt. Underestimating would be better but at the same time, if I underestimate too much, I'm in the risk of saying to myself WTH, just this much cals for this workout? :grumble:

But, thanks everyone for your insights.

SanyamKaushik

I stop taking readings as soon as I finish my workout. But I do not deduct my BMR calories from the calories shown on the HRM. I figure that the afterburn probably cancels out the BMR.

Regarding the BMR, my HRM does not show any calories burnt while im sitting idle. So I assume that it does not include the BMR in the calculation...

chuckyp

Like Brian, I stop mine as soon as I'm done because I don't want the cool down to skew my run data. I look at any cool down calories as a bonus to help offset the ketchup I put on my fries or something else I didn't bother to log.

RoybieOfTheRovers

I stop taking readings as soon as I finish my workout. But I do not deduct my BMR calories from the calories shown on the HRM. I figure that the afterburn probably cancels out the BMR.

Regarding the BMR, my HRM does not show any calories burnt while im sitting idle. So I assume that it does not include the BMR in the calculation...

I see. Mine gives me a calorie burn the whole time I am wearing it even if I am sitting idle. So I assume that in my case some of the calorie burn shown would have been burnt anyway without excercise. I think about 100 calories in an hour long session would have been burnt not excersising so for the purposes of MFP should be detucted from the excercise calories. As I said I do not do this but I also do not count afterburn.

SanyamKaushik

I stop taking readings as soon as I finish my workout. But I do not deduct my BMR calories from the calories shown on the HRM. I figure that the afterburn probably cancels out the BMR.

Regarding the BMR, my HRM does not show any calories burnt while im sitting idle. So I assume that it does not include the BMR in the calculation...

I see. Mine gives me a calorie burn the whole time I am wearing it even if I am sitting idle. So I assume that in my case some of the calorie burn shown would have been burnt anyway without excercise. I think about 100 calories in an hour long session would have been burnt not excersising so for the purposes of MFP should be detucted from the excercise calories. As I said I do not do this but I also do not count afterburn.

Yep, I'm with you. A friend's HRM showed calories burnt whilst sitting idle as well. So it was reasonable to deduct BMR calories as they have already been counted for in MFP.

Arthemise1

I wondered this too. I did a hike this past weekend and had to take several breaks because of the heat and those darn hills. I didn't pause my HRM, and I wonder if I should have. I didn't know if those were legitimate calories burned or not. I think they were. I increased my intake because of the extreme amount of calories I burned (for me), plus I was starving! I didn't eat all of them -- I don't think I could.

jac1967123

Do you find a big difference between your HRM cals and what MFP calculates? I am off on a bike ride and i am going to compare just got my HRM

SanyamKaushik

Do you find a big difference between your HRM cals and what MFP calculates? I am off on a bike ride and i am going to compare just got my HRM

Well, not for treadmill or cardio machines in the gym. They match if i consider the cooltime as well....
But honestly, cycling (if you are not using stationary bike), I would say, dont go for MFP values... It all depends upon the type of bike and air pressure in the tyres.
Just to give an example, city bikes are too easy to ride. where as mountain bikes can make you sweat big time...
I measured my mountain bike (using HRM) and actual burn was almost 1.8 times what MFP says, and to be honest, that ride was such that in the end for last half mile, I was feeling like WTF, lets walk rather than cycle. :laugh:

Frannybobs

I stop taking readings as soon as I finish my workout. But I do not deduct my BMR calories from the calories shown on the HRM. I figure that the afterburn probably cancels out the BMR.

^^^This

The cals burned on *most* HRMs don't deduct BMR burn. So in the day your body would burn cals anyway, the HRM calculates the burn but not deducting what you'd burn sat doing nothing. My BMR cal burn is roughly 1.02 cals per minute, therefore I should deduct that from workout time to give actual cals burned over and above normal burn. However, instead I stop my HRM as soon as I finish, to cancel out the "afterburn" and not over-estimate and therefore over-eat cals

obeseto13point1

I start it at beginning of warmup, and stop at end of streching after cooldown. HR usually doesn't get down to resting in that amount of time.

Sharyn913

I'm just curious about what kind of HRM everyone is using? I do not have one yet but would love to invest in one. I would like something good quality and easy to use, and affordable. I do not know prices but I'm thinking maybe $50? Please excuse my ignorance if this is to low or high. Thanks!

secretlobster

I track from the beginning of my warmup period to the end of my cooldown period. By that point, my heart rate may not be quiiiite back to its normal resting rate, but I'm done moving so I'm done logging

frosty73

If I am doing circuit training, I usually leave my HRM running for a good 15-20 minutes afterward. I *know* my body is burning a lot more calories after weightlifting, and I want to eat as many calories as possible! Either way, I usually feel starved for the rest of the day and end up eating more calories than MFP allows.

jr1985

I never count my cool down calories... but then again I never figure out and subtract my calories I would have burned anyways, even if I weren't exercising... so I think it evens out

secretlobster

I'm just curious about what kind of HRM everyone is using? I do not have one yet but would love to invest in one. I would like something good quality and easy to use, and affordable. I do not know prices but I'm thinking maybe $50? Please excuse my ignorance if this is to low or high. Thanks!

Polar makes high quality HRMs that you'll find starting from about $60. The price of course depends on what kind of features you need for it, but a basic HRM will cost you about that much and will get the job done. I have the FT60 which cost me about $130, it records 100 daily sessions, stores weekly data, max/average HR, times spent in each heart rate "zone" (if you care about zones), has sort of a personalized training option which I don't really use, and also measures your VO2Max index which is a measure of your cardiovascular efficiency (again, if you care about this).

RoybieOfTheRovers

I think "afterburn" a fantastic word for calories burned after stopping a workout!

Moriarty_697

The HRM if it's set properly (age, weight, etc.) is probably going to be more accurate than the cardio machine, which would account for the discrepancy.

With my polar HRM, I used to stop went the exercising was done. I would still check the HR but only to see how it was decreasing during cool down. I would also try to check five or ten minutes just to see what my HR had returned to.

With my new Garmin, I'm toying with building the warm-up and cool-down into the programmed workout. That way, I will track throughout the whole time. The nice thing, though, is that I can look at the data and isolate the workout from the warmpup and cooldown if that's what I need.

Dtho5159

I turn mine on when I hit my Target zone and turn it off when I drop below it. Usually when I start cool down, Im still well within target so I wait for it to beep that its below target and I stop it then.