HRM communication

CatchMom11

I just purchased an HRM and I noticed this morning that it seem to be communication with the treadmill that I was on. My question is, what info do I rely on: my HRM or the treadmill? There was about a 35 calorie difference. However, when I got on the elliptical, it was right on the money.

I think I know the reason why the treadmill is different.... correct me if I'm wrong, but just because the treadmill is set to say, 5.5 mph, doesn't necessarily mean that's how fast a person is running, which would in turn, cause the treadmill's hrm to think I'm burning more calories than the hrm on my body does.

AnnaYESiCANdoIT

hmmm I dunno cuz mine is the same with the treadmill aand the elliptical? I would go with your HRM before what the machine says.

CatchMom11

That's what I thought too. I think the machine's calculations take into account the speed + the heart rate to get calories burned, whereas the hrm is going strictly off of the heart rate.

twinmom01

I would go with the HRM - unless the machine has pads or finger pulse thing where it can use your HR to calculate your HRM is going to give you the best burn...BUT be sure to have all the settings set right on your HRM. I had to go in and reset mine because I have lost 20 lbs since the last time I fiddled with it...

Frogger0828

I haven't found EITHER to be all that accurate. I take my average heart rate from the HRM and enter that into a formula I have saved in a spreadsheet. I have it set up so I just update the variables and the formula works to spit out calories burned. The result is fairly close to what I see on MFP and Nike+ GPS, etc., but it's typically much lower than what my HRM. Neither my HRM nor the machines consider my gender, which is an important variable. The Journal of Sports Sciences has two formulas, one for men and one for women. See below.

If you set up an Excel spreadsheet, you can quickly enter the info for your workout to get a good estimate of calories burned.

Variables are:
Age (in years)
Weight (in pounds)
Average Heart Rate
Time (in minutes)

Formula for men:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) - (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) - 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.

Formula for women:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) - (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) - 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.

I hope this helps you!

Azdak

The machine just displays the heart rate from the HRM signal. It has a receiver built into the console. The HRM and the machine each estimate calories completely differently.