Water Jogging / Swimming with HRM

HardmanP

I have a polar FT7, and I am loving it. Before getting it, MFP would say I burned about 3 times the calories doing water exersizes, jogging, and swimming. I am wondering, if with the resistance of the water, if I am actually burning more calories than my HRM can detect? OR is MFP really that far off! I feel like I worked so hard when I get out of the pool, but the HRM says not near as hard as I thought? any suggestions?

P.S. The HRM does seem to be connected fine and picking up the whole time..

meganbwright

I haven't used my HRM swimming, but I know that what MFP (and all the cardio equipment at my gym) told me calorie wise was WAY off compared to what my HRM tells me. The elliptical might say I burned 800 calories and my Polar monitor says around 600. So glad that I got it, because now I can log everything more accurately and hopefully make better progress. I hope that's not too discouraging, but I tend to err on the side of caution and trust the monitor over the machine or the website, since the monitor has all of my stats entered correctly and is strapped to my body.

emmoen1

You are actually working harder then what your HRM suggests. It is known as the Frank Sterling Effect in Physical Therapy. Basically because of the hydrostatic pressure in the water... the deeper you are immersed the more pressure you have which increases venous return. This leads to the formula of Cardiac Output= stroke volume x heart rate. Since you have a increase in venous return it increases the strength of contraction with actually increases your stroke volume (amount blood pumped out of your heart) therefore decreasing your heart rate. So you should use the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion which is explained:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/strengthening/a/030904.htm

hope that helps.

HardmanP

That is what I was thinking.. there has to be some kind of difference ..

deadmittens

MFP seems to be a little off with their calories. Some things seem under, some seem over. (When I run I SWEAR I must burn over 500 calories but I don't even make it to 300!)

I would believe in your HRM.. or somewhere in between.

HardmanP

Thanks everyone for the input!

1jlazymom

glad I read what was posted here. Going to spend the afternoon in the pool with the kids which usually means we play a lot of water tag and race each other you can swim across the pool faster. I do all of this so I can have exercise that is easy on the joints not to mention in the heat it is way more fun than a walk or a jog. I hope everyone has a terrific weekend. Oh just one more question has anyone here used the fitbit? Looking into getting one

Airgetshealthy

I love my fitbit but sadly they can't be used in water! Just for walking/running and daily wear!