Heart Rate Monitor

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Can anyone tell me what a heart rate monitor does and what it is used for? I've been hearing a lot about them...does it help measure how many calories you burn?

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  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
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    Sort of. It measures your heart rate, and then runs that through some formulas to figure out how many calories you're burning. It's a lot more accurate than just using the averages listed for a cardio exercise, but you can't use it for weight training. If you use treadmills or ellipticals or that kind of machine, most of them can pick up your HRM's readings and will show you all the info on their screens, which is good info to have.

    Also, if you start getting into HIIT or zone training or anything like that, you really need one. Otherwise they're great, but not absolutely necessary.