Which Heart Rate Monitor and how useful is it really?

dreilingda

A HRM won't help you lose weight. It will tell you how hard you work when you exercise and how many calories you burn but there's no magic about it for weight loss.

This answer came in early, and I'm quoting it because it's the most relevant, sensible statement you're ever going to hear about weight loss and HRMs.

You are training for a long distance race, so you already have a training program that will help you get fit. That, eating in a calorie deficit is all that you need. HRMs do not lose weight for you, they don't speed up weight loss, they don't make your exercise routine more efficient. They don't do anything. Yet so many people, people that I respect, ;people on my FL that I know work out hard, list their exercises as "Running with HRM" as if that's different from, you know, "Running".

Save your money, eat properly, and train hard for your race. Honestly, I've seen HRMs slow weight loss more than speed it up (fat burning zone, anyone?)

I really have to disagree with your idea that HRM's don't do anything. They do exactly what's advertised; read your HR and give you that information. It's just one more piece of information that may or may not be of use to you. Do you need that info? No, but some people might find it useful.

If you wanted to give a more accurate warning about training with a HRM, it would be more like the following.

1) HRM's at best will only give you an estimate of calories burned. Expect a healthy margin of error, especially if you don't know your true max HR.
2) There is no "perfect" zone to train in. Learning to understand the effort you must train at is more important than anything else.

I think I understand what you're trying to say but I've seen so many runner's telling people to throw away their HRM's and I just think a little sound advice is needed. I thoroughly enjoy being able to fully analyze my runs afterwards, whether that makes me more effecient or not.

iWaffle

I'm trying to work out if I should get a HR monitor and if so which one I should get. They seem to range from £30 upto £300. Do the more expensive ones actually help you loose more weight and get fitter?

The higher end HMRs are really geared towards people that are fairly fit and working on specific fitness goals. They often let you split workouts in to different segments, give you GPS readings showing elevation, heart rate, and pace at the same time. You probably just need a Polar FT4/FT7.

DavPul

A HRM won't help you lose weight. It will tell you how hard you work when you exercise and how many calories you burn but there's no magic about it for weight loss.

This answer came in early, and I'm quoting it because it's the most relevant, sensible statement you're ever going to hear about weight loss and HRMs.

You are training for a long distance race, so you already have a training program that will help you get fit. That, eating in a calorie deficit is all that you need. HRMs do not lose weight for you, they don't speed up weight loss, they don't make your exercise routine more efficient. They don't do anything. Yet so many people, people that I respect, ;people on my FL that I know work out hard, list their exercises as "Running with HRM" as if that's different from, you know, "Running".

Save your money, eat properly, and train hard for your race. Honestly, I've seen HRMs slow weight loss more than speed it up (fat burning zone, anyone?)

I really have to disagree with your idea that HRM's don't do anything. They do exactly what's advertised; read your HR and give you that information. It's just one more piece of information that may or may not be of use to you. Do you need that info? No, but some people might find it useful.

If you wanted to give a more accurate warning about training with a HRM, it would be more like the following.

1) HRM's at best will only give you an estimate of calories burned. Expect a healthy margin of error, especially if you don't know your true max HR.
2) There is no "perfect" zone to train in. Learning to understand the effort you must train at is more important than anything else.

I think I understand what you're trying to say but I've seen so many runner's telling people to throw away their HRM's and I just think a little sound advice is needed. I thoroughly enjoy being able to fully analyze my runs afterwards, whether that makes me more effecient or not.

I agree, HRMs do work perfectly well for reading heart rate. But the OP specifically asked if they would help her get fitter and lose weight, not help read her heart rate. So for her needs, the answer is a clear and emphatic NO.

Question for you, and I'm not trying to be a smart *kitten*. You say you analyze you runs by looking at your HRM results post run. What information are you looking at and how does it help your running progression?

dreilingda

A HRM won't help you lose weight. It will tell you how hard you work when you exercise and how many calories you burn but there's no magic about it for weight loss.

This answer came in early, and I'm quoting it because it's the most relevant, sensible statement you're ever going to hear about weight loss and HRMs.

You are training for a long distance race, so you already have a training program that will help you get fit. That, eating in a calorie deficit is all that you need. HRMs do not lose weight for you, they don't speed up weight loss, they don't make your exercise routine more efficient. They don't do anything. Yet so many people, people that I respect, ;people on my FL that I know work out hard, list their exercises as "Running with HRM" as if that's different from, you know, "Running".

Save your money, eat properly, and train hard for your race. Honestly, I've seen HRMs slow weight loss more than speed it up (fat burning zone, anyone?)

I really have to disagree with your idea that HRM's don't do anything. They do exactly what's advertised; read your HR and give you that information. It's just one more piece of information that may or may not be of use to you. Do you need that info? No, but some people might find it useful.

If you wanted to give a more accurate warning about training with a HRM, it would be more like the following.

1) HRM's at best will only give you an estimate of calories burned. Expect a healthy margin of error, especially if you don't know your true max HR.
2) There is no "perfect" zone to train in. Learning to understand the effort you must train at is more important than anything else.

I think I understand what you're trying to say but I've seen so many runner's telling people to throw away their HRM's and I just think a little sound advice is needed. I thoroughly enjoy being able to fully analyze my runs afterwards, whether that makes me more effecient or not.

I agree, HRMs do work perfectly well for reading heart rate. But the OP specifically asked if they would help her get fitter and lose weight, not help read her heart rate. So for her needs, the answer is a clear and emphatic NO.

Question for you, and I'm not trying to be a smart *kitten*. You say you analyze you runs by looking at your HRM results post run. What information are you looking at and how does it help your running progression?

I still think they can be helpful to lose weight if you are utilizing a sight like this to count calories. The estimated caloric burn might come with a margin of error, but it is still one of your best options to try to budget your calories. I'm not saying it has to be done this way, but it clearly works for a lot of people.

To answer your question, the HRM I use reads pace, elevation, HR, and maps my route for me post run. I would say that the HR data for me helps more to back up my feeling about my improvement (or lack thereof). I like to examine the basic HR to pace comparitive curve for similar runs. I don't think it really improves my progression as much as just adds another piece of information for me to verify that I am improving (think short and long term trends). I try not to pay too much attention to my HR while I'm actually running unless I am doing a Tempo run and aiming for a specific new faster pace. And that's mostly just to make sure I'm not overdoing it just to reach that pace. On top of all that, I'm just a bit of a stats/data geek and it gives me more to look at in between runs.

Dr_sparky

I agree, HRMs do work perfectly well for reading heart rate. But the OP specifically asked if they would help her get fitter and lose weight, not help read her heart rate. So for her needs, the answer is a clear and emphatic NO.

Question for you, and I'm not trying to be a smart *kitten*. You say you analyze you runs by looking at your HRM results post run. What information are you looking at and how does it help your running progression?

I still think they can be helpful to lose weight if you are utilizing a sight like this to count calories. The estimated caloric burn might come with a margin of error, but it is still one of your best options to try to budget your calories. I'm not saying it has to be done this way, but it clearly works for a lot of people.

To answer your question, the HRM I use reads pace, elevation, HR, and maps my route for me post run. I would say that the HR data for me helps more to back up my feeling about my improvement (or lack thereof). I like to examine the basic HR to pace comparitive curve for similar runs. I don't think it really improves my progression as much as just adds another piece of information for me to verify that I am improving (think short and long term trends). I try not to pay too much attention to my HR while I'm actually running unless I am doing a Tempo run and aiming for a specific new faster pace. And that's mostly just to make sure I'm not overdoing it just to reach that pace. On top of all that, I'm just a bit of a stats/data geek and it gives me more to look at in between runs.

Dreilingda, Which one is it that you use?

dreilingda

I own a Polar FT7, Garmin Forerunner, and a Polar RC3 GPS (just picked this one up a few weeks ago). For running and biking I am loving the RC3 but I have heard that it doesn't work for swimming and the watch is only mildy waterproof. I still use the FT7 when I'm lifting weights but it's just to make sure my heart rate has fallen sufficiently between sets.