How to measure your heart rate, if you can't afford one?!

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krhn
krhn Posts: 781 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have personally had a few HRM in the past few years but in the past year or so, I tended to not wear it, it's just not exactly essential if you are focused on improving your fitness levels or trying to lose fat/weight! "Will power alone can do that anyway!"

But if you do want to simulate a similar experience then use the old school PE method! "Two fingers on your wrist and look at the time (15 seconds) then multiply it by 4 and there you go, heart rate monitor for free!"

I don't do that but my way isn't necessarily accurate, simply put, hand on your chest, is it beating fast? "Yes?" Your doing the correct exercise for losing calories.

Hope I solved any queries which may have sounded stupid to ask!

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  • ann3h
    ann3h Posts: 10
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    well im not a fitness expert but I never heard of feeling ur chest beat as part of a way to measure your heart rate. I'd just stick with what your doing :]
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,843 Member
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    Actually I take my pulse on my neck for 10 seconds and multiply that by 6 and it gives the same results.

    The issue with doing that vs having a HR monitor is most people are looking for an accurate measurement of calories burn. Sure your heart might be beating at 180 BPM during a super intense workout but what does that translate for calories burned? And what about when your HR recovers? Mine recovers super fast so that would skew my burned calories quite a bit. However if you are just looking for an "estimate" of BPM during your workout to see if you're working out as hard as you should then yes, the pulse check method is a good indicator.

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