Heart rate monitor problem

dwarfer22

So yesterday I thought I'd try my Polar HRM w/ chest strap out while doing 30 day shred (got HRM few days ago). So I start it up, start workout, and bam! no heartrate. It appears that it can't track my rate if I am doing jumpingjacks or jumprope. Is this something I can try to fix on my own? More water on electrodes, tighter strap?... Or am I just out of luck? I hope to be able to get to the place physically where I can jog for 2 miles a day (right now it's more power walk w/ bursts of jog. Does anyone else have this problem? Maybe it is bcz I am too fat and the monitor is too far from inner organs to track rate. Thoughts and suggestions would be most helpful.

robin52077

the strap should be tight, if it slips at all and loses contact with skin it won't read. All I do to wet the contact areas (I have a polar F4) is lick my finger and rub it on the 2 contact areas. put it right where the band of your bra would go and tighten it as much as possible. If it still doesn't work you may need a smaller size band? Or something is wrong with it? Is this the first time you tried to use it? Have you gotten it to read a HR previously?
(Did you remember to press "start" when you started?) J/k...lol

robin52077

forgot to add, I use mine during 30DS, jogging, jumping jacks, the works...and it always works...

dwarfer22

I have gotten it to work b4 and same as you, lick and swipe (eww) but effective. It works fine for everything but the jumping bits. I was just thinking maybe cz I am so big, the bouncing of the fat layer over the area was hindering the reading. I actually lost about 120 lbs so I have alot of loose skin as well. Idk. and considering that the jumping jacks and stuff are my main cardio boosters, for it to not read that is pretty much making it useless for the whole routine.

Jax67

I have to agree with robin, try tightening the strap. I found that when i was running on the treadmill it didn't register and i found the the wire of my bra had somehow worked its way between me and the strap.

I now wear a sports bra - no wires and have tightened the strap quite a bit, it ain't going nowhere now! lol

Good luck i hope you find something that works for you :happy:

robin52077

someone said once that they wore it just ABOVE their breasts across the chest. I never tried it, but it can't hurt to give it a shot, right?

dwarfer22

Thx for the suggestions. I will try cinching the heck out of it first. I do wear a sports bra and I did try to put it over the strap to hold it in place but maybe it is still too loose. I think If I had a smaller chest I would try going above but I think the girls would get in the way Gonna try and shred in a bit and see how it works. Thx again

lilchino4af

I ran into an issue with my HRM ocassionally not registering my HR and after a few days it stopped registering completely. After looking up the error in the manual, found out it was because the battery had died in the chest strap. I haven't had it long (since Feb), so either I've used it A LOT, or it was a defective battery. So if tightening your chest strap doesn't work, try swapping out the battery.

wb2glp

Sound to me like RFI(radio frequency interference), EMI (electro-magnetic interference) or HCI ( hairy chest interference). :-)

Check out this link from Polar on the subject.

http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/support/faqs?product=&category=General&documenttitle=Abnormal+Heart+Rate+Readings+During+Exercise&document=/gip/PEUS1kb-public.nsf/web_cat/85256F470048B0BCC225743A003F744E

kylielouttit

I have a similar problem. The strap is as tight as it goes but loses its signal if I do any sort of bending posture (like in P90X Yoga). It's very frustrating!