Should I wear my HRM during strength training?!

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skinnyitaliannn
skinnyitaliannn Posts: 187
in Fitness and Exercise
or just cardio activities? I'm hearing so many mixed messages about this, and I don't wanna include calories burned from strength if I really shouldn't be.

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  • Jynus
    Jynus Posts: 519 Member
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    you can wear it during strength training if you want, just understand it may be off by a significant amount. strength training uses anaerobic pathways to do work. HRM's measure aerobic pathways to do work. 2 totally different energy systems in the body.
  • skinnyitaliannn
    skinnyitaliannn Posts: 187
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    Thank you :)
  • RainbootsToBikinis
    RainbootsToBikinis Posts: 465 Member
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    Honestly don't bother, it's going to hugely overestimate calories. I've had hour long strength training sessions where my HRM gave me burns in the 800, for me I would need to run 8.5 mph to get the same burn. Now that I have my bodybugg I can really see how much it overestimates, and it really is by at least 300 calories.
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
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    You can wear it just to see your heart rate and adjust recovery time between sets but don't use it to estimate calories burned during strength training. It won't be nearly as accurate. I never log calories burned during strength training.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
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    you can wear it, just don't log it unless it specifically has a setting for strength training.
  • nicehormones
    nicehormones Posts: 503 Member
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    I wear mine during strength training because I believe in trying to eat some or all of my exercise calories back. Also, I am probably OCD. :P

    But really, it is a good indicator of letting you know how hard you are working. Plus, you'll burn more calories if you are doing dumb bell curls with lunges rather than doing them on their own.
  • dwh77tx
    dwh77tx Posts: 513 Member
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    I do- I like to see my HR going up during the harder exercises on my DVD.
  • Jynus
    Jynus Posts: 519 Member
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    But really, it is a good indicator of letting you know how hard you are working.
    Yes and no. For cardio yes you are correct. For strength training, not so much. Yes your heartrate increases, but it's not an indication of intensity exertion that gives a comparison metric to go by.

    A far better metric for measuring intensity while strength training is to lift a heavier weight than you have ever done before. then next time you work out, lift more.
  • msperkey3
    msperkey3 Posts: 93 Member
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    I wear mine...always. Strength training can have a big cardio affect! My heart rate is almost as high working my legs as it is when I do cardio
  • TiffaniLeigh_BeautyFit
    TiffaniLeigh_BeautyFit Posts: 3
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    Yes, plain and simple. Calories are expended during anaerobic activity as well as aerobic activity. PLUS, you NEED to eat for your activity level, otherwise you'd be under-eating and not getting adequate nutrition like I see so many on here do.

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