Having your heart rate monitor on while weight training.

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Sunscreenandsweat
Sunscreenandsweat Posts: 190 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was wondering if it's a good idea to have your heart rate monitor going while doing some lifting? It's still exercise. Does anyone do that?
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  • Sweetsugar0424
    Sweetsugar0424 Posts: 451 Member
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    I would never lift without my HRM. It might not be a big burn like cardio, but it's still a burn that I like to track. Plus I do a circuit now so I like to see how high I can get my HR to go.
  • moustache_flavored_lube
    moustache_flavored_lube Posts: 849 Member
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    I do. Just be aware it will probably over report calorie burn if your average is below ~120BPM
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
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    Yes, I do. I notice the more weight I lift, the more calories I burn.
  • Mich4871
    Mich4871 Posts: 143 Member
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    I wear mine anytime I exercise. Cardio/Resistance/Weight Training.
  • meghan6867
    meghan6867 Posts: 388 Member
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    Yes. I mix in short 60 second bursts of cardio with my weight training and burn crap-ton-o-calories.
  • Linli_Anne
    Linli_Anne Posts: 1,360 Member
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    I wear mine...mostly out of curiousity to start with, and now because it would be weird not to.
  • YoungDoc2B
    YoungDoc2B Posts: 1,593 Member
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    You can wear it if you want, but the number isn't accurate.
  • Docmahi
    Docmahi Posts: 1,603 Member
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    i felt that mine was over-reporting
  • sardesc
    sardesc Posts: 34 Member
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    I wear it, but don't log the calories.
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
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    It's completely pointless.

    Best to just take it off.
  • tryNaBFit4ife
    tryNaBFit4ife Posts: 3 Member
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    I use to but then I read somewhere that the calculated calories is overestimated since weight training is more anaerobic than aerobic
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    I find that mine is often a distraction while weight lifting. My goal in the weight room isn't to have my heart rate as high as possible; it's to lift strongly and effectively with proper form. My HRM has a tendency to distract me from that goal.

    Also, keep in mind that HRMs are intended to measure cardio - steady-state in particular. The calorie burn reported from a strength training session is not likely to be accurate.

    I wear my HRM to time my sessions but I make a point of NOT looking at the calorie burn or heart rate and I will not allow myself to be disappointed by the calorie burn. I do report the "burn" from my strength training sessions mostly just for recordkeeping purposes.
  • ajsmommy2010
    ajsmommy2010 Posts: 60
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    I wear mine all the time :)
  • The_Angry_Fish_Guy
    The_Angry_Fish_Guy Posts: 40 Member
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    I burn more calories on LEG DAY than any cardio session. BAR NONE.
  • catm805
    catm805 Posts: 14
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    Heck, I use mine to log calories when I clean house.
    Last week I used it to log calories when I washed and waxed my car. It was over 200 cals...so yes, give yourself credit whenever possible.
  • nz_deevaa
    nz_deevaa Posts: 12,209 Member
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    I wear mine because my PT likes to know what my heart rate is, and will get me to rest until my heart rate is within a certain range.

    As mentioned, HRM's aren't designed to be accurate for calories burnt for lifting (only steady state cardio) so I will often round mine down if I'm logging it.

    I usually long a round figure slightly higher than the cardio warm-up/cool-down.
  • jaygreen55
    jaygreen55 Posts: 315 Member
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    I was wondering if it's a good idea to have your heart rate monitor going while doing some lifting? It's still exercise. Does anyone do that?

    Heart rate monitors are very inaccurate in counting calories during weight lifting because the activity is not continuous. Unless you are doing circuit training with no rest between sets the calorie count will be greatly exaggerated and if you eat back calories you think you burned you will over eat

    Personally I think my polar monitor over counts calories in general. I get around this by entering a weight that is 10 percent less than I actually weigh

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/hrms-cannot-count-calories-during-strength-training-17698


    http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=75

    Will a heart rate monitor accurately estimate how many calories I ...
    A heart rate monitor (HRM) is capable of estimating calorie burn pretty accurately—but only for aerobic (cardio) exercise, not for strength training. Here's why: ...
  • tageekly
    tageekly Posts: 3,755 Member
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    I do wear it, though I know it's not accurately reporting the calories. I use it more for timing in between sets.
  • cordianet
    cordianet Posts: 534 Member
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    You can wear it if you want, but the number isn't accurate.

    Kinda depends on what you're doing, but this is mostly true. HRM's were not designed for this. You have to understand that while your heart rate and the rate at which you burn calories CAN be related, the relationship is complex. Since effectively a HRM uses your heart rate to guess at calorie burn based on known information, it only makes sense that it can't do this for all ways and reasons your heart rate may be higher than normal. HRMs in general were designed for steady state, leg-dominant cardio such as running, walking, and biking. The further away your activity type is from this model, the more likely it is that the calorie burn is off.

    So I suppose if "weight training" means to you that you're doing a circuit training routine, then there might be some benefit from tracking calorie burn in this way, though the results may or may not be all that accurate. If, on the other hand, you're lifting heavy (say 75% of 1RM or greater), with adequate rest periods in-between sets, then the likelihood that your heart rate monitor is over-reporting your calorie burn by a considerable amount is pretty likely.
  • jaygreen55
    jaygreen55 Posts: 315 Member
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    the full text:


    SparkPeople's Fitness Tracker doesn't estimate calorie burn for strength training because so many variables are involved (how hard you're working, resting in between sets, the amount of weight you lift, etc.) that any estimate would not be very accurate. A heart rate monitor (HRM) is capable of estimating calorie burn pretty accurately—but only for aerobic (cardio) exercise, not for strength training. Here's why:

    A HRM won't give you an accurate idea of how many calories you burn during strength training, because the relationship between heart rate and calorie expenditure is not the same during strength training as during cardio exercise, which is what the HRM's estimate is based on. Unless your weight training is very vigorous circuit training, the heart rate monitor will be overestimating your calorie burn by a fair amount.

    The problem is a technical one. Calorie burning isn't determined by heart rate, it's determined by the number of muscle cells that are activated to perform a given activity. It's the working cells that actually use the energy (calories) and consume oxygen. When working muscle cells need more energy and oxygen, your heart rate goes up to deliver these things to the cells via the blood stream.

    Any muscle that performs a high intensity or maximum effort (strength training) will trigger an increase in heart rate and blood flow. But if only a single muscle group is on the receiving end to utilize that extra oxygen (doing a strength exercise that isolates your biceps, for example), only a relatively small amount of oxygen (and calories) will actually be consumed.

    So while a series of strength training exercises may elevate your heart rate like aerobic exercise does, you're not actually using as much oxygen and burning as many calories as you would be if you were steadily using several large muscles all at once, as when walking, running, swimming, or doing aerobics for example.

    The heart rate monitor doesn’t know whether your increase in heart rate is due to several large muscle groups working (cardio), an isolated muscle group lifting a weight (strength training), or even if adrenaline or excitement is increasing your heart rate. It just knows your heart rate, and the formulas it uses to estimate calories are based on studies of aerobic exercise, not other activities. So, it's going to overestimate your calorie expenditure when the rise in heart rate is stimulated by using isolated muscles at maximum intensity, which is what occurs during strength training.

    Written by Dean Anderson, Certified Personal Tr

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