Is my heart rate monitor wrong? How can I fix it?

Ebwash89
Ebwash89 Posts: 180 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi guys! I have a Polar chest strap heart rate monitor and I've started to notice that my calories burned matches the time I workout. An example if I worked out 45 minutes I burned 450 calories, 50 minutes 500 calories regardles of how hard I worked. Has anyone elses Polar HRM done this? What could be wrong because I know I burned more than that doing Insanity for 45 minutes

Replies

  • rosered93
    rosered93 Posts: 69 Member
    10 calories a minute is actually a pretty high number--I wouldn't consider it to be an underestimate for working at max, given that you don't appear to be (from your profile picture) overweight. Massive calorie burns tend to be more for people with a greater body mass. Once you're more in the normal range, your max calorie burn per minute decreases.
  • SyntonicGarden
    SyntonicGarden Posts: 944 Member
    I have the Polar FT4 with the chest strap and noticed that with the higher intensity workouts, that yeah, I can get 10 cals a minute easily. Sometimes, I'll even get more of a burn in. (I have 188 cals in a 17 min workout.)

    I say if you want to test it, perhaps consider doing a lower intensity workout and see if it does the same thing. Go for a 10 minute leisurely walk and see if it does the same thing.

    It could just be that you are working that hard and burning that hard.
  • Karmarie24
    Karmarie24 Posts: 48 Member
    Depending on which model you have you can do a fitness test (sometimes called an ownzone test in Polar). You do this first thing in the morning by strapping on the chest strap, and running the fitness test from the watch.

    This helps customize it to your specifications better. Also make sure your height, and weight are accurate in the watch's settings.

    The strap can go bad, I've been through a ton of them, but I'm a distance runner who uses mine about 15 hours a week. You normally notice your heart rate at 0, then jumping to 200+, back to zero. If it does that you'll either need a new battery for the chest unit, or a new strap.

    HTH!
  • ZyheeMoongazer
    ZyheeMoongazer Posts: 343 Member
    Also be sure you are cleaning the strap after each workout session. I noticed mine was giving wacky readings when I neglected to clean it properly.

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