HRM user, I have a question for you....

cln714
cln714 Posts: 174 Member
edited September 21 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm wondering... How do you use yours?

I use mine mostly for the calorie counter. I just set myself a goal and as soon as I reach my calories burned, I know I've done my job and can stop exercising. Is this what you guys do???

I noticed that it does motivate me to stay in the "fitness zone" so I don't have to spend the entire evening at the gym.

Is there other ways I could benefit from my HRM that I am unaware of???

Replies

  • Chenoachem
    Chenoachem Posts: 1,758 Member
    There are whole books on how to use a HRM to improve your fitness and training. I personally use mine to monitor my exertion level. I use mine for running mostly. So if it is suppose to be an easy run, I keep my HR around 140 and what ever pace it is, it is. When I am doing speed workouts I make sure my HR is above 150. Not only do the different workouts improve fitness, they improve endurance.

    I used to use how hard I was breathing. Now I ignore that part and look to see what the HR reads. If I am at the level I want, I keep on going as I am.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    I use mine for calories as well, but I don't set a limit. I usually do a 1 hour workout daily. The intensity varies, sometimes if I really am tired I'll just walk on the treadmill, other days I run and do weight lifting and I go till I feel done, so sometimes I'll even do 1.5 hours or whatever.

    Then I end the session and it's always a surprise to see exactly how many calories I've earned. usually between 300-900 though.
  • nehtaeh
    nehtaeh Posts: 2,849 Member
    I use mine for calorie counting. I do a workout, and the amount of cals burned is what it is. Usually I'm doing a dvd or a pre-set program on my elliptical. I have kept going a few mins. on the elliptical to get my cals. burned to a round number, but I don't base my workout on that.
  • canstey
    canstey Posts: 118
    It depends on what I am doing. For biking I use it to keep track of my average/max heart rate and calories so I can see how my fitness is improving but my ride is determined by how I feel and how much time I have. I see how I did rather than using the HRM to drive my ride. When I take the dog for a walk I use it mostly to get an estimate of how many calories burned but also to see how if my heart rate is now lower (increased fitness) for the walk over time.
  • phillips87
    phillips87 Posts: 4 Member
    Have any of you found that your VO2 max is low when you test? I had mine done for a fitness test that my gym offers and it was 53.3 which is really good.
    When I got my Polar and did it mine came up first @ 24 then @ 29. I can't understand why there is such a difference and I wonder if it is effecting my calorie reading.
    Any ideas on this?
  • katbass
    katbass Posts: 351 Member
    Most days, Im like you :) I primarily watch those calories burning, paying littel attention to how long Ive been working out. Some days I do a DVD or a preset program on my treadmill and I stop working out when its finished. But most days, I like to work out til I hit at LEAST 400 calories burned, rather than XX number of minutes. I love that I now know that "Program 5" on my treadmill can burn approximately 440 calories every time...and the Shred can burn about 240 each time. Now Im starting to notice that I burn fewer calories doing the same exercises because my endurance is building and my fitness level is improving.

    I love knowing when I go over my target heart range, as I tend to overdo it sometimes, and then burn out too fast. The HRM settles me down :) I had a regular HRM for a while, and it was nice...but I seriously wouldnt workout without my calorie counting Polar :) Its too much fun seeing those calories burn!
  • lculian
    lculian Posts: 313 Member
    I use it primarily for Calorie information. BUT on my "crazy walks" I keep it on the Max Heart rate so I know how hard I'm working. During my sprints, lunges, hammer time :tongue: etc. and then I only let it fall to a certain point, when it gets back down to 72% I start another round of craziness. At the end I'm always pleasantly surprised at how many calories I burned!
  • SuzanneRogers
    SuzanneRogers Posts: 250 Member
    I workout to dvd or pre-programed workout on elliptical or treadmill, when the program is done I use the calories burned to put in MFP. If I do a 20 minutes workout dvd and I need more calories burned I will jump on treadmill or elliptical for another 20-30 minutes, my goal is at least 400 a day 5-6 days a week.
  • cln714
    cln714 Posts: 174 Member
    Most days, Im like you :) I primarily watch those calories burning, paying littel attention to how long Ive been working out. Some days I do a DVD or a preset program on my treadmill and I stop working out when its finished. But most days, I like to work out til I hit at LEAST 400 calories burned, rather than XX number of minutes. I love that I now know that "Program 5" on my treadmill can burn approximately 440 calories every time...and the Shred can burn about 240 each time. Now Im starting to notice that I burn fewer calories doing the same exercises because my endurance is building and my fitness level is improving.

    I love knowing when I go over my target heart range, as I tend to overdo it sometimes, and then burn out too fast. The HRM settles me down :) I had a regular HRM for a while, and it was nice...but I seriously wouldnt workout without my calorie counting Polar :) Its too much fun seeing those calories burn!

    Oh my gosh... You sound just like ME!! I try to burn 400 too... and, like you, it's getting harder and harder!! Ugh!! And, like you, I simply CAN NOT workout without my Polar. LOL It's really become a major motivator for me. :)
  • mrsyatesy
    mrsyatesy Posts: 173
    I use mine for lots of different things - but mainly for calories burnt.
    I like to watch it at the end of my workout to see how quickly my heart rate returns to resting rate. I also like to measure my intervals for my runs - it tells me per kilometer how fast I have run (or how slowly!) and I can check that on my computer against another similar run and see how they compare (mine is a Garmin with the usb interface). The other thing I like is to see where I really put the effort in and when I am just cruising - I can get a little "easy" on my gym workout and if I see that my HRM says I am only at 128/130 I give myself a good kick in the backside to get it up to where it should be by either increasin my effort or the resistance!
    God help me the day my HRM doesn't work - I ahve been known to go home from the gym to get it when I have reaslied it is not in my bag!
    Nice to know I am not the only obsessive one!!
    :bigsmile:
  • canstey
    canstey Posts: 118
    Have any of you found that your VO2 max is low when you test? I had mine done for a fitness test that my gym offers and it was 53.3 which is really good.
    When I got my Polar and did it mine came up first @ 24 then @ 29. I can't understand why there is such a difference and I wonder if it is effecting my calorie reading.
    Any ideas on this?

    How was the fitness test at the gym done? VO2 max of 53.3 is pretty good. Yes, the higher the VO2 max setting on the Polar, the more calories per minute burned so if you want accurate calorie computation, you need to get the VO2 max and max heart rate set as accurately as possible.

    The Polar VO2 Max measurement is based mostly upon heart rate variability at rest. The more variable your heart rate at rest, the better fitness. The chart was built by using an exact VO2 Max measurement from an accurate test of several hundred people and then measuring their heart rate variability and maybe some other features of the heart rate profile. Now HRV and the overall profile was not enough to accurately predict VO2 Max because an athlete and a couch potato could have the identical profiles according to the watch but very different VO2 Max values according to the VO2 Max measurements. So Polar added a self-reported activity setting for the last 3 months of low, moderate, high, and athlete so they could build 4 different profile curves that were pretty accurate at predicting VO2 max and then they tested the predictions against the accurately measured VO2 max of another hundred or so individuals that were not part of the original group.

    All of that background is necessary so you can understand that the most important part of the Polar VO2 Max calculation is the Low, Mod, High, Athlete setting. It also means that if you have been Low but start a High level fitness plan, the Polar cannot accurately predict your VO2 max as your fitness improves. For accuracy it requires that your fitness and activity have been stable for the past 3 months. If you take the test 4 times in a row but change the user setting from Low, Mod, High, and Athlete you will see the VO2 Max keep going up so pick the setting that best describes the last 3 months and understand the HRM's limitations.
  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
    For calories burned mainly and to monitor my HR in Spin Class so I dont over do it
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