How accurate is your Heart Rate Monitor?

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Phaedra2014
Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have a Timex WR 30M. It asks to plug in my weight, max and min HR (which I calculated with 220-age) and that's about it. Today it showed that I burned 950 calories while exercising in a group setting. The instructor said we did work very hard today so it was probably correct.

It seems really high to me. How accurate are HRMs? Should I get a better one? Mine wasn't that expensive and it's not too fancy either.

Replies

  • dondimitri
    dondimitri Posts: 245 Member
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    It is difficult to comment on without knowing how long did you work out? And how much do you weigh? How old are you? Your weight has a lot to do with your burn rate.

    If 45 minutes then that implies you were working out at over 20 calories/minute which is getting up there a bit...As a 63 yo 170 lb male who does a reasonable amount of cardio I would not be able to maintain 20 cal/min for 45 minutes. Maybe I could go 10 minutes... I don't know...

    If 90 minutes then you're at a little over 10 calories/minute. That's a more reasonable rate but most classes don't last that long do they?

    We need more data. :smile:

    Edited to add: I did a google search of Timex HRMs and it seems like a lot of people are commenting upon the high calorie burn numbers they are getting.
  • Phaedra2014
    Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
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    Thank you for replying. I am 46, 162lbs and the class lasted about 70 minutes. It was mostly all high impact with cardio and strength.
  • dondimitri
    dondimitri Posts: 245 Member
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    950 calories per 70 minutes would average out to about a 13.5 cal/min burn rate. That rate seems reasonable but I don't do that type of cardio so I'm a little out of my league here.

    My gut reaction is that the calories burned number you got seems a tad bit high but would certainly be achievable given the right person and circumstances, etc., etc. blah, blah, blah... LOL :smile:

    One test you could do if you know someone in the class who also has a HRM: Swap HRMs and then compare the readings you got between the two on two days when you did roughly the same class. (It would be a better test if the other HRM was not a Timex.)
  • Flab2fitfi
    Flab2fitfi Posts: 1,349 Member
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    I burnt 500 calories in 40 mins running/walking so seems very reasonable.
  • Jamie430
    Jamie430 Posts: 8 Member
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    With certain classes (like Body Pump), I burn about 650 in 50-60 minutes. So, I would say it could be possible if it was a pretty hard work out.
  • ze_hombre
    ze_hombre Posts: 377 Member
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    ~60 minutes of running a 10-11/min mile puts me around 800-900 calorie burn, so that sounds about right to me.
  • blackcloud13
    blackcloud13 Posts: 654 Member
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    Mine is dreadful. Consistently cuts out, and on the rare occasions it does, gives me calorie burns far higher than any other estimate. I just use it to monitor my heart rate - but should really just get a better one!
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
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    don't use one
  • Phaedra2014
    Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
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    Thank you all for your input. Swapping HRM is a good idea. if that is how much I burn, I need to eat some more. I've hit a plateau in the last month and ti could be from a new work out program but also because it exhausts me so much, I don't feel hungry. I don't advocate feeling hungry.

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