Converting Heart Rate and VO2 max to calories burned

cvilledan
cvilledan Posts: 4
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone. I've recently purchased a heart rate monitor and have calculated my estimated VO2 using the Rockport Walk test (about 40.5). I've been poking around about how to use this information along with weight/age/heart rate/time to calculate calories burned doing a particular exercise. In doing this, I've used several on-line calculators and viewed a number of equations. The calculators tend to be inconsistent in the results and I've seen several different equations used. So, I'm looking for some help in sorting through this to find the most-accurate way to get a good estimate. A few questions:

1. I don't know my anaerobic threshold. Am I wasting my time without this information?

2. Does anyone have a suggestion for the most-accurate way (i.e. which formula is the best, which on-line calculator(s) are the most accurate) to calculate calories burned while exercising if I know VO2 max, time, heart rate, age and weight?

Thanks!

CvilleDan

Replies

  • carbonboy
    carbonboy Posts: 729
    This may be a silly question, but why don't you just get a heart rate monitor that calculates calories burned for you? Since you're estimating your VO2 max anyway, it would probably be just as accurate. It sounds like a lot of calculating, especially if you're doing mixed workouts with strength and cardio. Just my 2 cents though. Oh, and by the way, it sounds like you would be averaging your heart rate over the course of your workouts, which might skew your results as well.
  • watkinsc
    watkinsc Posts: 177 Member
    anaerobic threshold is for strength building, think sprint vs areobic which is endurance, like marathon..

    Just wondering though, why you are testing this? Are you training for something extreme? Usually to find the VO2, the athlete is tested in a controlled manner, like a treadmill and there is a physician/medic present.

    It's been in the news a bit lately actually. When they talk about marathon runners, and also occupations like firemen. Because of the intense workload they put on their hearts during a marathon, or for firemen, running up and down stairs with full gear. They actually temporarily damage their hearts durning such strenous activity. And have a higher risk of Cardiac Arrest durning those activities.

    I can only speak to you as a ICU RN with a strong cardiac background. I am not sure what personal trainers, or even a cardiologist would advise. But, honestly, I would advise being careful with this if you are testing this alone. I also wonder about the devices ability to be accurate given the conditions are maybe not controlled enough where you are testing yourself.

    Stay healthy my friend!
  • cvilledan
    cvilledan Posts: 4
    The reason I've been doing things this way was because I already had a Garmin GPS/bicycle computer that communicates wirelessly with a proprietary heart monitor. I purchased the add-on heart monitor which, it turns out, only provides heart rate (and which, as you suggest carbonboy, requires me to make a guess as to my average heart rate)/ I probably should consider getting a more-comprehensive heart rate monitor as that would solve the problem.

    I'm not training for a marathon or anything--just trying to learn. For me, just understanding the process itself helps me make better choices about what I do. This all started because I found it hard to figure out, through available on-line tools, how much of a workout I was really getting.

    Thanks for the input!

    CvilleDan
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