When to wear a HRM?

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charleigh78
charleigh78 Posts: 247 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I ordered a polar HRM, hoping to get a better idea of calories burned. When is this feature accurate? I understand that it is accurate for running, elliptical, etc but what about gardening (digging, weeding, etc) or walking?

Just out of curiosity, when do you wear or NOT wear your HRM?

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  • gypsy_spirit
    gypsy_spirit Posts: 2,107 Member
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    Most are recommended for steady state cardio only. Read the accompanying info about your specific HRM.
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
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    I wear mine for any planned exercise. I don't wear it for routine activities such as grocery shopping, doing laundry, etc. If you routinely garden, I wouldn't wear it then. If you're spending an entire weekend doing some sort of landscape overhaul, I'd consider wearing it.

    I know that it's not the best for anything other than a constant state of cardio, but I still wear it for things like strength training because it falls into my "planned exercise." That's just me.
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
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    HRM's are accurate only for cardio exercise. They are not accurate to gauge calorie expenditure for non-cardio activities.
  • Rerun201
    Rerun201 Posts: 125 Member
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    I wear mine during all exercise sessions, including resistance training. My wife wears hers whenever she knows she'll be doing some housework that is usually above the ordinary.
  • StraubreyR
    StraubreyR Posts: 631 Member
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    Walking, biking, running, anything aerobic. I will wear it for gardening if I'm doing things like digging/shoveling (like planting trees, or making a new garden bed) or mowing the lawn (reel mower), but not for things like weeding/watering plants. Bascially if I'm going to work up a good sweat while I'm doing it, I will wear the HRM--if I remember!
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    You can wear it whenever you want. It will only be accurate for cardio exercises though. If you are wearing it for gardening and stuff like that, the number will be remarkably inflated.
  • charleigh78
    charleigh78 Posts: 247 Member
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    I wear mine during all exercise sessions, including resistance training. My wife wears hers whenever she knows she'll be doing some housework that is usually above the ordinary.

    Do you find it close to accurate for resistance training?
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    Steady state stuff where your heart rate is elevated a chunk is a good guide. The motoactv has settings for quite a lot of less conventional activities and has an integral GPS and pedometer to judge movement, but some will presume you are constantly moving at that heart rate.

    For instance, if I'm cycling gently I'm still burning a good few calories than listening to some loud dance music while sitting down, but my heart rate might actually be higher in the latter example - so some HRMs will record that as a higher calorie burn.

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