Using Heart-Rate Monitor to get Fit?

Irv2015
Irv2015 Posts: 15 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi - Thinking about buying a fit bit HR - but not sure how to use heart rate monitoring to get back into shape. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Replies

  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    I use mine to set goals and track my progress towards those goals. The fitbit HR does more than just record heart rate, it records steps taken, calories burned and more. Some people set a goals like 10,000 steps a day and check their fitbit to see their progress and work to acheive that goal each day .
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited January 2016
    I think you might be disappointed in a wrist HR, IMHO. You are asking if the HR will help get you fit, then no. It can help you determine an approx calorie burn for steady state cardio exercising but that is about it.

    Now if you want to track a bunch of health related things such as sleep, calories, calories burned during the day, how many steps you walk in the day, then you may want to invest $150+ to get the tracker with an HR.

    The HR I use is a soft strap HR with Garmin vivosmart as the wrist HR on the Fitbit was highly inaccurate and elevated calorie burns)..

    Did this help me get fit, no. It is a good motivator if you want to use it to challenge yourself such as how much you move during the day, but you got to put in the work.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    do you wear the soft strap all the time (24 hrs a day) or just during cardio? i have a softstrap that goes with my treadmill and its so annoying, i dont like wearing it.
  • Irv2015
    Irv2015 Posts: 15 Member
    Thanks! Great points above!
  • Annabella402
    Annabella402 Posts: 12 Member
    The chest strap ones are more accurate if you want very accurate heart rate monitoring, but the wrist ones are more comfortable and convenient because they are all in one fitness trackers including steps, heart rate,steps, calories and sleep monitoring. The accuracy isn't bad if you pay for the higher end ones. I tried one of the Polar chest strap ones and I hated wearing the strap, so got a wrist one instead which does all the other tracking stuff. I find mine(Fitbit Surge) really keeps me motivated and encourages me to go on.

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