Heart rate or perceived exertion?

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SassJess81
SassJess81 Posts: 75 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Are cardio machine heart rate monitors accurate? And should I just trust how I feel instead of the HR? I'm currently doing intervals on the elliptical where I go full out effort for about a minute at a time. HR monitor during high intensity gets up to about 170 and drops down to about 150 during low intensity interval. My resting HR is about 76. Advice?

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  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    I would go with how you feel, rate of perceived exertion. Gripping the handles and waiting for a reading is not all that accurate.
  • nicolemarie999
    nicolemarie999 Posts: 91 Member
    edited March 2016
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    I personally never pay much attention to my heart rate. I go by how I feel....

    Edit to say: I'm pretty sure the two are closely correlated anyway
  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,031 Member
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    I'm sure the HRM is accurate on machines... However, my "Max heart rate" barely has me out of breath, so I lean towards "perceived exertion"
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    Using the HRM handles on the elliptical we own is just as accurate as directly pairing to the machine, and matches with a bike computer I use. The pairing on both the bike computer and elliptical is via chest strap.

    So if it's reading, there is a good chance it is reading accurately.

    Being that your resting HR isn't low, chances are that your exercising HR is going to be on the high side as well. That will change with time if you keep at it. Depending on the machine you use, it may have an effort metric that is useful for gauging changes. On the elliptical we own, using calories per minute is the single best gauge of effort IMO. Using that it's easy to figure out the point where my HR will climb vs maintain vs drop.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    edited March 2016
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    I go by HRM. I was trained at an early age to push myself, and I'm not able to perceive what constitutes too high a heart rate until it's way over my max.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    The heart rate numbers are accurate, but there can be wide variability in max heart rate among individuals. So you always have to correlate the heart rate number with your feelings of perceived exertion (breathing).

    Over time you should be able to develop your own "scale" where you will know what HR corresponds to "x" level of effort for you.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Another vote for perceived exertion!
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    Agree on perceived exertion.

    Spurious accuracy is rife in this world.
  • cadkins32672
    cadkins32672 Posts: 9 Member
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    depends on the machine but most are fairly accurate. Go on how you feel, you can get to concerned on what your heart rate is and freak yourself out. 80% of max HR is what people say but I tend to just go and look at my fitness watch later and see what my max was. typically around 170
  • richardcorfield
    richardcorfield Posts: 7 Member
    edited March 2016
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    I've adjusted my max heart rate to the highest I've seen read while exercising (excepting spurious readings from chest strap not contacting properly). It's higher than my age calculated max, but not by much.

    The zones are interesting. I'm using zones based on heart rate reserve (percentage of max - min) and they seem pretty OK. They're revised up from the default zones based on percentage max, which seems odd as my resting rate is lower than average. It means I'm 'working hard' at 170bpm. I can sustain that for a 10k run. I would have trouble trying to hold a conversation at that rate. I think the zones generally seem accurate, if only very slightly low.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Perceived exertion unless you have specific and fairly serious/advanced cardio sport ambitions.

    There's a huge variation in min/max and exercise HR amongst the fit let alone the unfit.
  • Ws2016
    Ws2016 Posts: 432 Member
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    SassJess81 wrote: »
    Are cardio machine heart rate monitors accurate? And should I just trust how I feel instead of the HR? I'm currently doing intervals on the elliptical where I go full out effort for about a minute at a time. HR monitor during high intensity gets up to about 170 and drops down to about 150 during low intensity interval. My resting HR is about 76. Advice?

    I do the same each day on the elliptical. Generally I ignore the hrm and put my finger to my carotid for10 secs x 6. Still, I hardly bother with heart rate as I know I'm aerobic. Guess I do it more out of old habit.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
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    I do the elliptical, and wear a HRM sometimes while holding the handles my heart rate will be all over the place, I have to let go to get a good reading.
  • SassJess81
    SassJess81 Posts: 75 Member
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    Thanks everyone. I have to get my heart rate up to get an endorphin rush and that's what keeps me exercising!
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    The thing with perceived exertion is that you have to focus more on overall effort and especially on breathing. Localized muscle fatigue can be deceptive, esp for highly focused exercises such as cycling or stair climbing Studies have shown that during those activities, RPE is higher and HR lower compared to more dynamic movements like running or ellipticals.

    When people have been coached properly, RPE has been shown to be as reliable as a HRM.

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