Dou YOU wear an HRM when you lift? Why or why not?

NorthCascades
NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm not asking about calories. That's not why I lift.

Keeping tabs on my HR pays dividends when I ride, hike, and run. When I run any real distance, I go the fastest by staying just under my LTHR. If I'm having a bad day on the bike, sometimes the relationship between my power output and my HR can give me a clue about why (bonking? dehydration? or fatigue?). It's less useful hiking, but I have an alert telling me to slow down when I get near my threshold, helps me pace myself on long hikes in the mountains with friends, when nobody wants to be the one holding the group up.

I've been lifting for about six months, and so far I haven't found any way to benefit from knowing or recording my HR. Is there anything I'm missing?

Replies

  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    I wear mine.. nothing elaborate other than to record the lifting as an "activity" and what small amount of calories I do burn which I allow it to adjust my total calories for the day (I do nothing with these calories) however I might use AVG HR and MAX HR captured in my lifting only because I do run 3 hours before lifting and they way I have my running setup through the week, it can give me a very small variable to consider in performance..
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    edited November 2016
    I record the lifting I do as an activity, regardless. I wear a Garmin watch, it only takes a couple of button presses, and then it's on my calendar.

    I'm only wondering if it makes sense to wear the chest strap while I do this.

    garmin_connect.jpg

    ^ Not my calendar. Just an example of why I keep a record. I have notes in there about what I did and how it felt.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    I track my workouts on my Apple Watch and it has a built-in HRM, but I don't pay much attention to it. I really can't see any good reason to wear an HRM while lifting unless your HR means something to you for some specific reason.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    I only wear a HRM when doing races to ensure I keep a steady pace.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Yes

    And I eat them all minus about 100 too

    Which is an anethama but is how my bio feedback works ..it must be based on supersetting
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    There is no reason physiologically to wear a HRM while lifting. The calorie counts are meaningless, and the HR readings themselves dont provide useful info either (referring to WEIGHT LIFTING, not circuit training).
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    edited November 2016
    The data record has no information value, so no.
  • Misssynth
    Misssynth Posts: 179 Member
    I wear my fitbit charge HR constantly to monitor how many calories I'm burning through the day, not just my work outs, but I do also set it to record the whole session when I hit the gym. Mine is just so I know how many extra calories I've burned and how hard I've worked, I compare each session with the last to monitor my progress.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    I'm not asking about calories. That's not why I lift.

    Keeping tabs on my HR pays dividends when I ride, hike, and run. When I run any real distance, I go the fastest by staying just under my LTHR. If I'm having a bad day on the bike, sometimes the relationship between my power output and my HR can give me a clue about why (bonking? dehydration? or fatigue?). It's less useful hiking, but I have an alert telling me to slow down when I get near my threshold, helps me pace myself on long hikes in the mountains with friends, when nobody wants to be the one holding the group up.

    I've been lifting for about six months, and so far I haven't found any way to benefit from knowing or recording my HR. Is there anything I'm missing?

    You're not missing anything - there is no benefit from knowing your HR when lifting. The weight on the bar/reps/sets is what (I assume you are already and) should be recording.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I used to wear one just to keep track of my recovery between sets (as soon as it dipped under 100bpm it's time for next set for example). Really that was only out of interest and at the time I was mostly lifting in a fast paced style.

    Can't be bothered these days and just go by feel. Often I wear the HRM watch as it has a timer and is waterproof but I don't put the chest strap on unless I'm doing cardio.
  • singletrackmtbr
    singletrackmtbr Posts: 644 Member
    I wear mine with a chest strap. Anecdotally I am in maintenance, and I have had no problem staying at my goal weight. I eat back all the calories my Garmin gives me.
  • jrdouce
    jrdouce Posts: 9 Member
    I wear mine, a garmin vivoactive HR, just to capture the activity to my dashboard.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I don't...I used to a long time ago but I could never determine the value of the data so I stopped.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    edited November 2016
    sijomial wrote: »
    I used to wear one just to keep track of my recovery between sets (as soon as it dipped under 100bpm it's time for next set for example). Really that was only out of interest and at the time I was mostly lifting in a fast paced style.

    Can't be bothered these days and just go by feel. Often I wear the HRM watch as it has a timer and is waterproof but I don't put the chest strap on unless I'm doing cardio.

    same here
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    edited November 2016
    No, because I don't care about my HR when I'm lifting. When I'm doing cardio I DO care as it's a cardiovascular activity (obviously!) and I'm interested where my HR is on intervals, as well as my recovery HR at rest intervals.
  • sarahkw04
    sarahkw04 Posts: 87 Member
    I wear one. We spend the first 20 or so minutes of our sessions doing circuit work as a warm up, then we superset everything. I don't eat the calories back, really - I focus on macros - but I like seeing the numbers.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    singletrackmtbr wrote: »
    I wear mine with a chest strap. Anecdotally I am in maintenance, and I have had no problem staying at my goal weight. I eat back all the calories my Garmin gives me.

    You have an F3HR, right? Another reason I wear the chest strap sometimes is to save juice in the watch. I'd just turn the wHRM off for strength training if I could, but I can't, and part of me feels like I shouldn't waste battery power on bad numbers.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    StealthHealth wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    I'm not asking about calories. That's not why I lift.

    Keeping tabs on my HR pays dividends when I ride, hike, and run. When I run any real distance, I go the fastest by staying just under my LTHR. If I'm having a bad day on the bike, sometimes the relationship between my power output and my HR can give me a clue about why (bonking? dehydration? or fatigue?). It's less useful hiking, but I have an alert telling me to slow down when I get near my threshold, helps me pace myself on long hikes in the mountains with friends, when nobody wants to be the one holding the group up.

    I've been lifting for about six months, and so far I haven't found any way to benefit from knowing or recording my HR. Is there anything I'm missing?

    You're not missing anything - there is no benefit from knowing your HR when lifting. The weight on the bar/reps/sets is what (I assume you are already and) should be recording.

    Ok, thanks. That's what I'm logging, and sometimes a brief note about how it felt. I can see the value in that for sure.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    I used to wear one just to keep track of my recovery between sets (as soon as it dipped under 100bpm it's time for next set for example). Really that was only out of interest and at the time I was mostly lifting in a fast paced style.

    Can't be bothered these days and just go by feel. Often I wear the HRM watch as it has a timer and is waterproof but I don't put the chest strap on unless I'm doing cardio.

    You know, "go by feel" doesn't work very well for me on the bike or when I run, because I get into the zone and tune everything out. But lifting is completely different, that doesn't happen. I always just wait until I feel recovered.

    I still wear the watch (it only comes off to charge) but I've been thinking about not wearing the chest strap anymore and it sounds like that's the right call. :smile:
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    I used to wear one just to keep track of my recovery between sets (as soon as it dipped under 100bpm it's time for next set for example). Really that was only out of interest and at the time I was mostly lifting in a fast paced style.

    Can't be bothered these days and just go by feel. Often I wear the HRM watch as it has a timer and is waterproof but I don't put the chest strap on unless I'm doing cardio.

    You know, "go by feel" doesn't work very well for me on the bike or when I run, because I get into the zone and tune everything out. But lifting is completely different, that doesn't happen. I always just wait until I feel recovered.

    I still wear the watch (it only comes off to charge) but I've been thinking about not wearing the chest strap anymore and it sounds like that's the right call. :smile:

    HRM chest straps stop you from bouncing the bar off your chest on bench press and therefore IMHO are performance de-hancing. ;)
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    I do not wear mine. Don't see a reason to.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    StealthHealth wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    I used to wear one just to keep track of my recovery between sets (as soon as it dipped under 100bpm it's time for next set for example). Really that was only out of interest and at the time I was mostly lifting in a fast paced style.

    Can't be bothered these days and just go by feel. Often I wear the HRM watch as it has a timer and is waterproof but I don't put the chest strap on unless I'm doing cardio.

    You know, "go by feel" doesn't work very well for me on the bike or when I run, because I get into the zone and tune everything out. But lifting is completely different, that doesn't happen. I always just wait until I feel recovered.

    I still wear the watch (it only comes off to charge) but I've been thinking about not wearing the chest strap anymore and it sounds like that's the right call. :smile:

    HRM chest straps stop you from bouncing the bar off your chest on bench press and therefore IMHO are performance de-hancing. ;)

    *Only applicable to men and tiny busted ladies. Heh.

    I wear mine but I do circuit/superset type stuff (Fitness Blender) so the numbers are for me to eat. If I was doing Strong Lifts (other lifting programs are available) I likely wouldn't and would just use it strictly for cardio stuff.

    I have the Garmin Vivoactive and pair with chest strap.
  • lyndseybellz
    lyndseybellz Posts: 62 Member
    i wear one to pair with my apple watch to track the length of my workouts as well as my TDEE for the day. if you dont care about your calories though i dont see why you'd need to. i just wanna make sure i'm eating around maintenance every day is my only reasoning.
  • JeffGVA
    JeffGVA Posts: 1 Member
    Great timing as I actually wore mine for the first time today. Did my regular cardio and then decided to hit the button for lifts. I was surprised to see how high my HR went (approaching 170) during sets. Made me realize (1) I am working hard, and (2) maybe too hard. Tracked kcals too. I like the idea mentioned by others of using it to know recovery time between sets. I will do that going forward as I don't want to keel over getting healthy particularly!
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    I've been interested in getting one and have looked into it, but I feel like people use them to track calories for the most part and I don't want to spend the money just to know exactly how many calories I burned. Then I'll just be more willing to eat whatever at the end of the day because I know I have X amount of calories leftover. I'd rather just work out hard, feel the burn, and eat back my set amount of macros that are alotted.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    No. Don't care enough about that stat.

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