Possibly stupid HRM question

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SuperScrabbleGirl
SuperScrabbleGirl Posts: 310 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Okay, so I know that even HRMs can't be totally accurate, but I just wanted to know:

Do the really fancy ones take your resting heart rate as well as your heart rate during exercise?

I also don't understand how the HRMs that don't take your resting heart rate can accurately tell how much you've worked out and therefore how many calories you've burned. I mean, if you do 30 mins at 70bpm and your resting heart rat is 25, then you'll have worked off more than someone who has a resting heart rate of 50 and does half an hour at 70 bpm. IN feel like this is such an obvious question that I must have missed something somewhere, or have the wrong end of the stick somehow.

Brainiacs?

Replies

  • jeff261159
    jeff261159 Posts: 385
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    You put your resting heart rate in your profile settings, also it assumes prior to working out you are resting.
  • sk3adik
    sk3adik Posts: 27
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    i have same question.. i wish someone will answer your post because i also want to know if i will get what i pay for you know. like, if i get a cheaper one, will it do the same job as the expensive one? or do i only get what i pay for?
  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
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    Mine didn't ask for resting heart rate, just maximium, which it calculates based on age, then adjusts if/when I exceed it.

    Your workouts are all based on a percentage of MAXIMUM heart rate, not base.
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
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    Mine didn't ask for resting heart rate, just maximium, which it calculates based on age, then adjusts if/when I exceed it.

    Your workouts are all based on a percentage of MAXIMUM heart rate, not base.

    does the polar ft4 ask for resting pulse - otherwise they wil be no good for anyone on meds whose resting HR is artificially lowered and therefore max hr is also lowered by the meds.
  • persian_star
    persian_star Posts: 197 Member
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    i have same question.. i wish someone will answer your post because i also want to know if i will get what i pay for you know. like, if i get a cheaper one, will it do the same job as the expensive one? or do i only get what i pay for?

    I'd like to know this too. I was toying with the idea of getting one but really can't afford an expensive one. I'm in the UK, checked on amazon and they can be over £100! :sick: So if anyone can recommend a good one that is less (i.e. less than £50 as an absolute top end cost) I'd really be interested.

    I don't really understand how these things work (and TBH this post has just confused me even more - does it mean it takes your heart rate while you're exercising then subracts your resting heart rate??) and how that translates into calories burnt, but I don't understand how mobile phones work either, I'm just glad they do :wink: But if anyone understands all the mechanics and can explain them to your average layman, that would be cool. Or I guess I could always stop being lazy and google it :smile:
  • Elleinnz
    Elleinnz Posts: 1,661 Member
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    Oh goodness I dont have all the answers, and my Suunto does not take resting HR into account - but here is how I approach it......

    I sit on the couch with my HRM on for 15 minutes - that gives me my base calories burned for 15 minutes... About 60 to 70 calories an hour last time I checked...

    So now when I exercise and burn 500 calories in an hour I will never "eat back" more than 400 of my exercise calories to compensate for my BMR.....

    hope that helps
  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
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    I'm no expert on hrm's but not sure why you all think resting heart rate is so important? This will drop lower as you get fitter, but otherwise all of the exercise plans are based on % of MAX heart rate.

    You can input this yourself if you know it (from a test/meds/etc) or it will work it out based on your age as an apporximation.

    You input your weight, age, max heart rate and it does some calcs to determine your cals burned. It's important to adjust your weight as it lowers as this will change the cals burned.


    In the UK the Suunto T1/M1 or Polar FT4 seem to be the cheapest with cals burned calculator.
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    Polar FT7 does, I'm pretty sure.

    Thats how it calculates your "zones"(fat burning/fitness) is off of what your resting heart rate is. As you exercise, it adjusts those zones because sometimes the resting heart rate is higher due to stress or lower due to meds.
  • THCamel
    THCamel Posts: 54 Member
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    i have same question.. i wish someone will answer your post because i also want to know if i will get what i pay for you know. like, if i get a cheaper one, will it do the same job as the expensive one? or do i only get what i pay for?

    I'd like to know this too. I was toying with the idea of getting one but really can't afford an expensive one. I'm in the UK, checked on amazon and they can be over £100! :sick: So if anyone can recommend a good one that is less (i.e. less than £50 as an absolute top end cost) I'd really be interested.

    I don't really understand how these things work (and TBH this post has just confused me even more - does it mean it takes your heart rate while you're exercising then subracts your resting heart rate??) and how that translates into calories burnt, but I don't understand how mobile phones work either, I'm just glad they do :wink: But if anyone understands all the mechanics and can explain them to your average layman, that would be cool. Or I guess I could always stop being lazy and google it :smile:

    I'm in Ireland and have bought a cheap model that seems just fine. It accurately measures my heart rate (It gives the same readings as my BP monitor) and works with most of the equipment at the gym. The calories burnt estimates are also comparable to the online calculators, so I'm hoping it is as accurate as the more expensive models too.

    http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9352687/Trail/searchtext>KINETIK.htm

    For that price it's definitely worth the punt!!

    Be warned though, the watch is apparently water resistant to 30m, however mine lasted 2min 10sec in the water before dying! Argos replaced without any quibbles though, so I'm all good :)
  • KMSForLife
    KMSForLife Posts: 605
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    I use the Polar F11 HRM. It does do resting HR as well as many other features age, weight, goal, etc. It has been a good tool - if you check on ebay, you can find them for under $100.
  • SuperScrabbleGirl
    SuperScrabbleGirl Posts: 310 Member
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    I'm no expert on hrm's but not sure why you all think resting heart rate is so important? This will drop lower as you get fitter, but otherwise all of the exercise plans are based on % of MAX heart rate.

    You can input this yourself if you know it (from a test/meds/etc) or it will work it out based on your age as an apporximation.

    You input your weight, age, max heart rate and it does some calcs to determine your cals burned. It's important to adjust your weight as it lowers as this will change the cals burned.


    In the UK the Suunto T1/M1 or Polar FT4 seem to be the cheapest with cals burned calculator.

    Well yeah, it needs one static heart rate though doesn't it? Either max or resting heart rate to compare the exercise rate with. Mine doesn't do that. Possibly because I paid £15 for it!
  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
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    Did you input your age on your watch? If so it will calculate your max heart rate based on that (220-your age=max heart rate...approximately)

    If you haven't inputted your age or you max heart rate I can't see how it's calculating your calories burned?


    Mine actually set my max at 187bpm, but as I hit 189bpm during a workout it increased my max to 189.
  • SuperScrabbleGirl
    SuperScrabbleGirl Posts: 310 Member
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    Yeah, my age is in there. So I guess it is all approximations, more so if you've got a cheaper one. Cool. Cheers!
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    You can't work out your car's mpg without knowing it's idling rpm is can you?
  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
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    You can't work out your car's mpg without knowing it's idling rpm is can you?

    No, but you can work out it's maximum power by thrashing it to it's maximum revs ;o)
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    :sigh:
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    As far as I know resting heart rate is not that important to their calculations. The one that is important is VO2 Max which has to do with oxygen uptake. That is a necessary number for accurate calorie calculations by a HRM. Most of the less expensive ones don't have an option to enter it, or a fit test to calculate it. I believe the better Polars have a fit test or way to enter that. Resting heart rate is more of an indication of fitness (unless artificially changed by meds or other things) not so much an indication of how much work a person is doing when their heart rate is elevated. The indication of how much work is what percent of VO2 Max a person is working at (at least in cardio exercise).

    Note: I am tired today as my 6 year old has not been well so sleep has not been easy to come by for us. I may have misstated some of the above due to that, but it looked right when I proof-read it.
  • SuperScrabbleGirl
    SuperScrabbleGirl Posts: 310 Member
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    OOoookay. The HRM needs one variable and one static value. It doesn't matter if it's resting heart rate or max heart rate. But it does need one variable. There. No more arguing.
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    I thought the static value would be the ratio of calories to beats per minute, with weight/height/age/sex/species factored in.

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