Help! Please explain best uses of HRM Thanks!

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Kel3369
Kel3369 Posts: 83 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi! I was very lucky that Santa brought me a HRM for Christmas this year. It is one that straps around your chest and you wear the watch to see it. It also will cause any machine you are on at the gym to show your heart rate continuously and you don't have to grab the handles to see it.

I am a newbie to exercise and have been doing it almost daily since the end of September but I really need to understand this better as I fear I am doing it all wrong. I am 43 years old so I subtract 43 from 220 which is 177 as my maximum heart rate correct?. So this is the highest I should allow my pulse to get when exercising? This is really confusing as I thought I had to keep it above that number and have been keeping my pulse in the high 180s and sometimes 190's!! Now I understand this is harmful and not effective?

Can someone explain this to me or send me to a site that explains it? I want to start using the new HRM tomorrow but not until I really understand what I am doing and the best way to utilize it. Thanks in advance!

Also, in another thread it appeared as if people could tell how many calories they were truly burning from HRMs. Is this true? If so, how do you do it? Thanks! :)

Replies

  • rkr22401
    rkr22401 Posts: 216 Member
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    I just posted a response to similar questions posed on the 28th about the Polar FT60. Feel free to take a look at that post.

    Your max HR is a genetic thing. It is, as the name implies, the maximum HR your heart is capable of beating, so you physically cannot workout above your max HR (and you risk problems working out at your max HR for an appreciable length of time). For optimal fat burning, vice carb burning, you want to workout around 60-70% of your max HR. For fitness improvement you want to workout at a greater percent of your max HR. The watch will tell you where these ranges are for you provided you input accurate information about yourself.

    The max HR is used to determine the optimum zones for you to workout for fat loss or fitness improvement (the zones are percent ranges of your max HR). 220 - age is the simplest, but least accurate, way to estimate your max HR. There are better formulas and more than a few fitness tests that will provide a more accurate number. Obviously if you see a number on your monitor greater than what you previously estimated for your max HR...you estimated low.

    Many monitors will estimate your calories burned based upon your age, weight, gender, height, and VO2 max. These estimates, in my opinion, are better than those provided by website estimates or fitness machines.

    Hope this helps. Feel free to msg me with any specific questions.

    Rich
  • jwilds1010
    jwilds1010 Posts: 33 Member
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    Kel3369,

    If you would like, I have done a super easy powerpoint presentation to groups on heart rates and training zone, I can send it to you?
    Let me know the best way to send it if you interested.

    When I say super easy, I mean its heart rate training 101. Really easy to understand!
  • niknak0508
    niknak0508 Posts: 430 Member
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    Depending on your HRM, there should be a display of how many calories your burned during your workout also. I use a FT4 Polar HRM and it gives me, target HR zone, length of workout, and calories burned too. It's one of the BEST purchases I have made during my journey!
  • kyle4jem
    kyle4jem Posts: 1,400 Member
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    if you have a Polar HRM it should calculate all that for you based on the stats you enter. It'll also calculate how long you're In Zone, i.e. in the optimum phase for fat burning.

    Before you use your HRM to monitor your workout, why not wear it for an hour when you are doing nothing to work out your TDEE.

    I did exactly that... wore it on the train going into work. Basically an hour of sitting and dozing, doing nothing at all clocked up for me over 108kc, so keep in mind that when you've done your hour-long tread mill and the HRM says you've burn 500kc that about 100 of those Calories are just your normal daily energy expenditure.

    Enjoy your HRM as it's a hand tool to have.
  • StacySkinny
    StacySkinny Posts: 984 Member
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    I have a Polar HRM with the chest strap and once I entered my stats - age, weight, etc, it calculated my zone for me. It beeps at me if my heart rate is "too low" and also beeps at me if my heart rate is "too high". Though I've recently been told via this forum that there is no such thing as too high when it comes to your workouts. lol So *shrug*. I guess the "zone" is supposed to be where you burn mostly fat. I'm not sure if it's accurate or not, as some people have told me that the "fat burning zone" is a myth. *shrug*

    So yeah, you might enter your stats in your HRM and it will most likely calculate it for you - if you have a good one. lol :)
  • Kel3369
    Kel3369 Posts: 83 Member
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    Hi there!

    I would love to see your presentation although I am not sure how I would view it. lol If you would like to email it to me my email address is kcw3369@gmail.com. Thanks! :) I think I need 101 about now. :) Would love to send you a friend request too.
  • zoe4friends
    zoe4friends Posts: 727 Member
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    bump
  • Kel3369
    Kel3369 Posts: 83 Member
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    Hi all that responded,

    I am really sorry about this but I don't have the Polar HRM you are speaking of. It is actually a brand name called "OMRON" and I think it might be a less nice model than the one you are talking about simply because I don't think it calculates my calories for me and never asked my weight, height, etc. It just asked for the numbers to be programmed in. I was hoping it would tell me calories burned but I thought only that body bugg did that? I was wondering if there was a way I could calculate calories burned with the information given to me by this HRM?


    I still feel really confused about all this. Can someone tell me the correct range I should exercise in being 43? I understand it is not that simple but I just want to have an idea of what I am doing when I start using this tonight. Thanks so much! :)
  • Kel3369
    Kel3369 Posts: 83 Member
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    Hmmm Just read up and mine does not calculate calories burned which is interesting because it cost more than some that do. Should I take it back and get one that shows calories burned? Are these accurate? Help! Thanks! :)
  • firedragon064
    firedragon064 Posts: 1,090 Member
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    Use this website to calculate your calorie
    http://www.triathlontrainingblog.com/calculators/calories-burned-calculator-based-on-average-heart-rate
  • StacySkinny
    StacySkinny Posts: 984 Member
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    Hmmm Just read up and mine does not calculate calories burned which is interesting because it cost more than some that do. Should I take it back and get one that shows calories burned? Are these accurate? Help! Thanks! :)

    Yeah, I would. I mean, that was the reason I got one - so that I could have a more accurate total of my calorie burns. :) I would definitely take it back and get a model that calculates your calorie burns. It helps A LOT! ;)

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