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HRM question

Kimblesnbits
Kimblesnbits Posts: 321 Member
edited October 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Hey friends! Question! Is an HRM only accurate if youre at your fat burning zone and higher? For example, is it accurate if My heart rate is at 110 or 115? during a walk with a slight incline? Cuz i know some people talk about how inaccurate they are if you're not doing cardio. Thanks!

Replies

  • klewis81
    klewis81 Posts: 122
    110 sounds about right. And walking IS cardio, just not as much as running or doing the elliptical. A good 30-45 minute walk 5 times a week will do great things for your heart health!
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    110 sounds about right. And walking IS cardio, just not as much as running or doing the elliptical. A good 30-45 minute walk 5 times a week will do great things for your heart health!

    Uh, don't know what kind of walking you do, but it is just as much cardio as running or the elliptical. If you crank up the incline on the treadmill you are actually getting a better workout then if you run at flat incline for hours on end.

    To OP:
    To answer your question, HRM's are perfect for walking since it is steady state cardio.. some thing HRM's rely on to figure out their equations. It doesn't matter where your heart rate is at either while exercising... they work well as long as the heart rate is elevated and you are not just sitting on a couch trying to figure out what you burn.

    When people say that are inaccurate, the mean for things like strength training.. where there are more variables than the HRM can predict.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    It may be low level, but I would say a "walk with a small incline" would be considered "cardio" and in the range of accuracy for an HRM.

    The activity has to be "aerobic" in nature--which is defined as rhythmic, dynamic movements involving large muscle groups, performed at a sustained intensity of at least 40% of VO2max. For most people, if HR > 100bpm, and you are doing type of activity described above, (and assuming you have set up the HRM with your correct maxHR and aerobic fitness level), a quality HRM like a Polar will be as accurate as it can be.

    That can include not only standard "exercise" activities but also recreational or occupational--as long as they meet the above criteria.

    If intensity is too low, then HR can be affected in ways that do not burn more calories--e.g. changes in body position, transient increases from quickly going up a couple of stairs, etc.

    Any condition in which heart rate increases WITHOUT a corresponding increase in oxygen uptake will decrease the accuracy of the HRM calorie estimates--sometimes by a little, sometimes by a huge amount.
  • Kimblesnbits
    Kimblesnbits Posts: 321 Member
    It may be low level, but I would say a "walk with a small incline" would be considered "cardio" and in the range of accuracy for an HRM.

    The activity has to be "aerobic" in nature--which is defined as rhythmic, dynamic movements involving large muscle groups, performed at a sustained intensity of at least 40% of VO2max. For most people, if HR > 100bpm, and you are doing type of activity described above, (and assuming you have set up the HRM with your correct maxHR and aerobic fitness level), a quality HRM like a Polar will be as accurate as it can be.

    That can include not only standard "exercise" activities but also recreational or occupational--as long as they meet the above criteria.

    If intensity is too low, then HR can be affected in ways that do not burn more calories--e.g. changes in body position, transient increases from quickly going up a couple of stairs, etc.

    Any condition in which heart rate increases WITHOUT a corresponding increase in oxygen uptake will decrease the accuracy of the HRM calorie estimates--sometimes by a little, sometimes by a huge amount.

    Thanks so much! I do have a polar HRM. So as long as I'm over 100bpm it'll be accurate then? I also wondered about hiking coming down the hill my heart rate sometimes gets as low as 100 since its not too hard walking downhill!
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    It may be low level, but I would say a "walk with a small incline" would be considered "cardio" and in the range of accuracy for an HRM.

    The activity has to be "aerobic" in nature--which is defined as rhythmic, dynamic movements involving large muscle groups, performed at a sustained intensity of at least 40% of VO2max. For most people, if HR > 100bpm, and you are doing type of activity described above, (and assuming you have set up the HRM with your correct maxHR and aerobic fitness level), a quality HRM like a Polar will be as accurate as it can be.

    That can include not only standard "exercise" activities but also recreational or occupational--as long as they meet the above criteria.

    If intensity is too low, then HR can be affected in ways that do not burn more calories--e.g. changes in body position, transient increases from quickly going up a couple of stairs, etc.

    Any condition in which heart rate increases WITHOUT a corresponding increase in oxygen uptake will decrease the accuracy of the HRM calorie estimates--sometimes by a little, sometimes by a huge amount.

    Thanks so much! I do have a polar HRM. So as long as I'm over 100bpm it'll be accurate then? I also wondered about hiking coming down the hill my heart rate sometimes gets as low as 100 since its not too hard walking downhill!

    As I said, it should be as accurate as it can be. Assuming your setup is correct, that would be about 80% (which is about as good as it gets).
This discussion has been closed.

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