catchthecarp

I picked up a Polar FT4 3 weeks ago. The HRM appears to fairly accurate and the cardio equipment at the gym works with it. It also records calories burned, no way to determine how accurate it is. Another feature I like is that it stores 7 sessions of work out history- length of the workout in minutes, average heart rate,…

I bought a Polar HRM ($50) that also measures calories burned. I have no idea how accurate it is, though.

They make a cushion that fits around the bar just for this, they have them at the squat rack at my gym. I've found that if I squeeze my shoulder blades together to form a shelf the bar doesn't bother me, I don't use the cushion.