Soundwave79 Member

Yes an HRM is a toy. And pausing it during the 6 minute stretching periods is definitely arbitrary. Couldn't possibly be common sense. Picking a number out of thin air sounds much easier. I should have stayed with that method. Maybe would have lost half the weight I have currently lost using my toy.

I feel like T25 would work good for you. The on screen modifier is there for you and as you lose the weight and build up the stamina you can slowly transition to the full moves. It will help build up you lower and core in the first phase and the second phase incorporates your upper body. The third phase brings in some…

Again I understand what they were designed for and what they are accurate at tracking. But the way I am using it has allowed me to find semi decent ballpark numbers for me to work with doing HIT (home interval training) (Is that an acceptable acronym for Insanity??)

Could you? Perhaps with enough trial and error you would eventually get there. But it wasn't working for me. I was using online calculators and looking at what other people were logging for similar activities and I was still way over estimating my cals burned. Wasn't until I got the HRM that I realized how much I was…

I don't know if it's the best but I use the Polar FT4 and I like it. Sometimes you can catch it on Amazon for less then $50 but typically around that price.

I've also used my HRM to successfully lose weight while doing HIIT. The number it provides is ballpark enough of a number to work with. No one is saying it's 100% accurate. As she said above there is no true way of knowing the accurate number. The best we can do is ballpark. I compare my HRM number with MFP, and online…

I use a Polar HRM for cardio and HIIT training (Insanity, T25, Turbofire etc). I take the number at a ballpark value. I compare it to online calculators and what MFP gives me and take the lowest of the three then even knock another 20% off just to be sure. I will say that from my experience the HRM gives me the lowest…

Yea I do Body Beast and it's all Super sets, Progressive Sets, Tempo etc. Very effective. I never really knew about lifting like that until I started doing the video's. The gains have been amazing. The Tempo stuff is by far the hardest for me. Especially 6 count reps. Couldn't imagine doing Super Sets at the gym though.

I have the FT4 as well. If you read the manual it actually tells you to wet the strap under where the receptor sits where it contacts your skin before putting it on. I think it increases the ability for it to detect your HR. Once you start sweating it's fine. It also says to rinse the strap under water after every workout…

Between 8-12K depending on the day. I do a 50/50 cardio/weight regime so my weight days my steps will be closer to 8K. I work a desk job and I make it a point to get up and walk every hour or so and then do some flights of stairs to get the heart rate up. Typically my workouts are Insanity/T25 on cardio days and Body Beast…

Just an FYI from my experience that insanitycalories.com calculator tends to give me extremely high calorie burn approximations as compared to my HRM approximations. I would use the "low intensity" setting when using it because I find that's the closest to the burns my HRM tells me.

For me personally when I first started I was doing heavy cardio with very little weight training and getting some results but very slowly. Once I moved to a 50/50 cardio + weight training regimen is when the pounds and body fat really started to fall off me.

Yep Banana and all natural PB is my heavenly mid morning snack most days. I salivate looking forward to it. :)

I struggled for a while with them too when I first started P90X3. I ended up getting a pull up assist band on Amazon that you can adjust as you progress. Eventually I was able to do them without the band at all.

Great thread. I'm looking for new gloves that have ample padding in the palms. Ever since I started Body Beast 4 weeks ago my palms have been screaming in pain from bearing the weight of the dumbbells. I'm currently looking at these:…

Oh it's the best one though! It's tough because unlike the Cardio Power and Resistance type videos it isn't circuits with rest periods in between. It's a solid block of Insane Cardio for about 20 minutes straight with no breaks. :D Honestly the first time I did Insanity I remember that after the first two days I was so…

Yes it's one of the hardest programs out there. If you stick with it though you will improve. What seems impossible now you will be doing with ease by the end of the program. I've done it over twice and I currently do it as part of a hybrid with Body Beast. It's my go to for cardio. The Pure Cardio video is my absolute…

I do Body Beast and the warm ups are very short. So I usually end up doing an Insanity warm up first to really get the blood flowing and then some dynamic stretches like you do before I do the Beast vids.

Well those anecdotes and false statements are working just fine for me. The OP asked for opinions on calorie trackers and I offered mine on the Polar and my results with it. It works well for me and I have found it to be pretty accurate. She's capable of Googling and researching the science behind them just as I did when I…

At this point you are just arguing to argue. You do what works for you, I'll do what works for me, and she can take into account the suggestions and decide what works for her.

Sure. And I get that for STEADY STATE CARDIO it's the most accurate. But for HIIT programs like Insanity and T25 you can still get a relatively reasonable ballpark figure to work with. If you have to double check it against a calculator or MFP then fine. Take the lessor of the three and log that minus a certain percentage…

Well I can't speak for all models but mine specifically asked for Age, Sex, Weight, Height, and I believe BF% in the initial setup. So the calorie burn algorithm will be different for each person who wears it. And I agree people log 2x-3x higher then they should. I've seen people log the same 40 minute Insanity video at…

Same. C4 is one of the few that doesn't give me jitters but have to take it with something in my stomach. Just something small like a cheese stick. Also will make you itchy a little. I heard some people have more reaction to the Beta Alanine then others.

I've read it before. And again I never stated the HRM was 100% accurate. Only ballpark. But closer to the pitchers mound then MFP's general entries. If you pause the HRM during the stretching and breaks you will get a close enough number to work with. Or you could even subtract a certain percentage to make up for the…

What exactly am I doing other then taking a specific number off my HRM and comparing it to an online calculator? How am I influencing the numbers in any way? If she buys the HRM it will ask her age, weight, and height and calculate from there just like the calculators. I gave her samples of what I burn just as ballparks.…

How is it "getting lucky" when every video mentioned above is just about spot on when I compare my HRM calorie count to an online calculator? Perhaps the point is both will get you into enough of a ballpark number to be effective. I'm not being defensive but what I saw here was a question from the OP asking if she is…

I think I'm done here. To the original poster. Get a Polar HRM or use an online calculator. Seems like both are pretty ballpark. Nothing is going to be 100% accurate but as long as you are ballpark you will be ok. What I don't recommend is using MFP's general numbers because I find those to be insanely high.

Oh and here is a T25 calculator http://www.t25calories.com/ 193 pounds at 25 minutes doing Speed 2.0 it says 345 cals burned. As you can see above my HRM puts me around 330-350 so right on the money there too..

Ok fair enough. Googled some circuit training calculators. http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/activity/calculators/circuit_training/result?calculators=%2Fhealth-fitness%2Factivity%2Fcalculators%2Fcircuit_training&met=8.0&weightPounds=193&duration=40&activity=&submit.x=54&submit.y=22 ^ 193 pounds, 40 mins that one there…

If you are talking about it being less accurate during intervals due to the rest periods between circuits, and the stretching periods then I understand. I pause the HRM during those times to try and keep it as accurate as possible. No one said the Polar HRM is 100% accurate. But it's a hell of alot closer then the general…