Heart Rate Monitors

L

*Lynn*

0
I just got the Polar F4 heart rate monitor and I had a few questions about heart rate monitors in general.

I worked out yesterday at a body step class ( I go around 3x per wk) and here was my summary:

total time: 55min 19 sec
total Kcal: 628
in zone: 22:28 (I have no idea what this means, anyone care to tell me?)
Avg HR: 159
Max HR: 182

I am 32, 5'9 and weigh around 175. The watch is telling me my high limit should be 160 and my low limit 122. I still have around 10-15 lbs to lose before my goal, not sure if that matters but I thought I would throw that tibit of info in here.

Am I working too hard? Not enough? What is this thing trying to tell me?

Thanks!
 
*Lynn* said:
I just got the Polar F4 heart rate monitor and I had a few questions about heart rate monitors in general.

I worked out yesterday at a body step class ( I go around 3x per wk) and here was my summary:

total time: 55min 19 sec
total Kcal: 628
in zone: 22:28 (I have no idea what this means, anyone care to tell me?)
Avg HR: 159
Max HR: 182

I am 32, 5'9 and weigh around 175. The watch is telling me my high limit should be 160 and my low limit 122. I still have around 10-15 lbs to lose before my goal, not sure if that matters but I thought I would throw that tibit of info in here.

Am I working too hard? Not enough? What is this thing trying to tell me?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Those are high heart rates; I can't get over 150 without being totally winded, but working heart rate and max heart rates are quite individual based on sex, age and personal genetics. Instead of going by heart rate, I would go by perceived exertion. I use the Borg scale. If you can stay in the 15 - 19 range, that will be a great workout (but whatever you do is better than sitting around eating Bon Bons and watching Oprah).
 
Heart Rate Monitor

I have a heart rate monitor that i love, i use it for cardio and during weight training to see how i really push myself and helps with my fitness diary. For my I max is 197 according to the 220-age, and i feel this is about right. My max rate generally gets to about 193 to where i can stay for a good bit. As far as zone 22 goes, im not sure. in cardio training there are generally 3 zones each equivalent to a heart rate range. Z1= 65-75% max; Z2=80-85% and Z3=86-90%. Maybe it was telling you that you spent the most time in zone2??
 
if the watch was telling you to stay between 160-122 the 22minutes in zone probably equates to the amount of time you spent in that specific intensity.

Your stats to me seem good. How would the watch know what it wants you to do if it doesnt know your goal :s
 
I just want to second the fact that your own HR max is not necessarily what the 'average' formula would say it should be. The watch is depending on some pre-set ideas of the appropriate HR zone for you, based on age.

It's better to use perceived exertion scale to know how hard you are working. If that is confusing to you, then you might want to test your max HR on the monitor, so you can make a more refined judgment for yourself about what zone you should be aiming for. It's not too hard to test you max HR - it just requires a good warm-up and then sprinting as fast as possible. They key is to push yourself all out, so that you absolutely can not go any harder.

One other thing to remember: your HR zone is affected by the activity you are doing. Your HR - no matter what zone - when running will be higher than it is for swimming or biking, for example, for the same level of exertion. So it's best to test things out in a comparable scenario. If you want to judge biking HRs, then test a max HR by doing bike sprints. Body step class sounds like it pushes you the same as walking/running up stairs. So it might be best to test things for the max HR on a stair-climber machine or running on a treadmill with an incline.

Or...you could just used the scale of perceived exertion. Hee.
 
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