Exercising with Heart Rate Monitors Group

by dbl-g on Mar 15, 2010 at 9:48 pm

I actually don't know. I have a polar ft40. I set the user settings and just let it do its thing. It is set to beep when I pass suggested max heart rate. but when doing cardio I bounce from 130bpm to 184bpm doing HIIT on the elliptical doing 140-160 strides per minute to 200-220 strides per minute. 4 min/1min intervals.
don't know if this was any help.

by papabear1 on Mar 18, 2010 at 2:51 pm

 Did you have to test your resting heart rate and enter it?  If not then your monitor is probably calculating percent of MHR .  I ask because there can be a big difference.  My aerobic zone %MHR is 127 - 145 BPM while my aerobic zone with my RHR in the calculation is 142 to 154 BPM.  I ride a mountain bike on an 8 mile loop for just under an hour.  I planned the loop with lot's of hills and some off road areas.  My HR for most of the ride is in the 145-150 BPM range and peaks around 165 BPM at the top of the longer hills.  Since I'm doing this to work my heart and not for racing,  I was curious if anyone was tracking this kind of information.  I don't want to be in the anaerobic zone very long.  Just short bursts.  If I use only MHR anaerobic is 145-162 BPM  which would mean I doing the whole ride in this zone(not likely).  Since I am generally comfortable and not breathing to hard at 145-150, I'm thinking that the RHR calculations are more accurate.  Right now I am using a cheap monitor where I have to check my HR throughout the ride.  I'll get a better one in the future that monitors continuously.

by samaral7 on Mar 18, 2010 at 3:23 pm

I set my ranges based on VO2 testing I had done. Previously I did it based on max HR (my determined max via exercise not formula based) and the results were fairly close. Using my resting HR gives me very low values and using the generic age based formula for max HR also gives very low values. I had previously let my Polar determine my fitness level and set my zones but their formula was way off for me as well. I would recommend you go with your percieved exertion at different HR to create your zones. That will likely be pretty accurate.

by dbl-g on Mar 19, 2010 at 8:25 pm

I assume so. I had to take a fit test which was to lie still for a preset time until it beeped to get vo2 max=58.
my hrm stats tell me the calories burned, total time, time in fat burn mode and time in fitness mode, average hr and max hr.
I wouldn't worry too much about the numbers; just ride!. just work on  your cadence being consistant and smooth.
the fact that you are out riding your bike will be benificial to your heart wether aerobic or anarobic.
As samarai7  stated go with your perceved exertion. only you knows what your body can handle. listen to your body and use your hrm as a guide, if you think you are overexurting(sp?) yourself check your hrm, and adjust.
 

by papabear1 on Mar 20, 2010 at 12:01 pm

 Thanks guys.  I mapped a new loop that is 9.6 miles but a bit more even.  I rode it yesterday and was able to maintain my HR between 145 and 155.  I did it in 56+ min.  most of the ride I was never out of breath enough that I couldn't have a conversation.  When I got off the bike, though, I could tell I had done some work.  My HR monitor calculates cals burned, but I'm not sure how accurate it is.  It's always several hundred cals over what Livestrong calculates for my loops.