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Why I Don't Really Believe in Heart Rate Monitors
Fitness | September 03, 2016
How do you know if you’re working hard enough?
In the fitness world, this question can often become all-consuming. One obvious way to tell if your exercise routine is strenuous enough is by the results you get from it. But results, be they in the form of gained lean muscle mass, fat loss, and/or a higher level of fitness, happen over time. Results can’t be measured during your workout today. And that’s why people often rely on heart rate measurements, heart rate monitors, or the little computerized read-outs on cardio machines you find in the gym.
The machine read-outs are notoriously misleading. You know how they always ask you to enter in your age and weight? Those numbers and the pace at which you exercise are how the machines usually calculate your calorie burn. That kind of math can come up with wrong totals for so many reasons, including “your gender, height, body fat percentage, and fitness level,” according to a great article on the subject in Women’s Health Magazine.
Heart rate monitors and measurements have their own problems. I often see people sporting the telltale brightly-colored plastic watches that spit out the results of the actual wireless monitor, which is usually worn around the chest and held snugly against the body by an elastic band. I have no doubt that the monitors are getting really accurate readings. And you can also get an accurate heart rate reading by putting your first two fingers on the inside of your wrist on the thumb side or on your neck over your carotid artery and calculating the numbers. But what, exactly, do these reading mean?
Your heart rate rises when you exercise because your body is working overtime to rush oxygen rich blood to your working muscles. Therefore, the thought process is that the higher your exercise intensity is, the harder your heart will pump, and the higher your heart rate measurements will be.
But those numbers can be deceptive. In a 1992 study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, researchers discovered that heart rates can be higher due to “various medications, psychological states, and environmental factors such as temperature and altitude”.
That’s why my personal preference for measuring exercise intensity (the way I know for sure if I’m working hard enough) is the Ratings of Perceived Exertion scale (RPE). RPE has an actual numeric scale (a basic 1-10) but it boils down to saying how hard you think something feels. Here’s the RPE chart for your reference.
I kind of use the RPE method when I list my own workouts in the ZGYM. When I put an “X” after the workout I’m letting you know that it was really high up on my own personal RPE scale. Machines monitors and heart rates are just numbers that can be representative of all sorts of factors. But how hard a workout feels is always a true rating. And indeed, in the study I cited above, the researchers discovered that at the conclusion of the study exercisers using the RPE method had achieved higher levels of fitness than those using heart rate measurements only.
You don’t need fancy equipment or to stare at a clock while taking your pulse to know if a workout is effective. Close your eyes. Listen to your body. Feel your breath. Feel every fiber of your body working. You already know the answer. It’s right inside of you.
Private Member |
sydney, nsw, australia
I totally get what you’re saying. You don’t need to see a number on a monitor to know when your working hard. On the other hand, I think there’s generally a correlation between the RPE scale and your heart rate. When I do one of your ‘X’ workouts, I believe that workout should elevate my heart rate to at least 80% my max. To me, when you feel like your working at an ‘8,’ then your heart rate is likely working at 80% or above your max. Sometimes I don’t feel like I worked hard enough and that’s reflected in my heart rate being below 80%. I didn’t need to take my pulse to figure this out, but for me it does correlate.
Private Member |
belgrade, serbia
Thanks for always keeping it REAL!!! All these products and powders and information on the internet is just a bunch of hype just for someone out there to make a buck. The proof is in the pudding with you Zuzka…Just keeping it simple Always ends with the best results.
Private Member |
ellijay, ga, united states
I have a heart rate monitor, but I take its readings with a grain of salt, knowing that we can certainly FEEL when we’re pushing ourselves! There’s something about having a number in front of me at the end of the workout that I enjoy, though. lol, I originally got it because I wanted something to show that, yes, I AM working as hard as I feel like I am. My husband works out long and hard for his workouts (and enjoys that)…and I’ve had some days had that “are you being healthy only working out 15-20 minutes a day?” kind of vibe. While the workouts themselves do indeed show results, it’s nice to have a number to show, if needed, to back that up for skeptics! Ha! 😉
One thing I’ve noticed about monitors that reeeeealllly goes to show that if you use them, to not swear by them…I got an activity tracker with a HR monitor due to a program my company is doing (We get “points” for doing workouts. I figured why not? I already work out!) Putting that thing on while I work out without an added chest strap will show my heart rate as in the 50s sometimes. Whaaaaaaaat? That’s like I’m sleeping…but my heart is beating out of my chest! The chest strap gets it to register better…but it’s alway way different from my other monitor. Both show different results, so I don’t have any faith that it’s super accurate. Ballpark? Perhaps! Anyway, all that to say…I agree! We know we’re doing a good workout by how we feel and we don’t need the monitor to tell us. I do rather enjoy seeing the numbers. To me, it’s fun (and sometimes motivating) *but* it’s not something I’d swear by, for sure.
Private Member |
vancouver, british columbia, canada
When I was obese I had no clue about where to start with fitness, but I read a great book called PACE by Al Sears (I don’t want to advertise here, just sharing!). This was before HIIT became common, he called it PACE, and he recommended not looking at your weight but to look at your fat percentage and to track your intense 12 minute to training with a heart rate monitor (with a chest strap) to know you’re in the right intensity to be doing the training effectively – most people assume they are working hard when their heart rate is barely above 110, and they’ll walk on a treadmill for an hour doing that. Following this program I lost 40lbs in a year (and went from almost 50% body fat to 25%).
My point is I am a huge fan of heart rate monitors and it’s my number one tool for managing my weight and fitness. I just upgraded my Polar FT4 to the A300, and while I’m aware it’s not necessarily perfect science, it shows me the difference between a day sitting all day at the office (2000 calories) and day where I workout (approx 2500 calories). So there you go, I’m a huge fan because it’s helped me understand myself so much better but I’m hoping one day I can let it go and adapt to an intuitive lifestyle.
I’m a huge fan of your workouts because there are few programs that get my heart rate up so high and ALSO is a full body workout 🙂 I’m seeing huge improvement in strength, shape and overall functionality of my entire body, its very exciting!
Private Member |
czech republic
Ok. Heart Rate Monitors. I bought it in 2012 cause EvERYONE had them. Well, first experience was great … “oh look , how many calories I burnt”. I became addicted to those numbers and slowly began to notice I didnt pay attention to what I was actually exercising and checking out the numbers on the watch almost every two minutes. Then I found out the signal sometimes went off so I was exercising and the monitor was not counting. Imagine… being addicted to check out the numbers and now checking out the time I was exercising without being monitored. It was really getting on my nerves. And I felt like the whole exercise was waste of time because I was not fully monitored… crazy, right? But this is what I actually felt like. The monitor totally changed my attitude toward exercising. One day, when the monitor stopped counting again, I released it from my wrist and chest and threw it against the wall. Since then I stopped monitoring myself to enjoy the workouts again. And u know what, I dont miss it at all. 🙂
Private Member |
I’m so glad somebody said this! I use a fitbit monitor, and you become obsessed with the numbers. I can end a workout, feel great about it, but then I look at the monitor and get mad if the calorie readout doesn’t say what I’d like it to.
Private Member |
michigan, usa
I have a Fitbit blaze watch. It has a heart rate monitor. I used to use the Fitbit One (which doesn’t have a HR monitor) for a few years before they became a popular hype. I do still have it actually. But I only use them for the motivation. And now I use the heart rate monitor to watch my heart rate while pregnant and working out. I use it as a timer and stop watch. I use it as a regular watch. To reach my step goals and activity goals. I think they are fun and can be inspiring. Sometimes I’ll walk around the house at night just to meet my step goal for the day! It might not be totally truthful but it keeps me moving! So even though they might not be 100% accurate I think they can be a fun tool for motivation. (I had a polar watch with a chest band before but it was just awkward and uncomfortable to wear during workouts in my opinion.) so I just enjoy watching my steps and activity levels and the calculated calorie burn. though I feel like I probably burn more calories than it reads considering my muscle mass and probably do more steps than it records. Especially during high intensity full body movements. So for fun and motivation I love my fitbits!
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
I bought one recently because to make sure I would not push too much on recovery days. When you are used to push and push, it is hard to know where you stand. In order to help stress decrease I was meant to not go over 130 BPM and I can’t know when that is.
Now that I have been wearing it for 2 months, I know which activities are good for that range I was looking for.
The rest is just fancy ( I don’t trust into the % fatburn and calories burned, that is nonsense ), at least I have a watch (because I didn’t have one)
otherwise I have been successfully training for the last 20 years without….especially when you need to push yourself 🙂
I was interested to look into what the app behind the HRM had to offer to have an idea if I am doing too much (in order to see rule out adrenal fatigue), but as anything in live beings, there is no hard facts and maybe I will never find out. ..but at least I investigated and tried to do something about it.
Private Member |
I love my heart rate monitor! I loved monitoring my resting heart rate when I started upping my cardio, to see how much it dropped month on month. I also found it so interesting watching how my HR figures changed throughout pregnancy alongside changes in blood volume, energy levels etc. I also like using it when choosing an old workout to repeat, to help remember how intense the workout was for me. I’m a numbers geek though, and also like tracking my body composition, nutrition and macros using various devices/apps too! Although it isn’t necessary (or 100% accurate), for me it’s quite fun. Completely get that a more intuitive approach works better for many people 😉
Private Member |
toronto, canada
haha the RPE chart is good but if he is sweating while speed walking, he would be way past his maximal effort doing an X zGym workout :p
Private Member |
ramona, ca, usa
I have a FitBit that tracks heart rate all day and I do look at it to see how my heart rate changes throughout the day but I don’t use it to measure the intensity of my workouts or how many calories I burned.