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Exploration of Heart rate monitor - Polar FT7

Discussion in 'Keep Fit & Maintain Shape' started by vibha_81, Dec 7, 2013.

  1. vibha_81

    vibha_81 Gold IL'ite

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    Dear ILites,

    I started my weight loss journey on Oct 27th 2013 and recently bought Polar FT7 Heart rate monitor (HRM) - red and silver color to help me with the weight loss. I was worried that the calories i am burning in the gym might not be accurate and also wanted to gauge how many calories i was burning doing @home workouts and weight training. My stats:

    Height: 5'6''
    Weight: 84.3 kgs

    Exercises done:


    1. I did the cross trainer(elliptical) for 25 min. Calories expended according to the machine: 258;calories on HRM: 225
    2. Tread mill: 1 mile @ 4.8mph jogging. Calories a/c to machine: 109;calories on HRM:147
    3. Calories burned during 15 min arms and chest workout: 138kcal

    Cross trainer + treadmill(jog+warmup,cooldown walk) on machine: 410kcal; on HRM: 450kcal

    Interpretations:

    • First test was to check heart rate on machine and on HRM - both were same on most instances. the machine takes a few seconds to give you a stable heart rate.
    • As soon as you press enter on the elliptical, it starts to increase the calories burned whereas our heart rate increases slowly and the calories burned varies with your heart rate. For ex: on elliptical it burns 10kcal in 1 minute. but on HRM it burns less in the initial few minutes because your heart rate is going from resting period to cardiovascular time. hence the difference of 15 or so kcal in the initial few minutes between machine and HRM.
    • There are two features called ramp and resistance on the machine. I tried raising my resistance from 4 to 8 and saw that the machine showed more calories burned than the HRM. This is because as i increase the resistance i slow down a bit and also cannot consistently do at a high speed. hence the heart rate drops and the calories burned according to the HRM are less compared to machine.
    • Hence it is efficient to workout at lower resistance and maintain a good pace than doing it at higher resistance and lower pace. This is only from calories perspective.
    • Now my heart rate is already in 130-140's becoz of elliptical so when i move to treadmill i start expending calories faster than what the machine shows because the heart rate has to move from 140 to 160/170 only.
    • As the jog continues i expend more energy and absorb more oxygen and my heart rate goes to 180. So later into the jog i am expending more calories but since the machine is calculating at a standard rate(same speed->same calories burned per min for the machine) it shows lesser calories.
    • when i start cool down on the machine my heart rate is till in 140's for a few min and hence i further expend more calories than what the machine says.
    • After this i went to do weight training with two 5lbs and was not expecting much but surprisingly the heart rate stayed in late 130s to early 140s. So whoever thinks weight training does not expend many calories, it does:) atleast after doing cardio. The opp. has to be tested yet.

    I will log my findings whenever I do a different exercise (probably weekly once) for a few weeks if anyone finds this useful.
     
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  2. attitudegirl

    attitudegirl Platinum IL'ite

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    im the first.. im the first.. im first to post reply here.. wasnt that expected?????
     
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  3. attitudegirl

    attitudegirl Platinum IL'ite

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    but good work buddy.. keep at it.. will be cheking it regularly before taking the plunge..
     
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  4. resident77

    resident77 Silver IL'ite

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    Thanks for the detailed review Vibha. I have ordered one and eagerly waiting for it . Finally, no guessing game for estimating calories burned with exercise. Keep up the good work. Will be following.
    resident77
     
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  5. Nemo123

    Nemo123 Gold IL'ite

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    I am using Polar FT 4 for the past few months and it is pretty cool.
     
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  6. vibha_81

    vibha_81 Gold IL'ite

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    @AG: it was perfectly expected:)...thats why i posted just before you come online so that my first critic would give me a positive response:)
     
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  7. vibha_81

    vibha_81 Gold IL'ite

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    Thank you all for the support...My next post will be about fat burning zones...research in progress!!
     
  8. vibha_81

    vibha_81 Gold IL'ite

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    @Nemo123: FT4 is also very good...there are many advanced models in polar now...hopefully they will come down in price in future and add some much needed features..
     
  9. Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Vibha,
    I use the polar FT4 too(pink of course). I figured out that I burn 750+ cals in a one hour Zumba session and was logging it at 300. I got such an ego boost! Then I didn't see the gym for the past one month due to some personal constraints. I'm back to starting again this week. I'll post stats with FT4 here!

    thanks for starting the thread. I need to remember to wear mine while I train with weights etc. you reminded me to use it!

    L
     
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  10. vibha_81

    vibha_81 Gold IL'ite

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    too true...I expend 660kcal on the machines some day and get worried after reading things on internet that the calories might be high for what i do...Now that i can understand the why's i am more comfortable with each workout..I am also trying to understand what is an efficient way to exercise so that when the time comes when i have a baby i will only do what i need to do to optimally reduce or maintain weight...

    Sure...lets compare and see what we can learn from these stats even if it is just to check how many calories a person can spend on a workout....btw if you don't mind you can publish your stats here for reference(just ht. and wt.)
     

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