Is a heart rate monitor really all that helpful?

It lets you know your heart rate.. But that’s useless if you don’t know where it should be.

In my fitness class they try to put heart rate monitors on us constantly! I think it is kind of gross because they are used by all the students that take this class. That’s literally hundreds of sweaty college students using these things. Ewww!!! Because I am a non-traditional student and old enough to be all these kids’ mothers (including the instructors in this particular class), no one hassles me when I refuse to wear one. Anyway, they swear it is the best way to find out if one is reaching one’s target heart rate.

A bit of an off topic rant – sorry. Mod me if you must!

For the young: for people who don’t like to push themselves or try hard, yes. It lets them know the minimum amount of effort necessary to achieve the results they want.

And if you’re older or have a heart condition, it can help you from pushing yourself too hard (you’re no spring chicken?) and get an adequate workout without risking your health.

@Facade Assuming I do know where it should be, does that make a big difference?

Only if you care lol

Okay, if I care about burning fat, does exercising at the right “zone” make a big difference?

I’ve been told by my trainer friends that the difference is minimal, that working in your “fat burning zone” versus above it in the “endurance zone” is the difference of 5–10 lbs per year of consistent work if no other factors are altered (same amount of calories in, same amount of rest). Since it’s typically a not very challenging pace, you have to do MORE of it at that level as the weeks roll on to get the same results because your body adapts to it. The heart rate monitor helps you know when your body has decided that what you’re doing is no longer challenging.

Really, the biggest thing you can do for fat loss is to consume less calories than you burn, a combination of cardio (which involves interval training) and weight training, and enough sleep each night. Seriously, the sleep thing is incredibly important for weight loss as your energy levels are delicate when you reduce calories and exert yourself often.

@bob_ I’ve heard it does, but I’m no expert. I do know working out at different intensities makes a difference.

It depends on your age, health level, and dedication to training.

A heart rate monitor is a great way to find a numerical level of “effort” you are engaging in. If your heart rate is 160+, you know you are really engaging in a lot of effort, whereas if your heart rate is 90 you know you are in the ‘warming up’ zone of effort.

Addressing your core question, I highly doubt that using a heart rate monitor to exercise at the ideal zone would have hardly much effect compared to simply adding another day of exercise to your routine. We’re talking about using the heart rate monitor to squeeze out an extra few percentage points in terms of efficiency, this is easily surpassed by simply exercising more. If you don’t have time or desire to exercise more, then perhaps the few percentage points is of value to you to justify the equipment cost.

If the trainers claim they “help a lot”, call them out on it, ask them how. The burden is on THEM to prove to you how much they help, and if the proof is anything beyond scientific experiments I would consider it complete rubbish. As a generalization I would say that a heart rate monitor “helps a very little bit” if it helps at all. If you purchase it expecting it to have a significant effect, I fear you would be disappointed with the little if any results.

I like the cardio machines that have heart rate monitors in them. I set my target heart rate, zone out to my ipod, and let it worry about how much I am exerting myself.

Other than that, no, I don’t think they’re all that useful.

A simple way is to count the pulse beats at your wrist for 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to get pulse rate/minute. The formula for safe rates is.

220 – your age x .85 = Highest safe pulse rate. Low end is 60%.

For a 20 year old, that is 220 – 20 = 200. 200 x.85 =170 beats/ minute.
For a 40 year old, that is 220 – 40 =180. 180 x.85 = 153.