Blaze, HR and sweat

[b_gallagher]

So, in general, I am happy with my new Blaze. But I'm having some trouble when working out.

As per the directions, to get the most accurate heart rate readings I start my exercise wearing my blaze a little bit higher on my arm. I did some fiddling with it the first few days and I found that doing this keeps the blaze HR reading pretty close to the HRM with a chest strap that I wear (if I wear it low on my wrist the blaze reports a praetty low HR of 85 while my chest strap is showing 145 or more).

My issue is that shortly into the workout I'm so sweaty the blaze continues to slip down my arm to my wrist. At the beginning of the workout, the band is quite tight and I keep pushing it up as tightly as I can, but it keeps slipping down. Right now I'm doing Jillian Michael's Body Shred, but in general these are the kinds of workouts I do - HIIT where you're going up and down and jumping around a lot, combinations of aerobics and strength training, etc.

Has anyone else had this issue and found a decent solution other than the nusiance of pushing the band back up over and over and over again?

[Julia_G]

Maybe you could try wearing a sweatband on your wrist just below the Blaze to help absorb the sweat and to keep the Blaze in place a little higher up your arm?  Those sweatbands are pretty cheap so I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.

[jim518]

I get that. I have a large and was border line between that and small. I moe the Fitbit up and go one more hole. I usually wear the Blaze or HR at the third hole from the back, but when exercising I slide it up a bit and go to the second hole. I still get it sliding down, but not all the time

[bbarrera]

HIIT and similar exercises can be a problem for Fitbit's PurePulse:

"With high-intensity interval training, P90X, boxing, or other activities where your wrist is moving vigorously and non-rhythmically, the movement may prevent the sensor from finding an accurate heart rate. Similarly, with exercises such as weight lifting or rowing, your wrist muscles may flex in such a way that the band tightens and loosens during exercise."

Source: http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/Heart-rate-FAQs?p=blaze&c=Topics%3AAccuracy&l=en_...

If it works on HIIT, great, if it doesn't, no real workaround (Fitbit trackers don't support chest straps or Scosche Rhythm+ worn above/below elbow).

[b_gallagher]

So I think I may have found a good solution.

Normally I wear the Blaze on the top of my wrist, but like I mentioned in my original post, when I did this I wasn't getting an accurate heart rate reading unless I pushed the device further up my arm.

I got to thinking, the skin on the under side of your wrist is much thinner than on the top side. I wondered if I wore the Blaze on the under side of the wrist if the heart rate would be more accurate. And it was. 

So I was able to wear the Blaze, at my wrist, a little tighter than every day wear, and get a pretty close HR reading.

Obviously not quite as accurate as the chest strap, but close enough. I'm not looking to have exactly perfect data, just a general range of my activity and calories burned. 

[smarkus]

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@Julia_G wrote:

Maybe you could try wearing a sweatband on your wrist just below the Blaze to help absorb the sweat and to keep the Blaze in place a little higher up your arm?  Those sweatbands are pretty cheap so I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.

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Great suggestion.  I plan to try this.

[Yunii]

Great suggestion! 

I am having a similar issues with my heartrate reading on my blaze. I do find it silly, since it is a sport watch yet, as soon as you sweat, the reading is off.

[deewaite]

Just turn my fitbit around. Hopefully this helps. I didn't expect perfecrtion either when I ordered my fitbit but expected the reading to be at least close. 

[SunsetRunner]

Excellent! I needed to figure out something and I believe you figured it out for me! thanks!

[wcmcmahan]

This is actually The Way I Have found it To Be Most Accurate as Well.  Especially Weight Lifting and Running.  Alot Of times My Grip Effects The Heart Rate however when On The Bottom of Wrist It Reads More Accurately,  Also Alway Where a Swet Band Because Of the Slippage Issue.  

[H_Terra]

I live in a hot and humid country so sweaty wrist is guaranteed during exercise. Most of the time the HR scanner doesn't work when my wrist getting wet.

I just did a 3k run with my Blaze facing down and the HR reading didn't skip at all. There is one problem with this orientation though. The display will not turn on when palm facing up. 

I hope there is a setting to compensate this.

[AlejandraFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Community @H_Terra. As you might have noticed, you can have some issues with the reading of your heart rate if you sweat a lot. My recommendation here is that if you can clean the heart rate in any part of your exercise would be great. In this way you can obtain a good reading of this.

Try it and let me know how it goes. 

[leighlee05]

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@AlejandraFitbit wrote:

A warm welcome to the Community @H_Terra. As you might have noticed, you can have some issues with the reading of your heart rate if you sweat a lot. My recommendation here is that if you can clean the heart rate in any part of your exercise would be great. In this way you can obtain a good reading of this.

Try it and let me know how it goes. 

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I do this constantly throughout my workouts. It does help, but I am definitely going to also try the other suggestions made here (wearing sweatbands and flipping device to underside of wrist). Thanks for all the great suggestions!

[Shardana]

It does not work!!! Fitbit didn’t think this through. When I need to monitor my heart rate the most, my Fitbit blaze stops recording it because I am too sweaty!!! 

[Bodymindsoulfit]

Yep, same thing happening to me with the blaze. 🙄

[RobHenson]

How about wearing over a sweatband but cut a slot into the sweatband so that the sensors still touch your skin.