Inaccurate Heart Rate?

[carlyd71]

I run on a treadmill every morning at the gym. The treadmill has a grip heart rate monitor. Now, I know that they are not always entirely accurate, but I have also heard about the FitBit heart rate monitor not being totally accurate either. Anyway, when I am just walking on the treadmill the heart rates seem to be very close, maybe a beat or two off. I always check my heart rate after running too. The treadmill usually registers my heart rate between 180-190 bpm, however the Fitbit registers my heart rate around 160-165 bpm. I'm just concerned that I may over-exert myself by just looking at my Blaze and thinking that I need to get my heart rate up into a cardio zone, when it's actually already very high. Anyone else with a similar issue?? Thanks in advance!

[shipo]

The thing about the zones is they are gross approximations and nothing better.  They are somewhat accurate for some, and highly inaccurate for others, myself included.  For your training, the best thing you can do is ignore your heart rate and concentrate on your breathing; if you're gasping for breath and about to collapse, then slow down immediately.  If you're breathing hard but you're able to sustain the effort for say ten to fifteen minutes, then you're working out at what is called a "Tempo" or "Race" pace.  Finally, if you're able to carry on a conversation in short sentences while you're working out, then you've hit upon a good effort level for your current conditioning.

[Rich_Laue]

This is sort of to be expected in that they are based on the average individual. Are you, or is there really an average Joe out there? 

[bbarrera]

---

@carlyd71 wrote:

The treadmill usually registers my heart rate between 180-190 bpm, however the Fitbit registers my heart rate around 160-165 bpm. I'm just concerned that I may over-exert myself by just looking at my Blaze and thinking that I need to get my heart rate up into a cardio zone, when it's actually already very high. Anyone else with a similar issue?? Thanks in advance!

---

Pointing out the obvious:

Good - walking on treadmill the machine HRM matches Fitbit.

Bad - running on treadmill the Fitbit is off by 20bpm versus machine.

That problem has been reported by other Surge and Blaze owners, however its usually more a problem with wrist flexing exercises like weight lifting.

You should try and fix that by reviewing the wearing tips in Fitbit's Heart Rate Help Article - good chance that adjusting the position of the Blaze on your wrist will close the gap.

If you want to learn more about calculating your personal zones, here is one article:

http://www.runnersworld.com/run-faster/should-i-do-heart-rate-training

that you'll see repeated on a lot of websites.

If you look to focus on improving race performance, there are more sophisticated zone training sytems described in articles like this one if you want to really get into performance improvement HR training.

[shipo]

---

@bbarrera wrote:

If you look to focus on improving race performance, there are more sophisticated zone training sytems described in articles like this one if you want to really get into performance improvement HR training.

---

Or ignore the heart rate zones all together and do what runners have done for many decades and concentrate on breathing.

[bbarrera]

why bother with HR monitor at all then? Or GPS for that matter. People have managed their weight without calorie counting, or fancy tracking of calories burned. I know when I'm sick or overtraining without consulting resting heart rate.

I'm relatively new to endurance sports in my mid 50s, and personally have found HRM to be an effective training tool at helping me get a lot faster in the last 9 months, without regularly "blowing up" from too much lactate acid buildup in my muscles. Just since early April I've gone from getting dropped after a few miles to completing 30 mile group rides with folks that have been riding competively for years. And I've gone from training in flatland to completing an early July 117 mile event over 5 mountain passes with 15,500' of climbing in just over 11 hours. From the research I've done, HRM based interval training has been proven to improve performance. And my own experience backs that up. HRM training is inexpensive - price of a good chest strap - and delivers results if you follow a plan. 

[mr3oh7]

---

@shipo wrote:

 Finally, if you're able to carry on a conversation in short sentences while you're working out, then you've hit upon a good effort level for your current conditioning.

---

I have always read that you should NOT be able to carry out a conversation while working out.  

[shipo]

---

@mr3oh7 wrote:

---

@shipo wrote:

 Finally, if you're able to carry on a conversation in short sentences while you're working out, then you've hit upon a good effort level for your current conditioning.

---

I have always read that you should NOT be able to carry out a conversation while working out.  

---

Not sure where you read that; where ever it was, it was wrong when it comes to endurance training.

[shipo]

---

@bbarrera wrote:

why bother with HR monitor at all then? Or GPS for that matter. People have managed their weight without calorie counting, or fancy tracking of calories burned. I know when I'm sick or overtraining without consulting resting heart rate.

I'm relatively new to endurance sports in my mid 50s, and personally have found HRM to be an effective training tool at helping me get a lot faster in the last 9 months, without regularly "blowing up" from too much lactate acid buildup in my muscles. Just since early April I've gone from getting dropped after a few miles to completing 30 mile group rides with folks that have been riding competively for years. And I've gone from training in flatland to completing an early July 117 mile event over 5 mountain passes with 15,500' of climbing in just over 11 hours. From the research I've done, HRM based interval training has been proven to improve performance. And my own experience backs that up. HRM training is inexpensive - price of a good chest strap - and delivers results if you follow a plan. 

---

I submit training based upon your breathing would have been as effective.  Even in the case where one's heart rate zones are actually accurate (a pretty rare thing), I highly doubt heart rate training offers any advantage over just paying attention to one's breathing.

[bbarrera]

---

@shipo wrote:

I submit training based upon your breathing would have been as effective.  Even in the case where one's heart rate zones are actually accurate (a pretty rare thing), I highly doubt heart rate training offers any advantage over just paying attention to one's breathing.

---

Its more effective than paying attention to step count 😉

First off, its easy to do periodic field tests of lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR) and set accurate HR zones. Ok, that means using a non-Fitbit device during exercise as simplified zones don't cut it. So I put my real HR zones into my bike computer.

Tuesday night I was out of breath and my HR was 148-152bpm. Wednesday night breathing was fine and HR was over 160bpm on a 30 mile ride. My lactate threshold is around 155bpm, so Wed night I was living on borrowed time - I had a flat, was catching up, wasn't paying attention to HR, and in fact I hit a wall around mile 15. I've ridden in the Sierra mountains, there is a huge difference between being out of breath at 150bpm and 160bpm - I can climb for several hours at 150bpm while at 160bpm the lactate acid build up quickly results in a large drop in performance.

I submit to you that accurate HR monitoring coupled with a device that allows you to set your LTHR zones has several benefits, from training to riding to recovery to planning future workouts. 

[AlyZ]

You can set your hr zones on fitbit fwiw. But obviously that's not helpful for training if the device is inaccurate at the higher zones...

[shipo]

---

@bbarrera wrote:

I submit to you that accurate HR monitoring coupled with a device that allows you to set your LTHR zones has several benefits, from training to riding to recovery to planning future workouts. 

---

We'll have to agree to disagree.

[shipo]

---

@AlyZ wrote:
You can set your hr zones on fitbit fwiw. But obviously that's not helpful for training if the device is inaccurate at the higher zones...

---

Well, no, not exactly.  What you can do is create a Custom Zone and customize your Maximum heart rate which will in turn adjust your non-custom zones.

[bbarrera]

---

@shipo wrote:

---

@bbarrera wrote:

I submit to you that accurate HR monitoring coupled with a device that allows you to set your LTHR zones has several benefits, from training to riding to recovery to planning future workouts. 

---

We'll have to agree to disagree.

---

LOL, ok, if you run by breathing, why bother tracking steps and using GPS for maps and mileage? No reason you should have a Fitbit by your reasoning.

I guess you disagree with all the coaches and pro cyclists and triathletes that use HRM and power meters and TrainingPeaks.

Thanks for making me laugh today 🙂 Yes, we have to agree to disagree.

[shipo]

---

@bbarrera wrote:

---

@shipo wrote:

---

@bbarrera wrote:

I submit to you that accurate HR monitoring coupled with a device that allows you to set your LTHR zones has several benefits, from training to riding to recovery to planning future workouts. 

---

We'll have to agree to disagree.

---

LOL, ok, if you run by breathing, why bother tracking steps and using GPS for maps and mileage? No reason you should have a Fitbit by your reasoning.

I guess you disagree with all the coaches and pro cyclists and triathletes that use HRM and power meters and TrainingPeaks.

Thanks for making me laugh today 🙂 Yes, we have to agree to disagree.

---

For world class athletes, heart rate training may well be the difference between podium and not; for you and me, not so much.  You can laugh and pour as much scorn on my comments as you like, comments by the way backed up from coaching, but in the end, you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

[bbarrera]

Well for me HR training made the difference between finishing ahead of guys in their 30s with 2+ years of road cycling experience and training all that time in Sierra foothills, versus my 'mid 50s & got my road bike 8 months ago' and training on flat ground.