using MyZONE at your gym?

[staceyw]

Just joined a gym and was given a MyZONE heart rate monitor -- it's interesting using both the fitbit and MyZONE together.  MyZONE seems to be all about intensity and heart rate, fitbit seems to be more about steps to me.  What's the right blend in utilizing both that works for you?  Thanks!

[slysam]

I don't know anything about MyZone but have used other HRM's in coordination with the Fitbit (a Polar and also the app Digifit). I use to have a cheap hrm, that based the calories burned on average heart rate during the workout. This hrm would actually have a lower burn for the same workout if I included the warm up and cool down within the timed record--like the 10-15 minutes warming up and cooling down actually burned negative calories (which they did not). Just saying, it depends a little on how this monitor works. What information does it include about you? (Mine asks for height, weight, age, gender, resting heart rate, maximum heart rate, and vo2max). Many HRM's will estimate your maximum heart rate from a formula but may allow you to make a custom entry. Often the calorie burn is based on the average heart rate for the workout and what percent of your maximum heart rate that is. Some of the more sophisticated hrm's use some assumptions about your fitness level--mine bases that on the VO2Max and maybe on my age, gender and resting heart rate. Sometimes it just based on age and gender. And the calorie burn often factors in BMR stats like height, weight, age and gender. BMR is the calories someone with your stats may burn at rest, and often people don't realize that a lot of hrm's are using this as a factor in the calorie burn estimate. I guess the more information the hrm asks you, the more inclined I would be to trust the calorie burn estimates. The less information, well, it depends. I think most would do fine actually tracking your heart rate though.

[slysam]

Continuing, for some reason the new forum and my internet browser disagrees so I can't do separate paragraphs. 😞 You can manually log activities to fitbit, and what you log replaces whatever fitbit estimated for the calorie burn. If you don't enter a distance, the steps stay intact, if you do they may change. So you do have that option. With my HRM (I mentioned all the factors), my fitbit and hrm are usually the same or close for step based cardio that does not involve a lot of resistance or hills. Fitbit tends to underestimate when hills, flights of stairs and any type of resistance are involved. I usually log non step cardio (like swimming, rowing, cycling), weight or resistance training, yoga, pilates, etc. There is a little trial and error in finding what works best for you personally--it can vary by the person as all calorie burn estimates we have to work with are just educated estimates not direct measures.

[Dstewart51]

I've found a drastic difference between the charge hr and the myzone hrm. I trust the myzone a lot more due to the accuracy of it. The charge hr is more for entertainment esp if you drive a lot or do a lot of motion with your arms, it logs steps. I know they say that it counts the arm movements as activity, but large muscle group, legs, vs a small muscle group, arms, will give a big difference in calorie burn depending on how much you do and it counts incorrectly. Heart rate is a good indicator of calorie burn but the charge hr does not accurately gather that data.

[USAF-Larry]

I don't wear the Charge HR for entertainment, I wear it for the heart rate monitoring and exercise tracking. Is it 100% accurate? No, and I don't think any fitness tracker is. But, I know from day to day what my activity is, and how my heart is reacting to it. That is the purpose of the Charge HR.  It is a Fitness Tracker, not a dedicated Heart Rate Monitor, like the MyZone

Is a HRM belt worn around the chest, like the MyZone be more accurate than one worn on the wrist?  I would hope so.  And, if a HRM function is all you are looking for, you shuold definitely consider a dedicated chest strap type instead of a Fitness Tracker.

[A_Lurker]

At work, if on the production floor, I can't wear the charge HR on my wrist.  I wear it in my bra (it's a soft cup, so not uncomfortable).  It still counts my steps pretty well (did a couple of trials) and I still get the benefit of the hr recording.  I used to wear a polar monitor with a chest strap.  It's not somethimg you would want to wear all day, although I did it once or twice.  If I remember though it gave me the same level of high calorie burn.  That's the first time I think I realised why I didn't do well on 1500 calorie diets.

If I have batteries for it I may try wearing it for a couple of hours for comparison on the weekend.

[FitBeforeFifty]

As a wrist worn HR monitor, it compares reasonably favorably to my garmin chest worn monitor. The image below is an overlay of my Garmin HRM vs. the fitbit worn during the same activity. The lighter image is the garmin. Disregard the gaps in the beginning -- I usually run a short warm up and then stop to stretch -- those gaps are the stretching portion.

This was a 5 mile run where I picked up speed to a sub 7 minute per mile pace at the beginning of each mile marker for 1/4 mile or so. Overall I'm pretty happy with the HRM. The only discrepancy is at the high end. There is about a 6 - 10 bpm difference in the peaks.

Overall, I think it's as good as any other wrist worn HRM. Given all wrist worn HRMs use optics, they have their limitations. 

I've also compared exercise calorie counts for running, walking and lifting to my garmin and the METS tables and it matches pretty closely.

So, I think it does a pretty good job (even compared to chest strap monitors) when it comes to aerobic exercise BUT overall the TDEE is off a lot for me -- 750 to 1000 calories too generous. I contribute this to the calorie calculation you get from normal daily activities -- I think it's giving me too many calories for just walking back/forth to the bathroom, cooking dinner, etc... when the HRM is used. When I turn my HRM off it gives me the numbers I expect for exercise and provides a TDEE much closer to what my actual TDEE is.

[A_Lurker]

@FitBeforeFifty - glad you've already done it.  I figured they can't be that far off.  I know for some (including you) the numbers aren't close to TDEE, but for me (at my fitness level) they're pretty close.  I've decided recently to ignore the super high burn days in respect to calories in, but the HR monitor seems to be pretty close to remembered exertion when I was more into organized exercise.

[MarjieHughes]

My gym Snap fitness gave me the myzone tracker. I wear it on my shoes. For step accuracy i actually have a large charge hr and i put it on my ankle so my steps are dead on. i like being able to compare them both. i use the myzone because my gym does contests based off the information from it

[KathyD9]

I have a myzone from my gym and I didn't know it would track your heart rate from your shoes!  I have a chest strap. I also wear a Fitbit and find them to be wildly different in calculating calories. 

[Mukluk4]

---

@FitBeforeFifty wrote:

So, I think it does a pretty good job (even compared to chest strap monitors) when it comes to aerobic exercise BUT overall the TDEE is off a lot for me -- 750 to 1000 calories too generous. I contribute this to the calorie calculation you get from normal daily activities -- I think it's giving me too many calories for just walking back/forth to the bathroom, cooking dinner, etc... when the HRM is used. When I turn my HRM off it gives me the numbers I expect for exercise and provides a TDEE much closer to what my actual TDEE is.

---

I've seen similar findings.  My exercise activity seems to be spot on, but my overall seems rather high..