OK – Heart Rate Monitors…

Yes, I’ve done a forum search and see very little to help…

I’m an old, fat fecker needing to do some serious training for a summer challenge.

I have mtb, road and turbo trainer at my disposal.

Just wondering if any of you use heart rate monitors and, if you do, what do you use and why? Ideally something to connect to phone apps.

What do the collective suggest?

Cheers,

one the Garmins. the interface (with Starva at least) is pretty seamless, but their own is pants (big grey granny pants)…

there’s pretty much one to suit any budget. I use a FR210 which is about as basic as you get, but it’s reliable, and lasts about 6 hours.

“Why” is probably the most important question. They are fairly pointless unless you know what the reading means and how it relates to your training.

There’s lots of info available with a quick search, e.g.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/heart-rate-monitor-training-for-cyclists-28838/%5B/url%5D

Once you know your zones you’ll need a plan, and then you’ll need to follow the plan… that’s the hard bit.

At a very basic level – you use the HR monitor to check that you are working at the right intensity for whatever your training session is aimed at.

Are you planning on following a structured plan? What is it you want the HR to do?

Depending on your trainer and objectives I’d be tempted to recommend TrainerRoad and virtual power over a HR monitor. Huge thread on that topic.

Connecting seamlessly to a phone probably means bluetooth more than ANT+ (a standard for getting various sensors to talk to a recording unit).

I have a Garmin and agree with nickc that garmin connect is useless. I use the free version of trainingpeaks to (slightly) track my workout data.

Wahoo tickr Bluetooth heart rate strap and your phone. Straight into strava and or realtime data using the wahoo app.

It’s working for me and isn’t too dear

£20 bluetooth on from decathlon, links straight to the phone and strava- gives me an idea of what effort I am putting in.

Since I bought a powermeter I use that loads to guage my effort on climbs, etc

At the end of the day I really just need something that says ride longer and eat less ……

Get a speed/cadence sensor while you are at it. If you also have an ipad or laptop then give trainerroad a whirl. Makes turbo sessions much more worthwhile.

Oh, and for my HRM I just bought the cheapest BT I found on amazon.

Long term user of garmin monitors as they came with my 800 and 1000. But, they aren’t Bluetooth so don’t work with phone and iPad. Just picked up a wahoo tickr, very nice. Garmin speed and cadence sensors are nice, easy to fit and move between bikes. But even better is the wahoo rpm for cadence as you can fit it to your shoe so good if you have more than one bike.

They have all been faultless so far

Why? Because it came with the Garmin.

I rarely use it now. Novelty wore off in a few rides and all it tells me is I’m alive.

I don’t do training, racing or road. I just muck about off road and have gadgets to track where I’m going basically.

Though got a VIRB recently and the overlay stuff is neat. I fancy overlaying heart rate on the videos. For no good reason. Though I want something that looks like a heart monitor you see in films, complete with the audio beeps 😀

I am oldish, had a few too many “pie and pints” and am trying to get fitter by the devils spawn that is running. I use a Polar sensor that I link to a Polar watch/phone or bike speedo depending what I am doing. The bluetooth one (H7 I think) links direct to an app on the phone. Not cheap but good and reliable and the app is clear and straightforward.

As noted the biggest issue (applies to all monitors) is knowing the max rate to calculate the zones. The stock calculation maybe quite a bit out. I have worked out my own by upping the max based on several runs where I was well over the calculated max.

I find it helpful to stay within a given zone(s) when running or riding, particularly on a longer hauls where it is easy and tempting to over do it a bit. Also good for recovery intervals before upping the ante again. After a while you get to know where you are by how it feels/pace/speed or cadence.

Bought a Garmin 510 with HRM to help with be more disciplined with my pace on daily commutes. When I started I was always in a rush to get to work and occassionally my heart-rate would spike.

It only happened once with the HRM; after waiting at traffic lights for a few minutes, quickly accelerating to 20mph with my HR reaching 200 BPM in parallel. I soon slowed down, but it took a good 8 minutes of slow riding before it dropped below 160bpm to around 130.

The HRM has just helped me become a bit more aware my heart rate, think I was pretty oblivious to it before, but I’ve since started to use it for basic HR zone training.

I have worked out my own by upping the max based on several runs where I was well over the calculated max.

you should be doing a formal test to assess your max HR or max functional threshold HR rather than just using the software default or trial and error.

LOADS of guides out there, here’s BC’s

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20140808-Understanding-Intensity-2–Heart-Rate-0

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/zuvvi/media/bc_files/sportivetrainingplans/THRESHOLD_TEST.pdf

My most recent one was done running and wasn’t really trial and error. I used a method given me by a physiologist. Basically run a pretty swift (for me) 5K increasing speed over the last 1k to be going flat out approaching the finish. It frigging hurt. Finishing HR is probably within a few beats of actual HRmax, round up to the nearest 5 and take that as HRmax to put in software. Done it a few times and it is always much the same. It is accurate enough for my needs.

i just use mine to keep an eye on my HR whilst riding using my garmin, not for training. purely for medical reasons. if it gets too high i ease up.

Unless you have medical reasons or are in training then a HRM isn’t much more than a novelty (this is from someone who’s used one running and biking for over thirty years).

As others have hinted at, they are fine for steady state rides but not really of use for interval training as your HR lags behind the actual effort you are making so in a short interval you might have finished the effort *before* your HR maxes out or even reaches the desired range. Similarly post-interval your HR will be elevated for a considerable time so basing your recovery on this will mean that the next interval isn’t done soon enough so you don’t benefit from the accumulated fatigue that such sessions enforce.

Max HR? Working this out accurately hurts! The generic formulae (220 – age, etc) can be way out, I can go for a couple of minutes at 10bpm above the MHR derived from them so for me they are likely to be in error by at least 20bpm which when you are working out HR zones is a lot.

Powercal HR monitor and guessed power based on a HR algorith. Sends two ANT signals to my garmin. It’s better than most people think but it isn’t a REAL power meter. I have over a year’s worth of data ranging from simple commuting to 100km road races. It’s surprisingly accurate over average efforts.

Very roughly Power ~ 2 x HR – 80, but HR lags behind effort when not at steady-state. There is also thermal effects.

If anything a HR monitor will stop you working too hard. Most people’s training exists in a mid-band of endurance to tempo. They seldom do recovery and seldom threshold. Hence a HR monitor will help you to go harder for threshold and easier to recover. That is the fastest route to sustained fitness.

Max HR? Working this out accurately hurts! The generic formulae (220 – age, etc) can be way out. Yes – as a 56 year old who hits upper 170s/180 on a hard climb, I agree.

Very roughly Power ~ 2 x HR – 80, but HR lags behind effort when not at steady-state. Very roughly – otherwise you could never do a few minutes at 350W+

There is also thermal effects. – My body temperature has a BIG effect on my HR. At the start of the ride around 150+ HR is a big effort, once I am fully warmed up later in the ride the same effort will be 170+ HR.

I find HR is good for pushing hard on intervals (within 60-90sec you can see just how hard you are pushing), taking it easy on recovery in between, and also pacing on longer fast sections so you keep a sustainable but hard pace. This is especially helpful on exercise bikes.

Second the novelty of HRM. My TomTom watch records my ride route and HR. Measures HR through wrist. Watch is easier to start and stop GPS recording than getting a phone out of waterproof bag inside a rucksack.

Used it for a year now. I just wanted to know what my heart was doing – everyone has different rates.

For me having measured it for a year I think I can put a fairly accurate number on my upper limit. 210 is the max I’ve recorded. I also now know I can safely sustain 180BPM for 2 hours without any issue for a sustained XC style ride. It’ll go up and down like an interval session for a more “Enduro” kind of ride rallying the downs style.

I don’t really try to keep it at any particular rate. It does what it does. I can feel 200 BPM though and I usually know it’s happening and need to back off slightly.

So a useful upper limit for me is 200 and I’ve updated the TomTom website / watch with that as my high zone so it has automatically shuffled the other zones for me.

Technically it should be 184 for my age but that’s a rough calculation thingy. That max is often my “average” HR on the most fun DH biased rides.

I see roadie friends have lower average HR on the whole. The MTBers seem to have higher average HR. That’s just in my circle of friends anyway.

I use mine most of the time. I find it useful to pace myself on longer rides, but you need to do a fair amount of riding first to get an idea of your baseline / max heart rate. You can get an idea of your max heart rate using a treadmill but you’ll suffer afterward.

Might be worth swinging past your GP for an ECG* first if you’re about to push yourself really hard.

[* Or not. I had one through work in December and got a spurious diagnosis of long QT, which spoils your whole day when you Google it].

WOW! A lot of responses!

I have been in two minds about a HR monitor and I do get the “novelty” bit and the “athlete” bit but as someone above did say, “just need a reminder to eat less and do more”.

Maybe I would be better off with a fitbit or similar? Something more general?

Cheers,

I used one regularly about 5 years ago, I found that it was ruining my riding so i just ride now and pay no attention to what my heart is doing, Eventually when it stops beating i wont know as it will be too late but untill then i’d just like to leave Riding my bike as uncluttered and as uncomplicated as i can. It’s the only Escape i get from the real world.

I use Suunto Ambit for any sports thing I do but rarely look at it when riding / running / skiing, (most often to check the time) and have only single limit configured (for HR @90%).
Afterwards it is nice to see the routes on the web service and it is very useful to see how much time was spent in different zones to moderate the stress of workouts a bit. Later models do connect to phone apps but for me they wouldn’t be too useful.
Phone and HR belt will work too but I like to leave the phone home or keep in the Camelbak.