Heart Rate Monitor with no strap?

Is there such thing as a good, reliable heart rate monitor for swimming with no strap?

Currently, I do my 30 laps (just short of a mile), stop and count my carotid artery for six seconds
and multiply by 10, seems I'm around
170. I guess that's OK (I'm almost 40), but it would be nice to see it on-the-fly.

Thanks,

-Chuck

cwyatt@rcn.com (Chuck Wyatt) wrote in message news:<5b7b562c.0312310708.57220005@posting.google.com>...
> Is there such thing as a good, reliable heart rate monitor for swimming with no strap?
>
> Currently, I do my 30 laps (just short of a mile), stop and count my carotid artery for six
> seconds and multiply by 10, seems I'm around
> 170. I guess that's OK (I'm almost 40), but it would be nice to see it on-the-fly.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Chuck

I bought a Mio strapless HRM a year ago, but it did not take my heart rate while I was in the pool
and wet. I called the company and the reply was I had to climb out of the pool and dry my wrist
before press the bottons on the watch. Totally useless.

Stop at the end of the lap and count your carotid artery is not accurate. I used to do that and
found out the count could be 10-15 off per minute. I thought my heart was beating 180 after an all-
out 100 yds sprint and late found out that my max is 170 in the water using a Polar A3 with strap.

You can also wear A3 on your wrist and leave the strap on the edge of the deck, grab and press it to
your chest as soon as you touch the wall. Now when I swim, I just wear the strap so I can get the
average HRT for the entire workout. I am 42 with a resting heart rate of 45 and max swimming heart
rate of 170.

Hugo

jinxu_zhang@ml.com (Hugo Zhang) wrote in message
> I bought a Mio strapless HRM a year ago, but it did not take my heart rate while I was in the pool
> and wet. I called the company and the reply was I had to climb out of the pool and dry my wrist
> before press the bottons on the watch. Totally useless.
>
>
> You can also wear A3 on your wrist and leave the strap on the edge of the deck, grab and press it
> to your chest as soon as you touch the wall. Now when I swim, I just wear the strap so I can get
> the average HRT for the entire workout. I am 42 with a resting heart rate of 45 and max swimming
> heart rate of 170.
>
> Hugo

Just tried the Polar A3 as suggested, Hugo. Works great. Had to REALLY get that strap tight to avoid
it flopping off when I'd push off from the side, though. Somehow with all that fiddling, I managed
to get a mile-plus in. Said that my avg HR was 155 and in zone was about 14 minutes. So being a cardio-
NEWBIE on these kinds of things, I'm wondering what to shoot for. Better to stay in the "zone" for
my age longer, I assume?? I'm 39.

Cool product. You can wear the strap all day and forget about it. The only thing is that I was
surprised that my HR during leisurely office activities is consistently in the 90's.

-Chuck

"Chuck Wyatt" <cwyatt@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:5b7b562c.0401081125.56b367ab@posting.google.com...

Said that my avg HR was 155 and in zone was about
> 14 minutes. So being a cardio-NEWBIE on these kinds of things, I'm wondering what to shoot for.
> Better to stay in the "zone" for my age longer, I assume?? I'm 39.

The assumption for the general population is 220 - (age), so your estimated MaxHR is about 180bpm.
working at about 155bpm would put you at a working intensity of 85%, approximately 75% of your
VO2Max. Not being you, i don't know how hard you were working, i'm guessing that the above
calculation is a bit conservative. How 'hard' was it?

"diablo" <diablo@msn.com> wrote in message news:<%JiLb.64991$fq1.54273@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>...
> "Chuck Wyatt" <cwyatt@rcn.com> wrote in message
> news:5b7b562c.0401081125.56b367ab@posting.google.com...
>
> Said that my avg HR was 155 and in zone was about
> > 14 minutes. So being a cardio-NEWBIE on these kinds of things, I'm wondering what to shoot for.
> > Better to stay in the "zone" for my age longer, I assume?? I'm 39.
>
>
> The assumption for the general population is 220 - (age), so your estimated MaxHR is about 180bpm.
> working at about 155bpm would put you at a working intensity of 85%, approximately 75% of your
> VO2Max. Not being you, i don't know how hard you were working, i'm guessing that the above
> calculation is a bit conservative. How 'hard' was it?

Was moderarately hard workout, but mitigated by the fact that I had to stop 3 or 4 times to to
get that chest belt tight enought that it didn't flop off every time I did a push off from the
end of the pool!

Future results will be more accurate, or better for overwall analysis, I'm sure!

diablo <diablo@msn.com> a écrit dans le message : %JiLb.64991$fq1.54273@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
>
> "Chuck Wyatt" <cwyatt@rcn.com> wrote in message
> news:5b7b562c.0401081125.56b367ab@posting.google.com...
>
> Said that my avg HR was 155 and in zone was about
> > 14 minutes. So being a cardio-NEWBIE on these kinds of things, I'm wondering what to shoot for.
> > Better to stay in the "zone" for my age longer, I assume?? I'm 39.
>
>
> The assumption for the general population is 220 - (age), so your
estimated
> MaxHR is about 180bpm. working at about 155bpm would put you at a working intensity of 85%,
> approximately 75% of your VO2Max. Not being you, i don't know how hard you were working, i'm
> guessing that the above calculation is
a
> bit conservative. How 'hard' was it?
>

220 - age is a good formula for absolute MaxHR (running MaxHR).

For functionnal fMaxHR (MaxHR when swimming, as you - Diablo - called it), I would take 10-12 out of
that. fMaxHR would then be more like 170. 155 bpm would then be 91% fMaxHR, which is quite high,
especially if this is an average value (including warm up and rest time, for example).

Don't know what you call the "zone". It would be more interesting to have the distribution of your
HR in the different zones (between 60 and 70%, between 70 and 85%, above 85%...)

-- Olivier

"Chuck Wyatt" <cwyatt@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:5b7b562c.0401091120.489a5125@posting.google.com...

> Was moderarately hard workout, but mitigated by the fact that I had to stop 3 or 4 times to to get
> that chest belt tight enought that it didn't flop off every time I did a push off from the end of
> the pool!

Moderately hard sounds about right (as a guesstimate)...an RPE (rate of perceived exertion) of
approx 7/8 (1-10) or 15 (scale of 6-10) would approximate that..if that sounds close then i'd say
you're in the right place. Hope that helped

"Olivier" <katrin.bergmann@free.fr> wrote in message
news:btpefj$a0cdq$1@ID-154571.news.uni-berlin.de...

> 220 - age is a good formula for absolute MaxHR (running MaxHR).
>
> For functionnal fMaxHR (MaxHR when swimming, as you - Diablo - called it),
I
> would take 10-12 out of that. fMaxHR would then be more like 170. 155 bpm would then be 91%
> fMaxHR, which is quite high, especially if this is an average value (including warm up and rest
> time, for example).

Yes, you're right....i guess i didn't want to start bringing in comparative modifiers into it as i
was already slipping into physio-babble. To clarify, the 10bpm modifier should be applied to
swimming compared to absolute estimated MaxHR, for two reasons; a) the horizontal body position
assists venous return, and b) the hydrostatic pressure of the water assists venous return. even with
my slovenliness, i think we answered his question however.

> Don't know what you call the "zone". It would be more interesting to have the distribution of your
> HR in the different zones (between 60 and 70%, between 70 and 85%, above 85%...)

yes - I think he'd be better off assuming his HR is a bit higher than the K formula (220-age), maybe
10bpm, so assume its mid-180's to 190's. Take your resting heart rate in the morning also, for
example, say its 60bpm (keep your handy-dandy HR monitor by the bed one morning, lick the electrodes
and slap it on). this would give you a range of approx 130.

Training at approx 50%-60% (120-130bpm) would be good for warm up and recovery, training at varying
degrees within 60%-85% (140-170bpm) would be a good idea for your donkey work conditioning. As your
average HR in that swim was 155 (i think?), sounds to me like you were bang in the middle of that
training zone. Try swimming a longer distances at or under 155, complemented with more reps at a
shorter distance, (maybe 100's, 200's) in the 160's upto 170bpm with 15-30 seconds rest in between.

does that make sense to you? its hard answering questions like this without being able to get my
hands on you

steve

"diablo" <diablo@msn.com> wrote in message news:<mmXLb.70366$fq1.35014@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>...> does that make sense to you? its hard answering questions like this without
> being able to get my hands on you
>
> steve

That sounds about right. Like a nut, I've been going around wearing this polar thingy, just to see
how my resting versus, "puttering around the house" HR is. Resting seems to be pretty high, between
80-90, though I've been diagnosed with tachychardia before which is why I got into aerobic
swimming/biking several years ago in the first place (get into shape, blow off stress with something
other than alcohol/drugs). At 155 avg, I felt like I was pushing a hard workout, but not overdoing
it. Like suggested, I should probably get into the idea of sprinting more, as it stands, I get into
the pool, do my mile without stopping and that's it.

That Polar thingy sure is neat, though. I think by "In Zone" they're offering some "optimal HR
aerobic" zone, based on my birthdate, which is a datapoint that I entered into this gizmo.

-Chuck