heart rate monitors

seksy_johnny3 said:

hi guys,

now before any of you go on with that [censored] "just ride the bike", might i just say, would i be writing this if i was interested in "just riding the bike"?
what i want to know is, are heart rate monitors a worthwhile purchase for someone who wants to get incredibly fit, and who is only just starting out? if so, what brands are best, and what sort of a price am i looking at?
if not, thats fine as well.

thanks for ur responses,

john

Hi John,
I think an HRM is a very good tool to have for someone with your objectives.
I bought a basic Polar HRM over 2 years ago, and it gives me info about my current HR, and on finishing a session, it gives me ave. HR over the session and total session time.

The problem with them all is that there is a delay in the info they display, so it might be several seconds after you've sprinted over the top of a steep hill before you know what your max HR was in that effort.

Thay are a good tool for finding out what your bogy is feeling before riding; once you know your resting HR you can use this as a guage as to your general health, and whether you are ready to start another intense training effort, or whether you need to spend another day at low intensity recovering from the last intense session.

seksy_johnny3 said:

hi guys,

now before any of you go on with that [censored] "just ride the bike", might i just say, would i be writing this if i was interested in "just riding the bike"?
what i want to know is, are heart rate monitors a worthwhile purchase for someone who wants to get incredibly fit, and who is only just starting out? if so, what brands are best, and what sort of a price am i looking at?
if not, thats fine as well.

thanks for ur responses,

john

Heart rate monitors are a great purchase for someone just getting into serious training. However, you must use it right to get the benefits.

Once you have a hrm, do some tests to set your training zones. I prefer basing my zones off functional threshold heart rate (average bpm during a 1hr tt) rather than max heart rate. This is the first step into quality training, being able to monitor your efforts. you will probably soon find that smart training is always better than more training, and the hrm can help you eliminate long training miles that just don't do much for your fitness.

HRM's also have some drawbacks, as AndrooB posted. There is a lot of lag in your heart rate, so it isn't good to monitor short sprint type efforts, and for a given power your heart rate can vary each day due to fatigue, air temperature, etc.

seksy_johnny3 said:

now before any of you go on with that [censored] "just ride the bike", might i just say, would i be writing this if i was interested in "just riding the bike"?

I'm with you 100% on this one. That kind of response just doesn't cut it in my book. Might as well add "peace out, bro" to your signature if that's the kind of response you're going to give.

Quoted post said:

what i want to know is, are heart rate monitors a worthwhile purchase for someone who wants to get incredibly fit, and who is only just starting out?

Yes, they certainly are. Like the previous posters have stated, find your actual HR max instead of using the 220-AGE formula or do some kind of threshold test and use percentages to set up your training zones.

Quoted post said:

if so, what brands are best, and what sort of a price am i looking at?
if not, thats fine as well.

Polars are decent but there are other ones out there that offer more bang for the buck, especially in the low-to-mid price ranges.

Nashbar has some closeouts on last year's Sigma Sport models...
http://www.nashbar.com/results.cfm?subcategory=1054&category=94&browse=&storetype=&estoreid=&brand=&searchbox=&start=1&orderby=price1&pagename=

I own a couple of these ECG 5's...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Heart-Rate-Monitor-Watch-SI-ECG-5-New-Retail-150_W0QQitemZ5050932125QQcategoryZ31387QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I used to own a Polar A5 but sold it on ebay for $60 and bought an ECG 5 with the money. I like the ECG 5 much more because of the features. When looking for an HRM there are a couple of features to consider that I didn't consider important at first. However, they are extremely useful.

• User replaceable batteries
  
• Being able to set your own zones
  
• Time in zone, above zone and below zone
  
• Lap counter with avg. heart rate per lap and time in, above and below zone
  
• Max heart rate
  
• Avg. heart rate for session
  

I've found these to be very useful. The Polar A5 I sold didn't have all of these features, however, it was much easier to use. The ECG 5 took a while to get used to but is now second nature. The Sigma Sport 14 has all of the features I listed above. The ECG 5 has all but Max HR for session.

The most useless feature of HRM's are the calorie counter functions. They're never accurate. Not even close.

My personal opinion is that the Polars get recommended most frequently because they are the most widely advertised and distributed. The HRM which I used before I switched to a PowerTap power meter was the Sports Instruments Pro 9. You can find them for around $100-110. Their main advantage is that they were designed around the Friel "Training Bible" system of 5 zones: once you enter your "functional max" HR (i.e. not your max HR, your avg HR for a short TT, look at either Carmichael's 'Ultimate Ride' or Friel's 'Cyclist'sTraining Bible' for details), it automatically calculates and keeps track of your time in each of the 5 HR zones for each ride, along with all the usual interval features. To get the same functionality from a Polar, I believe you have to go to one of the higher priced models which can be downloaded to a computer to get all the zones (the only Polar I owned was an A3, an inexpensive model with few features).

An HRM is not just a good tool, it's essential to help you understand the stresses your body is under. If you are serious about getting fit, get a HRM, read Joe Friel's Training Bible mentioned by Palowin, and start paying attention to your HR throughout your entire ride. You will soon understand how to pace yourself properly, and you'll understand where your limits are. You'll also be able to gauge your progress as your fitness improves. I highly recommend a HRM that allows you to download ride data to your computer so you can properly analyze your ride and save your performances for future comparisons. I've always used a CicloSport Hac4 - it's probably as good as a HRM gets, but also a little on the pricey side ($300 or so if I remember correctly).

Your next investment will be a power meter (PowerTap) once you've mastered the HRM, so start saving for that now.

WINGNUTT said:

Your next investment will be a power meter (PowerTap) once you've mastered the HRM, so start saving for that now.

Why not cut out the middleman;
Buy a powertap, it has HR monitoring built in.

AndROOb said:

Why not cut out the middleman;
Buy a powertap, it has HR monitoring built in.

A PT is still a much bigger investment. Perhaps starting with a $50 HRM is a wiser choice for someone just starting out. But if he's got the $$ and is sure he's going to stick with the sport, he should go for it. Some HRs have some additional functionality that a PT doesn't have - altimeter, thermometer, etc., which can be handy, but those can be half the price of a PT.

WINGNUTT said:

An HRM is not just a good tool, it's essential to help you understand the stresses your body is under. If you are serious about getting fit, get a HRM, read Joe Friel's Training Bible mentioned by Palowin, and start paying attention to your HR throughout your entire ride. You will soon understand how to pace yourself properly, and you'll understand where your limits are. You'll also be able to gauge your progress as your fitness improves. I highly recommend a HRM that allows you to download ride data to your computer so you can properly analyze your ride and save your performances for future comparisons. I've always used a CicloSport Hac4 - it's probably as good as a HRM gets, but also a little on the pricey side ($300 or so if I remember correctly).

Your next investment will be a power meter (PowerTap) once you've mastered the HRM, so start saving for that now.

I think he would be better served reading the opinions on this forum as well as anything by Ric, Andy Coggan, etc, rather than the Training Bible. That book recomends spending a ridiculous amount of training time in the weight room and at very low intensities. Kmavm had a great post recently about this: cyclingforums.comshowthread.phpOpen ↗

whoawhoa said:

I think he would be better served reading the opinions on this forum as well as anything by Ric, Andy Coggan, etc, rather than the Training Bible. That book recomends spending a ridiculous amount of training time in the weight room and at very low intensities. Kmavm had a great post recently about this: cyclingforums.comshowthread.phpOpen ↗

I do agree that Friel recommends a lot of training time at the low intensity zones, but it's still a very good read for someone starting to learn about training with a HRM as it lays out all the principles that many other coaches use as the basis for their training programs. I know that Ric, etc. have tons of additional information to add, and can probably recommend a much better training program than the standard template described in the Bible, but I'd still recommend the book so he understands what the language is about, or else a lot of the posts on here sound like a bunch of hooey.

Do buy a HRM. You will learn a lot by watching it.

Don't spend a lot of money on an HRM. Fancy features such as "download" aren't particularly useful (until you get a power meter, and also download power, cadence, etc).

Do starting putting pennies away for a power meter. If you enjoy yourself cycling, and after a couple of months you want to see how good you can be - then there is nothing like an excellent power meter to really make it happen (in my limited experience).

Enjoy yourself. Our sport is the best ! 😉

MJH