19.04.2017
I am not going to tell you which heart rate monitor you have to buy. I am not even going to tell you to buy a heart rate monitor at all. Today I would like to share my opinion as an exercise physiologist on the popular ‘sport watches’ with less or more ‘trendy features’.
The primary aim of most of those watches is to display heart rate, which reflects exercise intensity. An increasing number of watches aims to function as your coach, by advising you the amount (training frequency) and duration of sessions (training volume) still have to be done to reach your ‘fitness goal’. It is clear that this can be ‘OK’ for beginners or intermediate non-competitive ‘lifestylers’, at least in the short term. Motivation over the long term can be questioned. But even apart from that concern, we will presently focus on heart rate and exercise intensity. However, exercise duration has to be long enough for a heart rate monitor to be meaningful. In intermittent sports such as tennis and soccer, the relationship between heart rate and intensity is very relative: heart rate will rise only to a limited extent because of the short nature of sprints; heart rate certainly will not be proportional to energy (calorie) expenditure. Likewise, it is better to monitor high-intensity interval training in eg. cycling with a power meter (which remains a very expensive ‘toy’).
Heart rate monitors are (therefore) primarily being used in the typical long-distance sports, such as running, cycling and triathlon. Swimming with a heart rate monitor is an option, but it will be impossible to monitor your heart rate during activity.
A heart rate monitor can be used during training and during competition. To get the most out of your expensive watch (and your precious body), a preceding exercise test with lactate meausurements and concomitant advice is highly recommended. I am convinced that a heart rate monitor has added value for beginners, to learn to know their body. Especially for training sessions aimed at improving basic endurance, watches can be very useful to prevent heart rate from rising too high. For interval sessions, heart rate should reflect clear contrasts between work and rest intervals. However, it is completely unnecessary that heart rate decreases below certain values during the rest intervals; it is the duration of the work intervals and the ‘work to rest-ratio’ that will determine the training effect, and your coach is supposed is to be aware of that part of exercise physiology if he is worth his predicate.
For me as a physical trainer, I do not require my athletes to wear a heart rate monitor. If they want, I make training schemes with instructions regarding heart rate; if they don’t want, I do not specify heart rates in the scheme. Heart rate monitors are NOT indispensable. Heart rate graphs CAN have added value, especially for the ‘distance coach’ (not present during training), to verify whether athletes are training slow enough during fat burning sessions and whether interval sessions were carried out as intended.
During races, especially running or time trial cycling on a flat course, heart rate monitors can be helpful in pacing the race. However, even scientific research shows that knowing your body and being able to listen to its signals are the ultimate goal to reach your fullest potential.
Heart rate monitors can be an aid, but it can not be meant to become a ‘slave’ of that toy around your wrist (and this happens much more than you’d believe). Many of the very best endurance athletes do not train with heart rate monitors. Fifty, and even 10 years ago, they very often didn’t even have one. So, claiming that it is essential to improve is at most commercial pretention. Elite athletes know their body because they train a lot. And that’s what counts to stretch your own limits and get the most of your body: (1) knowing (and listening to) your body, and (2) working out sufficiently. You can not expect to become a better athlete by only training twice a week for 30 minutes.
Finally, forget about those VO2max-, HRV- and EPOC-features, incl. overtraining tests. We, exercise physiologists, have to laugh with it. It sounds very complicated and therefore scientific, but it’s nonsense. Heart rate variability (HRV) was very promising in the nineties (when I was doing scientific research about it), but it still is.
If I’d have to choose a heart rate monitor, I’d choose the one with the best GPS system. But my fitness goals aren’t yours. I do not want to become a faster athlete anymore. I train already for 30 years. I prefer mindless runs. I play tennis for distraction. I do weight lifting to prevent injuries. I prefer cycling to enjoy the sun. I swim to stay flexible and meet friends. To paraphrase Albert Einstein: ‘not all that counts can be counted (by a heart rate monitor), not all that can be counted (by a heart rate monitor) counts’.
Kind regards,
Karel
#TrainHardButSmart
PS: I hope Pieter-Jan Hannes and Stijn Baeten, two of our fastest and most sympathetic middle-distance runners of the moment, forgive me for using their beautiful picture while training last year. I hope their present injuries will heal quickly and that they will be able to return very soon at the highest level. All credits to Pieter-Jan Hannes.
The primary aim of most of those watches is to display heart rate, which reflects exercise intensity. An increasing number of watches aims to function as your coach, by advising you the amount (training frequency) and duration of sessions (training volume) still have to be done to reach your ‘fitness goal’. It is clear that this can be ‘OK’ for beginners or intermediate non-competitive ‘lifestylers’, at least in the short term. Motivation over the long term can be questioned. But even apart from that concern, we will presently focus on heart rate and exercise intensity. However, exercise duration has to be long enough for a heart rate monitor to be meaningful. In intermittent sports such as tennis and soccer, the relationship between heart rate and intensity is very relative: heart rate will rise only to a limited extent because of the short nature of sprints; heart rate certainly will not be proportional to energy (calorie) expenditure. Likewise, it is better to monitor high-intensity interval training in eg. cycling with a power meter (which remains a very expensive ‘toy’).
Heart rate monitors are (therefore) primarily being used in the typical long-distance sports, such as running, cycling and triathlon. Swimming with a heart rate monitor is an option, but it will be impossible to monitor your heart rate during activity.
A heart rate monitor can be used during training and during competition. To get the most out of your expensive watch (and your precious body), a preceding exercise test with lactate meausurements and concomitant advice is highly recommended. I am convinced that a heart rate monitor has added value for beginners, to learn to know their body. Especially for training sessions aimed at improving basic endurance, watches can be very useful to prevent heart rate from rising too high. For interval sessions, heart rate should reflect clear contrasts between work and rest intervals. However, it is completely unnecessary that heart rate decreases below certain values during the rest intervals; it is the duration of the work intervals and the ‘work to rest-ratio’ that will determine the training effect, and your coach is supposed is to be aware of that part of exercise physiology if he is worth his predicate.
For me as a physical trainer, I do not require my athletes to wear a heart rate monitor. If they want, I make training schemes with instructions regarding heart rate; if they don’t want, I do not specify heart rates in the scheme. Heart rate monitors are NOT indispensable. Heart rate graphs CAN have added value, especially for the ‘distance coach’ (not present during training), to verify whether athletes are training slow enough during fat burning sessions and whether interval sessions were carried out as intended.
During races, especially running or time trial cycling on a flat course, heart rate monitors can be helpful in pacing the race. However, even scientific research shows that knowing your body and being able to listen to its signals are the ultimate goal to reach your fullest potential.
Heart rate monitors can be an aid, but it can not be meant to become a ‘slave’ of that toy around your wrist (and this happens much more than you’d believe). Many of the very best endurance athletes do not train with heart rate monitors. Fifty, and even 10 years ago, they very often didn’t even have one. So, claiming that it is essential to improve is at most commercial pretention. Elite athletes know their body because they train a lot. And that’s what counts to stretch your own limits and get the most of your body: (1) knowing (and listening to) your body, and (2) working out sufficiently. You can not expect to become a better athlete by only training twice a week for 30 minutes.
Finally, forget about those VO2max-, HRV- and EPOC-features, incl. overtraining tests. We, exercise physiologists, have to laugh with it. It sounds very complicated and therefore scientific, but it’s nonsense. Heart rate variability (HRV) was very promising in the nineties (when I was doing scientific research about it), but it still is.
If I’d have to choose a heart rate monitor, I’d choose the one with the best GPS system. But my fitness goals aren’t yours. I do not want to become a faster athlete anymore. I train already for 30 years. I prefer mindless runs. I play tennis for distraction. I do weight lifting to prevent injuries. I prefer cycling to enjoy the sun. I swim to stay flexible and meet friends. To paraphrase Albert Einstein: ‘not all that counts can be counted (by a heart rate monitor), not all that can be counted (by a heart rate monitor) counts’.
Kind regards,
Karel
#TrainHardButSmart
PS: I hope Pieter-Jan Hannes and Stijn Baeten, two of our fastest and most sympathetic middle-distance runners of the moment, forgive me for using their beautiful picture while training last year. I hope their present injuries will heal quickly and that they will be able to return very soon at the highest level. All credits to Pieter-Jan Hannes.