Chunky cyclist and HRM

Briain O Loinsigh

Hi ,I'm cycling at the moment to get fit and loose weight . I've lost a good bit of weight so far and I was deciding on buying a heart rate monitor to keep an eye on my progress.

My main concern is that it might be just too much information for me at the moment ,because I'm generally pumping hard when I'm on the bike. I use howth head climb as a reference to my fitness ,each time my breathing is getting better etc. Currently 12mins is my best.

Is there any point when your not really fit in having a monitor ?

youtheman

A HRM is like a rev counter for your car, not essential but can be useful.

I don't think it will be 'too much information'. If you get one then you will quickly learn what your comfort zone is. And then you can train in your comfort zone. And you can use it in the gym on the threadmill, or the bike etc. So you don't have to worry about speed, incline, wind resistance etc. You can just keep the HRM 'in the zone'. And then as you get fit you will get the satisfaction of being able to train harder while keeping the same HR.

Briain O Loinsigh

Thanks youtheman ,I hadn't thought about it like that. So it's actually a good way of making things easier .

Just one other thing that I'm not sure about at the moment ,I can purchase a heart rate monitor and use it with my phone and will only cost me about 40 euro. Are there any reasonable programs on android that help with monitor readings ,i.e certain sounds when near max hr etc.

If I have to ,I'll buy the garmin 500 pack. But I just don't have the money for it at the moment.

Thanks again ,
Brian.

ROK ON

Very simply, as a big bloke, I find the HRM is useful in helping me manage my efforts on a climb.
Once you get to know your HR zones, you will then have an idea as to how hard you can push yourself, or when you need to back off slightly.

They are not the most accurate measure of effort, but IMHO they are not a bad approximation.

corkandproud

The Cateye V3 is a great bit of gear - cadence and HRM are the two things I concentrate on as weightloss and fitness are my two objectives.

Joxer_S

I just got a good price on a Polar FT2, so can use it while running too. Basic enough model but it's the first time I've used one so don't need anything too complicated. First time using it today and I was surprised how high my heart rate was going at times, hammered home my lack of fitness

Ryder

have had a hrm for years.....rowing, running and cycling. Havent worn it though for at least 2 years though. Its 'nice' to see the figures but I never felt that my own endurance or threshold zones compared with the percentage maxs etc. Some days you feel good and the HR is very high and vice versa. In short it was a very rough guide and i found perceived exertion to be much better. I would probably spend the money on a good speedometer or mapping

Briain O Loinsigh

Thanks for the replies and opinions on this ,I know that when I'm climbing for a while my heart is easily over 200 as my breathing is definetly maxed out. sometimes my only worry is not getting enough oxygen and I might keel over
I have a Garmin edge 205 from years ago and it works fine ,so my heart and cadence is really all I'm missing out on at the moment.

Lumen

I don't there is a single right answer for how much gadgetry is useful, it's a very personal thing. I've been riding with a power meter and HRM for a couple of years now. I find cycling fast is quite traumatic, and having numbers to look at distracts from the suffering a bit.

I do a lot of split sessions at the moment, morning and evening every weekday on my commute, and I notice that in the morning it is much harder to "hit the numbers" (both power and HR). The "hurty legs" part of the perceived effort is very high relative to my breathing. Then later the same day I can put out more watts/heartbeats and the legs don't hurt, and even though my breathing is very fast it feels much more comfortable.

I guess I could ditch all the gadgetry and just rely on breathing to measure my output, ignoring the leg pain. But perhaps I wouldn't have come to this understanding if I didn't have the numbers to back it up.

Also, at lower levels of intensity where breathing is not laboured it is quite difficult to perceive the effort, but then for longer rides maybe it doesn't matter so much - it's just a question of getting the hours in.

Of course with perceived effort is much easier to lie to yourself about how hard you are going.