Heart Rate Monitor with zone alert while swimming

While the Finis one does not have zones, it can tell you your hr every 10 seconds through an earphone. I've never tried it, but I have used their MP3 player that uses the same audio technology and it's pretty clear. I have the Poolmate HR but it doesn't have an alert if you are outside the zone. It only logs it and shows it on the watch face. Since it uses a strap, I've had issues with it moving while swimming. I only use it when doing HR sets and then I use a surfing rash guard with it so the strap doesn't move.

I love the idea of a hrm for swimming, but unfortunately, I'm waaaay too far outside the normal bell curve for it to be beneficial for me. I've got quite the heart rate range, from ~56 at rest to ~260 at max exertion. Just swimming an easy/moderate warmup, my heart rate usually spikes to 180-200. As a result, none of the heart rate ranges work out for me. According to the various ranges, I should be training with my heart rate somewhere in the general ballpark of 100-160, which never happens. Eh, I'm not too bummed by it. I'm way off the top of the charts, but it's been that way ever since I first started checking my heart rate as an age grouper back in the day. Doesn't affect my fat burning capabilities and multiple doctors have told me that while it's abnormal, it's not harmful, so I guess I'll have to continue without being able to use the heart rate ranges and heart rate monitors.

First, I use the Fina monitor now and then. It's not perfect, but it works in the water better than anything else. It doesn't slip around my waist, which is what happens when I wear a monitor with a transducer that straps onto the chest; it doesn't have the prospect of interference from the water that's likely with a Mio wrist monitor, which is what I'd suggest for running or bikes. Most of the time, however, I go Old School: during interval rests, I count my pulse for six seconds and multiply by 10 (one advantage of this approach is that you don't get focused on the moments, like 10 seconds after a start, when the heart rate temporarily spikes before falling back to the aerobic range). Regarding the exact range in the water for aerobic activity (the aerobic energy system burns fat), I think it can vary among people but also can't an individual person's pulse rate change from month to month, depending on what's going on with that person? To find your aerobic / anaerobic threshold (this isn't exactly the same thing as trying to find the perfect range, but fat burning is what happens when you're working just below the anaerobic threshold), doesn't the Old School way work: Swim 15-20 minutes as fast as you can (but don't sprint to the finish), and take your pulse at 10, 15 and/or 20 minutes?

I always thought that the target was calculated by getting the max (220 - age) and then taking the percentage from that (such as 85%). Also it's been proven that your HR would be lower in the water than land because the water pressure and the lack of having to fight gravity since when you're swimming, you're usually prone instead of standing. I'm using the fat burning range described in Christopher McDougall's new book. It works out to 71% - 77% of your formula. The American Heart Association recommends training within 50% -85% of your formula, so it's in the range, but supposedly in the using fat for fuel range. The point is, a 10 bpm zone is tough to stay in. As for swimming bpm's, I found the following on aquatic deductions from a Swimovate manual for heart rate training: for a 40 year oldMaximum heart rate on dry land = 220 – age = 180 bpmHeart rate when standing out of pool = 101 bpmHeart rate when armpit deep in pool = 90 bpmAquatic deduction = 101 – 90 = 11 bpmMaximum heart rate in the pool = 220 – age – aquaticdeduction = 220 – 40 – 11 = 169 bpm

@habu: You can set your own zone if you have one you want to train in. That's what I did. @james: I'm looking to give this method a shot. I mainly train for ows and want to do longer continuous swims and have an idea that I'm in my zone. Same as running with a hrm, which I'm also doing with the Mio. The Mio is optical and the water doesn't seem to have any effect. I strap it down tight and wear it higher up on the wrist as directed. So far so good but I need to lower the zone for swimming.

I always thought that the target was calculated by getting the max (220 - age) and then taking the percentage from that (such as 85%). Also it's been proven that your HR would be lower in the water than land because the water pressure and the lack of having to fight gravity since when you're swimming, you're usually prone instead of standing.

I tried a Mio Fuse in the pool this morning. It basically worked for what I wanted it to do. I was able to set a zone and it would vibrate if I was out of the zone. I could see the led light on it to tell if I was above or below zone. I was mostly below . When I ran with it earlier in the week, I kept going over. I may need to lower the floor rate for swimming. I set a range based on 180 - my age to 180 - (my age + 10). In my case that's from 122-132 beats per minute. That seems pretty narrow for any exercise, but I'm new to heart rate training. I tried a kick set with the heart rate on. I never got up into the range and the display kept cycling through all the data, even though I had turned off most of the data like calories and distance with the app. The app can be clunky from other reviews that I've read. I think the water lapping on the watch while kicking might have activated the touch sensors, but it kept reading my hear rate.

"Fat burning range" is considerably below anaerobic threshold. Anaerobic threshold is where you can no longer generate enough energy by the oxidation of fuel, mostly carbohydrates, and must get energy from anaerobic metabolism. The so called "fat burning range" is where your exertion is low enough that the energy demands can be met by burning fat predominantly. This can be very useful as you can train your body to be more efficient at burning fat. That is very helpful for very long exertions such as marathons and longer open water swims. It is not the best way to lose weight as it burns many fewer calories per unit of time than more vigorous exercise.

"Fat burning range" ... is not the best way to lose weight as it burns many fewer calories per unit of time than more vigorous exercise. This seems to bear that out ... well.blogs.nytimes.com/.../

Allen thank you for this. I work out at a place called ORangetheory that uses HRM to work you through zones. The idea is to get 12-20 minutes in the aerobic (orange/red) zones, then at least another 20-30 in the fat burning (green) zone. If you can get those kinds of numbers, then supposedly you continue to burn fat for the next 24-26 hours. reading your info above, it helps to understand this concept a bit more too. I have a hard time losing weight despite all the exercise between the pool and Orangetheory, but since I'm a distance chick, I can see where you become more efficient. Hmm...