 Poster: A snowHead
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Ok, Having cancelled gym membership, and decided (influenced by this forum!) NOT to spend £600 on a X-trainer, I have spent £80 on a Polar WM41 Heart Rate watch thingy! (oh and £20 on some comfortable walking shoes  )
Mrs Ax and I have been walking into work and back every day for the last week and a half - total distance covered now over 64 Km 
The Polar watch is great, gives all the stats on calories burned, duration, intensity etc and even plans a diet and excercise 'program' to help me get down to a target weight, and then maintain it. It uses a chest belt as a transmitter, but it's the new sort made of washable fabric and really isn't very uncomfortable. It also locks on to the digital signature from the belt, so it won't get confused when worn in a group with other belt wearers.
You can (optionally) store calories consumed (simply entering a figure every time you eat or drink or a total for the day) which makes keeping track of calories in vs calories out quite easy. Finally it stores a history (going back 40 weeks) of all your activity and stored weight readings etc and will show you graphs of changes over time - cool gadget!
Questions: Anyone else out there used these things and how did you get on (long term), and do they work well when you're skiing?
According to mine, the 40 minute, 4 Km 'brisk' walk into work burns around 400 cal, so thats 600 cal/hour. Any ideas what skiing (downhill not X-country) will do?
Am looking forward to finding out next week (at Alpe d'huez)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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AxsMan, you do realise that the calorie figure is only a rough guess based on bodyweight and statistical averages?
As to my downhill skiing, the HRM is most useful in tracking recovery by allowing me to look at morning resting heart rate. If elevated, it's a good idea to take it easy that day.
I don't like it during skiing as pacing to within anaerobic threshold for example doesn't correlate to real-world skiing rhythm. It has read anywhere from 200 kcal/hour to 1150+ mostly depending on altitude and whether I was doing jump turns. (Notice that an elevated HR at altitude does not necessarily mean you're actually burning more calories).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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BTW too bad about the gym cancellation- you can calibrate that HRM calorie count on an ergometer by activity. Amazing the disparity between the real power/energy measured at the damper of a rowing machine for example and the wild totals the HRM comes up with.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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comprex, Thanks for that. I do have a treadmill at home (sadly unused for a good 12 months!) so could calibrate with that. Mrs Axs has a pedometer so can check against that as well. In a way the fact that none of thes measurements is accurate is fine, I don't really know the exact calorific content of what I'm eating. It's more a question of relative increase in activity (i.e. walking quite a bit) combined with something of a reduction in consumption (i.e. leaving out the crisps and chocolate!) leading to (hopefully) a reduction in overall weight, BMI and gut size (at least that't the plan ).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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AxsMan, how do you think I knew it was inaccurate? 
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Nick L, agreed, units conversion shows that 500W burns only 431 Calories in one hour, yet a cross trainer in my gym insists I'm torching 1200/hr at 420 W.
I wonder where they get their numbers from?
PS it's the mass of the airborne oxygen that really packs on the pounds
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'm thinking of getting one myself, specifically the F11 from the fitness range, designed for using in the gym. I go to the gym fairly frequently (3 or 4 times per week) and just want to take it upa level, work a bit harder and try to improve my fitness. Unfortunately I can't afford a personal triner! So I'm thinking a HRM might be a good alternative. The F11 apparently has a "Keeps u fit" workout programme that creates personal targets etc.
Has anyone got any experience of using this or similar? Gadget or good investment?
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I am just about to go out now with my F11 and my dog. If you do the required target each week a logo of a cup flashes up for a few days. It is a bit like getting a star at primary school from your teacher. I have had mine since Christmas so I am not sure yet how much benefit it is. It does make me go out four times a week so that must be good but I am yet to see much improvement in my fitness.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I have a monitor (but not a watch) for wearing in the gym. I have thought of getting a watch for checking hr running and hill-walking. I cannot imagine using it when skiing though - making it visible and watching it whilst skiing seems a bit hazardous.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Yeah I can imagine standing at the top of certain pistes and a HRM going mad thinking I am working out - but in fact I am only looking down 
Axsman I bought a Kettler X trainer and rowing machine last March and I dropped 18 kg by simply using both for 10min each per day (as per the intructions).
I put weight on when I went to Saas Fee and immersed myself in brandy and hot chocolate.
I have not been doing regular workouts on the 2 for the past 2 months, I went on last night and with the amount of snowblading I have done during the past 2 months - my speed and resistance on both had doubled.
I am still 16 kg lighter than I was this time last year - but there is still more that can come off - hopefully both the blading and the X trainer and rower can make that happen. I have a chest belt HRM for both these devices.
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I have a Suunto watch which has an HRM on it etc. I have worn it a few times while skiing to record average/max/min HR per day when skiing and total altitude ascended/descended etc. Personally, it was a bit of a dissapointment at how low the average HR was during the day! Probably the equivalent of gently strolling around! The problem I found, was with the gauntlets and your jacket - especially when putting gloves back on - I often would accidentally press one or more buttons starting new logs etc. May be better to zip the watch in a pocket if you want to make sure you don't accidentally stop it recording etc. under the gloves.
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You know it makes sense.
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I have two Polar HRMs. The first (an s410) is now about 4 years old and going strong. I use it for most aerobic sports where I am trying to exercise within zones (esp running or spinning). I now have a CS200 bike computer which saves me having to look at my wrist when out training on my road bike. Also lets me match HR with speed.
Both let me upload the HR graph onto my computer.
I find them useful but the novelty of pouring over the HR chart after a run soon wears off. I never worry about calories burned etc and I don't even use it to ensure that I am not overtraining (chance would be a fine thing).
When running, I set the beeper to ensure that I stay within my target zone or, if I am doing intervals, I will use the beeper to tell me when to stop sprinting or when to start sprinting again. That helps me to focus on the intervals and not just convince myself that the interval must be over just cos it is starting to hurt.
But the main benefit is that it actually forces me to reduce the intensity of my training. When running or when on the spinning bike I have a tendancy to be overly competitive and spend too much time at 85%+ HR Max. That is not good and the heart rate monitor helps me stay around 80% unless I want to work at a higher intensity.
Never used it while skiing though. I use it purely as a training tool and skiing is play time 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I can't see the use for a HRM while skiing, even for competition, and you would have to be pretty unfit to raise your heart rate by much while skiing recreationally.
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Poster: A snowHead
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rjs, I can see the use for skinning with large altitude gains.
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FAQ
Could it be the liquid refershement and the tartiflette?
