Measuring Heart Rate for Cardio

[IcedEarth]

I'm curious as to what some of you do to measure your heart rate during cardio. Most probably use the built in monitors on gym equipment, but I do my cardio on trails behind my house and usually just power walk. I don't have a monitor, so I was thinking of just stopping and taking my pulse about 15 minutes in. I'm guessing some people on here go running or other forms, and just wondering how you did it.

Thanks.

[max2extreme]

I would save up for a good watch. If you need models and such, let me know. Ive looked into them a lot. Me and my girl each have one (different models) and love em! There are watches that of course measure heart rate, some you have computer programs with them you can use the infrared on the watch and download to a computer and see the progress of each workout. see when you peak at cardio, what the avg time is you usually go over or when you are under so you can set your watch to beep when you hit that point so you can back off or work harder, some with gps that can measure speed...all kinds. You can get a good basic watch with probably all you need for under $100. around $80 probably. The more you want, the more expensive of course. The one with the computer program and everything is like $250 or something like that.

-max

[Hypertrophy]

HR Monitor.
Well worth the money~

[doby48]

yep get a monitor... I have tried several kinds and the one I am using now which I have found to be very accurate is the Polar brand. There are lots of different ones out there depending on the features you are looking for and if you just want to see your HR and nothing more than you can get a good one for reasonable price. Just don't get a real cheapie cause they wont' be as accurate.

[IcedEarth]

I used to have a polar long ago that fortunately I got free, and it had the strap that went around your chest. Do the new types, or the watches you're talking about still use that to detect Heart rate?

Thanks for the replies everyone.

[doby48]

Most of them still have the strap that goes around your chest. There are a few out there that measure your HR just from your wrist but I have found these to be not very accurate and not worth the money.