Forums >General Running>Polar Heart Monitor
Because of my age and weight I am confining my running to a treadmill whereI can monitor, speed, distance, incline etc and build gradually.
Because I dislike holding onto the pulse monitor hand things I purchased a Polar T31 uncoded belt which I am told is the correct one for my treadmill.
When I am starting off the pulse is around 78-80 which is correct for my age etc. Then as I start to run the rate actually drops to around 60 which is weird. If I take the strap off and go back to the hand held it is showing around 112-114 which is about right for what I am doing.
Can anyone explain what is happening I emailed Polar but not very helpful. Would buy one of the watch type monitors but eyes not too good close up
Belt-type HRM's require a good electrical contact with your skin to give accurate results. Dry skin doesn't provide that connectivity, so your monitor tends to fluctuate when you start running. The accuracy improves quite a bit, though, once you've worked up a sweat.
With the hand-grip monitors, you're probably holding the monitor in a tighter grip, and that's why your accuracy is better even early in the run.
Oh roo roooo!
So what you can do to try to fix the problem is pre-wet the sensors on the HRM chest belt. I just use tap water, but I know they sell gels specifically for this purpose. Also make sure it's tight enough to have good contact--mine seems to loosen up after a while and I have to tighten it a smidge every so often. That will likely take care of it for you.
(wet the strap, as RLeMart & HoneyPig mention...)
Otherwise, I've heard of people who have had problems when wearing the HR monitor upside down. Don't know why it causes issues, but apparently, it matters.
2013 Goals:
#1: Do what I can do. <DOING>
#2: Finish and enjoy my 2nd full Ironman
And try the HRM with some different shirts...
I have connectivity problems while wearing some tight fitting technic shirts, especially in dry and cold weather (dry and cold won't aply to you indoor-circumstances I guess, but give it a try while wearing it with some different shirts.)
Running in BelgiumAnn
2012-goals: stay injury-free, build a stable aerobic base, transition to running barefoot run barefoot as long as temperatures allow it
Run more km than I did in 2010 (45) 2009 (95) 2007 (148) 2006 (222) 2008 (234) 2011 (best year yet: 318 km)
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I got a polar model heart monitor last year when I tried out p90x and it was nothing but problems! The key is you have to have the electrodes soaking wet and keep them really wet throughout the workout. I also know what your talking about with the random 60-70 HR issue. Mine did this all the time when it lost connectivity. It was really anoying because it would always through the all important "average HR" value way off.
I dont know if garmin sells a stand alone HR monitor, but if they do GET IT. When I got my forerunner 410 this year I was completely amazed how much better the HR monitor worked. I never have to wet it at all, and I have never lost signal. Its also a lot smaller and doesn't look rediculous poking through your shirt.
I never used the polar because it was such a fuss to get working right.
This is really basic, but ... you're wearing the heart-rate strap UNDER your shirt, right? Not on top?
My Garmin never did work right until I prewet it AND used HRM goop.
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