Strapped or strapless heart rate monitor watch? How do you determine which type is best for you? Let's look at the upside and the downside to both types of models of heart rate monitors so you can make an informed decision.. The strapped versions have the obvious downside of having to have a chest strap around your sternum. Not liking a strap is not as gender dependent as one might imagine. The tradeoffs of having your heart rate while moving should be weighed against the discomfort of the strap. For women in particular getting the electro-static devise comfortably situated right below the breasts can be an issue.Women often don't like the straps because of the sensitive location.Females don't like the feel of a stiff sensor placed on the sternum.In particular, females often complain about the sensors location and discomfort.Girls will often express disatisfaction with having to wear a strap because of the location.par Many trainers and fitness professionals claim strapped monitors have more accurate measurement but that has not been validated by testing we have conducted. We tried both types of watch through an entire workout and found very little difference in the pulse measured.. The inability of the strapless heart rate monitor to perform to be an effective tool: 1.) To give you your resting heart rate. Your heart rate at rest plus 20 beats per minute gives you your recovery rate which you can use to record the speed of recovery with. A declining resting heart rate generally means improving fitness and allows your heart to work less to give your body what it needs.. 2.) To measure your training zone heart rate. Aim for between fifty and eighty percent of your maximum heart rate depending upon your fitness. Take 220 minus your age to arrive at your max heart rate which renders a number good for other calculations. The ultimate goal is to understand at what heart rate level our training should be conducted and to stay in that range. 3.) A good measure of fitness is how fast we recover from a continual effort once we have slowed to rest and can measure the time it takes to recover to 20 beats higher than our resting pulse. The issue with a straples monitor is in providing constant zone feedback while it does a good job of providing resting heart rate and recovery data. Aerobic athletes are better served by the ability to measure zones which makes the strapped version a better choice while anerobic athletes will find a strapless device quite adequate for periodic measurement.. If you just can't stand straps and just need periodic feedback with respect to your speed of recovery or resting heart rate than the strapless versions work just fine.If occasional heart rate data on resting pulse and recovery is good enough than strapless monitors should serve you well.For those with strap aversion if you can get by with resting pulse and recovery measures than strapless is the way to go.Strapless technology is evolving and for those needing just periodic feedback they work just fine.I'd recommend choosing strapped versus strapless based upon your need to acquire certain data during your workout. A "one size fits all" answer does not adeqautely address the debate of strapped or strapless and personal needs should drive the decision.
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