After teaching aerobics for twelve years or so, I have become highly perceptive in knowing my heart rate zone without necessarily taking my pulse. Not to the exact beats per minute of course, but definitely within a relatively accurate range. Nonetheless, every so often while exercising, I will place my hands on the equipment’s metal heart rate monitor to get a quick read of my heart rate. Big mistake: It always ends in frustration.
Here are a few typical scenarios that I have experienced:
The Flat Line: I have actually had the heart rate monitor tell me that it can’t find a pulse or that my pulse is desperately low, when clearly, I’m busting my butt on the treadmill. This is dangerous because it misleads an individual to believe that they aren’t working hard enough when they very well might be.
Steady Decline: Sometimes on a rare occasion, the heart rate monitor will get it right ... at least for the first second. Then, while I’m still busting my butt on the treadmill, it will start to drop, slowly and steadily, until it reaches an all time low of an apparently anaerobic heart rate. Again, this is dangerous and misleading.
Bueller? This is when the heart rate monitor flashes endlessly searching for your heart rate, as if you aren’t even there. It shouldn’t take more than ten seconds for the monitor to find your heart rate, and if it does, give up.
I’m not 100 percent sure what causes these monitors to be highly inaccurate, but I do know that 99 percent of the time you use them, you will get a worthless heart rate reading. Now, I know monitors are inanimate objects, but sometimes, I have to wonder if they have minds and personalities of their own. My hypothesis on why these monitors don’t work:
The Perfect Storm: If the wind is blowing (think fans) or there is high humidity (think sweaty palms), these monitors are thrown off course.
Laziness: If you are working really hard, the monitor doesn’t want to work as hard as you do.
