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Apple watch 2 for weight lifting activity
- Thread starter cserba
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All optical HR monitors will suffer this. Constricted tissue hampers blood flow and makes optical inaccurate. Also anaerobic workouts like wight training don't correlate to HR anyway.
what @Julien said above.
i use my HRM for monitoring rest periods as certain lifting techniques get my HR wayyyyy higher than others.
Personally, I don't like wearing the strap when "lifting" weights. feels too restrictive.
Solution - don't lift weights. just kidding.
I've not done enough weight training with HRMs in general, or wrist worn optical HRMs specifically to comment from experience in weight training, but I do have a basic understanding of how they work.
It boils down to the technology and physiology.
A chest strap HRM measures the actual electrical fields from the impulses driving the heart muscles. So it's a very direct measurement of heart muscle contractions.
An optical HRM measures the effect of light reflectance changes as an effect of spikes in arterial (oxygenated) blood as an effect of blood movement as an effect of heart muscle contractions.
Now add in arm muscle contractions / tensing interfering with blood flow at the capilaries, and you add even more noise to wrist-based optical heart rate measurement.
So... direct measurement of HR vs determining HR from the measurement of an effect of an effect of an effect, with the added complication of muscle tensing during some exercises.
Not saying wrist-based optical HR is unusable, but it's not going to provide the accuracy that a chest strap will provide. I do know the AW2 is capable of using a bluetooth chest strap HRM, but have not tried it and don't know which apps it works with or does not.
Additionally, research cardiac lag and it's effect on using HR in short high intensity intervals.
Also here's a good read from some experts in the field: https://www.wareable.com/sport/optical-heart-rate-tech-the-experts-speak-9763
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Hey, that's worked for me for years!
I've not done enough weight training with HRMs in general, or wrist worn optical HRMs specifically to comment from experience in weight training, but I do have a basic understanding of how they work.
It boils down to the technology and physiology.
A chest strap HRM measures the actual electrical fields from the impulses driving the heart muscles. So it's a very direct measurement of heart muscle contractions.
An optical HRM measures the effect of light reflectance changes as an effect of spikes in arterial (oxygenated) blood as an effect of blood movement as an effect of heart muscle contractions.
Now add in arm muscle contractions / tensing interfering with blood flow at the capilaries, and you add even more noise to wrist-based optical heart rate measurement.
So... direct measurement of HR vs determining HR from the measurement of an effect of an effect of an effect, with the added complication of muscle tensing during some exercises.
Not saying wrist-based optical HR is unusable, but it's not going to provide the accuracy that a chest strap will provide. I do know the AW2 is capable of using a bluetooth chest strap HRM, but have not tried it and don't know which apps it works with or does not.
Additionally, research cardiac lag and it's effect on using HR in short high intensity intervals.
Also here's a good read from some experts in the field: https://www.wareable.com/sport/optical-heart-rate-tech-the-experts-speak-9763
[doublepost=1478622742][/doublepost]
Hey, that's worked for me for years!
So yeah. I am absolutly confused for the end of the day. As I see right now I dont even need the watch :-D :-/
People did quite well for many years in weight lifting and running and other sports with nothing more than a stopwatch and a paper notebook.
So no, you don't "need" the Apple watch.
It's about differing degrees of convenience such as having the Gymaholic app on the watch list the list of exercises for today's workout and providing set/superset/exercise rest timers by just tapping the watch face.
It's also about differing degrees of data gathering, data accuracy, and the information you do or don't gleen from the data., all in service towards achieving your own particular goals.
To be honest, the flood of gadgets creates such a cloud of data points that it becomes difficult to discern what is really meaningful and how much accuracy is needed. ... and with so many people each having different goals and needs, you'll see tons of conflicting advice as to what is "best" ...
So my suggestion is take a step back and figure out exactly what you mean when you say you want a watch to use for weightlifting. What do you want a watch to do for you and why do you want it to do it; how accurate must it be for any particular thing and what impact does differing inaccuracy cause?
Edit: also ask yourself the questions of what can you not do today that having a watch will enable you to do, or what things do you do today that are cumbersome but would be far easier to accomplish if you had a watch to aid you in doing them.
Once you figure out the specifics of why you want a watch, the question of which watch to get will become much easier.
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Anyone to answer my question?
Thanks. I will surely check. Can you please guys tell me which is better in durability? Not only for workout but for example I am a hunter and I really like to go outside to woods look around between trees where are small spaces. In scratches and etc? Does it really able to stand two days without charging?
I can tell you that the sports model screen (series 2) scratch easily. I have already bumped it by accident (not very hard) against a rack of networking equipment and the screen got a small rip on it
From my experience, the AW is straight up useless for weight lifting. It rarely gets a consistent reading.
As someone mentioned before, the Polar HR strap is the way to go.
Would be nice to find a strap for around $50. Hard to justify $100+ for a strap.
EDIT: The Wahoo TICKR is $50 USD. Hooray!
As someone mentioned before, the Polar HR strap is the way to go.
Would be nice to find a strap for around $50. Hard to justify $100+ for a strap.
EDIT: The Wahoo TICKR is $50 USD. Hooray!
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