Low HR - calories

Former Member over 6 years ago

I am an athlete and fast every other day (34 yr old male, 6% body fat, resting HR 35, 135 lbs, 5'8 height). My max HR is 145 but on fasting days it's impossible to get my HR above 110.

My frustration is that the calorie burn is way off as a result when I do indoor cycling on fasting days. I can push myself hard and be in "No zone"

The calories burned on Air Assault bike should be based on the WATTs regardless of my HR. If I do the exact same workout on a fasting day and non-fasting day, the calories burn should be exactly the same. It's the watts not the HR that matters.

Is there any other solution besides manually adjusting my HR Max every other day in the watch? I just want the calories burned to be accurate.

Is there some type of power monitor I can connect to the watch when doing indoor cycling? I want calorie burn on this watch to be based on WATTS, not HR. HR makes no sense.

0 AllanOlesen67 over 6 years ago

There has been another, very loud user in Garmin's forums with the exact opposite message: He discovered that his Garmin used power to calculate calories from bicycling and wanted Garmin to change it so it used HR instead.

So perhaps Garmin listened. This would not be the first time they have made their products worse because they listened to a minority among the users. (Auto-lap in structured workouts is another example.)

Oops, I just read your post again, and I think you need to clarify: Do your watch get the power from the bike? Or do you only see the power on a display on the bike?

If it is the latter, the watch has no other option than using HR. You will need to use a bike which can transfer power to the watch.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Just curios, what are You athlete in? If You do indoor cycling at home with your one bike You can buy a powermeter and sync it with your fenix 5 https://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/205904-how-choose-cycling-power-meter-buyers-guide-your-power-training-options. On what are you doing your indoor cycling on ? I am no expert but in some way I think if one have elevated HR like during training the heart works more and will pump more blood out in the body and that requires more energi from the body and more calories are burned with higher HR, may be some can explain it better what happens :) When I am eating my HR rises and I get warmer and offen my stress levels are rising, probably it increases my calorieburn a little due to digestion, higher HR etc. So in some why I think a higher HR can give higher calorieburn, but what do I no?, just speculating :) I have a Rogue bike at home similar to Air assault bike and I dont find a dedicated sport setting in my Fenix 5x for it so I use the crosstrainer/ elliptical setting, maybe not the best?