Strength Training Without Wearing the Watch?

Former Member
Former Member
Hey there.

Might anyone know of a way or an app where I can record my strength training sessions, but not wear the watch on my wrist? I would be OK wearing a chest strap, but having the watch on my wrist exposes it to a fair amount of cahlk, and at time limits my ROM in my wrist. Also, I'm concerned when doing some kettlebell work that the watch may tack a hard hit and be damaged.

Counting reps is not so important. I can record them seperately. I'm more interested in duration and heart fate throughout the sessions.

Thanks,
  • I wear a chest strap and pull the watch further up my arm for Strength Training. Usually it'll sit just above my wrist straps.
    For kettlebell work I usually just flip the watch over so the bell isn't smashing into the watch face on movements like KB snatch.

    You can buy strap extenders if you'd like to wear the watch even further up like on your bicep (you could possibly still use the optical HR in that case)

    Otherwise option B (assuming you have a chest strap) is to put the watch in a pocket. Obviously in this scenario it's not going to be able to pick up sets automatically and it might get fiddly if you're using the rep counting settings.

    The reception range of the watch is really poor so I don't think you'll be able to have a good heart rate recording if you're not wearing the watch.
  • The reception range of the watch is really poor so I don't think you'll be able to have a good heart rate recording if you're not wearing the watch.


    This is where HRM-Tri comes in. It can record data offline when not connected to the watch, and then upload it to the watch after workout finished. This way you could leave your watch in a locker and excersize with the HR strap only.
  • Good point tmk2 - I have both a HRM-Run4 strap and an HRM-Tri strap. My F5 will tell me multiple times during the workout that it's connected with my strap (meaning that it must have lost connection). The heart rate tracks from the Tri tracked workouts will still be complete after the workout whereas the Run4 will have gaps.
    So yes you could do that. The Tri is horribly expensive though - especially if you're planning on wearing it for 4-5 sweaty workouts every week. It will wear out fairly quickly and you can't replace the straps when they wear out.
    Also - it's been discussed before but the TE scores aren't tracked properly when using downloaded HR data vs recorded at the time data. No-one seems to know why but it does make a difference for training load and recovery times.