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Erroneous heartbeat data when rowing

I use my Forerunner 935 for running, biking and rowing. I use the wrist based HR system, this works perfectly when I Run and bike.

However when I row (indoor) the HR always show too low values like instead of 130 it shows 100. I know this as I up until recently used a 920XT with HRM strap when rowing

any ideas how to get more correct HR-values when rowing other than adding a strap, or is this caused by the movement of the hand arm including the muscles workin at each stroke causing worse readings?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated

Regards
Rundelight

0 JSRUNNER_ over 6 years ago

@rundlelight unfortunately this is an issue for many on this type of activity with wrist based sensors. All you can do I think is experiment with different strap tightness and positioning to see if you get an improvement. Interestingly for Elite rowers it seems that chest strap also cause a problem due to the strap slipping (large chest expansion contraction) and in the recent Oxford/Cambridge boat race the cambridge team were wearing HRM on their toes - I presume this was an optical based but have not been able to find any details (although I'm sure its out of a mortal's price range)

0 gingerneil over 6 years ago

This will almost certainly be down to the stress you are putting on your wrists, and the muscle contractions that come with each stroke. I get the same, and also when weight lifting etc where I am working arms. Its fine with my tickr fit worn on the upper arm.

0 KonstantinosTsipotis over 6 years ago

I read somewhere that wrist HR is not accurate at all in sports where the arm puts strength

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago

It wont take any effort at all to use the search function and find all you need to know about the capabilities of wrist heart rate. It's been discussed ad nauseum

0 Rundelight over 6 years ago

Hi

the previous post about wearing a tickr fit on the upper arm, inspired me to place my forerunner higher up on the underarm as there is much less action going on under the skin, during my last three rows it has given much better readout of the HR in the range of 130-140, so for now I think this would be a solution during my rowing sessions

thanks for the feedback
rundelight