Heart rate monitors

FIND YOUR NEW HEART RATE MONITOR AT RUNNINGXPERT - CHECK OUR SELECTION

With a good wireless heart rate monitor, you easily get an overview of your pulse during workouts and various fitness contexts. At RunningXpert, you can find heart rate monitors in different versions to match various goals and needs. Our large selection of modern sports and GPS watches typically include optical heart rate monitors as standard (measuring your pulse at your wrist via LEDs.) You'll find both simple and advanced watches, and we also have other equipment, such as chest straps and Garmin Running Dynamic Pod, for measuring your pulse. RunningXpert's range caters to both elite athletes and fitness enthusiasts.

HEART RATE MONITORING – WHAT DOES A HEART RATE MONITOR ACTUALLY MEASURE?

When you run or engage in other physical activities, your heart rate typically increases. Each time your heart contracts, a wave of blood is sent through your body via your arteries. This wave causes your arteries to briefly expand, and it's this wave that you feel as a pulse. The pulse is measured in beats per minute. So, your heart rate is an expression of how fast your heart is beating. You're likely familiar with the feeling of your heart beating more noticeably at high intensity. Your pulse can, of course, also be measured and felt at rest, but not as prominently as when you've just pushed yourself in your running shoes up a steep hill or sprinted to the finish line. By placing your index and middle fingers over the inside of your wrist or on the left side of your neck in the hollow near the larynx, you can feel distinct and rhythmic beats. A heart rate monitor records your pulse when you're wearing it, whether it's a heart rate watch or a chest strap. It can be difficult, demanding, and highly impractical to measure your pulse manually. And during movement, it's obviously quite overwhelming. A wireless heart rate monitor, on the other hand, measures your pulse continuously, not just when you ask it to. Therefore, with a heart rate monitor, you can get a completely different, more accurate, and comprehensive picture of your pulse and its fluctuations.

HEART RATE MONITORING: OPTICAL SENSOR IN THE WATCH OR CLASSIC CHEST STRAP?

The two main types of heart rate monitors are chest straps and sports watches with built-in heart rate sensors. There are both advantages and disadvantages to these two different versions, in terms of convenience and accuracy. Therefore, it's a good idea to consider your needs and priorities, and how a heart rate monitor can contribute to your health before you add one to your cart. It's also beneficial to be clear about what each heart rate monitor can do, so you get the best one based on your criteria.

Optical Heart Rate Sensor:

An optical heart rate sensor is the type found in a modern activity and GPS watch. Here, your pulse is measured at the wrist using small LEDs on the back of the watch. The LEDs shine through the skin on your arm and into your arteries. From here, the light from the LEDs is reflected back to the watch's sensor. The sensor's analysis of the light, which is an image of your blood flow, provides a result of your heart rate. You can read more about wrist-based heart rate monitoring and watch a short video on correct placement of your heart rate watch on our website. In addition to providing a more technical and in-depth explanation of optical heart rate monitoring, the article also contains information on using chest straps as heart rate monitors.

Chest Strap:

With a chest strap, heart rate measurement is slightly different. The chest strap sits close to the heart and can therefore record your muscle contractions when your heart beats. Here, it's the electrical signals from the heart that occur when it beats and gets blood flowing through the body that are measured. If you run intervals, you get quick heart rate spikes. Not all heart rate monitors can accurately record these rapid fluctuations. A good chest strap can record these quick heart rate spikes in more detail. At RunningXpert, we have various chest straps. For example, you can find the Garmin HRM chest strap in three versions: Garmin HRM-Pro, Garmin HRM-Dual, and Garmin HRM-Run. If you're a serious runner, the Garmin HRM-Run chest strap is a great choice. Garmin HRM Tri is out of stock, but we have three other versions we recommend as good alternatives. The Garmin HRM-Pro is a chest strap from Garmin with built-in memory. It replaces the following two chest straps: HRM-Run and HRM-Tri. (See the link to an article on choosing the right chest strap at the end of this text.)

HEART RATE MEASUREMENT - CHOOSE CHEST STRAP OR HEART RATE WATCH BASED ON YOUR SPECIFIC NEED

Different heart rate monitors can do different things. For many athletes, a standard activity watch is sufficient when it comes to heart rate monitoring. Here, you're free from strapping a belt around your chest and thus have a more flexible and natural access to your pulse measurement. Through your Connect app, you have easy access to your pulse data around the clock. If you wear your watch all day, you can easily see your pulse and its variations in different contexts both night and day. If you have a more specific need for accurate heart rate monitoring, we at RunningXpert have a selection of chest straps that offer different functionalities. Perhaps you run intervals and need a heart rate monitor that can provide the most accurate measurements. Or maybe you participate in triathlons and need data and measurement across multiple disciplines without having to change heart rate monitors along the way. Or perhaps you're curious to follow your pulse’s fluctuations over an entire day or in selected situations where you either push yourself or find yourself in special situations. If you train according to heart rate zones, it's important that your heart rate monitor can clearly indicate which zone you're in.

HEART RATE MONITORING – WHAT CAN AFFECT YOUR PULSE?

It's not just physical movement that can influence your pulse’s fluctuations. Several parameters come into play. Something as simple as coffee consumption can make a difference for some. Stress hormones that are released and nerves from the brain can also affect the heart's beating tempo. Certain illnesses or malfunctions in the heart's electrical system can also have an influence, just like age, gender, medication, and air temperature can play a role. However, it is clear that physical exertion will typically make your pulse rise, as the heart needs more oxygen here. A heart rate monitor can track your fluctuations and give you data on, for example, resting pulse, working pulse, and your pulse in special situations. You might find that situations you hadn't previously considered affecting your pulse actually do, causing your pulse to either rise or fall. Both low and high pulse can indicate different things, but since it is individual and complex and can't always be interpreted from a single number, conclusions should only be drawn based on individual parameters. Your fitness level can also be expressed in your pulse. A low resting pulse is generally an indication of good fitness, as exercise and high-intensity training impact the heart muscle, which becomes larger and can therefore pump more blood into the body. Again, a pulse should always be interpreted individually, as both high and low pulse can indicate various things.

KEEPING A FINGER ON THE PULSE – USE HEART RATE MONITORING AS A GUIDE FOR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

At RunningXpert, you can find the right Bluetooth heart rate monitor in the form of a watch or chest strap, which, with app connectivity, can easily take the pulse of your training's effect and development and give you an overview of whether, for example, you're close to your maximum heart rate, if your resting pulse has changed recently, or if there are perhaps specific situations that affect your pulse? Maximum pulse. Resting pulse. High pulse. Low pulse. Working pulse. Heart rate monitor. Heartbeat. Heart rate zones. The words are many when it comes to pulse and training. If you need or want to examine your pulse and fitness during training or as a development indicator in your training program, a heart rate monitor can help you with an overview and areas of focus and possible effective training variants and intensities. Optical heart rate monitor. Chest strap. Bluetooth heart rate monitor. Heart rate watch. Garmin Running Dynamic Pod. The words are equally many when it comes to choosing a heart rate monitor. Clicking on a single product lets you read more about the specific heart rate monitor's functions and uses and check if it meets your expectations and needs for pulse measurement. Typing words like “pulse measurement,” “chest strap,” or “heart rate monitor” in our search field leads you to different heart rate monitors. And entering these words in our search field on our inspiration page will surface articles about heart rate measurement.

ARTICLES WITH GUIDES AND INSPIRATION AT RUNNINGXPERT

If you're still in doubt about which variant to choose, you can benefit from diving into our articles about heart rate monitoring and seeking knowledge and inspiration. For example, you can read about choosing the right chest strap, or you can read Jesper's article on the immediate differences between using the watch's optical heart rate monitor versus chest strap. You'll likely feel even more clarified or better equipped to make an informed choice of your new heart rate monitor and embark on a pulsating running adventure.