Why don’t they make a one piece HR monitor with the sensor on the band of the watch? Then we could use it for swimming. Just a thought.
Hmmm. I think it has something to do with how a heart rate monitor senses electrical activity in the “Bundle of His” in your heart to detect the beginning of a heart contraction (beat). You can wear most (waterproof) heart rate monitors in the pool without a problem, but read the directions first. Many of these new monitors are ridiculous IMHO: Speed, altitude, temperature, distance, heart rate, avg. heart rate, average gain/loss altitude, barometer, compass, blah, blah, blah. Too complicated for me most of the time.
I just want a simple HR monitor. I have tried wearing it in the pool but it doesn’t stay on.
I think you will find that HR is pretty meaningless in the pool. I don’t recall ever seeing anyone training in one when I was on a swim team, including seeing some big 12 schools swim practice.
However, if you really want to use your HR try this:
- Keep the strap nice and tight.
- After putting the strap on, twist the strap in back to tighten it some more and give it a little more friction.
- If you have the classic male V shape body you can let the HR monitor ride a little lower, try on the bottom of your lats.
- Don’t stretch out quite so much on the push-off since stretching out will make your midsection a little smaller.