Garmin HRM-Swim - Heart Rate Monitor Strap

Product Information

A heart rate monitor will give you an objective measure of your hard work, and you will know with cold precision how much effort you are truly throwing down in your swim workout. Most times we tend to sandbag our reps and lie to ourselves that we are working so hard. You Will Stay in Your Prescribed Training Zones

The HRM-Pro + is essentially the same as the HRM Pro, but there's one big design difference that makes it the top Garmin chest strap to own right now. When working out, we've put it through the same rigorous testing as we do with all of the wearables on this list. And the Series 9, like its predecessors, consistently proves to be one of the most accurate optical heart rate sensors on test - even when matched against dedicated sports watches, and during the likes of interval training. That’s why many athletes still favor chest straps over a wrist heart rate monitor. However, that’s undeniably less comfortable – especially for women. Zone 2 – Aerobic Zone: This zone corresponds to 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. It is a comfortable effort level that allows for longer, sustained swims. Training in this zone helps improve your aerobic capacity and endurance. Overall, we’d recommend this model if you’re on a tight budget or if you’re a beginner who needs an extra push in the right direction. However, for more advanced athletes or those who can accommodate a larger budget, you may find the syncing process a bit more tedious than some other options.If that sounds like you, your next best bet is an armband like the Polar Verity Sense, which is worn on the upper or lower arm and is more accurate than a wrist monitor. In our testing, the Verity Sense closely matched the readings of a chest strap during a variety of workouts, and it certainly outperformed a wrist monitor for accuracy.

The accuracy of the devices listed below is good for steady runs, cycles, and workouts - but accuracy can dip during HIIT and workouts that flex the wrist.What you pay for in accuracy, though, is made up for in comfort, convenience, and features with a smartwatch. These are devices designed to monitor you all day and often come with more features than just simple BPM monitoring. Heart rate watch accuracy explained By following these tips and incorporating a heart rate monitor into your swim routine, you can maximize your swim workouts and take your swimming performance to new heights. Heart rate training plans for different swimming goals Pair it with your Garmin Smartwatch, and you can use it for up to 10 months for a daily hour of physical activity. Dark skin and tattoos can also affect accuracy, as skin tone can affect the light reflection. Sadly, not enough work has been done across the board to overcome accuracy issues because of ethnicity, so, if you have dark skin and want the very best data from your workouts, think about a chest strap.

A chest strap can move around, especially with all of the overhead movements typical of swimming and can intrude on your arm stroke technique. That cradle also doubles as a Bluetooth antenna to increase the connectivity range to 150 meters, and this, combined with ANT+ connectivity, lets you pair it up to a range of apps and other connected equipment. Swimmers should not attempt to achieve their maximum heart rate as this can be extremely dangerous.To manually monitor a swimmer’s heart rate while training, they should place their fingers on their preferred pulse and count every time they feel their pulse beat for 10 seconds and multiply by six to get their heart rate. Focus on technique: Even with a heart rate monitor, it’s important not to neglect your technique. Focus on maintaining proper form and efficiency in the water, as this will help optimize your swim and reduce unnecessary strain on your body. Warm-up and cool-down: Begin each swim workout with a proper warm-up to gradually increase your heart rate and prepare your muscles for the main set. Similarly, end each workout with a cool-down to gradually lower your heart rate and aid in recovery.

Heart rate training zones are used to target different types of training while monitoring your heart rate during swimming. For Example: You can play around with different colors as well, and the strap is good to use up to 30m in depth.Swim smartwatches can be a little bulky, and swimming purists tend to avoid them as it throws off their feel for the water and stroke. It doesn’t have a color screen but has a good battery life of up to seven days and you can control your Spotify playlist with the device.