Do you need a strapped heart rate monitor? Knowing which type of heart rate monitor is best for you has become an increasingly important question for many. Strapped models require a sensor placed around the mid-section which is uncomfortable for some. The desire to not have a strap is expressed by both men and women. The tradeoffs of having your heart rate while moving should be weighed against the discomfort of the strap. In particular, females often complain about the sensors location and discomfort.

The main critics claim that heart rate monitor watch are not as accurate but out tests show this to be untrue. The strapped and strapless heart rate monitors gace very similar readings when both placed on the same individual for an entire workout.
The downside to strapless heart rate monitor watches versions is that you often have to touch buttons or the watches face, or bezel, and that is tougher to do when you are on the fly running, riding a bike, or other activity. Having constant feedback on your pulse is the strong suit associated with strapped models. Having your heart rate monitor handlebar mounted is key for a cyclist needing ease of use because of the speeds they travel at.

There are a few basic functions you really need your monitor to perform to be an effective tool:
1.) To give you your resting heart rate. Tracking your recovery times to within 20 beats per minute of your resting heart rate is an important measure of fitness. Your resting pulse is a good general indicator of fitness and it will tend to decline as you exercise more frequently over time as a fit heart needs less beats to give your body what it needs in the form of O2.

2.) The measurement of your zone training range. Somewhere between 50% and 80% of your maximum dependent upon how regularly you exercise. Your age subtracted from 220 show you your max rate which is used to perform zone heart rate calculations. Most monitors help us establish our zone training range and will provide feedback when we have gotten outside the zone.

3.) A good measure of fitness is how fast we recover from a continual effort once we have slowed to rest and can measure the time it takes to recover to 20 beats higher than our resting pulse.

So, getting back to the three functions that a heart rate monitor can perform to help improve your workout, the strapless heart rate monitors allow you to measure two of them:

1.) resting heart rate, and

2.) recovery heart rate. The inability to acquire constant zone feedback makes the strapless heart rate monitor an issue for distance runners, cyclists and triathletes but it is well suited to sports like weight lifting, track and field, and anaerobic activity where you must take a break to measure.
I'd recommend choosing strapped versus strapless based upon your need to acquire certain data during your workout.You can ask local running and fitness stores if the have heart rate monitor demos available to try and then decide.