Heart Rate Monitor For Women - Why Strapless Is Best

Can't wear a monitor with a chest strap? When it comes to a heart rate monitor for women, find out why strapless is best.

Whether you take your sports and fitness seriously or you’re more of a house league kind of girl, heart monitors serve a useful purpose. Or at least they do when they actually work. Unfortunately that’s not always the case for women when using traditional monitors. And that's why a strapless monitor may be the best heart rate monitor for women

First and foremost, a monitor has to fit properly. For many women this is a real problem if the monitor uses a chest strap to measure the heart rate. To get a true and consistent reading, the strap has to fit snugly around the chest area and has to make good contact with the skin.

Right away this presents two potential difficulties. Larger breasted women may have trouble getting the strap to fit correctly, so readings may be inaccurate. And many people, but especially women find wearing a chest strap uncomfortable because of how snugly it has to be worn.

So does that mean that women are out of luck when it comes to using heart monitors? The answer is definitely not. When the two piece monitor with watch and chest strap doesn’t work or doesn’t fit right, the solution is to go with an entirely different kind of monitor; a one piece model.

In the past, one piece monitors were not very good at measuring the heart rate. They tended to be cumbersome to both wear and operate. Today’s strapless heart rate monitors are a whole lot better. In fact they are able to produce results that are as accurate as the traditional two piece monitor.

Here’s how they work. A strapless or wrist heart rate monitor is worn like a sport’s watch. It measures the heart rate via sensors located on the watch, eliminating the need to wear a chest strap.

Putting a finger on the sensor, allows the sensor to measure your heart rate and then display this reading on the watch. Watches that have more than a single sensor are best, so you are able to more easily locate it while engaged in a physical activity.

Although it may be more difficult to get a reading depending on what you’re doing, it’s far better than having to wear an ill-fitting strap.

Another benefit of wearing a strapless monitor is that it can be worn even when you’re not actively exercising. Doing this provides some useful data. You can compare your heart rate while engaged in heavy activity, everyday activities, and at rest. This will give you an indication of your overall level of fitness.

Strapless monitors are built with women in mind because they are the primary users. So instead of big and bulky, they are smaller and more suited to a woman’s wrist size. But just because they are smaller doesn’t mean their capabilities are any less.

A wrist heart rate monitor will provide just as much information as a two piece monitor. And they come loaded with as many features as you could want, to help you get the most out of each and every workout. It’s up to you to decide on which features are important to you.

So what is the best heart rate monitor for women? The consensus seems to be that strapless heart rate monitors have what a woman needs in a heart monitor watch- comfort, accuracy, and a great look to boot.