[Paddlewise] calories

Another writer mentioned, regarding the heart-rate monitors which are worn 
while exercising, that "Some of the monitors record calories burned during 
excercise..."

These estimates of calorie consumption are the vaguest of guesses, based not 
on direct measurement of energy expended but on average estimated expenditure 
which in turn is derived from other averages.....and so on.

Simple heart-rate monitors are very helpful to record heart rate as such, 
which is what they're really designed for and all they really do with 
accuracy. All the other data are derived from the heart rate. They're fun to 
fool around with and they're nice distractions if you're bored with your 
daily run or treadmill time (or even your daily self-torture on the 
computerized multi-program "bicycling" or machine at the local fitness 
center. But they don't really measure calories, and are often quite 
inaccurate.

Matt Broze correctly points out that  "....you can measure calories burned by 
oxygen uptake ...." It takes a much fancier machine than a hearrt rate 
monitor to measure oxygen uptake directly.

Incidentally, my experience with heart rate and paddling is the same as Tom 
C's: my heart rate won't go up into "the zone" unless I'm paddling *really* 
hard. Those arm muscles, even the back and abdominal muscles, we use for 
paddling just aren't nearly as big as those used for walking or running. 
(Sadly, that's especially true for my personal arm and back muscles.)

Bill Hansen
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