Blog Sports

What a Sports Heart Rate Monitor Can Reveal About Athletes

It’s terrifying and surprising when a young athlete suddenly collapses because their heart stops working. Additional information can be provided by a sports heart rate monitor. In this blog post, we look closer at their importance, features, and how to use them effectively.

A sports heart rate monitor can be worn around the chest, upper arm, calf, wrist or in a sports vest.

Heart rate monitors are more for training but can be a vital tool for coaches and training staff looking to monitor every facet of their athletes’ health. 

By providing accurate, real-time data, they offer an efficient way to monitor training intensity and improve overall health.

Start Managing Player Workloads In Any Sport! Our Free Guide Will Show You How

How a Sports Heart Rate Monitor Works

Heart rate monitors measure and display your heart rate in beats per minute (BPM). They use sensors placed against the skin, often on the wrist or chest, to detect each heartbeat, using two different approaches: 

  • Electrical (electrocardiography): Your heart generates a small electrical current with every heartbeat. Heart rate monitors with electrical detection capabilities can detect and track that current. 
  • Optical (photoplethysmography): These devices use infrared light to see the expansion of your arteries as your heart pumps blood through them. These devices track your pulse rate, and some can also estimate the oxygen levels in your blood.
A coach explains to a player how a sports heart rate monitor is to be worn.

There are several types of heart rate monitors to choose from:

  • Chest strap monitors are strapped around the chest and offer high accuracy, making them the preferred choice for college and professional athletes. These devices use electrical detection to track your heart rate. For most of these devices to work as designed, the band must be wet, or you might need to use a conductive gel where the sensors touch your skin. Water or conductive gel improves electrical conduction, so it’s easier for the device to detect your heart’s electrical current.
  • Sports bra heart rate monitors offer a convenient, non-intrusive alternative. Typically, you snap a transmitter into a pocket located on the band, activate a digital watch or app with a heart-monitor setting, and start sweating.
  • Calf or upper-arm monitors work similarly to chest straps. They, too, are considered to be a very accurate way to monitor your heart rate.

Other devices like smart rings and pulse oximeters aren’t commercially available yet. However, one of the advantages of using a sports heart rate monitor is its ability to provide instant feedback during exercise. These devices display heart rate data in real time, allowing you to make immediate adjustments to their training intensity.

Why Monitor Your Players’ Heart Rate?

The female athletes from the Hoffenheim Football team training in the gym.

Monitoring your heart rate during exercise is a direct, reliable way to gauge your workout intensity. Here are a few reasons why it’s important: 

  • Personalized Training Zones: Heart rate training zones are ranges of heartbeats that align with different intensity levels of exercise. They can be personalized based on age, fitness level, and goals. Training within these zones can help you tailor your workouts for specific objectives, such as fat-burning, endurance-building, or performance optimization. 
  • Overexertion Prevention: Overtraining or pushing yourself too hard can lead to injuries and health risks. By monitoring your heart rate, you can ensure you’re not overstepping safe exercise boundaries. 
  • Performance Tracking: Consistently monitoring your heart rate over time can show you how your fitness progresses. As you get fitter, your heart becomes more efficient, which will beat fewer times to achieve the same workout intensity. 

This knowledge enables athletes to set specific goals and track their progress over time, ensuring continuous improvement and preventing burnout.

Heart Rate Monitor Features to Consider

Information from a heart rate monitor is displayed on a dashboard for coaches and trainers to analyze and make decisions about how hard an athlete is playing.

When choosing a sports heart rate monitor, here are key features to consider: 

  • Accuracy: The most crucial factor is how accurately the monitor reads your athletes’ heart rates. You must ensure that it can integrate with any third-party tools or external databases you’re using. 
  • Connectivity: The best sports heart rate monitors can connect in multiple ways, including Wi-Fi, LAN, SIM Card, or a personal hotspot. 
  • Comfort and Fit: Since these devices need to be worn during strenuous activity, comfort and a secure fit are essential. 
  • Battery Life: Depending on your practice and game schedule, you’ll want a device that can go the distance with you. 

It’s also important to use monitors that allow you to access the data quickly.

Maximizing Your Heart Rate Monitor Use

A coach analyzes the information he is receiving from a sports heart rate monitor in real-time.

At KINEXON, we ensure your players and staff get the most out of your heart rate monitor. We believe that it’s essential to: 

  • Understand your heart rate zones: You can consult with our trainers and exercise specialists to determine your players’ optimal zones. 
  • Deliver Consistent Performance: KINEXON player trackers are designed to deliver the information you need daily and in any weather conditions. 
  • Sync with our Sports Scientists: This will allow you to analyze your data, spot trends, and gain deeper insights into your training. 

Sports heart rate monitors can be a game-changer if you’re a coach or athletic trainer looking to gain more control over the health of your players. They provide invaluable data that allows you to better understand your players’ bodies, optimize your training, and improve your team’s overall performance. Armed with the information from your heart rate monitor, you can take your practice and game performance to a new level. 

KINEXON PERFORM GPS Pro is a GPS-based mobile player tracking system that incorporates leading GNSS technology and works together with a heart rate chest strap. Our PERFORM IMU and PERFORM IMU + LPS systems use an (ECG-derived) integrated heart rate measurement.

If you’d like to learn more about our heart rate monitoring options or the player tracking systems we provide, feel free to contact us at any time or set up a demonstration. 

Schedule a Demonstration

More stories

Influence of the Menstrual Cycle in Team Sports – What Sports Need Now

Professionalization also brings with it more performance, more strain, and more pressure. For female athletes, this still means an increased risk of injury. The reason: individualized training and workload management must take the hormonal cycle into account. Studies on this are accumulating, but a challenge remains. 

Inside Stony Brook Athletics: The Benefits of a Multi-Sport Data Analytics Provider

Stony Brook University, known for research excellence, has upgraded its athlete performance monitoring and player safety efforts with KINEXON technology. We spoke with George Greene (Senior Associate Athletic Director of High Performance) and his team about their work to optimize training and enhance sports performance insights.

Basketball Load Data Header
Load Management in Basketball: When Does Player Tracking Become Financially Beneficial?

Player load tracking in basketball: How does data-based injury prevention, like reducing Jumper’s Knee, become financially beneficial for clubs?

SD Eibar uses football software to improve player performance.
GPS Data Boosts Player Performance, Motivation and Coaches' Confidence in SD Eibar Women's Club

To better manage player load, the SD Eibar’s women’s football team switched to a data-driven strategy powered by GPS. It’s a move that their physical trainer, Ismel Mazola says, led to more confident coaching decisions and motivated his players.

Texas A&M University Women's team uses basketball datasets, analytics, and metrics to monitor player performance.
How Basketball Data Helps Guide Texas A&M Women's Team to Early Conference Wins

After the holidays, many teams struggle to get back on track. But not Texas A&M Women’s Basketball. Their Strength and Conditioning coach uses data and analytics to avoid a slump and start fast in conference play.

Handball injuries are common, especially during matches, and a recent study sheds light on how often ligament injuries occur.
Study Reveals the Importance of an Injury Prevention Plan in European Handball

The competitive pressures and dense schedules in professional handball make injuries common among players. The results of a 6‑year study not only highlight the need for an injury prevention plan but also suggest ways coaches can develop one.

How German Handball's S&C Coach Used Data to Cut Knee Injuries by Almost 20%

Dr. Simon Overkamp, the head of strength and conditioning for the German Handball Federation, employs a data-driven strategy that not only keeps his players rested but also reduces knee injuries. And the Olympic Games play a crucial role in his approach.

Appalachian State’s Coaches Use GPS Football Technology to Manage Player Loads in Real-Time

Live GPS football data helps keep players fresh for game day. Just ask the Director of Performance for the Appalachian State Football team, Matt Greenhalgh. He shares what he thinks are some of the most critical load management metrics in the game.

A study found that agility in basketball can be influenced by exercises that also improve change of direction.
Why Basketball Agility Drills Should Focus on Improving Vertical Jump Height

New research is shedding light on the importance of improving vertical jump height in basketball. Backed by data, these findings are an eye-opener for coaches because researchers say jump height can positively affect other facets of a player’s game.

handball analytics from LPS player tracking systems were used in a study to find quality scorers.
How LPS Data Helps Handball Coaches Find Quality Scorers with New Insights

Researchers used LPS data and machine learning to create a new model for predicting goals in handball. It’s now helping coaches identify their quality scorers and develop better strategies. Here’s how. 

Basketball video analysis software is used to improve the amount of contested shots players take.
Innovative Strategy Boosts Player’s 3-Point Accuracy to 60% in Conference Games

Do you have players struggling with contested 3‑point shots? Get to know a college coach with a proven method to boost shooting efficiency for high-intensity shots in as little as four weeks. 

a gps football tracker monitors college players' workloads to decrease the risk of hamstring strains.
Research Exposes What Puts College Football Players at Risk for Hamstring Strains

Hamstring strains are common among male college American football players. Researchers have been investigating potential risk factors to better understand and prevent these injuries, and they believe they have identified three that all coaches should track.

Phillip Tandrup Holm is the Strength and Conditioning Coach for Skjern Håndbold, a Danish handball club he used to play for.
Former Handball Pro Shares His Personal Must-Know Metric for Coaches

Call it inside information, but a former pro handball player, who is now a strength and conditioning coach, says one metric seems to stand out when it comes to load management in handball.

Arizona State women's volleyball team discovered with analytics that his team was practicing too long.
How Volleyball Metrics Helped Power Arizona State University to a Record-Setting Season

The Arizona State University Women’s Volleyball team used data to determine their optimal practice length, and it culminated in one of their best seasons in school history.

the university of arizona sports performance training team collects data on all of their players to make sure everyone is ready to play when called upon.
The Secret Behind The University of Arizona’s Sports Performance Training Methods

Two key figures in the data-driven revolution at the University of Arizona are Jim Krumpos and Dayannara Munoz. They say there are three critical factors that make all the difference in their data collection efforts and training style.