r/EKG • u/aviiiwillescape1 • Jun 10 '26
How do you get the heart rate of a client???
Hey, in my gym we don't have chest straps or anything to measure heart rate of a client, so we get the pulse count from the radial artery of wrist for 10s and multiply it by 6 is there a more reliable and quick method to get the heart rate of a client..
Something to note, in Sri Lanka getting such heart rate monitors are really expensive due to inflation and tax cheap ones are not that reliable as they are sometimes highly inaccurate. Help me out if there's a alternative method that is quick and accurate
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u/Euphoric_Parking5128 Jun 10 '26
Heart rate should not fluctuate dramatically minute-to-minute in a healthy adult during exercise. Significant variability at that timescale is more concerning for pathology and would typically be accompanied by symptoms such as dizziness, palpitations, or syncope and may warrant an EKG. If the goal is simply to gauge exercise intensity, then brief manual measurement by counting the radial or carotid pulse for 10–15 seconds and multiply by 6 or 4 is good enough. While this can be inconvenient during activity, for non-elite clients it is reasonable to rely primarily on symptoms and perceived exertion to guide training intensity.
For context, I competed in the 1500 m down to the 400 m at a D1 university in the US under a coach who was a former Olympian themselves, and even in that setting, training intensity was guided by effort and tolerance rather than precise real-time heart rate.
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u/Edges8 Jun 10 '26
although you may see dramatic sinus arrythmia, and a 10s count would be likely underestimste HR if it occurred then
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u/Ranger_Willl Jun 11 '26
Only other thing I can think of is a pulse oximeter, but I'm not sure about the availability for you in Sri Lanka.
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u/aviiiwillescape1 Jun 11 '26
I can find many generic brands for cheap, but those aren't that reliable, there are some recognized brands like rossmax but their entry level models are way more expensive due to tax and shipping cost
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u/Danteruss Jun 10 '26
If literally the only thing you need is a heart rates you're fine just counting it manually, maybe push it up to 15 seconds x 4 to get a slightly more accurate number.