Thanks.
Can someone tell me if you select other type of activity instead of lifting weights so that whoop can read successfully your training? Because when I do HIIT the reading is very successful but not with lifting weights…
Expecting an update soon…
The HR readings just can’t seem to catch up with those strength-training spikes. Sometimes it even drops and stays around 80 bpm while my Polar H10 chest strap is consistently showing 120+ bpm. When HR settles back down closer to baseline, the Whoop lines up well with the chest strap. The issue seems to show up most during those quick jumps and drops you get in lifting sessions, which makes me think it’s more about the wrist sensor struggling with varied motion and grip tension than the baseline accuracy itself.
I’ve also noticed that overnight RHR and HRV tracking looks spot-on, which suggests the sensor can be very reliable in steady state conditions. The bigger challenge seems to be fast transitions and the inconsistent signals that come with lifting movements.
For that reason, I’d highly recommend giving users the option to sync a chest strap with the WHOOP app. Either for calibration, refining the algorithm, and/or simply as a way to validate accuracy outside of a lab controlled environment. This would give more confidence in HR data during training and also provide valuable feedback for further testing.
I also wanted to share another example that shows how movement alone seems to throw the strap off. While cooking ground beef, my heart rate spiked to over 160 bpm according to the Whoop. That kind of jump doesn’t match the activity at all and really highlights how much wrist movement can confuse the sensor.
What’s interesting is that my Apple Watch doesn’t usually struggle with this when an activity or exercise mode is activated. It seems to filter out wrist motion better during those non-exercise scenarios. It would be great to see Whoop refine how it interprets those signals so we’re not getting false spikes from everyday movement.
Yes, this is a widespread issue. The recommendation to use the bicep strap from WHOOP honestly feels like an excuse - as if they’re saying they can’t reliably track heart rate from the wrist. Funny how Garmin seems to manage just fine, despite offering a lot more features overall. WHOOP is supposed to specialize in this kind of data. It’s not a secondary feature - it’s the core of the platform.
For the record, I did purchase the bicep strap. It’s completely unusable in my case: uncomfortable, constantly slipping, and unstable. Maybe it’s just the shape of my arm, but it simply doesn’t stay in place. I also tried the sleeve, which was even worse - way too tight and cuts off circulation.
So no, the bicep strap doesn’t solve anything. I had hopes it would, but I literally threw it in the trash after the very first workout.
I agree 100%. Especially since WHOOP even says that the Strength Trainer feature doesn’t support the bicep band.
Quite literally the only thing the band does is collect HR data from the wrist. The Apple Watch does that and many other things and still can do it better. Blows my mind this is still an issue…
Honestly, the HR monitoring during strength is so bad I don’t even know where to start from.
I have literally no idea about how you can get close results during testing but I’d be happy to conduct any kind of testing and comparisons with chest straps.
There’s hundreds of people here and on Reddit who have been complaining about spikes not being detected for years and you guys just keep coming up with either “you aren’t wearing it correctly” or “you should wear a bicep band” when Garmins, Apple Watches etc all work fine on the wrist.
My Whoop workouts just look like a flat 80-90BPM when my heart is actually constantly spiking to 140 during a set and slowly decreasing back to 80 ish.
What are you doing for HIIT? Or do you mean you select HIIT and then do your weight workout and its better at tracking HR?
Yes this is the known issue with all wrist worn HR sensors. Its called motion artefact. Its easier to account for in cyclical activities such as running and cycling, but harder during strength training sessions when there are many different movements.
The idea of allowing chest straps has come up many times. I totally understand the utility of doing so. I will take this feedback and deliver as more touch points may increase the consideration.
Here is one of the only study comparing many brands of wearables. You can see Whoop measures HR more accurately and reliably than the rest of the devices at rest. This is a third party university study so they had no skin in the game. https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/22/16/6317.
Here is a more recent review of all the literature available on Whoop. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.04.24300784v1.full.pdf
This article explains the process we go through when validating the band. Large scale (thousands of users) studies are done at Whoop labs against gold standard. While the offer is appreciated, Whoop labs has participants in daily so we have the ability to collect data on scale rapidly. Developing 4.0: WHOOP Labs Product Validation | WHOOP .
While I can’t speak to what has been said before, I can say I’m taking this feedback back to the engineering team to see what we can do with respect to strength training HR. I am part of the performance science team and this thread has caused to me to look into this deeper to find answers as this is the first I’m hearing of this issue at scale, outside of a one off. We are always trying to improve so the more we hear about something the more attention it will get. As I dig deeper I will keep this thread updated if I find more information. Appreciate the feedback!
Yeah, I get it that there’s tests showing the accuracy of the device, but when looking at lots of people’s feedback on forums and Reddit (and my personal experience so far) I have no idea about how it could come even close in testing while it’s so off for me.
I do love the product in general, but as an athlete I really can’t go to the gym for a strength workout without another device on me or all my stats (avg HR, calories, times in cardio zones) are messed up big time. And, the fact I can’t override Whoop’s HR measurement (like just importing the workout from Apple Health) messes up my Whoop stats too (time in zones, calories, strain).
If they come close in testing but it’s off by like 40 BPM in our cases, then maybe our devices are faulty? And lastly, none of the links you shared mention 5.0 or MG devices it seems, so maybe 3.0 and 4.0 had a better HR spike detection for some reason? Just some spare thoughts here, but I appreciate you stepping in to try figuring it out.
After reviewing the sources you linked, I don’t believe they address the problem members are reporting here.
The MDPI study tested WHOOP 3.0 in sleep conditions, not resistance training or newer hardware like WHOOP 5.0 or MG (MDPI Sensors 2022).
The 2024 medRxiv paper is a preprint review that concludes WHOOP is acceptable at rest and for sleep, but it doesn’t cover strength training or the latest devices (medRxiv 2024).
The WHOOP 4.0 validation blog is internal company research and not independent (WHOOP Labs blog).
Independent studies that do exist on resistance exercise actually show WHOOP 3.0 performing worse than other devices during lifts, which matches the widespread user feedback you’re hearing here (PubMed study).
This isn’t a one off issue, it’s a recurring pattern when the band is used under high motion and gripping conditions.
WHOOP needs to improve internal communication when it comes to user complaints. Thousands of posts continue to pour in on Reddit, and I have personally sent emails to support about heart rate accuracy issues during workouts and weightlifting sessions. These are not isolated reports but consistent, repeated feedback from the community.
What would really help members is independent, peer reviewed validation of WHOOP 5.0 and MG during strength training against chest straps, and ideally an option to sync a strap directly into the app for people who want reliable data in the gym.
Until then, these issues are going to keep showing up no matter how strong the sleep validation looks.
Not only strength training. Running and cycling is also off. Even with a bicep band. That’s really frustrating. It throws off all other metrics. It’s useless
I hear you. I started getting involved in feedback when community started so I can’t speak to anything that has come before. I wasn’t involved in anything Reddit related.
@DarkKnight89 Good find on the paper, I actually haven’t seen that one before. I will get my hands on the full article and dig in as I want to see the data and analysis. I added the whoop article to show the process we go through as multiple people were offering to help. We welcome people to join Whoop labs studies if they wish. Our sample sizes are also much larger than most independent studies as the article highlights, so for improving the product they provide much more value, in the end to member. They also happen much quicker as publication is a long process. However, independent studies are always welcomed as a true assessment. The other challenge, as soon as a company gets involved with the independent research it can be painted as bias/conflict. All this to say I don’t think an independent study will move the needle on this topic to improve things nearly as much or as fast as an internal study.
Lastly, I hear you on the chest strap request and I have heard this one before. I will be taking this back to the team.
Appreciate the feedback!
I’m also having HR issues when using strength trainer. There is a noticeable lag where I feel my pulse rate increase as I’m going through my reps, however my Whoop HR only increases after I complete and end the set and am physically at rest, ~15 second lag.
This means that while the exercise/set is active, it’s not showing or using my realtime heart rate for the strength trainer calculations.
Whoop Coach says this is a known limitation with optical HR sensors, but my iwatch manages to track the increase in realtime with no issues?
Hey @Christina1 . Not sure if you have seen this independent review but running and cycling should definitely be better than weightlifting, especially from the bicep. One thought, if you haven’t tried it, perhaps try you other arm. I found it interesting he has one wrist that doesn’t give a good signal, individual anatomy perhaps.
For most wearables including other companies (I compared the polar bicep strap versus vantage watch 2 years ago), biceps almost always gives better HR signals and less noise than the wrist for running and cycling.
If you still are having issues and it is not working how you want it for your use case, I can have membership services reach out if you’d like?
Thanks a lot. I’m already in touch with membership services. They sent me a replacement device. I’m trying it with the new sensor now.
Same issues w/5.0. I’m 5+ years on whoop and never saw this before recent upgrade. - thanks
I’m getting the feeling it’s way more accurate on the inside of the wrist…
I use an arm sleeve when doing any kind of exercise. I find that is key to ensuring consistent readings.
I make a strength workout with Apple Watch and whoop 5.0 And I am very disappointed with whoop!!!
my heart going out of my chest, Apple Watch give me 137bpm and whoop only 101 to 105 ……
The counter steps is not accurate, the HR is not accurate, the calories is not accurate !!!
I’m really not confident with whoop data
I decided to send back my whoop only 4 days after bought !!
