Whoop 5.0 is my first Whoop. I rarely do endurance or cardio work, since I’ve been in a gaining mood phase since slightly before I started using Whoop.
My heart rate detector is often not catching peaks immediately post-set, though it’s better with leg work than arm or upper body training. Early on, I switched to a biceps band, which detects heart rate better, IME. It does take a bit of rest after the set for the rate to increase.
I’m probably going to switch to biceps band for all exercise. Not sure if this helps or not, but I would be curious on user reports of biceps placement versus wrist placement.
When I got Whoop I wore it on the wrist. HR was highly inaccurate during workouts. Strain and other metrics were off. I soon switched to a bicep band. It’s much better. I wouldn’t say it’s gold standard but way better than on the wrist. I mostly do endurance sports and some bodyweight training. If it works well for gym goers I can’t tell. But it’s worth a try. I wear my Whoop on the bicep since then exclusively. During sleep, workouts etc
But here is the issue I face. I have Whoop MG and to take BP and ECG it must be on the wrist. I do not want to switch between bands when I am exercising and the rest of the day. Wrist based HR is never the best but compared to Garmin, Whoop is miles off.
I don’t think my HR has gotten into zone 5 since I got the MG. And I know that I have nearly killed myself in some of my workouts over the past few months. I barely spend anytime in zone 4 even. Very disappointing!
Just remember there’s a difference between beats per minute (BPM) and heart-rate zones. As fitness improves, Whoop can auto-detect a higher max HR, so the cut-offs for zones 4-5 shift upward. That means it takes more effort to reach them - even when the workout feels the same. If that doesn’t line up with how you feel, go to More → App Settings → Activity Settings → Heart Rate Settings and set your own max HR so the zones match your reality.
I had to set my HR zones manually. The Default from Whoop was miles off. Actually I could not work out why they were so extremely high for someone of my age. Max for age should be around 156, Whoop default had me at 182. No clue where that comes from unless it’s compensating for poor wrist HR performance
It feels like they did something to the HR detection algorithm in the last week or so. HIIT workouts that would routinely get into the mid 170’s are now rarely going above 140. My gym workouts are also showing a much lower HR than normal. Does anyone know what could be going on?
Hello, everyone. I guess, I can cheer you up a bit. The inaccurate HR reading issue is not specific to those, who switched from 4.0 to 5.0. I stay on 4.0 and come across this problem too
A few months ago I started to use bicep band and it solved the issue with HR inaccuracy complitely. But recently ( 24th of July) the problem came back. I didn’t change anything, but from that day on my HR readings are 20-30 bit higher than the real ones and the graph is very volatile. My guess it might be a software issue.
Same here: My heart rate on the WHOOP MG remains below 125, while on the Fitbit it reached 155 at the same time and on the WHOOP 4, it also reached 155 in comparable sessions.
I tried using a bicep band and wristband in various places, but to no avail.
WHOOP replaced my MG, but the problem persists.
I haven’t seen any acknowledgement of the problem from the company; it seems they’re helpless too. A sad picture – a winner like Ronaldo doesn’t fit the picture.
I have been using Whoop since Jan 2000, with indoor and outdoor cycling my #1 activity. I bought into the program to measure calories and strain while working out. I’m 66 years old male, and the Whoop 5.0 MG is now giving me max HR readings in the mid to high 190’s frequently. I wear my strap tight. Thats an alarming stat for my age and boosts the strain score very high. My max should not be exceeding 170. This concern prompted me to get a Garmin chest strap to compare vs having an actual stress test to alleviate concerns of a heart attack while riding. I have found the Gramin numbers not only with reason for my age and ride exertion, but 30 beats lower than Whoop max HR. This has resulted in me questioning the metrics reporting and reliability for information MG 5.0 is providing, not only for cycling, but in general as it all ties back into strain and recovery. For over 5 years I have trusted the reporting coming from the Whoop app but now find myself questioning the accuracy of everything it reports.
Same situation for a lot of us. Only way I’ve found to get whoop to match my Garmin Chest strap is slide the whoop band up my arm, 2 fingers from the wrist bone or more seems to work for me. After my ride I slide back to its normal place. It feels uncomfortable but if only for a few hours not an issue. May I suggest you try this on your next ride.
I just got whoop 5.0 like 3 days ago and today i noticed my whoop heart rate detector was wayyyyy off . I was wearing it tight to my wrist while patting my new born to sleep and it climbed to 200 as shown in screenshot ! Then i just experimented while wearing it even tighter to my wrist while just checking my hand steadily and the heart beat just went climbing in whoop to over 100 while in my apple watch it was 65 !!! Iam now not sure if i can trust its reading while working out!
