I bought a Suunto t6 watch last August to help me with my training. I didn't expect to learn so much about my body's response to exercise and about how I can make the best use of my exercise efforts. It's made a huge difference in how I work out.
The t6 looks like most other heart monitor watches. The watch is very serviceable just for time-keeping, and it includes an altimeter for bikers or climbers who want to correlate their workouts with altitude. The heart monitor works like other watches: you wear a chest strap which sends information to the watch as you work out.
The similarities end there. Once you're done with a workout, you attach the watch to your computer using the supplied USB-serial cable and transfer your data to the training manager program. The watch captures data from each heartbeat and uploads that information to the manager program. The manager analyzes variance in heart rhythm and other parameters and produces the detailed workout graph. Click on the image to the left to see the results of a workout I did on an elliptical trainer.
The top graph shows my raw heart rate. I typically do interval training and you can see the periodic peaks and valleys in my heart rate. Below that is the most important graph: it measures excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). As you work out you may consume more oxygen than the body can restore during the workout. EPOC is measured in milliliters of oxygen debt per kilogram of body mass that. The body then must replenish that supply afterward. Workouts that press your EPOC harder produce a greater training effect. The trick is to push hard but not too hard. Suunto divides EPOC into five ranges. In this workout I hit level 4, which is hard training, but not excessive. When I first started I regularly pushed myself too hard. That's why I needed extra recovery time between workouts and why I didn't see the results I wanted. After I adjusted my workouts to account for my body's actual efforts, I started to see real results.
The other graphs show my expiration volume (liters/min), the volume of oxygen per minute that I consumed (ml of oxygen per kilo per minute), my respiration rate, and the instantaneous energy output (kcal/min) that I achieved.
With the watch I've been able to train smarter and achieve better results with no injuries. And one more thing: Suunto's support is excellent. I got a knowledgeable person on the first ring to their technical support line who helped me fix my problem right away.
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