The readers of rowingillustrated, a leading rowing message board in the United States recently responded to the question: "What is the best heart rate monitor?" Three models emerged as being popular with rowers and coaches. Which one you choose will depend upon the type of training that you do. The Suunto t6c emerged as a preferred unit for serious high performance athletes and professional coaches.
The SUUNTO t6c black wrist-top computer is more like a fully equipped sports laboratory than a heart rate monitor. The watch will provide a comprehensive personalized physiological analysis on your PC. The digital customizable menu is easy to use. The unit displays real-time training effect and EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption - otherwise known as oxygen debt). Using optional add-ons or Peripheral Observation Devices (PODs) the unit will display speed, distance and cadence (cycling) in addition to being a real-time heart rate monitor and calorie monitor. The t6c also acts as a chronometer featuring dual time, date, alarm, stopwatch with lap timer, interval and countdown timers.
The Suunto t6c heart rate monitor was designed for everyone who exercises seriously with the goals of improving their fitness and achieving high level of competitive performance. The Suunto t6c provides accurate information on seven key body parameters including EPOC. By understanding how the body responds to exercise, the athlete, with or without a coach, can better plan his or her personal training program and, most importantly, monitor its effectiveness. The Suunto t6c is an invaluable tool that brings laboratory accuracy to every training session you or the athletes that you coach do. Data such as changes in heart rate, EPOC and training effect can be downloaded to the computer by the athlete. This gives the coach/physiologist the ability to analyze data from several athletes based in different training locations. The data can be used to make fine adjustments to the training program and optimal training loads can be calculated to prevent over training and the concomitant risk of injury and illness. The principles of EPOC and training effect apply equally to elite athletes as well as to those seeking serious improvement in fitness.
The Suunto t6c is one of the most accurate and useful sports instruments currently on the market. The Suunto Team PODs open up new possibilities for controlling training protocols. Coaches can follow the heart rates and the percentage of maximum heart rates of all their athletes live on the screen during training real-time - even, for example, all eight rowers in a rowing shell - and if needed, adjust the training individually on the fly. The measured data is shown, analyzed and stored live. This helps ensure that not only every athlete is training at an optimal level but also that the optimal team result can be achieved.
The PODs expand the performance range of the Suunto t6c. With the Suunto GPS POD a rowing crew can fine tune the effectiveness of its rowing - for example how much energy each rower has to expend to obtain a certain boat-speed. The GPS POD can be used to ensure that speeds and distances are accurately measured during important training sessions regardless of water and wind conditions.
Beside training on water the athletes can also run, erg and bike with the Suunto t6c. The peripheral devices from Suunto offer more data for complete analysis of all training activities. The Bike POD expands the Suunto T6C to a complete wireless bike computer, and the Foot POD works accurately for every runner without the need for a GPS receiver.
