"To measure is to know..." right? We have been successful at GMAAC in getting most of our athletes to keep detailed training journals. However, many are still resistant to our advice about using top-end HR monitors. This, if you are in a sport with any type of endurance component, is a big mistake.
Recently, one of our own coaches did a workout that included three rounds of a circuit of squats, push-ups lunges, and pull-ups with a 70# weighted vest on, followed by some 'cardio output' work that consisted of hitting the double-end and heavy bags at a moderate pace until his heart rate got up to 145-150 before transitioning to riding an AirDyne bike until it came back down to 120. The graph of the workout looked like this:
So, why is having this knowledge helpful? As we've said many times before, there has to be a reason for what you are doing in training. If you can't tell me the "why" of any minute that passes on the clock during your training session, if you are not wasting your time it is only out of sheer luck. The coach above wanted the second half of his workout to be a 'cardio output' session, but wanted to use some skill drills to keep his heartrate in the appropriate range as opposed to some monotonous activity. So, with the "why" out of the way, he needed help with the "how."
Had he not been wearing his Polar RS800, he would have had no idea what was happening from a cardio-respiratory perspective. Ask your average boxer to "hit the heavy bag until you get out of the 'Maffetone Zone' and then ride the AirDyne until you are recovered" and what you would likely see is a guy hit the heavy bag until his pulse was actually closer to 180 than 140, and then ride the bike for 4 minutes until his heart rate is down to 105 or 110. Obviously, that kind of workout will not produce the same result that the coach above wanted, and therefore the watch was essential. Secondary only to the ability to set HR zones and thus influence your round lengths, recovery intervals, pace, etc. is the ability to graph individual workouts and variables such as HR and calories burned over time, with which you can properly adjust training volume.
So, using the above example, say you wanted to do some "road work"... you could either:
a) jog along at a nice slow pace, so that you know you 'stay aerobic,' or
b) do controlled-pace rounds on the double-end bag or with focus mitts until your HR starts to climb higher than you would like, using recovery intervals such as riding the airdyne while doing Jay Schroeder-style DB drop-and-cathches until your HR comes back down to the lower end of your established zone.
Which of those cardio output workouts do *you* think is overall more productive for a boxer? That's a serious question, by the way...
