TRaining without knowing what you are doing will of course not achieve much. You may notice a slight improvement in the initial phase, simply because you have taken action. But once you have acquired a certain basic condition, it is important to train in a targeted manner with predetermined goals in mind. You can only do this by consciously building up your training, which is only possible if you can measure your body. Going to a sports doctor every x number of times is a possibility, but this is time-consuming and not frequent enough. You can measure a lot yourself, for example with a heart rate monitor.
By walking or cycling with a heart rate monitor, you collect valuable information that allows you to train in a targeted manner.
The speedometer of your motorcycle!
A heart rate monitor in itself will not help you improve your physical condition, but you will learn how your heart reacts to different situations. However, it is mainly important to make a thorough analysis afterwards of your training and training in relation to each other. Once you start training with a heart rate monitor, you can compare everything perfectly. You always measure the same thing, in the same way, the heart. We can say that as the physical condition improves, the heart will beat slower because the heart muscle becomes stronger and can therefore pump harder. In other words, the same amount of blood in a fewer number of contractions. You can also easily monitor your recovery phase with a heart rate monitor. In general we can say: the faster and smoother your recovery, the better your condition.
At the beginning of a training period you might learn something from the smoothness of your breathing, but once past a certain point that knowledge will be of little use. By following your heart rate you learn how your heart will respond to external impulses. Short but intensive training, endurance training, interval training, it will all give a different result. Yet there is still a difference between training and competition. During training there are fewer external stimuli and you can also make a limited analysis during training by following along on the screen of your heart rate monitor. During a competition, and especially during a motorcycle competition, this is impossible and it is important to take the time afterwards to make or have a thorough analysis made and thus filter out the imperfections by responding differently to the information provided. you have obtained.
As for most top athletes, a heart rate monitor (pay attention to the wrist) is an indispensable training tool for Manuel Priem.
Manuel Priem about a practical example
“Listening to your body is very important, but in an honest way. There is a huge difference between feeling really tired and therefore adjusting your training or feeling tired because you don't feel like it!
As a young rider it is difficult to correctly estimate training work and especially how you will respond to it during a race. When do you train enough? When overtrain you so that you are no longer fresh on Sunday? For me, this has been getting better and better, especially over the last two years. It's really something you have to learn, and a heart rate monitor can certainly help with that. An example. An extremely high morning pulse, compared to your normal values, is a clear warning that something is wrong. In my case, my pulse rate is 36 in the morning, if it is 50 then I call my trainer (Willy Linden) to discuss how we are going to adjust my training. I can't imagine training without a heart rate monitor.”
Photos credit: Polar, Ray Archer
