When To Rank As A Light Weight?

[[old] jfisher]

Right now I'm 5' 9'' 175lbs and about 14% body fat. If I get back down the 7% body fat I was when I raced my bike I'd be a light weight. I've been recording all my times as a heavy weight and I'm going against guys way over 6' and over 200lbs.<br /><br />My ranking times would be right up there in the light weight division. So when is almost a light weight good enough for ranking purposes? <br /><br />I know there must be some guys who are right around the 165 mark but are over. What do you guys do?<br /><br />Jeff

[[old] Jim Barry]

At indoor events like the crash-b's you have to weigh 165 or less before your event (usually just a few hours). I'd like the think people rank with this standard. I agree the comparable rowers for you are more like the lightweights, but welcome to pain of being a light heavyweight (for now). Did you know elite lightweights are very small guys? They might show up to the indoor rowing events with some extra pounds (since they can and it's not racing season), but by the time they have to row in the World Championship or Olympic events they weigh under 155lbs (technically the boat has to average 155 or less with no one over 160). <br /><br />Will Haskell and I look forward to seeing another fast Mainer lightweight in the rankings, I'm sure. <br /><br />--Jim

[[old] michaelb]

I am also 5' 9" and 175 lbs. I think we have to actually be lightweights to post as lightweights, meaning you have to be under 165lbs. I am not if there is a rule about whether it is that day, or within 2 hours, or how uptight most people are about that. I wonder about losing that 10lbs too, but I wouldn't be competitve as a lightweight either.

[[old] John Rupp]

Men's lightweight is 165 pounds and less.<br /><br />Some might weigh more than that but then they are heavyweights.

[[old] Steve_R]

<!--QuoteBegin-jfisher+May 19 2005, 08:16 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(jfisher @ May 19 2005, 08:16 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->What do you guys do?[right] <br /> </td></tr></table><br />I am 5'10", 162lb. I didn't start recording lightweight pieces until I was 165 in the afternoon (my heaviest time of the day). My feeling is that while some people could qualify for lwt by dehydrating before an event, I wanted to be able to train "at weight." Like most things with the rankings, by not adhering to the rules set in place, you are just cheating yourself. Any competition would show whether you could make the weight and perform well in that condition.<br /><br /><!--QuoteBegin-michaelb+May 19 2005, 09:15 PM --><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(michaelb @ May 19 2005, 09:15 PM )</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I wonder about losing that 10lbs too, but I wouldn't be competitve as a lightweight either. </td></tr></table><br />Not that I would be competitive as a hwt or a lwt, but my times have not gotten slower since getting to lwt. I also wouldn't say that my times got better because I am lwt, but rather because of my training.<br /><br />Steve<br /><br />

[[old] andyArvid]

<!--QuoteBegin-jfisher+May 19 2005, 09:16 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(jfisher @ May 19 2005, 09:16 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I know there must be some guys who are right around the 165 mark but are over.  What do you guys do? <br /> </td></tr></table><br />For the last month or so I have weighed right about 167lbs (or 76 kgs). Sometimes a little less or upto about 77 kg (168.4 lbs). In the heat here, I can easily lose 4lbs during a run or row and therefore I am temporarily a lightweight till I rehydrate. I still log/rank all my rows as HWT and will continue to do so until my weight stabilizes under 165lbs.

[[old] jfisher]

Thanks for all of the replys. This has been really helpful helpful.<br /><br />Jeff

[[old] John Rupp]

Regarding height and weight for rowing, the top 2 lightweights ever, Eskild Ebbesen and Elia Luini, have been in the range of 6'-6'1 and 151 to 158 pounds.

[[old] nkoffler]

Certainly for anything that you are going to rank, you should weigh 165 lbs. or less within the two hour pre-row window. This is the practice which most indoor races follow, I believe. That would be the ideal for non-ranked meters as well but less stringency is needed as these meters never go into anything other than distance rewards and totals.<br /><br />I made lightweight a couple of years ago and have easily stayed there.<br /><br />Good luck,<br /><br />Neil<br />M/LW/US/38 6'1" 160 lbs.

[[old] arakawa]

I agree with nkoffler - weigh yourself within the two hour window before you row. I weigh myself, then eat breakfast, then row after giving myself an hour to digest. It could be argued that I might go over 165 pounds with breakfast. My responses to that would be (1) I'm allowed to do the same thing before a real race (e.g. CRASH-B), and (2) I also use the bathroom after I weigh myself but before I row - there's some weight lost there.<br /><br />When I started rowing in January 2004, I was 188 lbs (I'm 5' 11"). My times have improved as I trained, and as an added benefit, I lost weight. I weighed 161.8 lbs at my weigh-in at the 2005 CRASH-B (13 Feb 2005). As I'm already under the lightweight cutoff, I don't care to find out if additional weight loss will result in worse performance.<br /><br />Admittedly, my upper body strength went way down during this period, as I stopped lifting weights to focus on rowing - I went from benching 285 lbs (13 Dec 2003) to 215 lbs (19 Feb 2005).

[[old] LwtPlaidPower]

to add my 2 cents... <br /><br />as a college rower, i would say that you can post lightweight when you can weigh-in at 165 the day of the event. for erging, i think the weigh-in is supposed to be within 2 hours of rowing, but i am not sure. for regattas, the weigh-ins are in the morning, but sometimes our race wouldn't be until the afternoon. so i would think as long as you are 165 sometime before rowing the day of the event, you are technically a lightweight.

[[old] nfeht]

i experience the same thing but in the leightweight catagory<br />im on a heavy day (eaten a lot and haven't taken #2 in a while) 140lbs, 5' 8" high school sophmore being compared with 165lbs'ers<br />and 7:17.0 doesn't rank to well with them