Training For Leg Strength

[old] Moko · Post by **[old] Moko** » October 27th, 2005, 11:33 pm

I take 20 minutes to row, 5 to seven times a week. I try to walk for an hour a day. The rest of my day is sleeping or holding down a desk. I want the best workout for increasing leg strength. I do a great deal of desert mountain hiking in the winter so I need strength and stamina in my legs, trying to keep them from getting too wobbly on rocky steep slopes is important as I reach the ripe old age of 50. Now to the question... given that I will only be rowing for 20 minutes, and you know my goal, should I set the damper high and work the heavy push, or low to maybe develop 'quick' muscle to stave off fatigue. Or something else. I know some of you know physiology (sp?) regarding this sort of thing, any advise? By the way this is my first post here, great place, working on my second million meters. Cheers.

[old] johnnybike · Post by **[old] johnnybike** » October 28th, 2005, 2:32 am

I don't know anything about the word you failed to spell correctly, and which I can't either, so I won't try Given the limited time you are allowing yourself I would hazard a guess that some work at low rate - 20 spm might be in order. With this you are trying to pull as hard as you can, using every bit of leverage in your body, particular your legs. It is important to make every stroke count. Perhaps a w/u, then 10 minutes at 20spm, keeping a note of how far you can get, then a warm down. As a guide I work hard to hold below 2:00 at 20spm. I normally do 5K sessions and I generally come in around 19:55. You can work out form my stats what to aim at yourself. PS I use the same df of 130 no matter what I am doing. John

[old] John Rupp · Post by **[old] John Rupp** » October 28th, 2005, 3:22 am

For leg strength put the damper on high, go hard for 10 seconds then take a minute or two of rest in between them. Otherwise you won't get much of any leg strength on the erg. For 20 minutes use the damper that helps you to go the fastest for the distance. I use a damper of 90 or so for a 5k.

[old] jfisher · Post by **[old] jfisher** » October 28th, 2005, 8:27 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Moko @ Oct 27 2005, 11:33 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'> I know some of you know physiology (sp?) </td></tr></table> That's spelled correctly.... First, for what you want to do, aerobic endurance is as important if not more important than leg strength. 20 minutes is not a lot of time to spend to get aerobically fit. Is it possible you could do 20 minutes twice a day? You need to vary your training, but the best way to gain some leg strength is to row strapless. That forces you to slow down and use more of your legs. Since you will probably be climbing in starts and stops, a good interval session of two minutes on, 1 minute off should help you out. Since you only have 20 minutes, that doesn't give you much time to warm up and then do the work. So you'll have to make it count. Jeff

[old] Yoda1 · Post by **[old] Yoda1** » October 28th, 2005, 11:27 am

Moko, Try slowing your pace on the ERG to 8-10 strokes per minute. On each stroke explode at the catch. You don't have to pull through, just focus completely on the use of your legs. Watch the wattage from each stroke and try to go higher than the previous stroke. If you do 5-6 sets of these with about a minutes rest between, you'll begin to build some leg strength. Of course, you could always revert back to the old "Barrel Squat". Good Luck, Yoda

[old] michaelb · Post by **[old] michaelb** » October 28th, 2005, 1:27 pm

When I first got my erg, I used to do 20 min rows too. So I do think they can help with fitness and with cross training. But now I think that is too short, and that you should really work up to rowing for 30 min minimum. That is 50% more rowing, for only a small increase in the total time, once you figure in setting up and showering, etc. Rowing is good cross training for biking, but I don't think you need to do any fancy tricks to build leg strength; not that they would hurt, but I don't think it will make a difference, or that you would be able to perceive a difference when you are trying to climb some nasty steep section on your bike. If you really want to build muscles, you should lift. Any rowing will help with leg strength and with overall fitness. The real benefit though of rowing as cross training for cycling is that cycling is much more limited in the muscles it engages, so rowing will allow you to work out your whole body and will provide a more balanced leg workout (spinning and biking seems quad heavy to me). So I would focus on doing steady 30 min rows at a low SR=20-24.

[old] Moko · Post by **[old] Moko** » October 28th, 2005, 4:27 pm

Thank you all for your replies. Of course rowing more, or lifting, is the best answer, but for now I'm only willing to put a limited amount of time into this. Yes, for limited results, I know. I also used to do 30 to 45 mins regularly, but until the end of the year 20 mins is an achievable goal for me. I'll give high damper, low spm and a focus on leg push a try, thank you for your insight. Strapless too. And thanks for letting me know that I can indeed spell, it didn't quite look right.

[old] John 'SugarBoy' Foy · Post by **[old] John 'SugarBoy' Foy** » October 30th, 2005, 5:54 pm

Moko...Use the erg for aerobic fitness and Weights for Strength. If it is leg strength you want...start squatting. 5 x 5 hard and heavy

[old] TomB722 · Post by **[old] TomB722** » October 30th, 2005, 6:01 pm

just rowing normally will give you leg strength all you guys who say rowing doesnt build leg strength... if your rowing isnt, you're probably doing something wrong

[old] John 'SugarBoy' Foy · Post by **[old] John 'SugarBoy' Foy** » October 30th, 2005, 6:08 pm

Tom, it all depends what type of strength you are talking about! Maximul strength, strength endurance? Sure you can increase strength endurance on an erg but to try and increase your maximal strength on an erg is taking the longest route to the goal. Use the tool for the job....strength - weights......aerobic - erg

[old] ljwagner · Post by **[old] ljwagner** » October 30th, 2005, 7:00 pm

You want leg strength, leg power, and power with endurance. Power is strength in minimum time. That requires almost the entire muscle recruited for max strength. Unfortunately, no one is good for that more than about 6-10 seconds. And the 10 second guys are rare. You need strength with endurance. The 5x5 heavy squats recommendation is very good for maximum strength. In a previous life, I found 10x10 medium weight squats gave me good strength, and great endurance in the boat. The first 4 sets were easy, but by the last few sets, you needed real determination to finish. In the boat, I did not feel stronger, but it sure moved a lot easier. Bill Pearl in Getting Stronger, notes that 1 set gets about 60% of the gain, and each subsequent set about 5% more, but the results do fade with more sets. You'll be thoroughly fatigued with 10 sets, but risk a pull if you are not ready for that much work. In a boat, or erg event, be aware that lactate is produced constantly. You don't feel it until you are in O2 debt. Back off a very small fraction of your strength, suck in air deep to get all the oxygen you can, and keep going just under your lactate threshold. I believe that is also the key for the guys who string 26 consecutive 5 minute miles to run 2 hour marathons. No way they are in O2 debt the whole distance. In 1971 on my University's first erg, the machine counted actual revolutions. We had trouble averaging 450 rpm for 3 minutes or more. 550 rpm the first minute was tough but doable, but we fell off on the performance after that. As an experiment one afternoon,I thought I would try holding at 450 rpm, and see how long I could do it. At 10 minutes, I was satisfied I could keep going a long time. I never went all out, but I never faded. 4500 rpm for 10 minutes was an unheard of performance. Usually, 3 minutes at 450 rpm avg left guys barely able to walk. After that 10 minute warm-up, yes warm-up, I then loaded the erg for a 240 pound oarsman (The machine used a weighted brake, adjusted for body weight. I weighed 145#), and did 630 rpm for 1 minute. No lactate. I was accused of having greased the brake. Nobody knew much about right warm-ups, just to do some. 1. Warmup long enough, at a high enough effort level 2. Have great cardio capacity 3. Don't go ALL OUT. Resist the temptation. 100% for 1 minute + 70-80% for 6 minutes won't do the same as 90%-95% for an unlimited number of minutes. Many happy PB's to all.