Rowing And Weightwatchers

[[old] jlr62]

I keep seeing the word erging in post. Could someone tell what that means. I have just started WW and wanted to start rowing. What would be a good routine to start with.<br><br>Thanks for your help!

[[old] DavidA]

Welcome. <br>Erg is a unit of work. It is also short for ergometer. The C2 rowing machine is an ergometer. Indoor rowing is commonly called erging.<br>There are some good training tips on the main C2 web site. It also depends upon what your goals are.<br>Good luck.

[[old] afolpe]

Sort of along the same weight loss/control lines- does anyone have a good explanation for plateauing, and maybe how to get around it? I started rowing fairly seriously about a year ago and dropped from about 205 down to 175 (5'10", 38M). I never really changed anything I ate, except avoiding anything except water with lunch (ie, no lemonade, tea or soda). I've kind of stuck at about 175, even though I have considered rowing fairly hard, with improving PB's at all distances, for example. I'd like to get down to perhaps 165-70. Does your body defend a given set point?<br><br>Andrew

[[old] DIESEL]

No. It's just that you haven't given the body a REASON to get to 165-170. You admit that you haven't really changed much of your routine.....

[[old] Janice]

Plateaus are a natural part of weightloss and to kick start your body over it, you have to change something - what you eat, your exercise routine, etc...<br><br>Since you've said you haven't changed your diet, you could give it a shot. Try limiting your refined sugar and flour intake and eat more fruits and vegetables as a simple way to start without really dieting. <br><br>That said, I often hear from people that they knew when they were at the right weight - they felt good and could eat what they wanted (healthly). Maybe you are, but if you want to get down to 165, give it a shot, it's a small and reasonable goal. See how you feel at that weight and if you are happy.

[[old] drkcgoh]

While weight reduction is a balance of caoric intake against output, the body adjusts to it from time to time by resetting your Basal Metabolic Rate. Further reduction in food intake is interpreted as starvation, and the body sets the BMR lower. But exercise resets it higher so that you burn more calories insensibly while resting.<br> When you plateau at a certain weight, it makes more sense to exercise more instead of dieting more because you will be resetting the BMR higher. So it becomes practical to chart the calories burnt and just row longer.<br>But from the motivational point of view many people find this boring, and need gimmicks such as points given for reduced food intake, as well as rewards. Hence the birth of WW and many other weight loss aids that give results.<br>From the scientific point of view, selective substrate utilisation is a natural body mechanism that explains why rowing too hard for PBs becomes counter productive when trying to control weight. <br>The body simply burns a higher ratio of carbohydrates to fats, and the injuries sustained from training hard for PBs as well as the intimidation of competition with oneself or others during online racing quickly discourages many from continuing rowing, and the goal shifts from losing weight to trying for PBs. <br>If you are singleminded in trying to lose weight, just set your sights on rowing farther each week, and you will not plateau. I had a patient who tried all those low carbohydrate diets & WW before finally going for gastric stapling. That drastic tying up of the stomach (the mother of all diets) only dropped his weight from 600+ to 400+, and he finally got off his plateau by rowing slow and long, including a 4h 11min marathon.<br> KC63 /5'10"/145lbs<br><br>

[[old] afolpe]

i wasn't worrying too much about it- i just thought it was interesting that i dropped 30 lbs fairly easily, and then hit a weight that seems to be a bit of a plateau. obviously i don't want to lose weight indefinitely, and actually 175 is probably a pretty decent weight for me.<br><br>thanks for the input all<br><br>andrew

[[old] Mikebell]

I can attest that the long erg will allow you to push through the plateau. I don't do WW, but rather a simple, low cholesterol diet my doctor prescribed due to high triglycerides. I dropped 40 pounds pretty quickly, dropped 5 inches from my waist and had a great deal of energy. <br><br>I plateau'd when I just erged 5000m or 6000m (~20-24 minute) pieces. I have given that up and now erg for 1/2 hour or 10000m pieces. I have started to training for the marathon. I have also noticed I am gone back to losing 2-3 pounds a week. <br><br>Question: I don't belong to a gym, so what does one suggest to I do for weight training to work in concert with erging?

[[old] DIESEL]

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'><span class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></span> </td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Question: I don't belong to a gym, so what does one suggest to I do for weight training to work in concert with erging?<!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><br><br>Pull-ups - done with the palms facing away from you. Will give you some serious pulling juice on the erg. <br><br>Chin-ups (with your palms facing you, and space your hands no more than 2-4 inches apart - this is the single best biceps/forearm developer - better than barbell curls) - these will come in really handy if you ever decided to hit the single scull. <br><br>Push-ups (and when you can do a ton of those - try doing "plyo push-ups" - the ones where you accelerate your body off the floor ) <br><br>Burpees - do these in sets of a minute - 90 secs of continuous reps. Simply brutal. <br><br>Burpees to Pull-ups - just combine the two. Puke inducing, to be sure. <br><br>Clean and jerks with a medicine ball. <br><br>Farmers Walk : Pick up a really heavy object. Or if you have a wheelbarrow in your yard - fill it up with a ton of weight and just try to walk it for sets of 50-100m - it'll give you sick total body strength. <br><br>Sled drag - grab a heavy board (say 3' x 3') of wood - get a rope or chain and attach it to the board and tie it around your waist. have a couple of buddies sit on the piece of wood. Pretend you are a sled dog in the Iditarod. Do sets of 100m - brutal. Or if you are really sadistic, just attach yourself to your car and drag it in a parking lot for 100m. <br><br>400m wind sprints. Have you ever seen the legs of a sprinter ? Now you know. Rest 3 minutes b/w reps.. work up to 8 reps or so. That fitness will definitely carry over into the erg. Will give you hamstrings of steel. <br><br>Hill runs / Stadiums - have you ever seen the legs of an NFL running back - that's the secret. Glute, hip flexor, and quad destruction. <br><br>There you go. Pretty much covers the whole body.

[[old] Robbo]

What on earth are "burpees" ?

[[old] TomR/the elder]

In a recent newsletter from C2 UK, Terry ONeil wrote something to the effect that when erging, your body doesn't start burning stored body fat until you've been rowing for about 35 minutes. Elsewhere, I've seen statements to the effect that the body uses primarily glycogen (stored carbohydrates) for the first 15 to 20 minutes of exercise. Only after getting fully warmed up does one start using body fat for energy.<br><br>That being the case, truly long rows are one key to losing weight--which I assume means getting rid of fat.<br><br>In addition, in one guide for marathon running that I recently saw, the author writes that long runs--which he defines as being more than 60 minutes--train the body to burn fat during exercise. In addition, the author recommends one 90-minute run per week to turn your body into a "fat-burning machine." Long workouts bring about physiological adaptations helpful to those who wish to get rid of fat.<br><br>Weight lifting (as Diesel recommends) and more intense intervals (as have been suggested) will kick up the metabolism, but I've seen nothing to suggest that there is any substitute for long, low-medium intensity (65% HR) workouts for getting rid of fat. <br><br>Tom Rawls

[[old] Tom_Pinckney]

I have found that longer rows do work for me to lose weight. However, recent information indicates that intervals are a better way of gainging fitness and losing weight at the same time. In addition, the body will burn more bodies at rest (after exercise) more intensely if you have exercised more instensely. <br><br>According to one article I read, lifting weights protects you against muscle loss if you exercise anerobically. <br><br>Long distance runners: usually not very muscular. This is due to very long training periods.<br><br>Sprinters: Very muscular. short burst of speed, but obviously very fit people. I would rather look like this. <br><br>Of course, genetics may help.

[[old] Lolita]

Hi there,<br><br>I'm new to this forum, & i've read that a bunch of posts from everyone. It seems like everyone loves to row...Can anyone give me a great exercise routine(on the concept2 rower) to lose fat? What is best amount of time to row, & at what intensity level, to burn fat?<br><br>Thanks, <br>Lolita

[[old] TomR/the elder]

Lolita--<br><br>Some folks will tell you to row long (45+ minutes) at moderate intensity (60-65% of max heart rate) to burn body fat and to modify your physiology so that your body is better at burnng fat.<br><br>Others will tell you to row intervals (shorter reptitions) at higher intensity to burn more calories during a given period of time and to raise your resting metabolism.<br><br>I'd suggest you get on the erg, row a bit. Find out what you like doing. In either case, you probably want to increase your time and pace gradually.<br><br>Meantime, read up how your the body reacts to exercise. You can start by reviewing drkcgoh's post from Oct 30 on this thread. Also, I think the C2 home page includes a tab for weight loss.<br><br>Good luck.<br><br>Tom Rawls

[LindaM]

Lolita - The key to using the erg for weight loss is to maintain your motivation to use it over the long haul. Personally, the way I've found to do that is to vary my workouts and intersperse days when I climb hills (or mountains) instead of rowing too. The problem with deciding that any one particular kind of workout is BEST for weight loss, means you are much more likely to get bored and stop altogether. And THAT is most definitely the wrong decision. I try to stay on the erg a minimum of 50 minutes and a maximum of 80 minutes a day. My favorite workouts (currently) are 2 5K's separated by 10 minutes of stretching, first one easy, second one harder; and 8 to 10 5:00 pieces separated by 3:00 rest/paddling. In neither workout do I approach my maximum heart rate. Sometimes I do them at UT2/UT1 pace (55% - 80% MHR), and sometimes UT1/AT(70% - 85% MHR). That's plenty to eat up calories and keep me from getting overtired. Good luck - Linda