Concept2 Forum

I am very pleased with the Concept2 Indoor rower as a runner turned indoor rower. I used to do tons of running, often resulting in sore feet and ankle injuries.<br />That was the time I had took a closer look at my technique of running and started to look for alternative exercises that will maintain my level of fitness.<br />C2 was the answer. Since using it, my feet pain almost dissipated and I can actually see visible muscle mass down my legs and more developed abs.<br />To incoporate indoor rowing to my usual running workout, I was wondering which would be wise: either to do rowing after running or vice versa.<br />If anybody has any better idea to mix rowing into my running workout, it'd be greatly appreciated.<br /><br />Thanks.

<!--QuoteBegin-hermannjp+Jan 1 2006, 10:26 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(hermannjp @ Jan 1 2006, 10:26 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I am very pleased with the Concept2 Indoor rower as a runner turned indoor rower. I used to do tons of running, often resulting in sore feet and ankle injuries.<br />That was the time I had took a closer look at my technique of running and started to look for alternative exercises that will maintain my level of fitness.<br />C2 was the answer. Since using it, my feet pain almost dissipated and I can actually see visible muscle mass down my legs and more developed abs.<br />To incoporate indoor rowing to my usual running workout, I was wondering which would be wise: either to do rowing after running or vice versa.<br />If anybody has any better idea to mix rowing into my running workout, it'd be greatly appreciated.<br /><br />Thanks. <br /> </td></tr></table><br />You have made a good choice in getting a C2 erg for maintaining your level of fitness! I would suggest that you run and row on alternate days. That would give your body a day to recover from running and therefore, you could make those running sessions more intense.<br />Since you are rowing as cross-training, I would go for longer pieces on the erg, or long intervals with short rest, keeping the HR at around 70% of max.<br /><br />Good luck!<br /><br />Francois<br />

Thanks a lot for the tip. That has come across my mind, however, I am the type of person who cannot feel satisfied if I didn't cover at least two miles a day. So my running is an essential part of my feeling for fitness and maintenance of my agility.<br /><br />That was the reason why I was looking for incoporating rowing and running in a single workout because I do sense the need for strength training(esp. my legs which are under tremendous pressure when running) and have experienced the effects of what happens otherwise=>injury, that lead to even further train deprivation, this time due to inevitable factors.<br /><br />Here's the experience I got. When I rowed BEFORE running, I felt as if I was burning out my muscles that were toned up by rowing as I ran although my legs at the start of the run did feel a lot stronger than not rowing beforehand. When I rowed AFTER running, I had no strength left in my legs to continue to push myself up to a decent pace, my legs got sore.<br /><br />Also another personal opinion is that after a solo running, I could feel more blubber(or relaxed skin) in my thighs whereas I could feel muscle tension in my thighs after rowing. I presumed this was the sign of muscle strength decreasing and increasing, depending on whether I row or not(when I could possibly be burning muscles).<br /><br />Does anyone know some strengthening exercises I can take for my legs?<br />Or any ideas on how to mix-and-match rowing and running into a single workout session would be of highest value. <br /><br />PS I thought about running in the morning, rowing in the afternoon or vice versa, but my strict timetable won't allow me to make these drastic chanes, hence, forcing me to work out a way that I can benefit both muscle strengthening(row) and speed/endurance developing(run) from a single session.

I run, the first thing in the morning, and then do my rowing right after that.

<!--QuoteBegin-hermannjp+Jan 2 2006, 01:16 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(hermannjp @ Jan 2 2006, 01:16 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Thanks a lot for the tip. That has come across my mind, however, I am the type of person who cannot feel satisfied if I didn't cover at least two miles a day. So my running is an essential part of my feeling for fitness and maintenance of my agility.<br /><br />That was the reason why I was looking for incoporating rowing and running in a single workout because I do sense the need for strength training(esp. my legs which are under tremendous pressure when running) and have experienced the effects of what happens otherwise=>injury, that lead to even further train deprivation, this time due to inevitable factors. <br /> </td></tr></table><br />When I suggested, running and rowing on alternate days, I was thinking in terms of 10 to 15k of quality running, and at least an hour on the erg. <br />IMHO running 2 miles is just a warm-up and is pretty useless, all by itself, as far as endurance is concerned. Therefore, you shouldn't feel guilty in doing an hour on the erg instead.<br /><br />It would help if you could tell us at what distances you want to compete (or whether you are running simply for fitness), as well as your age, weight and current PBs.<br /><br />Concerning functional strength for running, I would suggest the book <br /><a href='http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080929 ... s&v=glance' target='_blank'>Explosive Running</a>.<br /><br />Francois

<!--QuoteBegin-hermannjp+Jan 1 2006, 08:16 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(hermannjp @ Jan 1 2006, 08:16 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><br />Here's the experience I got. When I rowed BEFORE running, I felt as if I was burning out my muscles that were toned up by rowing as I ran although my legs at the start of the run did feel a lot stronger than not rowing beforehand. When I rowed AFTER running, I had no strength left in my legs to continue to push myself up to a decent pace, my legs got sore.<br /><br />...<br /><br />PS I thought about running in the morning, rowing in the afternoon or vice versa, but my strict timetable won't allow me to make these drastic chanes, hence, forcing me to work out a way that I can benefit both muscle strengthening(row) and speed/endurance developing(run) from a single session. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br /><br />My experience so far has been that when I run and row, the second of the two activities does suffer a little bit. Probably not going to PR my 4 mile loop after rowing for 30 minutes, or vice-versa. But who knows? The great thing is that you're getting a great cardiovascular workout the whole time, you're using different muscles and in different ways, and you can easily get an hour of exercise without feeling burnt out from the same activity. <br /><br />Rowing has benefitted my running most significantly by strengthening the upper body and core so that I'm more in control of my running form. So far I would say that rowing has not improved leg strength for running very much. But flexibility is better now.<br /><br />I'll leave specific workout details for much more qualified posters. They will surely chime in soon.<br /><br />Enjoy, and happy new year!<br />Nick

My experience says I feel much better running after rowing than vice versa. Running breaks down your leg muscles, rowing don't. Rowing will have the legs ready to run. Running won't have the upperbody ready to row. And because of the muscular impact your legs may not feel very strong either.

I use to runa and row on alternate days.<br />Lately I am not running very much, but instead I'm improving my times for running the 10k drastically.<br />Must be the calories overkill from Christmas <br />Seriousely, doing long workouts on the erg allows you to do very good running results with low running mileages compared to "real runners".<br />Moreover I don't have any knee probllems as I used to.<br />When I run a lot, I feel that I don't improve as much as I could on the erg, but it doesn't bother me too much.<br /><br />Salud y kms!