Need Advice

marks · Post by **marks** » December 10th, 2009, 11:20 pm

I am a 42 year old male. I am a distance runner looking to cross train. I enjoy my rower, but I am having difficulty getting my heart rate up and don't know what pace/watts range I should target.

So my questions:
What is a moderate workout target Watts/Pace?
What is a Hard workout target Watts/Pace?

I understand everyone is different, but I am just looking for a bit of guidence.

Thanks in advance!

jamesg · Post by **jamesg** » December 11th, 2009, 1:17 am

Minimum is 2W/kg body weight, but you can probably do 3W/kg, at say rating 20. All workouts are hard, when rowing, tho' some may be harder than others; we adjust the rating so that they are so.

Then at 20 you'll keep going for an hour or more, while at 40 you'll be glad to stop after a minute.

If you have difficulty getting your HR up, you probably need to spend a little time learning to row. The key is to put lots of work into each single stroke. To do this you don't have to pull very hard, but your stroke must be full length so that the legs come into play, doing at least 60% of the total work.

A simple exercise to see this is do some quick pulling, arms only, on the backstop. You should see 50-100W at rating 60.
Then add some swing, going to rating 40 and 150W.
Then gradually add knee lift (after the swing) until you reach say 200W at 20.
All this can last say 5 minutes and it's also at least a partial warmup.
Then the hour begins.

Don't go beyond shins vertical at the catch, and keep your head up and back straight. And relax, rowing is hard enough as it is. Keep the drag low, 110-130 drag factor, lever around 2-3.

hjs · Post by **hjs** » December 11th, 2009, 5:03 am

marks wrote:I am a 42 year old male. I am a distance runner looking to cross train. I enjoy my rower, but I am having difficulty getting my heart rate up and don't know what pace/watts range I should target.

So my questions:
What is a moderate workout target Watts/Pace?
What is a Hard workout target Watts/Pace?

I understand everyone is different, but I am just looking for a bit of guidence.

Thanks in advance!

What spm are you using? It is very likely that you use a very light stroke. To get a good work out you should try to use a full stroke.

take a look at this video to give you an idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=NL&hl=nl&v=eqVmMd7FdAA

runners also need some time to build a stronger upperbody, this can also be a point for you.

what is good depends on height/age/weight etc. You take a look at the rankings this will give you some idea

http://www.concept2.com/sranking03/rankings.asp

marks · Post by **marks** » December 12th, 2009, 4:41 pm

Thanks for your advice. I am doing too many SPMs and my form needs to be adjusted. The input you offered will help me on my way.

walterchaos · Post by **walterchaos** » December 12th, 2009, 7:26 pm

Maximum heart rate will usually be a little lower in rowing than running. However, if you wish to train at a specific heart rate, you can try this experiment to find the ideal wattage to train at:

Start at 100 watts and increase by 25 watts every minute till you find the appropriate hr. Then continue at this wattage for a few minutes to see if hr stabilizes or rises. If it rises beyond your desired hr, drop the wattage down a little till it stabilizes. Try to use as low a stroke rate as possible to produce each wattage.

anthonysemone · Post by **anthonysemone** » December 12th, 2009, 7:45 pm

any chance you're on a beta blocker?

tony

marks · Post by **marks** » December 25th, 2009, 8:56 am

Thanks again. No Beta Blockers. While I still have a long way to go on my form I averaged 175 watts and got may heart rate up in my last workout!

slwiser · Post by **slwiser** » December 25th, 2009, 10:31 am

marks wrote:I am a 42 year old male. I am a distance runner looking to cross train. I enjoy my rower, but I am having difficulty getting my heart rate up and don't know what pace/watts range I should target.

So my questions:
What is a moderate workout target Watts/Pace?
What is a Hard workout target Watts/Pace?

I understand everyone is different, but I am just looking for a bit of guidence.

Thanks in advance!

Do you have an issue with getting you HR up with all exercise or just with the rowing?

marks · Post by **marks** » December 27th, 2009, 2:51 pm

Rowing and biking it is harder to get up the heart rate. No problem getting it going when running.

walterchaos · Post by **walterchaos** » December 27th, 2009, 5:53 pm

It is common to have a lower max heart rate for rowing and cycling than in running. Rowing is usually higher than cycling.

Furthermore, anyone can run or cycle hard enough to get to max heart rate (provided they can push themselves) but rowing and swimming both require a decent technique to get to max heart rate.

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Need Advice - Watts/Pace

Need Advice - Watts/Pace

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THanks

Re: Need Advice - Watts/Pace