Glory Lightweight Advice

[jliddil]

Alternatives:
reverse peristalsis
crystal meth
stomach band
have your mouth wired shut

[Carl Watts]

Alternatives:
reverse peristalsis
crystal meth
stomach band
have your mouth wired shut

Yeah tried the Meth / "Speed" but it didn't help me row any faster ! felt totally ripped off

[hjs]

Having set myself the goal of a 06:49.9 at BIRC as a Lightweight (in 2013) I’m already planning the route.

I haven’t been 165 pounds for 30 years. I’m currently around 186 having spent much of the last 3 decades at just over 210.

I've lost or maintained weight with regular erging but I haven’t lost anything for a year and a half despite averaging around 200,000 meters per month and getting much fitter. My scales tell me I’m currently 22% fat although nobody would describe me as overweight.

So I’m looking for any tips and suggestions you may have to help me achieve lightweight status healthily over the next year or so whilst at the same time increasing my strength, improving my fitness and getting faster over 2K. I am entirely comfortable with my erging schedule which is a carefully considered slow burning Wolverine Plan.

I think my main concerns are about my diet (I am a total chocoholic) - whether I should be using weights or cross training and if so what would be beneficial and also whether it’s even practical for a 5’10” 52 year old who’s been erging regularly for 5 years to contemplate losing another 20+ pounds and get 10 seconds faster as well?

My wife thinks I’m crazy but she thought that when I said I would train 6 times per week to break 7 minutes. By the way - what does "mid life crisis" mean?

Any advice from the forum would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Kevin, first you have to know how you body is constituted at the moment. In other words how much fat do you have at the moment and how much could you loose from that. To get below 10 % would not be easy, to get to 6% you ar more or less fatless below yoyr skin. So can you loose that 20 lbs without losing muscle is the first question you should anwser.

[hjs]

Elite rowers generally have massive quads...

One thing that has really surprised me is that my quads have shrunk considerably since I start regular erging. Maybe they had a bit of fat on them before but I don't think so? I guess the elite big guys do a lot of heavy weight work as well as tons of rowing?

It's relative kevin, when you are very skinny and have well developed quads that looks strange. I often see rowers looking that way. Really strange sight.

[nharrigan]

Kev-

I would recommend trying to get your weight to no more than 175lbs/80kg and see if you can maintain it.

Start by setting a schedule for getting to specific targets, both weight and erg performance. You will need intermediate targets to keep you focused. 6 months should be enough to get to 175lbs. That's 1.5 lbs/month. Make sure you weigh yourself in a consistent manner, like every morning before breakfast or at the end of the day, so that the data indicates real progress. I would stick to mostly longer workouts (1hr.+) and probably add in some long cycling sessions. Its much easier to cycle for 2 or 3 hours than to erg. Another thing you could do is add in more sessions, so that you do a short session some mornings and a longer one in the evening, that will help keep the metabolism high.

Then if you can get to a stable 175, start using one of the training plans, like the Wolverine plan or the Interactive plan. If you can stay around this weight for the bulk of your training, then the 6 weeks before the competition, lose the remaining weight.

Best of luck in your quest.

Regards,

Neil

[KevJGK]

I would recommend trying to get your weight to no more than 175lbs/80kg and see if you can maintain it.

Thanks Neil.

I like your idea of trying to maintain 175 pounds first – that sounds much more sensible than aiming straight for 165. As you say, if 175 becomes a natural weight then 165 comes more within range.

This is a chart of my monthly weight and metres since I started erging. The relationship between the two is pretty clear. Increasing metres will undoubtedly help weight loss although I hope to drop it through diet and use the training to get faster.

Kevin, first you have to know how you body is constituted at the moment. In other words how much fat do you have at the moment

Thanks Henry.

I have booked myself an appointment on Monday to have my body fat measured with callipers. The guy said today that I look well under 20% which is a bit worrying if it turns out to be true as I need the fat to be able to lose it.

He also said my scales were about 60% accurate and callipers about 92%?

[bobkwan2007]

The guy said today that I look well under 20% which is a bit worrying if it turns out to be true as I need the fat to be able to lose it.

Invariably, some of the weight you lose will be muscle; you won't lose all fat. Assuming you are at 20%bf, that means you have about 37 pounds of fat. If you lose 20 pounds of fat and muscle, let's say at a ratio of 2:1, that would take your bf to 15%. This is not unreasonable, and in fact, quite doable. Yes, you will lose some muscle, but with proper nutrition and training that loss can be curtailed, somewhat, and you might improve enough on your 2k time to make the medals.

[jliddil]

I would recommend trying to get your weight to no more than 175lbs/80kg and see if you can maintain it.

Thanks Neil.

I like your idea of trying to maintain 175 pounds first – that sounds much more sensible than aiming straight for 165. As you say, if 175 becomes a natural weight then 165 comes more within range.

This is a chart of my monthly weight and metres since I started erging. The relationship between the two is pretty clear. Increasing metres will undoubtedly help weight loss although I hope to drop it through diet and use the training to get faster.

Kevin, first you have to know how you body is constituted at the moment. In other words how much fat do you have at the moment

Thanks Henry.

I have booked myself an appointment on Monday to have my body fat measured with callipers. The guy said today that I look well under 20% which is a bit worrying if it turns out to be true as I need the fat to be able to lose it.

He also said my scales were about 60% accurate and callipers about 92%?

So you are plateauing. You will certainly need to watch what you eat and eat nutrient dense foods. The only way to lose weight is via less calories in and more out. There are plenty of full access articles on this in pubmed. Eat Twinkies
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/tw ... index.html

Of course there is plenty wrong with this but the bottom line is burn more eat less

So why not try crystal meth? It will make you skinny and give you bad teeth.

[KevJGK]

Just got back from my appointment with the 'body fat measuring expert.'

Told him my tanita scales usually say 22% (occasionally 21% or 23%) - prior to the test he said there was no way I was even 20% - he actually said I was 'well under 20%.' He also said my scales are only 60% accurate and the callipers 92%!

Anyway he did the 5 point calliper test on me - consulted his charts - and then told me I am 21.6% fat.

In a way I am pleased because it means I have the fat to lose to get to lwt - if I was say 15% it would be very hard to drop 20 pounds.

So - my first weight target based on Neil's sound advice is to get to 175 pounds over say the next 6 months and stay there for a while to see how that feels.

[chgoss]

Good luck Kev!

I'll be thinking of you tonight right after dessert..