How to train without rowing, ergs or gym?!

[TomR]

Swimming?

I wouldn't have thought of that. Would swimming work a rower's legs effectively? How about bicycling?

[JimmyL]

Swimming?

I wouldn't have thought of that. Would swimming work a rower's legs effectively? How about bicycling?

I would say rowing would work the upper body more than the lower body, and then cycling is the other way around.

[Bob S.]

Swimming?

I wouldn't have thought of that. Would swimming work a rower's legs effectively?

I think that it would depend on the kind of stroke used. A strong frog kick (as used in the breast stroke?) should work the quads and glutes used in rowing. In addition, the arm work of the breast stroke would help the lats which are important in rowing.

Bob S.

[hjs]

Swimming?

I wouldn't have thought of that. Would swimming work a rower's legs effectively? How about bicycling?

At first glance I would see not that much, but they have great upper body strenght, are are aerobicly very fit, but I do know there are good at rowing right away. Runners and cyclers are not, there upper bodies are simply not trained. Cycling combined with swimming seems a good combo.

A few years back at a german race their was a German top swimmer who did a 500 meter relay, he pulled easily sun 1.20 and it was not a tall guy. It was a breaststroke swimmer.

[BoB/335]

No one has mentioned the jump rope. I think just 5 minutes everyday for 10 days would help a lot

[hcoog]

Nonsense. A significant number of those who come to the erg later in life developed their endurance running.

I said *too much* running, not just regular running. I challenge you to find me a scholarly article that backs your stance that running does not break down muscle.

Naturally you'll be posting the evidence that shows running causes muscle loss soon? (Remembering of course that breakdown isn't the same as loss)

[ToddMR]

And stay away from cross-fit. The combination of exercises and programming is notorious for producing injuries.

I wouldn't go quite that far. There are some truly stupid workouts, but the one OP chose is not terrible. Stay away from the more exotic exercises, the speed-at-all-cost mentality, and pick and choose wisely, and you can find some good, clean fun there. There are several of the CrossFit workouts that are part of my training repertoire, but it took me a while of drinking the Kool-Aid to realize that there are some bad workouts and bad movements thrown in there.