Concept2 Forum

I've recently decided to start lifting again to supplement erging, which is my exercise of choice. My weight training is a simple compound lift routine - squats, deadlifts, bench press, military press, bent-over rows, pulls, and dips. My goal is to do this routine 2-3x per week.

Since erging is such a complete exercise that works almost every muscle group that I've targeted in the lifting routine, should I be taking a complete rest day from both erging and lifting the day after a lifting session? Does erging the following day after lifting not provide enough recovery for the muscles?

Thoughts?

-Eric

The only rule I've ever followed was don't lift two days in a row, and I've broken that one often enough.

I'd say use your head. On days after you've lifted, maybe don't do sprint repeats on the erg, rather longer aerobic pulls. But play around. Let your body tell you what it can and cannot and wants and wants not to do.

I posted this in another thread, but you're asking exactly the question I was answering, so here's my experience.:

I am a competitive powerlifter and olympic lifter and think that the C2 is the ideal companion to the weight room.

Nothing beats the C2 for warming up - a couple of moderate 500m pulls or a 1k before and after a heavy squat or deadlift day help warm up and cool down the joints without a lot of additional load-bearing work.

For off-days in the weightroom, I can adjust my longer pieces by moderating intensity depending on how my body feels, or even just having it around the house, a handful of moderate 500m pieces over the course of the day allows me to add some additional work that feels to me like it actually aids recovery.

You won't catch me doing something like rowing a marathon right after a heavy squat day, or in the days approaching a meet, but it's a great addition to a weight program.

You can mess up your recovery cycle by going all-out, but once you build a base, if you keep the work easy and keep in mind what your strength-goals are and the recovery they require, you'll get to where it hardly puts a dent in your recovery and may actually help you recover better.