Concept2 Forum

Hey everyone,

If you're a frequent and active user of these forums I'm sure you'll be aware of my back injury which is still quite persistent. This disables me from using the ergo during our school training as well as on the water training. Instead of doing the on the water training with them I will just have to use the bike machine for around about an hour to an hour and a half nearly 4 - 5x a week. I am also planning to do a lot of pull ups to keep my upper-body strength reasonably good as well as a lot of ab work (which is mandatory because it will help strengthen my back stablisation so its a win-win). With these 4 minimum bike sessions as well as maybe 80 pull-ups each session and a lot of ab work, eating healthy and stretching properly do you think my erg time will slowly creep down? I am planning to be around 7:10 by the time I do my first erg once my back is better. Currently 7:36 - 10 weeks of training -> 7:10.

How well will the endurance of cycling translate to my erg?

Thanks

As someone who has done rather alot of cycling, continuing to do that will stop the rot setting in with your aerobic conditioning but really there is no substitute for training at a sport to be good for that specific sport. From your post I would also add you might want to do some lower back work to complement the abs stuff so your entire core is worked on. I have come over to erging from cycling and had good aerobic conditioning but my body simply wasn't able to keep up and I got lower back injuries. By working on my core/technique I seem to have fairly rapidly circumvented that so IME it does work. You sound young ("school training") and *if so* you'll probably just get faster as a result of maturing.

So the question is, you have an injury and can,t use your back, you will avoid using that back, and think out of nowhere that weak spot will heal up even get a lot stronger without training it.

The project will 100% certain not work. But .. You will get a lot better at cycling and pull ups though

mattflint49 wrote:
I am also planning to do a lot of pull ups to keep my upper-body strength reasonably good as well as a lot of ab work (which is mandatory because it will help strengthen my back stablisation so its a win-win).

You really need to start thinking about doing some "light" hyperextension work, at some point when you think your back is strong enough, and healed enough to cope with it.

Good chance your in for a lifetime of hurt if you dont relax, slow down and listen to some advise. There is no question you can make accommodations for your injury and continue to train. You will gain strength in both your legs and upper back/arms. You can cycle to improve cardio, you could leg press, which would be functionally applicable to rowing. You could do seated row as pictured below, again, functionally applicable to rowing.



...... and then once the rest of your back is recovered enough for you to get back on an erg, your weak link will get blown up again and youll be right back to where you were before.

Very few15-25 year old males ever think long term. Young, dumb, full of ...... Anyway, if you actually take 5 minutes to think about what the consequences of trying to push ahead are, if you have any brains in your head, youll fix the problem and then, responsibly return to the erg/rowing. You can loose a year or loose the rest of your life. Take it from a guy who at155 lbs in high school played and kicked ass in rugby against 200+ pounders, for 1.2 seasons, ending in a cervical vertebrae compression fracture. I broke three ribs on a guy that out weighed me by 80 lbs and at the time thought it made me something. I get a reminder every time I look down for too long and then try to pick my head up again. Long term your gonna suffer.