Concept2 Forum

Hey fellas,

New here, my names Dan and I am a 16 year old, 5'8" (173cm), 58kg high school rowing. Yes I understand I am extremely small for a rower but I am a prospective student athlete looking to hit my goals. I am currently doing Gym sessions 3x a week and 1x running session. In about 4 weeks time I will be doing 3x Gym Sessions, 2x Erg, 1x Running and 1x On the water M8+ session each week. My erg times are: 7:32.6 for 2km. 20:01 for 5km. 1:41 for 500m sprint. They're my times.

Given my height, weight and current scores how long with my training should it take for my erg time to slowly cut?
Also, what are some improvements to my training to help it drop down?
Not going to lie - I'm 16 yrs old and rowing for 60-90 mins r18 on an erg will just bore me to death - as i know many people suggest to do. At most I'd most likely row SS for 20 - 40 minutes.

Thanks

Good luck Dan with your aims.

If you want to take the great advice of some very good rowers on this site then I'm afraid you will have to be open to their suggestions. If not you have already described the training you are prepared to do on the erg which is 20-40mins twice a week... I know very little about rowing, but I can't see that that is going to be enough to get the improvement you want.

I am sure you have but if you haven't read this thread viewtopic.php?f=3&t=145259 which although a taller heavier older man is about the sort of time you are looking for.

Given my height, weight and current scores how long with my training should it take for my erg time to slowly cut?
Also, what are some improvements to my training to help it drop down?

Hi Dan
the best way for you to improve your erg times will be to spend more time erging for sure. 2 short sessions a week won't be enough.
Your current times are pretty good for a lighty but to get them down there is no way of avoiding more time on the erg I am afraid - 40 minutes say 4 times a week would help with one of those sessions hard intervals and 3 more SS longer ones aiming for 8km+ - just have to get fitter and stronger. Plenty of good info on the threads here - the topic linked above has a lot of good stuff. Lots of weights wont help your erg times so swap some of them.

Definitely need to spend more time on the erg per week, and longer time sessions.

Even if just breaking up a 40 minute session into x2 20m to alleviate some of your "boredom"

Those are very decent times considering!!! I think you will come on leaps and bounds by putting a lot more time in on the erg.

I myself have not been rowing very long at all... about 7 weeks in total!! But it was only a few weeks ago i was able to hold 2:13 splits on long sessions and finding that a challenge. I notice now i can hold 2:07 on most sessions and even still feel fine and with more to give in the tank if i need or want to, for some higher intensity strokes/faster strokes... so this tells me a lot about rowing daily or frequently paying off.

Of course i do realise it will get tougher the lower the times become. But ultimately still comes down to the same principle.

Good luck with your work.