First time

[BigGuy]

Today I had planned on biking for 60min ... my main sport is bicycling and since it's winter here I go biking on a gym. So today my plan was to bike for 60min, I usually bike 5-6 times a week for at least an hour off season (plus weight lifting once a week) ... but today when I went to the gym I saw this compound rowing machine and it seemed like fun. So I went on it, put it on level 5 out of 10 (better not try too hard first time ...) and rowed for 30min - it was pretty cool. I guess my stats were pretty bad:

366 calories
6090m

If my memory doesn't fail me, after that I biked for 60min ~42km. My main question is how should I put in rowing for my exercise? I need my biking because when summer arrives I need to bike, it rocks ... maybe a good scheme would be:

5-6 times biking (60+ min)
2-3 times rowing (30 min)
1 time Weight lifting

How does this seem? I enjoyed rowing and it's something I want to do ... I'm not very serious about rowing like my biking it would be more for fun I suppose

[PaulS]

Today I had planned on biking for 60min ... my main sport is bicycling and since it's winter here I go biking on a gym. So today my plan was to bike for 60min, I usually bike 5-6 times a week for at least an hour off season (plus weight lifting once a week) ... but today when I went to the gym I saw this compound rowing machine and it seemed like fun. So I went on it, put it on level 5 out of 10 (better not try too hard first time ...) and rowed for 30min - it was pretty cool. I guess my stats were pretty bad:

366 calories
6090m

If my memory doesn't fail me, after that I biked for 60min ~42km. My main question is how should I put in rowing for my exercise? I need my biking because when summer arrives I need to bike, it rocks ... maybe a good scheme would be:

5-6 times biking (60+ min)
2-3 times rowing (30 min)
1 time Weight lifting

How does this seem? I enjoyed rowing and it's something I want to do ... I'm not very serious about rowing like my biking it would be more for fun I suppose

It seems like you would probably benefit a lot from getting a bit of technique help, check out the C2 resources online about that, and if possible find someone who knows (Rowing program in your location perhaps) that could get you started right, it's easier than fixing strange bad habits later.

If you give your location, there may well be someone here that is close by adn willing to help, or know of a rowing facility and suggest that.

Welcome to the fray.

[BigGuy]

It seems like you would probably benefit a lot from getting a bit of technique help, check out the C2 resources online about that, and if possible find someone who knows (Rowing program in your location perhaps) that could get you started right, it's easier than fixing strange bad habits later.

If you give your location, there may well be someone here that is close by adn willing to help, or know of a rowing facility and suggest that.

Welcome to the fray.

Hehe I know, my technique is non-existent. I will check out the C2 resource online and my gym has instructors that I can ask so that's not a problem

And also I know that I can improve my 30min 6090m ... since I'm a bit tunnel minded, if I decide to do something I'm having a hard time not doing it ... and I decided earlier today to bike for 60min and I didn't not want to wear out myself totally before my biking

[Bob S.]

Hehe I know, my technique is non-existent. I will check out the C2 resource online and my gym has instructors that I can ask so that's not a problem

A BIG warning. Most so-called gym instructors don't know that first thing about the C2 indoor rower. Incidentally, one of those first things is the damper setting. A setting of 10 doesn't mean that you work harder. It just means that the fan slows down faster. C2 recommends a setting of 3-5. Find out how to read the drag factor on the monitor and use a damper setting that will give you a drag factor of somewhere between 100 and 140. The DF reading needs to be checked each time, since even at the same damper setting, the DF will vary from one erg to another and also varies with temperature and atmospheric pressure.

Bob S.

[Nosmo]

My main sport has been biking, but I have never been able to consitantly use a bike machine. On the C2 I have no problem maintaining motivation. Been using one on and off for 22 years.

If you erg, you will not need to ride much. It is almost the same muscles. Did one of my best bike races ever, comming off the crew season in college. I got 3rd in the state road championships--100 mile race--and I only had 700 miles on the bike for the year.

When finishing grad school, I didn't have much time to ride during the week, so I did 30 minutes to an hour a day on the erg and rode 60-80 miles on saturday and sunday. Switching to the erg did not slow me down at all. I could still mix it up with the Cat-II on the group rides.

I would recommend riding for 90 minutes once a week, weight lifting 2x a week, and doing the bulk of your work on the rowing machine. If you can ride outdoors, then cut back on the rowing. I would also ride for not more then 15 minutes a couple of time a week at very high rpm. Come spring you'll be very happy to be back on your bike and also be very fit.

I second what others said here. A setting of 5 is probably high (check the drag factor). Rowing at too high a load is a very common novice mistake. Learn how to row correctly--it is really important. Rowing is mostly legs.

[Cyclist2]

I've moved over to cycling over the past few years just because there is a larger community than the rowing, but I still consider rowing the best. Anyway, I have an erg workout I like that "simulates" cycling: It is a criterium of 1000 meters per lap. The first 250 is down a hill, so the pace is a little slower, the middle 500 is at aerobic threshhold (just like hanging with a fast pack), then the last 250 meters is up a hill, so I get the pace down to my 2000 meter race pace or faster. Then do it all over again, as many times as you feel like it.

That really keeps the boredom factor down, and the 1000 meters go by a lot faster, the last one or two are real killers.