My first row.......

[Jack S.]

Details of my first row to anyone interested.....

Rower arrived Thursday. Set it upm Friday night afterwork. Had my first row this afternoon, Sunday. I followed the beginer program listed somewhere on this site. I rowed 4 - 4minute rounds. For the first 3 I accidntally had the damper set at 10. Moved it to 3 for the last round.

Results....

time=16:08
Split Avg= 2:16.3
distance 3547 m

I had a hard time not have too high of a rate. A rate of 25 to 27 seemed natural.

My observation are that I am not very fit. I have a lot of work in front of me. I guess I will start a log.

Thanks for reading ,
Jack

[Tyn]

That's a great start Jack!

Try the 'March Madness" challenge!
And in time you WILL improve in technique and speed/times!

Happy Rowing!!!

[arakawa]

My observation are that I am not very fit. I have a lot of work in front of me. I guess I will start a log.

I wouldn't not necessarily draw the conclusion that you are not fit - you're still figuring out what you can do, and you probably had lots of gas left in the tank.

Logging your meters is a good idea - you can't improve what you can't measure. Good luck.

[Bob S.]

I had a hard time not have too high of a rate. A rate of 25 to 27 seemed natural.
Jack

The key to rowing at a low rate is taking your time (and relaxing) on the recovery. At a rate of 20 strokes per minute, I count out the three seconds, completing the drive and getting my hands away past my knees on the first count and finishing the rest of the recovery (body angle and legs) on the second and third count. Think of sneaking stealthily on the catch.

I often erg at 12spm at the start of warmups and in all my early morning wakeup rows. For that rate, I still take just 1 second for the drive and hands away, but have 4 seconds to creep up the slide to the catch.

Bob S.

[RowtheRockies]

Jack,

Welcome to the Indoor Rowing Community and congrats on purchasing the best all around piece of fitness equipment. Be sure to watch the DVD that came with the rower and really work on getting your technique sound. You will see some good improvements in your times just by nailing the technique. Don't be a stranger to the forum. I find that the forum really helps me stay motivated.

Rich

[Jack S.]

Thanks fellas, I'll be hanging around asking for all kinds of help.

[johnlvs2run]

Hi Jack,

You have a great start to your rowing. Remember that it takes awhile to develop the muscles that you use on the erg and be patient.

Your rating depends on your height, weight, strength, coordination and your fitness.

I usually have a rating of 26 spm at 2:24 pace, so your rating is much lower than mine.

[trailrunner]

Bob S wrote - I often erg at 12spm at the start of warmups and in all my early morning wakeup rows.

Do you do that at light pressure, which also would be very low wattage?

[Bob S.]

Bob S wrote - I often erg at 12spm at the start of warmups and in all my early morning wakeup rows.

Do you do that at light pressure, which also would be very low wattage?

Since I am 82 yo, all of my erging is at very low wattage compared to most people on this forum. I rarely get over 200. That said, my daily wakeup is a 10' piece just to get the blood flowing well and get the kinks out. It is 2' each at 12/15/18/20/12. The paces are about 2:35-2:45/2:30-2:40/2:20-2:30/2:15-2:25/2:35-2:45. The total distance has ranged from about 1900 to 2150. The intensity varies depending on how I feel on any particular morning.

It feels like I pull just about as hard on any individual stroke at the 12spm rate as at the other rates.

I mentioned that I do somewhat the same in warm ups. If you are curious, here is the warmup that I did Monday before a 500m time trial, which was a seasonal PB: 21', 3' each at 15/18/20/22/20/18/15. Total distance 4528m @ 2:19.1 average. 3' splits:

2:26.8
2:20.8
2:18.2
2:16.1
2:12.9
2:17.1
2:23.5

The time trial result was 1:49.6 with an average rate of 38spm.

I tried a second time trial after about 5 minutes, but it was crap, so I settled for the first one and went into a 15' cool down, 3' each at 22/20/18/15/12. I had the split readouts set at only 1' for that 15' cd and the last three, i.e. those done at 12spm, were at 2:36.2/2:39.5/2:47.5.

I'm sure that this is far more than you ever wanted to know about my routines, but I hope that it answers your question. The key item, I suppose, is that I feel like any one pull is as hard at 12spm as at the other rates, but I will never really know unless I do a strain gauge test.

I usually have the drag factor around 118. I don't change the damper, so the DF varies a bit with the temperature and atmospheric pressure.

Bob S.

[PaulS]

Congratulations to BS on the SB!

Most of us will be very happy to be Erging at 82, you are certainly leading the way, along with a few other extreme die-hards. Are you rowing lwt these days, or come over to the dark side?

[trailrunner]

Bob, you are an inspiration. The kind of person I'd like to meet and chat with.

What I was wondering about was warm up, in general. I like to do a couple of k at very light pressure, but at moderate rate, like 26-28 spm. I don't worry about what the force curve looks like initially.

My rational is very low loading on muscles and structure, but rate high enough to get the cardio system awakened. Like short quick strides in running (slowly). After that I like to settle into the base stroke (more pressure) with more area under a nicely shaped force curve. I really like that force curve thingy on the model D.

One thing that I had to unlearn was high stroke rates that I used to do for longer rows. Hanging out on this forum has taught me a few things that I am doing wrong.

[johnlvs2run]

Congratulations to BS on the SB!

Most of us will be very happy to be Erging at 82, you are certainly leading the way, along with a few other extreme die-hards. Are you rowing lwt these days, or come over to the dark side?

Bob,

You're doing great, and thanks for sharing your training.

[Bob S.]

Are you rowing lwt these days, or come over to the dark side? :wink:

After my one and only ambulance ride to the local ER last August, I became an FB convert. The ER doc really chewed me out, saying that I had UTI and a colon blockage and that both were the result of dehydration. This was not really because of trying to make lightweight status. It was the result a bad habit of many years of just not drinking enough plain water. He told me that I should be drinking at least 3 quarts a day and that fruit juice did not count. It ain't easy. I have been keeping track of the water that I drink each day ever since then, and it is rare that I am able to get that much down in a day. It definitely leaves me feeling bloated.

Bob S.

[Bob S.]

What I was wondering about was warm up, in general. I like to do a couple of k at very light pressure, but at moderate rate, like 26-28 spm. I don't worry about what the force curve looks like initially.
My rational is very low loading on muscles and structure, but rate high enough to get the cardio system awakened. Like short quick strides in running (slowly). After that I like to settle into the base stroke (more pressure) with more area under a nicely shaped force curve. I really like that force curve thingy on the model D.

TR,

I don't have any real rational for what I do in warm ups. Mine vary a lot as I try different things. Sometimes I do rate pyramids, sometimes just gradually increasing rates, sometimes with 10 high rate stroke segments spaced out through the middle of the warm up (this was a suggestion from the USIRDS coaches in the 2006 season). I have never really determined what works best. I go along with the general Interactive Programme (sic) recommendation to do short warm ups for long slower pieces and long warm ups for more intense pieces, but I don't stick with the actual IP times.

The one thing that stands out for me is that, even with a fairly long warm up, the second interval of a set is usually better than the first. That is why I tried to do a second time trial last Monday. I had hopes that it might be better than the first, but it didn't work that time.

Bob S.

[Bob S.]

Bob,
You're doing great, and thanks for sharing your training.

Thanks, John. I don't feel that I have much to share that would be helpful, but I thought that some members might be curious about it.

Bob S.