Concept2 Forum

I'm new to erging and I'm looking to lose weight as well as improve overall fitness. Many magazine articles seem to support high intensity training (HIT) rather than long, slower workouts. Does this apply to rowing as well? Do you all favor short, HIT training sessions or lengthy rowing sessions?

Appreciate your thoughts ...

Being new to rowing, I would focus on technique for a while, before hitting the intervals. At this point, speed and power should be secondary concerns. Proper and efficient form, which enable speed and functional power, should be your first concern. Once proper form is learned, knock yourself out. You can go as hard as you want on the rower. Just remember, it is a very demanding event. Listen closely to your body. Oh, and have lots of fun!!!

Thanks Wilbury. I should have been more specific in my question. I've been erging for a couple of months so I'm relatively new to the sport, but I think my technique is pretty good, and I've done some interval work already, just wondering which training style is best for weight loss.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Jim40 wrote:Thanks Wilbury. I should have been more specific in my question. I've been erging for a couple of months so I'm relatively new to the sport, but I think my technique is pretty good, and I've done some interval work already, just wondering which training style is best for weight loss.

Thanks for your thoughts.

The best training style to lose weight is one that continues to motivate you. Too many people stop because they are bored. slow rows are easier to maintain (if you have the time) and will burn more calories. however, high intensity will improve your base metabolism and continue to burn calories after the session. horses for courses I'm afraid. Another point is that some people seem to adapt to their exercise routine and weight loss plateaus. In these cases, doing very different workouts often kick starts the weight loss.

Best of luck

Iain

Great question. Let's assume tht HIT IS critical for health enhancement, especially for an aging (58) boomer like me. Can some of our experts outline a good HIT routine?

rshoffer wrote:Great question. Let's assume tht HIT IS critical for health enhancement, especially for an aging (58) boomer like me. Can some of our experts outline a good HIT routine?

Not an expert, but here are Pete's: http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/sprint-hiit/

- Iain

Good job getting into rowing.

My experience was that I did lots of steady state rows (40-50 minutes, 4-5x per week) and lost 80 pounds over 8 months. This also included rowing during the time of day that I used to binge on junk food, so the combination really helped. I hit a plateau at 185# (for 6'2" 40 y.o. male).

Once I got in shape, I decided to maintain while keeping things interesting - some biking, running, lifting, swiming. Making sure I do something at least 30+ minutes 4-5x per week.

When I do row, I tend towards the HIIT now - it seems to work well. My usual routine is 5' warmup, bursts of 30s flat out / 90s gentle rowing x 5-8, then another 5' of cooldown. It gets me done in 25' or so. My 2k time is about 6:50 - my warmup is about 2:10 pace, the 30s bursts at a pace of 1:30, the gentle rowing is about 2:05 or so at the beginning but more like 2:30 towards the end of the workout.

iain wrote:

rshoffer wrote:Great question. Let's assume tht HIT IS critical for health enhancement, especially for an aging (58) boomer like me. Can some of our experts outline a good HIT routine?

Not an expert, but here are Pete's: http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/sprint-hiit/

- Iain

Pete's HIIT sessions are good to throw in once in a while. He actually inflicted the 20x100m rest 95" on his trainees a while back rather than the 15x100m on that write-up. HIIT is only necessary for weightloss insofar as it adds variety to your regime to make it less boring and more sustainable over the long haul. For race training, I think HIIT is an important part of speed work. It is also good to throw in HITT after a short distance PB attempt to get a reasonable training volume -- a flat out 5' for the CTC next month is painful and fast, but it is a bit short for a "sprint" workout in terms of training volume -- resting 10 minutes and then finishing up with a 10x100m rest 95" sprint session gets the training volume high enough for a sprint session (in my opinion anyway...). Likewise I would follow a 500m test with 10 minutes rest and then a 15x100m rest 95".

I do a mix of sessions, about half speed work, the other half endurance work, and I also do weight lifting and karate...lots of variety. The key to wieght loss is to do activities you like in such a way as to keep them interesting and sustainable AND eat right --> to lose weight you must absolutely get a handle on what you are eating, otherwise a likely outcome of the increased activity will be and increase in appetite and eating more.

weight loss is accomplished best at low intensity

this is established scientific fact

=Stoneboat=

mikvan52 wrote:weight loss is accomplished best at low intensity

this is established scientific fact

=Stoneboat=

Mik, do you have any references on this? I ask out of ignorance not because I think I know better.

There have been several discussions on this where people have assumed that proof that a high proportion of fat is only burned during the exercise at lower intensities is proof that this means higher intensity training is not appropriate to lose fat, ignoring the post exercise period where fat will be burned with depleted glycogen reserves.

That said, it is clear that most people are capable of burning far more calories at low intensity than high, so with the time available and sufficient motivation, this is clearly the optimal solution.

- Iain

mikvan52 wrote:weight loss is accomplished best at low intensity

this is established scientific fact

=Stoneboat=

Although true, but in the gym or outside we see many chubbies doing hours and hours of cardio and stay chubby, and people looking fit/ lean doing much more harder/quality work.

The best is a good mix, burn enough cal., build a bit of muscle and eat mostly healty.

iain wrote:ignoring the post exercise period where fat will be burned with depleted glycogen reserves

You'd burn more fat during and after a marathon, than during and after a 100 yard dash.

John Rupp wrote:

iain wrote:ignoring the post exercise period where fat will be burned with depleted glycogen reserves

You'd burn more fat during and after a marathon, than during and after a 100 yard dash.

How many people do you think don,t know that? )


On the other hand if one sprints 100m in 1.15 (830 watt) pace you should have to paddle 800/2.30 (103 watt) meters to use the same energie directly. Not to mention the energie you need to get back on your base level. For a sprint that takes a while, for a paddle it is almost directly back to basis.
So a 10x100m sprint training will use the same amount of energie as a 10k paddle.

mikvan52 wrote:weight loss is accomplished best at low intensity

this is established scientific fact

=Stoneboat=

I feel that's a very generic and inaccurate statement, and needs to be given better clarification and context.

You will burn up more fat and calories in a 20 minute hard possession, compared to a 20 minute easy session.

Geoff.

The point about low intensity is that we can do it all day long, so stay away from supermarkets and the table for longer.

It also gets us fit if done at adequate level (say >2W/kg and/or HR >2x rest?), which is all we can expect from the erg if we use it, and being fit enables all sorts of other things.

Short high intensity is no different (though long HI would be), in the sense that if you do adequate warm-up (>20') and cool down, it is in reality low intensity too. Without wu, we injure ourselves and at best will be doing low anyway.

For beginners, the important thing is to learn to row first. Otherwise we wouldn't even know what high and low intensity are, nor in what numbers they are described, nor be able to ROW = move boats fast, at any intensity at all.