Weight Lifting and rowing

dharmarower · Post by **dharmarower** » January 24th, 2009, 3:51 pm

I have a few basic questions about weight lifting and rowing that I'm hoping someone can help me with.

I am a beginner at both of these and am not doing anything too strenuous yet.

1. On days when I lift weights and also use my rower, which one should I do first? Rowing first? or, is it better to do lifting first?

2. Can I row on the days that I am supposed to rest from lifting? I've heard that you should keep your lifting sessions about 48 hours apart to allow the muscles to rebuild/rest. Is that right?

Thanks

romad63 · Post by **romad63** » January 24th, 2009, 9:03 pm

from a weightlifting standpoint if you are trying to build mass the "normal" recommendation is short warm up, then lift. Do your cardio after lifting the idea being you want maximium energy reserves for lifting.

I usually split my training - do weights at lunch time 30-45 minutes with a 10 minute warm up (usually erg) -then do my erg training in the evening so yes I left and erg on the same day.

as far as training splits for lifting - general rule of thumb is don't train the same BODY PART within 48 hours. I lift 5 days a week as stated 30-45 minutes each session rotating chest, arms, back, shoulders, abs.

These are all general rules but honestly if you ask 20 different trainers you'll get 20 different answers, lol. If you are just starting with weightlifting I STRONGLY recommend you either hire a PT for an hour to walk you through proper form or most gyms will give you an orientation. Either way they will give you a sample training program to use.

anthonysemone · Post by **anthonysemone** » January 24th, 2009, 10:09 pm

you might want to check out http://www.bodybyscience.net

tony

Hal Morgan · Post by **Hal Morgan** » January 25th, 2009, 6:12 pm

I lifted for years when I was in my 20-30 range. Then I went off to college at 35 and got a desk. At 38 I bought a total gym. Still use it. I tried every time honored wieght lifting approach. I after years of experimenting noted the only time I made gains was when I was not in a routine rut. I found that switching up one day pulling the next day pushing exercises with any heart and lung work out before really made the lactic acid problem go away faster if I did heart and lungs first then lifted. Later I no longer had lactic acid problems and I would sometimes do the "cardio" right in the middle of my work out just to pump a lot of blood to my already plump tissues and it was refreshing.
Fuel. Water.
Eating is best when done in moderation over the whole day there are tomes on this practice. It is as important to drink water in moderation all day. I prefer tap water. I hate the spit bottle.
Overtraning.
The only true test of over training is pulse rate in the morning. If mine was up 10 - 15 beats in the morning I rested for three days. I could make myself into the state overtrained in well, just no time at all depending on external influences. If I was taxed to my limits I had to admit it and rest. During resting days I developed hobbies. And that is a whole other topic.

I remember today, just keep lifting and rowing. It really does not matter what I do as long as I am doing. Sit too long and you will die.

fabianL · Post by **fabianL** » January 26th, 2009, 10:39 am

The general rule with cardio and lifting seems to be that you should do the one you are more focused on first. That is, if you are lifting to help your rowing, you should row first. But if you are rowing simply as a means of aerobic exercise and you want to see more mass gains from lifting, then you should lift first. That just tends to be what works best.

From my personal experience, I find that 5-10 minutes of low intensity aerobic work before lifting and then however much aerobic work you want to do afterwards is the best method for seeing gains from lifting weights.

Although, if you are concentrating on rowing (as I am), one method is to do two workouts a day. This is how I do it, so I split things up to row in the morning and lifting in the evening, M/W/F; rowing twice a day, tuesday, thursday; and rowing once a day on saturday and sunday.

philwhite7 · Post by **philwhite7** » January 26th, 2009, 3:56 pm

I agree that you should get an hour with a personal trainer to assess your range of motion, body fat, diet and training goals.

The mistake many people make lifting weights is focusing too much on building "beach muscles" by focusing on curls, crunches,
and triceps isolation exercises. There's nothing wrong with these if incorporated into a comprehensive program, but for weight loss, muscle gains and 'functional strength' you're better off sticking to compound exercises that work large muscle groups through a wide range of motion, such as:

Squats, lunges, deadlifts, stepups for your lower body

Pullups (or lat pulldowns), rows (single arm, T-bar or bentover barbell), reverse flies for your back

Dips, pushups, bench press (dumbbell or barbell) for your chest

Plank and side plank, medicine ball exercises (twists, woodchoppers etc) for your core

Shoulder press/military press, shrugs, upright rows for your shoulders

Eat six small meals a day, drink tea and lots of water to stoke your metabolism, go for whole grains over white bread, pasta etc, lots of lean protein, plenty of fruit and veg.

Let us know how you get on.

yoda · Post by **yoda** » January 26th, 2009, 4:57 pm

philwhite7,

That is the best posting I've seen on this forum regarding resistance training. Sticking with the basic compound exercises are going to allow for the most progress with strength training. Isolation exercises are for those that are concerned about how they look and are not useful exercises for gaining in the area of rowing. I would like to take it one step further and say that resistance training doesn't need to happen more than twice a week for reasonable gains.

Once again, a great post. I hope everyone will take something from it.

Yoda

anthonysemone · Post by **anthonysemone** » January 26th, 2009, 9:37 pm

If your goal is to lose weight, strength training is irrelevant; sorry about that.

tony

badocter · Post by **badocter** » January 27th, 2009, 2:53 pm

anthonysemone wrote:If your goal is to lose weight, strength training is irrelevant

wrong...increasing muscle increases base metabolic rate = you burn more calories.

To the OP, you might want to check out the Stronglifts program:
http://stronglifts.com/
I know the website looks cheesy, but the e-book is good and they have a decent forum ove there as well. I have been doing the program 2 monthes now and feel I am making good progress ( can now do 6 chinups in a set versus 2 in a set 2 monthes ago.

anthonysemone · Post by **anthonysemone** » January 27th, 2009, 3:32 pm

nope, doesn't

tony

yoda · Post by **yoda** » January 27th, 2009, 8:12 pm

Tony,

Maybe you'd like to explain why you don't believe that strength training will help in losing weight. I mean "Nope doesn't". doesn't explain a thing.

Yoda

anthonysemone · Post by **anthonysemone** » January 27th, 2009, 8:16 pm

www.bodybyscience.net will get you some good scoop. also read Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories".

tony

philrow · Post by **philrow** » January 31st, 2009, 2:30 pm

anthonysemone wrote:If your goal is to lose weight, strength training is irrelevant; sorry about that.

tony

philwhite7 · Post by **philwhite7** » February 9th, 2009, 1:10 pm

Hello again. I don't want to use this forum to be argumentative, so if anyone disagrees with the opinion that weight training can aid weight loss that is fine.

However, I have to agree with Yoda on this one (the C2 forum member, not the Yedi master). With the correct diet (enough for a different forum post on that), weight training does aid weight loss. Mark Verstegen is one of the most respected fitness coaches in the business. Here's an excerpt from an article on weight loss from his Core Performance website:

The biggest determinant of calorie burning is your metabolism. And the biggest factor in that is your lean muscle mass. Build more lean muscle, increase your metabolism. So weight training has to be a part of any effective fat loss program.

Interval training and metabolic resistance training will provide the most efficient use of your training time. Steady state aerobic training (going at a slow, steady pace) just doesn't burn enough calories, and splitting up your workouts by body parts will be less effective than total body training for fat loss.

http://www.coreperformance.com/5_Keys_to_Fat_Loss.html

Also, any article on weight loss that has appeared in Men's Health magazine in the past five years has mentioned or focused on the impact of lifting weights on increasing metabolism and burning beaucoup calories (more than 600 an hour if doing compound lifts). The people writing these articles are experts in nutrition and exercise.

Weight lifting (again, compound lifts involving large muscle groups rather than 'beach muscle' isolation lifts), when combined with a healthy diet, and aerobic exercise does help people lose weight.

anthonysemone · Post by **anthonysemone** » February 9th, 2009, 1:52 pm

well, myths die a hard death.

tony

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