Hello! SkiErg, Row, WattBike

[CCDW]

Hey Guys

New guy here - hello!

I bought my SkiErg at Christmas after years of rowing my model C rower. I am a big guy, circa 240 pounds and 6ft. Middle aged

I found my C2 rower kept me very fit at around 1.5 million metres a year but I always felt I needed more variety and the SkiErg has been brilliant.

The first day on the SkiErg I could hardly do 500m and I thought I was fit following all my rowing, although now I feel very comfortable with it and I do mostly Tabatas, something like 6 x 500m with 1 minute's rest or 10 x 1 minute with 30 seconds rest. I occasionally do the 20s/10s combo but I'm some distance from a hospital Btw, I never ever do anything without my heart rate belt.

I vary my stance and arm movement, and also rotate my standing position +/- 80 degrees so as to work my external abdominal obliques, which works a treat. Occasionally I'll do a complete reverse (Butterfly) but it feels a bit unnatural.

Have to say though , even when combined with the rower I still don't think you get the full range of exercise that a big guy needs. I feel irritable if I don't do something every day. So, I recently added a Wattbike and now feel I have the perfect setup. Neither the rower or SkiErg do much for the area just above my glutes - or inner thighs. The Wattbike has fixed that (well not yet, but the difference in a week after about 60k is already very noticeable). The Wattbike also has great PC software which I run on my Mac (Windows in Parallels VM) which I also use for RowPro on my rower. The SKiErg is used with ErgData running on an iPad.

So I now do couplets,

Row and SkiErg or
Row and Wattbike or
SkiErg and Wattbike or
SkiErg and Bench (10 x 50kg during my Tabata rest).

All in all, following years of grunt in gyms, I believe I have a great setup. I also have a huge Precor commercial treadmill - but this is getting a rest as I tend to jog when out with the mutt. I very much follow Clarence Bass' view that cardio and resistance should be combined, hence Tabatas which combine the best of both worlds and give me a resting heart rate of 40-50 bpm.

Just wish I'd stumbled across this approach earlier.

Happy to post photos if there's interest or if anybody wants to swap training notes.

Chris

[mberry]

Chris

Nice to read a post I agree with. I mix C2, skierg and elliptical and mainly do intervals most days, plus weights 3 x week.

Keep up the good work.

Martin

[carlb]

If you want more cardio varieity that will hit your inner/outter thighs (plus knees and ankles) get a slideboard a.k.a horizontal motion trainer. I use it for 10 or 15 minutes as a warm up for weight lifting. I have some other posts here about it.

[AussiemikeinSD]

Hey Chris,

Newbie to the forum and please to to read your post. I have a couple of ? if you wouldn't mind answering when you have time.

I'm a triathlete , but based in the country side away from a pool and looking for a way to bypass swimming at the pool by using indoor training such as the VASA swim trainer http://vasatrainer.com/find-your-sport/triathlon.html but the not ready to buy, nor pay their price. I have a concept 2D with PM 3 on ebay for $500 at the moment and no bids. and as I have the bike and treadmill for indoor training the rower would be a good alternative in cross training but also have the option to consider hacking the concept into a skierg. What do you think with some modification I could perhaps have a skierg