Hitting a heartrate plateau...

[Little John]

I seem to be hitting a wall here - I'm unable to sustain the target heart-rate when I row at the AT level (24-28 spm, 146-155 bpm). I can stay just below that target rate, but when I step up the effort, I run out of steam pretty quickly.

I'm following the regime laid out on the UK site for weight loss, and have been successfully losing weight until I started doing AT-level rows, then I plateaued. I suspect a correlation from my inability to sustain a higher output, but I don't want to "camp out" on the UT1-level workouts forever.

I lift twice a week, and it includes squats (without weights, but I'm pretty heavy, too), with a cadence of 1 second down, 1 second hold, 1 second up, 12 reps, 3 sets.

Any thoughts? It's getting frustrating.

[Little John]

Additional info: my schedule is:

Sun: Row
Mon: Lift
Tue: Row
Wed: Rest
Thur: Lift
Fri: Row
Sat: Row

I'm trying to minimize my rowing during the week since it cuts so much into the evening, and I do have family obligations. I don't row immediately after meals, it's miserable. I'll lift after I eat, though, I don't have a problem there.

[gregsmith01748]

I think the best bet would be AT Interval work. Workouts like 3' on / 1' rest (I do 15 reps, which takes an hour and leaves me a quivering mess) or other distances on 1' rests. The key is to accumulate time in the AT and TR bands, but give yourself the quick breaks. I'm not sure about the science, but I know it has two effects for me. First, it increases my tolerance to be in that HR band for longer times. Second, it increases my efficiency so that I can sustain the same splits at a lower heart rate.

[Little John]

OK, I'm open to trying that, Greg. Thanks!

When you rest, is it a full stop, or just a slowdown? And do you ramp up to the AT level, or do you include ramp-up to that heartrate as part of your 3 minutes? I ask because it take a little while for me to get up to that level.

[Robert Wildes]

gregsmith 01748 your marathon time is extremely impressive. Did you do that piece at 48yoa?

[gregsmith01748]

OK, I'm open to trying that, Greg. Thanks!

When you rest, is it a full stop, or just a slowdown? And do you ramp up to the AT level, or do you include ramp-up to that heartrate as part of your 3 minutes? I ask because it take a little while for me to get up to that level.

I do a slow paddle between reps, usually around a 2:30 pace, or even slower. I find that I recover faster my maintaining a 18 to 20 spm paddle and breath twice per stroke than if I just sit there and pant.

[gregsmith01748]

gregsmith 01748 your marathon time is extremely impressive. Did you do that piece at 48yoa?

Thanks. Yes, I did in March of 2011 when I was 48. Thanks for asking, I never updated my signature to reflect that I'm 49 now!

By the way, I don't think I could do a half marathon at that pace right now, I was jamming a ton of distance meters then.

[Little John]

I do a slow paddle between reps, usually around a 2:30 pace, or even slower. I find that I recover faster my maintaining a 18 to 20 spm paddle and breath twice per stroke than if I just sit there and pant.

Sounds like a gateway workout to HIIT. I'm going to give your routine a try for awhile, and try leaking into HIIT after I'm comfortable with it. Thanks!

[gregsmith01748]

HIIT is a fair bit different. The reps and rests are much shorter. Some folks swear by it, but I've never tried it, so I can't really comment.

If you're interested, Pete Marston has a HIIT workout plan on his "Pete Plan" web page.

Here: http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/sprint-hiit/

There was also a thread on here around doing tabata training on the erg: http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... lit=tabata

[Little John]

Yeah, I've been reading up on HIIT. I'm just figuring that if I can work up to that 3' x N AT routine for an hour, I can start looking at something truly high-intensity. Everything's healthy about me but my weight (and some arthritis in my extremities), so I think I'll be able to ease into it.

Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud. I appreciate the feedback!

[Little John]

Greg, gotta thank you for your suggestion - I was able to get quickly into the AT heartrate, and it was easy to get through (almost) an hour. Cuz at the beginning of each rest, I'd say "eh, I can do four more minutes!" Plus the change-ups were enough to keep me from getting bored. I didn't get that wobbly feeling you described, but I walked away from the rower with a good glazing of sweat and a great feeling of satisfaction.

[gregsmith01748]

Greg, gotta thank you for your suggestion - I was able to get quickly into the AT heartrate, and it was easy to get through (almost) an hour. Cuz at the beginning of each rest, I'd say "eh, I can do four more minutes!" Plus the change-ups were enough to keep me from getting bored. I didn't get that wobbly feeling you described, but I walked away from the rower with a good glazing of sweat and a great feeling of satisfaction.

Glad you liked it.

[TabbRows]

I seem to be hitting a wall here - I'm unable to sustain the target heart-rate when I row at the AT level (24-28 spm, 146-155 bpm). I can stay just below that target rate, but when I step up the effort, I run out of steam pretty quickly.

I'm following the regime laid out on the UK site for weight loss, and have been successfully losing weight until I started doing AT-level rows, then I plateaued. I suspect a correlation from my inability to sustain a higher output, but I don't want to "camp out" on the UT1-level workouts forever.

I lift twice a week, and it includes squats (without weights, but I'm pretty heavy, too), with a cadence of 1 second down, 1 second hold, 1 second up, 12 reps, 3 sets.

Any thoughts? It's getting frustrating.

I'm not an expert, but as I understand the literature on heart rates, the more "fit" you are the more efficient the heart is in pumping blod and oxygen to your system and thus does not necessarily have to work as hard as whne you first started exercising. The heart is a muscle and exercising will make it grow stronger. There's a lot of debate on which formula is most accurate in calculating your max HR ( C2 recommends 205.8-(age X 0.685).) Stress tests in doctor's lab won't usually let you go above the 220-age level for liability purposes. Probably the O'Neil fitness test from the UK C2 site gives you the better reading. If you want to check this out from time to time to see any inprovements or get a different set of numbers to work toward, you should do so. As other factors play a roll in how fast you go or how much power you can expend, don't be a slave to HR. I personally, don't use it in training. It's a good starting point to monitor if you're just beginning an exercise program, but there are better ways to sense how well you are performing on any given day than what some HR monitor can tell you.

[Little John]

Thanks Tabb, I agree with your thoughts on being a slave to HR, I was just having a hard time maintaining an output level at the rate prescribed for AT. I'm going to be using Greg's method twice a week, and HIIT twice a week. I did some playing around with HIIT at the end of my last row, and I think I'll be able to do it for 20-30 minutes (except for the part where the rower is bunching up the rug, but I can work around that). If not, I can still do some other interval-training variants that will get me closer to max.

I used 214-.8*AGE for my max value. Seems they're all within a beat or two, and I know the reality is that it's all for reference - I mean, I'm an obese white guy, there's no way my max heart rate is the same as a trained Kenyan runner's max heart rate of the same age.

Do you have a link to the O'Neil Fitness test? My search revealed nada, I'd like to give it a go. Been rowing about 6 months now, it's time I started looking for results, not just calories burned!

[Little John]

Never mind: http://concept2.co.uk/training/oneill_test