Spinning vs Rowing

[dutchcan]

..talked to my sister yesterday, extolling the virtues of rowing to her. She's an avid gym goer, spinning being her choice for cardio. She said she tried rowing, but could hardly get past 5 minutes. I don't get it. Spinning (45 min) is a pretty intense cardio workout. I would have thought that if you can cycle hard for so long, that you should be able to row as well. She's been working out religiously for 4 years now, and I can hardly imagine that she would find rowing so difficult, and I don't think it's the technique she had trouble with. Has anyone else had this experience with cross training?

[whp4]

..talked to my sister yesterday, extolling the virtues of rowing to her. She's an avid gym goer, spinning being her choice for cardio. She said she tried rowing, but could hardly get past 5 minutes. I don't get it. Spinning (45 min) is a pretty intense cardio workout. I would have thought that if you can cycle hard for so long, that you should be able to row as well. She's been working out religiously for 4 years now, and I can hardly imagine that she would find rowing so difficult, and I don't think it's the technique she had trouble with. Has anyone else had this experience with cross training?

It's not impossible to imagine circumstances where rowing more than 5 minutes might seem pretty arduous for a beginner, even an aerobically fit one. I know the first time I encountered a C2 rower in a gym, I had no idea what to do, and tried to row at a high rate, probably an unrealistic pace, and I don't think I even noticed the damper setting lever, so it was probably on 10. I hadn't ever seen anyone use the machine in my trips to that gym, so I was really flying blind, so to speak. I stopped after a few minutes, breathing hard, the workout must have been a success, right? No magazine rack, so I went back to the treadmill and stair climbing machines. Later on, we moved where gym access wasn't so convenient, and a friend planted the idea of buying a C2, insisting it would be more fun if done correctly. He was right. Your sister should try getting the C2 instructional video and/or training guide from the local C2 distributor. If my sister, an avid gym-avoider, can row for half an hour, yours probably can too

Bill

[rowan]

For me, erging's much harder than spinning.
The thing about spinning is that you can back off the effort whenever you want, without being instantly alerted by a computer that your pace has dropped by X amount, stroke by stroke.

Of course, you can go to the spinning class and give it everything you've got for 45 minutes, but it's also easy to keep your legs whirling round without really applying much effort while telling yourself that you're only taking it easy for a few seconds.
Whereas with erging you're getting all that information all the time and there's no hiding from the facts of your performance.

That's just my impression of spinning versus erging nothing to do with your sister.
Also, I don't think one should be afraid to take it easy (on the bike or the erg). You don't have to be ruled by the numbers - that's hard for me, I watch the numbers constantly, I can't help feeling bad when the splits drop, even if it's supposed to be an easy session. Hmm...maybe I should try a spinning class or two again...

[Jackie Dunn]

I think if you do any one thing long enough you have trouble switching to other things. I worked out only on the eliptical machines and got stuck! Then it was the stairmaster...Now I row everyday but I add running,eliptical or treadmill and I dont find it as difficult to switch to something new...