Page 1 of 1

Using Erg for cardio workout

Posted: April 11th, 2006, 1:09 pm
by Maureen
Hi! I am a new user on this forum so I'll introduce myself - Maureen :)
I am a former sweep rower, and have a Concept 2 Model C at home. I am now into competitive dragon boat paddling, and working out 3 days/wk with weights with a trainer at a gym. I want to use my erg at home on my "off" days to do my cardio workouts and to reduce body fat. I am looking for a good cardio routine to compliment my weight training. I have browsed the Concept 2 site for suggestions and also this forum, and would now like to ask what has worked for other people with similar goals as mine. Thanks in advance for your input! :D

Re: Using Erg for cardio workout

Posted: April 11th, 2006, 2:01 pm
by hjs
Maureen wrote:Hi! I am a new user on this forum so I'll introduce myself - Maureen :)
I am a former sweep rower, and have a Concept 2 Model C at home. I am now into competitive dragon boat paddling, and working out 3 days/wk with weights with a trainer at a gym. I want to use my erg at home on my "off" days to do my cardio workouts and to reduce body fat. I am looking for a good cardio routine to compliment my weight training. I have browsed the Concept 2 site for suggestions and also this forum, and would now like to ask what has worked for other people with similar goals as mine. Thanks in advance for your input! :D
row longer pieces between 20 and 40 min at average intenseti. 60/80 % off hartreserve(max - restrate= hartreserve).
I you train faily hard on the other days don,t overdo it on the rower.

Posted: April 11th, 2006, 4:35 pm
by Adrenaline
You could probably even row for longer (60+ minutes) and it not affect your other training. Just rowing even at a lighter pressure for a long time will be beneficial.

Posted: April 11th, 2006, 7:37 pm
by Francois
Hi Maureen,

You have made a good choice of erging on a Concept2 to build your cardio capabilities.
IMO you should start with 20 min of continuous erging, and gradually, over the course of several months, increase the duration to reach an hour. In that way, you'll avoid injuries. There is great peril in wanting to achieve too much too soon! I speak from experience! :oops:

The intensities suggested by hjs are good. To calculate your training band, don't forget to add your resting heart rate to the 60% to 80% of your HR reserve.

On our Masters Swim Team, we have a 48 years old woman who competes in Dragon boat paddling. Her boat won two bronze medals last summer in the 40+ age group at the World Dragon Boat Championships in Berlin. She thinks that swimming complements quite nicely her paddling. So, that might be something to consider! :wink:

Good luck!

Francois

Posted: May 17th, 2006, 6:37 pm
by AndrewAugenstein
I have used a Scwinn AirDyne with great results, It provides a different workout and you can push as hard as you want ..... :wink:

Posted: May 17th, 2006, 8:27 pm
by seat5
:?: What is a Dragon Boat?

Posted: May 17th, 2006, 9:01 pm
by Francois
seat5 wrote::?: What is a Dragon Boat?
Carla, a picture is worth a 1000 words! :wink:

Cheers!

Francois