Concept2 Forum

I was talking with a body builder the other day and he said he had a rower. But he had to get in the 'right frame of mind' to row. And that the rower is a tough exercise compared to other exercises.

I kind of agree. I have to 'cyke' myself up to row. In other words, get in the right frame of mind, because I know the workout to come is going to be tough.

How do you get 'in the zone' to row?

Thanks - Marvin

marvy1 wrote:How do you get 'in the zone' to row?

Rowing isn't that hard - there is no "zone" for anything other than an all out 2K test.

Try dropping the lever on the side of the machine so you row at a lower drag factor.

Learn good technique and you'll get to enjoy it.

5,900m in 30' isn't good, you should be nearer to 8000m

Citroen wrote:

marvy1 wrote:How do you get 'in the zone' to row?

Rowing isn't that hard - there is no "zone" for anything other than an all out 2K test.

Try dropping the lever on the side of the machine so you row at a lower drag factor.

Learn good technique and you'll get to enjoy it.

5,900m in 30' isn't good, you should be nearer to 8000m

Just a note of perspective..I am a newbie on the C2 and I can't get any where near 8000m at 30 minutes. As a matter of fact this would put you as number one top ranked in the USA for that time frame and age bracket. And today for 5900 meters for that time frame would put you 34th on the ranking list in the USA for his weight and age.

slwiser wrote:Just a note of perspective..I am a newbie on the C2 and I can't get any where near 8000m at 30 minutes. As a matter of fact this would put you as number one top ranked in the USA for that time frame and age bracket. And today for 5900 meters for that time frame would put you 34th on the ranking list in the USA for his weight and age.

Take a look at what Rick Bayko and Joe Keating can do. They're both in their sixties.

Citroen wrote:

slwiser wrote:Just a note of perspective..I am a newbie on the C2 and I can't get any where near 8000m at 30 minutes. As a matter of fact this would put you as number one top ranked in the USA for that time frame and age bracket. And today for 5900 meters for that time frame would put you 34th on the ranking list in the USA for his weight and age.

Take a look at what Rick Bayko and Joe Keating can do. They're both in their sixties.

I looked for both in the Concept logbook. Bayko is rated as having a 30' distance of 6227 meters and a 10k of just over 47 minutes. While Joe Keating is in a different weight category and is simply a different kind of person who is willing to do a 100k yet does not have a rating in the Concept log for 30 minutes. Joe is shown to have a 6k just under 23 minutes which very good. Thanks for the interesting comparisons of the three very different people.

marvy1 wrote: How do you get 'in the zone' to row?

Hi Marvin, I am not sure why but I am addicted to the erg and really miss it when I am out of town. I was out of town for 4 days and had a long flight back home and had to jump on the erg to get in a 5k row before I went to bed...not sure why...I also tend to work hard doing a workout even when I specifically tell myself to back off and take it easy...this is probably not good...I sometimes change the display to watts or watch TV since when I am watching the monitor I usually focus on my 500m average through most of the piece..I find it interesting when I hit things just right and it pulls down my 500m time on each stroke...I try to row at least 7k a day which keeps me happy.

marvy1 wrote:I was talking with a body builder the other day and he said he had a rower. But he had to get in the 'right frame of mind' to row. And that the rower is a tough exercise compared to other exercises.

I kind of agree. I have to 'cyke' myself up to row. In other words, get in the right frame of mind, because I know the workout to come is going to be tough.

How do you get 'in the zone' to row?

Thanks - Marvin

Marvin

I think the zone thing is very personal and each of us have to find what works for us. I have done lots of reading over the past few weeks about rowing since I am such a newbie and a couple of things have jumped out at me in regard to your question of getting into rowing.

1.. Don't make it so hard on you. Let your exercising tone your muscles on the way to improvement. Do you do any strength training? I have started doubling up on what I have been doing at Cardio Rehab just because I am doing rowing now. I hope this will help my muscles tone up so that I can sustain a more powerful stroke for a longer period. For the first time today I did a 60' routine and my distance was 12651 meteres, my 10th rowing exercise ever.

2. Mix up your routines with continuous, interval and play types of workouts within fairly short and long workouts over the week.

slwiser wrote:
I looked for both in the Concept logbook. Bayko is rated as having a 30' distance of 6227 meters and a 10k of just over 47 minutes. While Joe Keating is in a different weight category and is simply a different kind of person who is willing to do a 100k yet does not have a rating in the Concept log for 30 minutes. Joe is shown to have a 6k just under 23 minutes which very good. Thanks for the interesting comparisons of the three very different people.

Since this is my second year entering times into the concept 2 ranking system. It is interesting to see the times that were posted last year (this year's rankings started in May).It seems that people do not really start posting their best times until later in the season. Look at Bayko's entry last year for 30'. Look at how few 2k times are posted so far this year (in the 60 lwt category). I rowed my 2k PB time in April and hope to post a better time this year but have been putting off the thought of jumping on the erg and pulling an all out 2k. Last year, I found it interesting to watch my ranking getting pushed up month by month. Actually I think this is because the real rowers are on the water right now...One day soon I will be giving that a shot. But I can only imagine how much harder that must be. Currently reading an interesting book called Assault on Lake Casitas (Paperback)
by Brad Alan Lewis (Author) which is motivating me to get on the water.

^Good observation...I should have look back a year or two instead of just checking up on this year, Thanks.

slwiser wrote:I looked for both in the Concept logbook.

slwiser wrote:^Good observation...I should have look back a year or two instead of just checking up on this year, Thanks.

Look for both (and others) at http://nonathlon.com it's a website that has some clever maths that tries to even out the age/gender/weight differences so that everyone plays on the same level playing field.

In the 2009 season Bayko, 60yrs old rowed 7834m and Joe80, 59yrs old rowed 7805m. Bernie Carter, 64yrs old (Kiwi) rowed 7954m.

marvy1 wrote: How do you get 'in the zone' to row?

I like rowing and after a long day sitting in the office mostly look forward to it. But there are days I' m not that keen on getting on the erg.

One 'mental trick' that works fine for me is to settle on a compromise by saying 'ok, I' ll take it easy today, no hard workout, only 'rowing for fun'.
This get's me going - and once I am on the erg and warmed up my ambition will take over and do the rest

What also helps me is appropriate music. For me appropriate means hard and aggressive - Slipknot, Metallica, Slayer, ACDC, ...

I had a track coach who said the hardest part of starting a run is putting on your track shoes. Once he put his track shoes on he never failed to go running. The point is to just start. Don't worry about getting in the right frame of mind, just sit on the machine and take a few easy pulls without worrying about how you are going to finish the workout. Once you start you will finish.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

In answer to a question above. 'Do I do any strength training'? I start with 12-15 minutes on a stationary bicycle and then about 40 crunches before rowing. I do the stationary bicycle to strengthen my quadricep muscles because I had a knee injury about 7 months ago.

Thanks also for the replies about 'gettng in the zone' to row.

Marvinh

slwiser wrote:

Citroen wrote:

marvy1 wrote:How do you get 'in the zone' to row?

Rowing isn't that hard - there is no "zone" for anything other than an all out 2K test.

Try dropping the lever on the side of the machine so you row at a lower drag factor.

Learn good technique and you'll get to enjoy it.

5,900m in 30' isn't good, you should be nearer to 8000m

Just a note of perspective..I am a newbie on the C2 and I can't get any where near 8000m at 30 minutes. As a matter of fact this would put you as number one top ranked in the USA for that time frame and age bracket. And today for 5900 meters for that time frame would put you 34th on the ranking list in the USA for his weight and age.

I agree that Citroen went much too far using 8000m as a goal. But 7000m would be reasonable and he was right in saying that 5900m in 30' is not good. I was doing 7500m in 30' when I was in my early 70s and I was 30 pounds lighter than his 202 pounds.

Bob S.

Bob S. wrote: I agree that Citroen went much too far using 8000m as a goal.

It depends how you interpret the word "nearer". 6000 is nearer to 8K than 5900. I didn't say 8000 as a target, I've not got over that hurdle.