Need help w/ fat/muscle weight

[Renee]

I guess I just heard you can row without straps and tried it and was able to do it! I think that I must push my heels down on the heel thing attached to the plate and that prevents me from flying off. I do find it a lot more comfortable than rowing with straps.

My scale at home also says I am the same weight. I had to dig it out from the back of the closet after the dr said I weighed so much!

I will have to look for the special K bars. Thanks for the recommendation.

Sometimes it is hard, because I know I try to do everything "right" yet I don't feel like I am losing any weight. I am sure lots of people have the same exact problem!! I do feel good though and that is really what matters. Yesterday I had a great workout and that made me feel even better. Although, it is getting very hot now and that makes it difficult to work out as we don't have AC. I mow the lawn and take care of our garden so hopefully that makes up for it! The real motivation for my workouts is that I had terrible back pain for 3 years after college. Finally when I was at the Chiro one day he just said to me "keep moving, you need to keep moving!" and I thought I guess I don't have anything else to lose or try so I started exercising again and my back pain is gone. However if I skip 2 days it comes back so I have a real motivation to keep going!

My husband and I love to go to the park and walk our two dogs however last time we went some dog was off-leash and it was very stressful. The other dog looked like it was going to attack our two dogs, so we haven't gone in a bit.

[iain]

You are not alone, I sometimes row completely strapless as well. I can currently only maintain 24-5 SPM like this, but that is fine for steady state rows.

As I understand it, the slide is slightly down hill and there is some tension in the chain. By sequencing the stroke and finishing with a strong arm pull, the momentum is halted by the finish. Then these are used to draw you back to the catch.

Regards

Iain

[Renee]

I can also maintain a rate of about 25-26spm strapless, which is why I tried it out in the first place. If I use the straps I have a much higher spm and I was trying to slow that down.

-rj

[johnlvs2run]

I must push my heels down on the heel thing attached to the plate and that prevents me from flying off.

The heel straps? Oh I thought you put your feet on top of them - was trying to envision how you were rowing that way.

Anyway I don't know why you're trying to restrict the movement of your legs, especially as you're trying to lose weight.
As the chiro said, "you need to keep moving."

[Renee]

John: I am confused by your statement about trying to restrict my leg movement. I am not trying to restrict my leg movement.

If you are referring to me trying to lower my spm, I tried to do that as I was told that it is easier to keep better form and therefore a more effective workout. although my spm are lower I am going much faster and my strokes are much more effective. If I use the straps I get all sloppy because I don't have to pay attention to my form.

-rj

[johnlvs2run]

Hi Renee,

You are using the heel straps but not using the front straps.

That you go faster at low rates shows your form breaks down as the rating is higher. That is fine as long as you keep the rating at 26 spm. Also, you might have previously been using the front straps too tight.

What you might try is to have the front straps loose to where you can extend your legs fully at the end of the drive, with your legs straight at your knees, and feet at an almost right angle to your legs. This way you will only have use of the front straps at the end of the drive and they won't interfere with the rest of your stroke.

[Nosmo]

Renee,
Most coaches recommend keeping the stroke rating moderate or low for novices. 26 is plenty high. John likes high stroke ratings, most others do not. Also many coaches recommend strapless for everything except very intense efforts. I can do 28-30 spm with out straps. You can follow John's advice and it may work very well for you, but be aware that there are other opinions.

[johnlvs2run]

Well I rowed at 20-23 spm this morning WITH the front straps.

John's high ratings.

The only time that I tried it, I did a 1:33 without front straps, and had not been practicing without them. Not bad for a 60+ lightweight. So rowing without front straps is not all that hard, even with NO practice, except that it restricts the movement of your legs, and messes up your form so that most rowers who practice that way exclusively are no longer able to row with the rating any higher. By the way, I can row at LOW ratings, down to 10 spm or whatever, with or without front straps.

The thing is if someone can't row effectively at much > 30 spm, then it is better to LEARN HOW to do it.

[Bob S.]

I'm surprised that you row with no straps. How do you keep your feet on the foot plates?

Come off it John. Who are you kidding? After over two years and almost 2400 posts on this new forum and many more of each on the old forum, no one is going to believe that you are surprised at anyone erging with no straps. You are well aware that the practice of erging without straps is quite common and that many members of this forum do it with no difficulty whatsoever. I have a strong suspicion that you have done it plenty of times yourself.

What was the point of making that statement?

Bob S.

[johnlvs2run]

Bob,
I did try rowing without the heel straps, but my feet kept sliding off of the plates.

Are you getting any smoke from the fires over there?

[Nosmo]

The thing is if someone can't row effectively at much > 30 spm, then it is better to LEARN HOW to do it.

Agreed but the question is how much time a novice should spend at these ratings, and should they learn to row at low ratings first.

John, I have no objections to you giving advice, but novices should also know when it disagrees with the conventional advice, and they can make their own choices.

[johnlvs2run]

Nosmo,

Conventional advice is the antithesis to making one's own choices.

In fact you disagree with me or anyone else to do so.

"Against my will, in the course of my travels, the belief that everything worth knowing
was known at Cambridge gradually wore off. In this respect my travels were very useful to me."
-- Bertand Russell

[Bob S.]

Bob,
I did try rowing without the heel straps, but my feet kept sliding off of the plates.

Are you getting any smoke from the fires over there?

John,

I felt that Renee had made it quite clear that she was referring to the top straps, not the heel straps. In fact, I still don't think of the part around the back of the heel as a strap, since my first experiences were with the heel cups used in boats and the wooden strips across the bottoms of the model B footboards. I have never read about anyone dispensing with the heel support. Strapless, on these forums has always meant not using the straps that go across the top of the feet. On the current models, the plastic heel straps probably make it easier for some people to pull themselves forward on the recovery The heel support of the model B didn't help in that, but working without the top straps on the model B did not present much of a problem at or below 24spm.

Re the smoke: It isn't nearly as bad here in the Owens Valley as it was during last year's fires in SoCal. However, we have just returned from a trip to Oregon and we passed through Susanville and Reno on the way back. We could see the smoke from new fires in the Susanville area, but it was not blowing our way (routes 139 and 395). When we passed through Reno, however, it was very bad, even though Reno is well to the east of the fires. The wind at that time was blowing it right on across the Sierra Nevadas. Fortunately, it was not nearly as bad a few miles further south in the Carson Valley where we spent the night before driving home. I think that the worst was in the central valley at both ends. The pollution maps had violet patches at both the north and south ends of the central valley. (The scale here is green, yellow, orange, red, violet, purple.) Of course the central valley usually has the worst pollution in California, which in turn usually has the worst pollution in the country. Maybe it will get bad enough in the Sacramento area that something might be done about it.

Bob S.

[johnlvs2run]

The model B was much easier to row on, at least for me, as the angle of the foot plates was not as high, and it was possible to slide forward more easily without lifting the heels.

I've also not heard of anyone rowing without the heel straps/supports, whatever you want to call them.

The model B had wood heel supports, that were rather hard on my heels, so I glued on thick strips of rubber, that curved back over the tops. This way I was able to rock over the heel supports, and get a better drive with my legs. The current plastic heel straps are not as good, because they bend backwards. As mentioned earlier, I've pushed pieces of thick rubber hose over the ends, that help to make them more sturdy and comfortable.

The ash and smoke has been very bad here, including today. "They" are predicting the fires to keep going all summer.