First month and hit a plataue

[jimk]

Hi,

I'm 46 and 115 kg and 6 foot. I've been rowing for a month now and have lost some weight but hit a point where I'm not loosing any more.

In this my first month I've done 22 rowing sessions all 30 minute except two 10 k rows. My distance for 30 mins has gone from 6600 to over 7200 in that time. My stroke rate is around 20 SPM and the drag factor is 137. I'm pretty done in at the end of the row.

Should I stick with a fixed time or go for interval training using distance. Do I need to throw in more 10 k rows at a steady pace. I'm happy rowing at 20 SPM and find it much harder rowing quicker. It just feels wrong, if that makes sense.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks

Jim

[hjs]

The rowing helps, but in the end its always the diet that maes you loose weight or not.
To burn kg of fat you roughly have to row 7/8 hours at 2.00 pace.
With you training is not much wrong, it must be your diet. Low carb, high fat/protein often works best for overweight people. Its about controling your bloodsugar level. Eating a high carb diet makes that almost impossible.
For the rowing, keep on the longer rows, do not race your work outs. A few time per week something a bit faster is ok. The main thing at first is making meters.

[gregsmith01748]

Hi Jim,

First off, that's a great first month! Good weight loss and a big improvement in the distance you cover in 30'.

The plateau in weight loss probably has more to do with diet than exercise. I bet that you are eating a bit more now and that is balancing out the calorie deficit from rowing. Rowing at your pace will burn about 800 calories an hour, so you burn about 400 calories a session. To continue to lose weight, you either need more time on the rower or less calorie intake.

That being said, it also could be helpful to vary the kinds of sessions you do. Some longer sessions at a slightly slower pace and some interval sessions will make working out more interesting and improve your speed and power.

You might take a look at this program: http://indoorsportservices.co.uk/weightloss/interactive

Welcome to the twisted world of indoor rowing

[jimk]

Hi

Thanks for your replies. I was worried I was rowing incorrectly for sustained weight loss. 20 SPM is OK then doing 2:05 ish / 500m.

I knew I had to row overt 20 mins and chose 30 because I could compare myself with others on the log book rankings and see some improvement.

I have made some changes to my diet but not drastic. I've only cut out alcohol and bread. I know I can keep to this long term. I'll look again at what I can change without it being a diet.

Thanks for your replies.

Jim

[hjs]

Hi

Thanks for your replies. I was worried I was rowing incorrectly for sustained weight loss. 20 SPM is OK then doing 2:05 ish / 500m.

I knew I had to row overt 20 mins and chose 30 because I could compare myself with others on the log book rankings and see some improvement.

I have made some changes to my diet but not drastic. I've only cut out alcohol and bread. I know I can keep to this long term. I'll look again at what I can change without it being a diet.

Thanks for your replies.

Jim

Any exercise would help, its simply how much work you are giving you body. Rowing at rate 20 is fine. You could though sometimes mix it up a bit and do some higher rated stuff on top. This to give your body an other impuls.

[Carl Watts]

Get a heartrate setup and get into the right training bands. Your probably going harder than you need to and you need to extend the duration instead. 30minutes is not long enough and you want to aim for 40minutes or longer at a slower pace. You don't want to feel exhausted at the end and be able to row 5 days a week and keep it up all year round. A month is too early to hit a plateau and you should take 5 or 6 months to get there with slow but steady weight loss.

[jimk]

hi,

I've started to loose weight again. I have kept the same drag factor of 137 and about 20 SPM and around 2:05 - 2:10 / 500M.

I'm still rowing around or over 7200M for 30 mins and just done a 10k in 41:30. I'm putting more 10k's in @ 2:10 ish / 500m.

I think the stop in weight loss was down to old habits creeping back in. I didn't realise until I kept a strict food diary. It was down to picking whilst in the *** DELETE - SPAM ***.

jim