Noob, am I overdoing it? How to mix it up

[DClions80]

Am i overdoing it? I'm a 44 Year old male that's not in shape, but also not terribly out of shape. I was athletic when i was younger, but haven't really worked out or exercised is quite some time. Unfortunately, I'm one of those idiots with the all or nothing mentality so I need to really keep a habit rolling to stick with things.

Recently purchased a C2D with PM5 for my son to practice at home (he rows in a club). I decided I should also start using it along with dietary changes to get back to a level of health and fitness i can be proud of. I just started this week and I have rowed consistently every day. I certainly don't have an impressive 2K time since I'm a beginner and i haven't exercised in forever.

My questions is am I overdoing it? I seen a lot of chatter in this forum about overdoing it, and a lot is related to mental health and not just the physical aspect. I'm not concerned about the metal part. Honestly, being able to get a good exercise in 20-30 minutes is exactly what i need with my schedule.

Should I be trying to find a sweet spot of heartrate/time/distance/stroke to keep myself from overdoing on on regular workouts and them do a hard workout every so often? If I do need to mix in other exercises, does anyone have good suggestions that are complimentary to rowing as to avoid additional strain on the same muscle groups?

This is the last four days (from the day I first started). I didn't have a heart rate monitor until yesterday so I only posted the full details of yesterdays row at the bottom. It seems my heartrate was pretty far up there towards my max HR (175) for the majority of the row.

I appreciate your advice and I'm looking forward to making this a part of my life! (really hope to train enough to row in father/son club competition next year)

01/22/25 4,015m 21:07.9 2:37.8
01/21/25 2,082m 10:52.9 2:36.6
01/20/25 3,716m 18:58.3 2:33.1
01/20/25 694m 3:00.0 2:09.6
01/19/25 1,213m 5:43.7 2:21.6



This is the detail from yesterday.

Splits
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M Heartrate
21:07.9 4,015m 2:37.8 89 605 28 166
5:00.0 980m 2:33.0 98 635 29 157
10:00.0 903m 2:46.1 76 562 27 162
15:00.0 983m 2:32.5 99 639 29 172
20:00.0 948m 2:38.2 88 604 28 174
21:07.9 201m 2:48.9 73 549 26 167

[Dangerscouse]

Am i overdoing it? I'm a 44 Year old male that's not in shape, but also not terribly out of shape. I was athletic when i was younger, but haven't really worked out or exercised is quite some time. Unfortunately, I'm one of those idiots with the all or nothing mentality so I need to really keep a habit rolling to stick with things.

Recently purchased a C2D with PM5 for my son to practice at home (he rows in a club). I decided I should also start using it along with dietary changes to get back to a level of health and fitness i can be proud of. I just started this week and I have rowed consistently every day. I certainly don't have an impressive 2K time since I'm a beginner and i haven't exercised in forever.

My questions is am I overdoing it? I seen a lot of chatter in this forum about overdoing it, and a lot is related to mental health and not just the physical aspect. I'm not concerned about the metal part. Honestly, being able to get a good exercise in 20-30 minutes is exactly what i need with my schedule.

Should I be trying to find a sweet spot of heartrate/time/distance/stroke to keep myself from overdoing on on regular workouts and them do a hard workout every so often? If I do need to mix in other exercises, does anyone have good suggestions that are complimentary to rowing as to avoid additional strain on the same muscle groups?

Welcome to the forum. IMHO, I think all you need to do is focus on recoverability as your sweet spot. Take it fairly steadily so your muscles, tendons and ligaments have time to adapt, and keep chipping away. I'd leave it circa 5 or 6 weeks before you start to consider hard workouts, but maybe you could do some semi-hard workouts in a couple of weeks.

It might be good to lower the stroke rate down, which may mean your pace will have to slow down too, but try to relax whilst building a stronger stroke.

Complimentary exercises are probably going to be bodyweight exercises. Press ups, plank variations, squats, lunges etc. Good luck with it all.

[MPx]

Am i overdoing it?

I'm looking forward to making this a part of my life!

Welcome, and well done for starting - a huge step but one that only delivers if you keep it going. Being so early in your journey you really don't need to worry about overdong it. You say that you'll be doing 20-30 mins sessions. At current pace that's maybe 5k or will be soon. That's good...but its nowhere near over doing it - indeed a fairly light load. Two things to focus on.
1. your stroke/form (loads of how to vids for you to search out) so that you can get, hone, and ingrain a strong stroke - may be best learnt at a rate of 20-24 and as slow for now as it needs to be.
2. find sessions that you enjoy so that you keep coming back. Be that some intervals, a specific distance test, or whatever, but just something that you look forward to having a go at. Likely to be at a faster and harder pace so will be a short session - but essentially fun - the type of session to do 2 or 3 times a week...

Best of luck with it.

[PleaseLockIn]

Am i overdoing it? I'm a 44 Year old male that's not in shape, but also not terribly out of shape. I was athletic when i was younger, but haven't really worked out or exercised is quite some time. Unfortunately, I'm one of those idiots with the all or nothing mentality so I need to really keep a habit rolling to stick with things.

Recently purchased a C2D with PM5 for my son to practice at home (he rows in a club). I decided I should also start using it along with dietary changes to get back to a level of health and fitness i can be proud of. I just started this week and I have rowed consistently every day. I certainly don't have an impressive 2K time since I'm a beginner and i haven't exercised in forever.

My questions is am I overdoing it? I seen a lot of chatter in this forum about overdoing it, and a lot is related to mental health and not just the physical aspect. I'm not concerned about the metal part. Honestly, being able to get a good exercise in 20-30 minutes is exactly what i need with my schedule.

Should I be trying to find a sweet spot of heartrate/time/distance/stroke to keep myself from overdoing on on regular workouts and them do a hard workout every so often? If I do need to mix in other exercises, does anyone have good suggestions that are complimentary to rowing as to avoid additional strain on the same muscle groups?

This is the last four days (from the day I first started). I didn't have a heart rate monitor until yesterday so I only posted the full details of yesterdays row at the bottom. It seems my heartrate was pretty far up there towards my max HR (175) for the majority of the row.

I appreciate your advice and I'm looking forward to making this a part of my life! (really hope to train enough to row in father/son club competition next year)

01/22/25 4,015m 21:07.9 2:37.8
01/21/25 2,082m 10:52.9 2:36.6
01/20/25 3,716m 18:58.3 2:33.1
01/20/25 694m 3:00.0 2:09.6
01/19/25 1,213m 5:43.7 2:21.6



This is the detail from yesterday.

Splits
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M Heartrate
21:07.9 4,015m 2:37.8 89 605 28 166
5:00.0 980m 2:33.0 98 635 29 157
10:00.0 903m 2:46.1 76 562 27 162
15:00.0 983m 2:32.5 99 639 29 172
20:00.0 948m 2:38.2 88 604 28 174
21:07.9 201m 2:48.9 73 549 26 167

Welcome and glad that you have made the first step towards rowing! it's hard but you did it!

One thing I will say - a little later, if you wish to try a TT 5k I suggest you to aim for the same split, as this is most physiologically efficient. Considering your stats, I think you can hold a 2:39-ish 5k at r28.

Anyways, you have managed to row consistently every day! That's a start for a strong routine!

As for overdoing it—as long as you can sufficiently recover (no significant, 5-10 rise of resting HR, and you can fully recover in about a day) you are fine. I would give it a few weeks so you can have some baselines (5k, 2k, etc.) and can train your technique. It is easy to ingrain bad habits as a newbie. Watch the concept 2 videos for form.

Fully straightened arms at the start, straight Back at 11 o'clock, shins vertical. Very loose, relaxed grip (only barely hooking the handle) to save energy.

At go, press with your legs first. Once your legs are fully extended, immediately then hinge with your hips, back to 11 o'clock. After you've hinged back, immediately pull with your arms using that energy, enough to slightly hit just below your sternum (the pulling motion is straight). It should be explosive as this is most efficient.

At the recovery, fully extend your arms first, then back to 11 o'clock, finally legs to start position. Immediately after that, explosively row. Slow recovery, explosive pull.

As for stroke rate, many people say to lower your stroke rate. I doubt 175 is your max HR (probably higher, I agree with Ombrax) but you can always test it some weeks later when you got used to rowing. R28 5k in a TT is a normal stroke rate.

However, for steady state it's far too high—r18 to r23 is usual. I usually go r20 to train my stroke, and train at a pace of 1 breath per stroke, slight sweating and comfortable conversation (borderline UT2/UT1 for me). Smile and think about the heavens, keep yourself hydrated, good technique, all can lower your HR. Yes, it will seem slow at first, especially if you need to go slowly to avoid lactate buildup, but it will be worth it in the end!

As someone in your position some weeks ago, I would recommend starting with the Beginner Pete Plan and going through allthe 24 weeks without changing— a lifesaver for me. i am going through it again after personal issues, stay tuned and good luck! You can even start it now if you want!

I have unimpressive times (7:58 2k PB in Dec, 8:39 2k PB in early Nov) too but the key thing is to grind. First time I hopped on the erg I barely held a 2:02.x 500m. No way I could've held any faster than 2:20 split 5k even if I was taught the technique and grinded it over a few days. And I had some base (albeit inconsistent and not good). Yes, your times aren't good now, but that you can work on.

Complementary exercises - perhaps after 3x a week erging you could do 2-3x a week weights training. Bench press, barbell squats, overhead press, pullups, JM presses (triceps), hamstring curls. Perhaps even armwrestling backpressure or sidepressure or pronation if you want.

One thing - nobody had mentioned this yet, but club/competition rowing can get quite competitive sometimes. Even in my area (not good at rowing, frankly) university-level rowing qualifying effort is a 1:59 30r20. For context, this is approximately as difficult as a sub-7 2k, sub 18:30 5k and sub 22:30 6k. If you can condition yourself in 8 weeks, finish the BPP in 24 weeks, then people can work something out for your competition next year!

What are your stats (height, weight, Body fat %, etc.) I think this would help give people more context to your training.

Good luck and train hard!

[Ombrax]

DCL, welcome to the forum!

Above and beyond the "make sure your technique is good and you aren't doing anything terribly wrong with your form" issue, I'd take it easy at the beginning and as mentioned above, give your body (e.g. back, connective tissue, etc) time to acclimate to a new exercise. There's really no rush, so for the first few weeks I wouldn't row on consecutive days. True, your pace right now isn't that great compared to what folks here post in their signature or in "I did such-and-such workout last night" posts, but you're a total newbie and your body isn't used to it.

BTW, how confident are you that your max HR is 175? If you're 44 years old and in good health I'd bet that it's significantly higher than that. Also, don't believe any of the equations to predict your max HR, the only way to be sure is to put in the effort and go all-out. But don't do that on the rower just yet - you probably need to work on your technique some more before you really go nuts.

Good Luck

[p_b82]

If you like habits, then follow a plan - if you like variation the WOD which can be loaded from ergdata quickly is something different every day; or just do what you feel like, and try to progressively overload your training to gain incremental pace/fitness improvements.

I only row 3x a week, recovery for me isn't a consideration and so my sessions see my HR normally between 80-95% max observed (~190) - I do have a Hr that seems to fly when exercising so don't "just" use the HR % as your effort defining factor, RPE (rate of perceived effort) and other physiological responses, like sweating/breathing amounts + muscle fatigue should be factored in.

I will echo the technique being critical at the very early stage - really work on getting your sequencing right, as it is so easy to think of rowing as a pulling sport not a pushing one.
You will likely injure your biceps (as I did when I started) if you don't keep your arms straight during the drive as your increase your volume/pace.
To protect your lower back, I'd also say always think about "sitting tall" when starting out - you want to have the good posture to lock the core and avoid injury there too.

You will probably find, it's easier to get the sequence "baked in" at lower rates, as you have a little more time between each phase.
you can do drills as well - the "pick drill" and "reverse pick drill" can be very helpful as a warmup exercise to help when starting out + using the force curve to show the shape of your stroke live. if you get any lumps in the middle it's usually a sign the sequence is off a little.

And try not to compare yourself with others too much - as long as you're meeting your own goals, enjoy doing the exercise and keep coming back then that's all that matters.

Not much more to add beyond the welcome and good luck.

[iain]

"Over training" generally means pushing the heart too high too often and is unlikely for your current sessions. HR should be seen as a way of reviewing sessions (lower HR for same session is a good track of improvement), but all the "HR bands" etc. are for those with a good base fitness. When unfit my HR goes high without excessive effort as I am only using a limited part of my available heart volume so it is stressing my heart a lot less than same HR when well trained. Also, the formulae are not useful for any individual to estimate HRmax. Just keep track of how high you have seen and how hard that session felt. If you were unable to move for 5 min afterwards after a sustained effort ending all out you will be close to your maximum, otherwise you will be some way off!

I have found when restarting rowing that what limits my training is muscular. As stated above the body needs to adapt with some muscles taking forces they will not have done for some time. If you are getting Delayed Onset Muscle stiffness (DOMS) ie soreness that starts >18 hours

Your focus should be on improving your stroke so that you develop a consistent stroke (most strokes +/- 1S/500m) at a rate that you can comfortably maintain for 20 min. While many people do use R28 for an all out 5k, this is higher than most people for training which is mainly in the 18-24SpM range for most of us. However it may take a while before you get the low rate technique in muscle memory. While I would be cautious of describing the power stroke as "explosive", it is a much higher effort than used for most endurance activities such as cycling. You will spend less than 1/3 of the time doing the work and largely resting for the majority so can maintain a higher output during the power stroke. You should not stop during the stroke and try and keep the power in the drive. The slow rate is achieved by going up the slide back to the "catch" really slowly. This will feel strange at first, but with practice becomes ingrained.

Re stroke I would endorse much of what PLI says above. However, although it is useful to think of 3 distinct phases of the drive, in practice there is some overlap. If you put the monitor on the force-curve there should not be any dips in he curve as back takes over from legs and arms take over from back.

Well done on making a start. As P_b82 & Mpx have said, it is worth thinking about what you enjoy from your rowing. Any plan is only useful if you continue with it so you need to include the elements that you enjoy to keep you getting on the rower. SO if you don't particularly like low rating rows make sure that periodically you cut loose and do a session that allows you to row at a "more natural" rating.

Look forward to seeing your updates on your ongoing training and progress

[Tsnor]

Am i overdoing it?
This is the detail from yesterday.
Splits
Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M Heartrate
21:07.9 4,015m 2:37.8 89 605 28 166
5:00.0 980m 2:33.0 98 635 29 157

Yes, if you are at 160 to 170 HR 4 plus times a week and plan on continuing to do that you are overdoing it.

Training (for rowing, running, biking, etc) follows a pattern of overload/recovery. You've got the overload part where muscles get torn up. You need the recovery part where your body rebuilds the muscles stronger/better.

Good video on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MALsI0mJ09I

There's a lot of guidance available on mapping training to rowing. Post if you want more info. Whatever else you do, watch a few technique videos now then ask your Kid to watch you row and fix your form. Your back is better protected from injury with good form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ82RYIFLN8

[MPx]

Am i overdoing it?

Yes, if you are at 160 to 170 HR 4 plus times a week and plan on continuing to do that you are overdoing it.

Really?? A 44yo? MHR could easily be 200+ (I was at that age) but even if its 170 - for such short sessions you think there's a risk of over doing it? We'll agree to differ. Agree with all else you posted.

I guess there is a risk in going from couch potato to full intensity exercise with no build up - but that's more about heart attack/stroke a la Andrew Marr. So either way I guess we're both saying to have some patience and take time to get the action right and muscles on side. I just can't see any interpretation of just 59 mins of exercise over 5 days being judged as "over doing it".