Row Pain, Row Gain - Come on back everybody.

[Meri]

Hi Andy99 and all,
I row about 5 times a week, but have to be out of town frequently in July/August, so won't always be able to row. I do enjoy walking, swimming and bicycling. I need to include weights, but have not yet been disciplined enough to do this on a regular basis. My times are not as good this season as last, so I need to start setting up the pace boat again to help me get motivated. I've really appreciated the tips I received regarding weight loss on this team. I've been able to loose weight and feel much fitter than I did 10 years ago. Best of luck!
Meri

[Steelhead]

Meri,

I too have been traveling this Summer and my meters rowed show it. Just an update on the information I learned from The China Study: I am healthier than I have ever been in a long time, have been losing inches, and have much more energy.

If you don't have time to lift weights, but do erg, then I recommend that you just do some bench presses and military presses to work the muscles that the erg misses. It'll only take about 5 or 10 minutes "a day" i.e., if you row every day then do the bench presses every day too -- this may seem contradictory but think of it in terms of people who actually work hard each day -- they don't take a day off to allow their muscles to build as body lifters like to preach -- they get strong without a lot of "bulk." Anyway, it works for me when I am in a time crunch -- otherwise, I do a full workout every other day (different muscle groups each day).

[Meri]

Thanks Mike,
The upstairs room where the rower lies is quite hot in a house with no central air, so going to the cooler basement to lift some weights after rowing may work out quite well. I just have to take off the heavy weights my son currently uses. I'll give it a try. I did manage to put in a half-marathon yesterday and felt good the entire time although my speed wasn't great. The heat really slows me down. I should try moving the rower outside in the cool morning air, but I'm not very mechanically inclined and the stairs are steep and narrow in this old home. Hope you are enjoying your holidays. Thanks for the encouragement!
Meri

[Steelhead]

Thanks Mike,
The upstairs room where the rower lies is quite hot in a house with no central air, so going to the cooler basement to lift some weights after rowing may work out quite well. I just have to take off the heavy weights my son currently uses. I'll give it a try. I did manage to put in a half-marathon yesterday and felt good the entire time although my speed wasn't great. The heat really slows me down. I should try moving the rower outside in the cool morning air, but I'm not very mechanically inclined and the stairs are steep and narrow in this old home. Hope you are enjoying your holidays. Thanks for the encouragement!
Meri

Hi Meri,

Start out slow and light on the weights, and as soon as you can do three sets of 8 reps, then move up a little in poundage. You may get a great workout just taking off the heavy weights your son uses, but I recommend that you ask him to take them down when he's finished with his workout -- if he's like me, he won't want to.

The last time I moved my Model B from the cool basement to the backyard, a few weeks ago, I hurt myself; so leave the rower where it is.

Congratulations on the HM; speed is not the goal for us trying to lose weight. Slow and steady as she goes, and don't rock the boat.

I just got back from doing some climbing in Colorado -- not the same as Mt. Everest, but better than sea-level.

[Andy99]

thanks for the responce. I have been away the last 5 days and Today was my first day back and it was 98 degrees out. I dont have AC so I might try to do a light row tonight after it cools down a little.

Andy


PS Can anyone recommend any good exercises that focus on the lower abs?

[Steelhead]

thanks for the responce. I have been away the last 5 days and Today was my first day back and it was 98 degrees out. I dont have AC so I might try to do a light row tonight after it cools down a little.

Andy


PS Can anyone recommend any good exercises that focus on the lower abs?

Do a wrestler's bridge for three minutes or more, and some leg lifts.

[zaroge]

Hi all,

I just joined the club. I started rowing last week but did not log my meters. If I want to lose weight should I be rowing with a time goal or a meters goal? What do you guys recommend? Looking forward to climbing in the standings.

Rogelio Z

[Andy99]

Welcome aboard!

From what I can tell for losing weight you should be rowing longer. SO row at a pace that you can go for 30 minutes. If you go to fast/hard you will get tired before you hit the 30 minute mark. Go at what ever speed you need to to row for 30 minutes. Log the time and the Meters. Slowly try to improve the distance you can go in the 30 minutes of rowing. Thats how im doing it and I have been loosing a couple of pounds every week. Im sure other people might have some other suggestions.

[atahualpa]

I've recently started rowing again, two weeks ago to be exact. So, I thought I'd join the group. I started rowing last year after buying a Model C and made good progress for several months until an unrelated hip injury put me off it until now. My ultimate weight loss goal is 180 down from 215. Eating right and rowing 5 days a week, I'm already down to 211. It feels great to be making progess. I agree with Andy99 that long rows are effective, but I tend to get bored after 15 minutes. I've been doing the crosstraining workouts that mix intervals with distance and found they break up the daily routine. (search for "xtrain wrkoutslogbook0903" on the Concept2 site for the pdf.) If I have energy at the end of the workout, I'll row an extra 1000m or until I wear out. I highly recommend logging your workouts, when you go back to them down the road you'll be amazed at the progress.

[Zany]

Hi all, a new member from Sweden here, When will my meters show in the team standings?

[EDIT] I found the issue myself, apparently the link on my log side only shows last season (2006).

[EDIT 2] The season issue is only if you have chosen Swedish as a language.


Keep up the good work all!

[derrickri]

Hey guys, I just signed up this past week. I'm usually an every-other-day rower. 10k is my New benchmark (just bumped up from 7.5k two weeks ago) and so far I'm just under 40 mins...so long as i've gotten enough sleep (work schedule sometimes prevents it). I took the end of April and most of May off but have started up again in June. So now it's been 2 months of "on" and I feel good. I'm to the point now where I can run/jog 2+ miles after a 10k...but lately the heat/humidity has been too much to do that. So I've been sticking to the bread and butter of a 10k every other day and weather permitting, a jog or two.

Andy, I have one of those exercise balls that you sit on to do crunches. Depending on the technique you use, you can isolate lower abs very affectively with it. There's usually a pamphlet or sometimes a video that comes with the ball. Just make sure you get the right size and inflate it to the right tension...otherwise you feel like you're squishing it.

Anybody have any tips on a good heart rate monitor? Is a wrist-watch type one the best or should I look for another type? Price is also an issue...

Derrick.

[artmom5]

Had issues with my user name and password being out of date...Whatever that means! (I think that was Concept 2's way of saying USE THAT ROWER YOU HAVEN'T POSTED ANYTHING...ROW,ROW,ROW! Hopefully I can settle into a very poor routine albeit a routine nonetheless with the help of RPRG. (Serious apologies to my rowing partners to whom I have abandoned ship this summer!)
My excuses? week in Venice (not Florida, yea ITALIA). 2 graduates-one huge party. Packed up 3- yes 3 kids away to college and am returning also as a full-time student. I would say I have water on the brain but haven't been on my rower enough to even pretend I am near the water.
I wish everyone Good Luck, and we still have time to thrwart those Holiday calories which will be coming before you know it!
Take Care
Mary

[Meri]

Hi Artmom and all,
Just FYI, I've been slow to post and posting slow times. Finally under 48 minutes for the 10000 today. Not even close to my best time last season. Oh well. Wow, a trip to Venice- I envy you and your family. I got a bit of a boost when C2 awarded me a T-shirt for the Summer Sweeps contest. Evidently, I rowed on just the right day! Again, not loosing weight, but not gaining. I'm pleased to see our team is slowly gaining members. Steelhead, I still can't seem to get my family on board for the vegan diet, but we are eating better after reading The China Study. Not as much meat, milk or cheese, more whole grains and veggies. Best of luck to all!
Meri

[blandings]

Hi Meri, Artmom, and all

I won a pair of socks as a rower of the week in July. Not as good as a t-shirt but definitely a positive experience. I also reached 3 million metres in July - just in time for my birthday! So now I'm having trouble getting motivated - sure is a long way to the next million. Of course I also have to get a few cords of firewood inside this month in preparation for our cold, snowy winter. Good thing you've been taking some time off too Meri or I couldn't stay ahead of you Keep on rowing and I'll see if I can get in a few more metres myself.

Alice

[Steelhead]

Hi Artmom and all,
Just FYI, I've been slow to post and posting slow times. Finally under 48 minutes for the 10000 today. Not even close to my best time last season. Oh well. Wow, a trip to Venice- I envy you and your family. I got a bit of a boost when C2 awarded me a T-shirt for the Summer Sweeps contest. Evidently, I rowed on just the right day! Again, not loosing weight, but not gaining. I'm pleased to see our team is slowly gaining members. Steelhead, I still can't seem to get my family on board for the vegan diet, but we are eating better after reading The China Study. Not as much meat, milk or cheese, more whole grains and veggies. Best of luck to all!
Meri

Hi Meri,

I think I had better clarify The China Study results -- it is not a vegan lifestyle that the research shows. Basically, the reseach in The China Study that is statistically significant, and not simply opinion, demonstrates that animal protein should be less than 10% of your daily calories. This means for example that if you were eating 1500 calories each day, then you could have 150 calories of animal protein (from dairy, meat, fish, poultry, or eggs (or a combination)). A vegan lifestyle would curtail all animal protein, but the science doesn't support this, but it does support eating animal protein sparingly if not rarely, but in no event more than the 10%. Therefore, since each gram of protein is 4 calories, you could eat about 37.5 grams of animal protein daily. An egg typically has between 7 and 8 grams of protein, and so does a glass of milk, so you have to do a little math when you decide to eat a hot dog or a piece of chicken, but it is possible to have some animal protein each day.

Now I know that the author of The China Study did write:

WHAT DOES MINIMIZE MEAN? SHOULD YOU ELIMINATE MEAT COMPLETELY?

"The findings from the China Study indicate that the lower the percentage of animal-based foods that are consumed, the greater the health benefits -- even when that percentage declines from 10% to 0% of calories. So it's not unreasonable to assume that the optimum percentage of animal-based products is zero, at least for anyone with a predisposition for a degenerative disease.

"But this has not been absolutely proven. Certainly it is true that most of the health benefits are realized at very low but non-zero levels of animal-based foods.

"My advice is to try to eliminate all animal-based products from your diet, but not obsess over it. If a tasty vegetable soup has a chicken stock base, or if a hearty loaf of whole wheat bread includes a tiny amount of egg, don't worry about it. These quantities, very likely, are nutritionally unimportant. Even more importantly, the ability to relax about very minor quantities of animal-based foods makes applying this diet much easier -- especially when eating out or buying already-prepared foods.

"While I recommend that you not worry about small quantities of animal products in your food, I am not suggesting that you deliberately plan to incorporate small portions of meat into your daily diet. My recommendation is that you try to avoid all animal-based products."

We can read from the above, the opinion of the author, who states that this is just his opinion, and that it is not absolutely proven that the optimum percentage of animal-based products is zero. This is important! All the research in China and elsewhere around the world does correlate in statistically significant ways with reducing animal-based protein to less than 10% of one's daily caloric intake (which could be zero, but not necessarily so), and that is all it does show, at the same time increasing dramatically the amount of whole, unrefined plant-based foods (including plant protein).

I know vegans like to use The China Study to support a vegan diet, but the truth is that The China Study does not support such as a requirement for health, but more as a guideline. Nevertheless, an important guideline, and studies do show that a proper vegan life-style does have tremendous health benefits particularly if one is predisposed for degenerative disease (hypertension, cancer, atheriosclerosis, diabetes 2, etc.).

So what does the author of The China Study recommend if one wants to eat all the food one wants to eat, be healthy, and lose fat? He writes that you [the reader] can "eat all you want (while getting lots of variety) of any whole, unrefined plant-based foods" and then on page 243 of his hard cover book he lays it out: fruits, vegetables (flowers, stems and leaves, roots, legumes, mushrooms, nuts), whole grains (also in breads, pastas, etc.).

But he then advises to minimize refined carbohydrates (pasta, except whole grain varieties, white bread, crackers, sugars and most cakes and pastries), added vegetable oils (such as corn oil, peanut oil, olive oil), and fish.

Then he advises to avoid meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs.

So, since he only asks us to minimize fish, for example, this is plainly not a vegan diet. On the other hand, even though he advises us to avoid meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs, we know from the research results in The China Study that avoidance is not proven by the research, but only limiting animal protein to less than 10% of our caloric intake, while eating lots of plant-based foods.

The example I like to use is with buckwheat pancakes. Instead of using enriched, refined white flour, replace that with whole-white wheat flour, and then you end up with for example 50% whole white wheat flour (or you could use whole red wheat flour) and 50% whole buckwheat flour, and then some milk, eggs, and oils. But basically you are eating a whole, unrefined plant-based food with minimal added oil, and less than 10% animal-based protein. Not vegan, but it fits The China Study.

Of course, if our goal is to lose weight, then we should avoid or go easy on avocados, nuts, olives.

I hope this clarifies things, because "vegan" is a politically-charged word. Personally, I agree with the author's opinion, but if I want a hamburger once in a while, I'm going to eat one without hesitation (realizing however the damage that I am doing to myself by eating red meat in particular and all the saturated fat, and that I am going to have to row a HM just to break even calorie-wise). Although, I rarely eat a hamburger nowadays which is a complete reversal of how I ate before acting positively on the research studies in The China Study. And I now no longer count calories, and I am steadily losing inches and fat -- the closest analogy is the Weight Watchers Core Program (where you don't count points as opposed to the Flex Plan where you do count points), and by minimizing refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils, nuts, olives, avocados, and rarely eating meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs, it is an easy dietary lifestyle and way to lose fat with or without exercising.