Short-term blood glucose effects of rowing

[clampe1066]

However, requiring people to row longer is a good antidote to the usual misuse of the rower. Most gym rowers i see race the stroke rather than adopt a sustainable controlled rating. We all find the first 1-2 mins of a row feels easy. It is all too easy to push during this and we inevitably end up at an unsustainable pace. Forcing people to row longer makes them settle to a more sustainable pace that allows for progression. Racing every workout will lead to a slower long term progression than a more measured approach.

Keep up the good work.

Iain

This is exactly what I've done. I think I was going to hard for my current conditioning and skill level. I found that a damper setting of "6" gave me the best times and I was progressing to longer distances but I couldn't keep that pace. I dialed back the damper to "3" and focused on a smooth stroke and attempted a 1000 m row and found it quite doable. Not easy, but doable, which was a surprise. I'm going to work up to 2000 m and then decide where to go from there.

[mivaldes]

Cheers, welcome back to the fraternity

You may already know this, but I'll repeat it anyway: the more regularity in your workouts the easier it will be to fit them into a glucose-management plan. By that I mean keeping the overall effort you put into them relatively constant; working out at roughly the same time of day, and in roughly the same relation to both preceding and succeeding meals; trying to maintain hydration; etc. That doesn't mean you have to do the same thing every time you sit down on an erg. But the fewer the surprise shocks to your body, the fewer the surprises you'll have as far as your levels. I would add that it's important to watch out for delayed post-workout crashes, especially nocturnal ones that can morph into hypoglycemic episodes.

To be honest, I haven't thought too much about this because I don't take any diabetes related medication. Am I wrong to assume that I won't experience any crashes or blood sugar incidents if I'm not taking medication?

You only really have to worry about hypo episodes with medication. Without them, you are basically only going to be high, not low.

[mivaldes]

I've done 2000 meters daily (4 x 500m) since I got the machine last Tuesday and after some frustration with what seemed like a stall in progress, I took yesterday off to see if rest would make a difference. Today, on my second row, I got a 2018 PR of 2:06! Not great numbers but I'm thrilled to death because last week when I rowed a 2:16 and a 2:11, I felt like I couldn't catch my breath afterwards. It was a really scary feeling. Today, after doing a 2:06 I just felt had a great, that-was-hard-but-felt-good, heart-pounding-in-my-chest feeling but zero issues catching my breath.

Also, I've found that if my blood sugar is high, each 500m row lowers it by 20-25 points.

You didn't specify your age, but if you are having shortness of breath, I would want to be cleared by a cardiologist. Exercised induced heart attacks are real. Not trying to scare you, but us Type 2's are much more heart attack prone.