Minutes or Meters?

[jaek]

Greetings, first time poster and new rower here. I'll make it as short & sweet as possible.

• I started getting back in shape in May of last year. I've been walking, using barbells, swimming, biking on a recumbent, body weight exercises, and resistance bands along with a strong food plan.
• I was biking 3-minute miles @ a 5/10 resistance for 12 miles (just as an FYI on cardio) and my resting heart rate is between 58-62
• I'm looking to cut another 5-10lb so I can get to a rock-solid 210 (I'm 6ft). Dropped six inches from my waist and almost 50lb of fat to date.
• I tried a rower, fell in love with what it offers, so I bought a Model E.

MAIN QUESTIONS
1) Should I go by minutes, or meters?
2) How many minutes of meters should I do in a given seven-day period, given my current situation?

I would like to be somewhat aggressive with this, and I love to be challenged, but since I'm new to the technique and rowing itself, what can I do to maximize my potential and not injure myself? I can tell you right now that 2000m/10 minutes per day seems like a waste of time. I get a great sweat going and I am definitely breathing harder at the end of the 15 minute session, but I'm not sore or achy enough the next day to feel like I've "done enough". I want to kick my own butt but still have the juice to get back on that thing six days out of seven.

Should I do 10k/X minutes per day? 5000m/X minutes translates to roughly 25 minutes, is that enough? What's my starting point?

Current exercise attempts are below.

I did the "Just Row" option for 15, 10, then 15 minutes with these numbers Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Setting was #4.
• 15:00 @ 2.39.7
• 10 @ 2:31.3
• 15:00 @ 2.40.1

Then I did the 2000m, and got this on Wednesday. Setting was #4.
• 2:22/500m, 9:41.1

[Bob S.]

A lot of people have reported good results from following this plan:

http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/beginner-training/

It provides variety and is designed to work on both endurance and strength.

Bob S.

[jamesg]

I'm new to the technique and rowing

This is how it's done:
http://www.britishrowing.org/taking-par ... ing-stroke

Long strokes like this will be hard work, which is fine, but means you can't do 40-50 of them every minute. To start with, 20-24/min will be enough, with total 500 to 1000. Very low drag helps with stroke length and will force you to be quick on the pull, leaving plenty of time for recovery. Boats don't have brakes, so there's no point in rushing to the next stroke, and flywheel behavior is similar.

If your target weight is say 75kg, then you need to get your basic workout power to 130-150W (pace 2:20 to 2:13), for long low-rating work, according to age and sex. In this, stroke length is more important than handle force. Then 500 to 1000 strokes a day will do for CV fitness. Far higher power levels will be needed if you want to train for racing, once you have the CV base.

[Citroen]

MAIN QUESTIONS
1) Should I go by minutes, or meters?
2) How many minutes of meters should I do in a given seven-day period, given my current situation?

1. I prefer metres, the faster you go the sooner it ends. With a timed piece you know how long it's going to take.
2. you shouldn't be rowing seven days a week. Take a rest day at least once a week

[jaek]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm going to use everything posted in one form or another!

[Bob S.]

Setting was #4.

Damper setting by itself often doesn't mean too much. Since you have a new machine (i.e. it has a clean cage) it will be consistent enough. Also, if you are at a relatively low altitude, it will be consistent with other ergs with clean cages. However, it is a good idea to become acquainted with the more useful value, the drag factor. Here is a website should give a good idea of what it is all about.

UK drag factor site:

http://concept2.co.uk/training/guide/damper_lever

(Note that there is one error there. The lowest damper setting is not 1, it can be moved to one mark below that to an unlabelled zero.)

This one tells how to find the DF:

Viewing Drag Factor:

http://www.concept2.com/service/monitor ... rag-factor

Note that it also has the #1 setting error. Also, it specifies the PM3. If your model E has a PM4 the same protocol applies
.

Bob S.

[Quatroux]

I know this is SPAM, but I think you'd be around 22mph. If you can hold that for 5 minutes I think we wouldn't need to worry about you getting a full hour of exercise.

[jeremycfr]

Greetings, first time poster and new rower here. I'll make it as short & sweet as possible.

• I started getting back in shape in May of last year. I've been walking, using barbells, swimming, biking on a recumbent, body weight exercises, and resistance bands along with a strong food plan.
• I was biking 3-minute miles @ a 5/10 resistance for 12 miles (just as an FYI on cardio) and my resting heart rate is between 58-62
• I'm looking to cut another 5-10lb so I can get to a rock-solid 210 (I'm 6ft). Dropped six inches from my waist and almost 50lb of fat to date.
• I tried a rower, fell in love with what it offers, so I bought a Model E.

MAIN QUESTIONS
1) Should I go by minutes, or meters?
2) How many minutes of meters should I do in a given seven-day period, given my current situation?

I would like to be somewhat aggressive with this, and I love to be challenged, but since I'm new to the technique and rowing itself, what can I do to maximize my potential and not injure myself? I can tell you right now that 2000m/10 minutes per day seems like a waste of time. I get a great sweat going and I am definitely breathing harder at the end of the 15 minute session, but I'm not sore or achy enough the next day to feel like I've "done enough". I want to kick my own butt but still have the juice to get back on that thing six days out of seven.

Should I do 10k/X minutes per day? 5000m/X minutes translates to roughly 25 minutes, is that enough? What's my starting point?

Current exercise attempts are below.

I did the "Just Row" option for 15, 10, then 15 minutes with these numbers Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Setting was #4.
• 15:00 @ 2.39.7
• 10 @ 2:31.3
• 15:00 @ 2.40.1

Then I did the 2000m, and got this on Wednesday. Setting was #4.
• 2:22/500m, 9:41.1

I do both. I row based on time in the morning and meters in the afternoon. It is two different mind-sets and so it allows me to mix it up a little. One is "how many can I row in X minutes" and the other is "how quickly can I row X meters". I approach them differently.

[sekitori]

I do both. I row based on time in the morning and meters in the afternoon. It is two different mind-sets and so it allows me to mix it up a little. One is "how many can I row in X minutes" and the other is "how quickly can I row X meters". I approach them differently.

I really don't care to know how quickly I can row for a certain distance or how many meters I can row in a certain length of time. I'm fairly competitive, especially with myself. I don't want each workout to be a contest where I attempt to set a personal record. For me, that approach will create such a contest--something I definitely want to avoid. Instead, my workouts are based on perceived exertion which is determined by how hard you feel you're working. I exercise at a pace that is perceived by me to be hard or somewhat hard. See the article below. I can feel that I'm exerting myself but I'm not short of breath and am still able to carry on a conversation fairly easily. I try to go at that pace for a certain length of time--usually about an hour. I really have no idea how fast (or slow) I'm going or the distance I've covered.

Even though I'm using perceived exertion as a guide, I'm still able to tell fairly accurately what my heart rate is under those conditions (if I care to do so) without using a heart rate monitor. Since I'm only concerned with the length of the workout, the only figure on the monitor I want to see is the timer. I have now covered the monitor with only the timer exposed. All those other figures have no meaning for me. I know that after the workout, I feel that I've worked pretty hard and that I'm fairly tired. Immediately after I finish, I occasionally will take my pulse. It's fairly high--in a range of 150 to 160, sometimes even a little more than that. After a minute, it drops to less than 100 and I understand that rate of recovery is quite good.

The usual 220 minus age formula to determine maximum heart rate doesn't work for me. If I worked out at 80 per cent of my maximum rate using that formula, my pulse would be around 125 or so--too low for an effective workout. I'm sure that formula doesn't apply to others as well.

A couple of times a week, I do intervals--1 minute at a harder than usual pace and 1/2 minute at a slower recovery pace. I do 40 repetitions of that routine for a total of an hour. Again, I don't care how fast I'm going. I know that each hard segment is more fatiguing than my usual steady pace and that's exactly what I want it to be. By the way, I always take one day a week off without doing any aerobic exercise. It was very difficult for me to avoid exercising for a day, but I got used to it. I learned that it's not a good idea to do fairly intense exercise daily without taking an occasional break.

I'm sure this kind of routine may not be for everyone, but it works for me.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/borg-scale/

[Bob S.]

The usual 220 minus age formula to determine maximum heart rate doesn't work for me. If I worked out at 80 per cent of my maximum rate using that formula, my pulse would be around 125 or so--too low for an effective workout. I'm sure that formula doesn't apply to others as well.

Even the originator of that bogus formula is said to have laughed at it. Check out Wikipedia and scroll down to Haskell and Fox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate

Bob S.