Is 30 minutes a day good enough?

ardodds · Post by **ardodds** » March 13th, 2008, 9:08 am

Hello all, I am new to rowing and I have a couple questions. I am 31 years old about 6'2 and 200lbs. I have been rowing since the end of Dec 07 (not long). I have a long history of being very fit and active (former football player, weight lifter, paratrooper). All of the above has taken a toll on my ankles and made it very painful to run long distances to stay fit. So I got me a concept2 model E. So far so good. I have been rowing every day for 30 minutes only taking 1 day out of every 8 to 10 off. My pace has gone from around 6500 meters at first to around 7800 now. I push myself every time to pull at least over 6600 (PB is 7833) every time. My 500M PB is 1:31 but that was more than a month ago and I start every 30 min with a 500M sprint at about 1:42 pace. Well, three months and 500,000 meters later I think it's time for advice. My goals are general fitness, muscle toning, and to keep from getting fat in my old age. Am I doing too much or too little? Is there another way to go about this that would be more beneficial? Any generic advice will be appreciated. This is all new to me. By the way are any of you near Concord, NC. I feel like I need some competition to continue to improve, and a guy can never have too many friends....

PaulS · Post by **PaulS** » March 13th, 2008, 10:47 am

Sounds like you are on the right track, hopefully you have worked out technique so that there will not be a lot of bad habits to break at some point in the future.

The only real change I would suggest to you if you stay with the 30 minute schedule is to alternate "Easy" and "Hard" days, defined by being about 5 seconds in avg pace difference, and the "Easy" days as completely steady paced sessions, i.e. no starting or finishing sprint. After all, we actually improve by allowing for recovery from the "Hard" days.

Check out the Online ranking, for a bit of competitive spirit from around the world in your age group.

There are a lot of different programs out there, but the STM (Stop the Madness) is one that I put together to fit just the type of schedule you are doing and is about as simple as it gets, as that was the point. The Wolverine plan will give you lots of reading to do and is also very effective. Either can be found using the Search function in the Forum.

Welcome to the Fray!

ardodds · Post by **ardodds** » March 13th, 2008, 11:20 am

I will definitely check out your workouts tonight and maybe give one a try in the morning. As far as my technique goes, I'm sure it's not great but I have watched the video and I try to emulate it to the best of my ability. At first I was starting to get sore elbows but after looking around here in the forums, I found that my elbows were not tight enough. I concentrated on keeping them in and now the pain is gone. Thanks again...

Gerhard · Post by **Gerhard** » March 14th, 2008, 12:47 pm

ardodds wrote: By the way are any of you near Concord, NC. I feel like I need some competition to continue to improve, and a guy can never have too many friends....

Try Rowpro, it's great.

rwj0j0 · Post by **rwj0j0** » March 14th, 2008, 2:43 pm

Is 30 minutes a day enough?
I think the answer is a solid yes.

indianlarry · Post by **indianlarry** » March 15th, 2008, 5:33 pm

30min a day is better then nothing.

ardodds · Post by **ardodds** » March 17th, 2008, 4:00 pm

Nothing, is exactly what I was doing before I picked up my rower. Thanks to all who replied. I have a little update, I took a couple days off so today when I hopped back on the rower I was feeling pretty good. I pushed it a little and by the end of 30 minutes I found I had beaten my previous personal best by over 100 meters. New best:: 7935!!! Tomorrow I will follow your advice and take it easy. Next stop 8000....

Stefan · Post by **Stefan** » March 18th, 2008, 8:50 am

You get a lot of benefit with 30 minutes a day.
Like Paul says, variety is good and will probably make you improve faster as well as reducing risk of damage and boredom.

I like the Pete Plan and if you keep the long steady sessions down to around 8 k you will be close to 30 min on each session.

http://www.concept2.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 09&start=0

ardodds · Post by **ardodds** » March 18th, 2008, 10:51 am

I am still planning to try one of the workout plans as soon as I get a chance to research them and pick the best one for me. 30 minutes is the sweet spot though because I work a 12.5 hour shift (6:30am to 7:00pm). In order to fit a workout into that kind of day, I have to do it @ 4:30 am.
I get home at night usually around 7:30pm. I have a few minutes to spend with my son before he's out for the night and a couple of hours to spend with the wife until I'm off to bed. The free time I have in the afternoon is too valuable to spend on myself, my family needs it.
Of course on my days off things are much easier.

Concept2 Forum

Is 30 minutes a day good enough?

Is 30 minutes a day good enough?

Thanks Paul

Re: Is 30 minutes a day good enough?