Concept2 Forum

So yesterday, the cardio kickboxing instructor was late. And I saw the Concept 2 rowing machines right in front of the room and decided to give it a try for 5 minutes. This is at LA Fitness. Not bad. So I came here last night looking around and learned as much as I could to start a program.

I'm 53M/5'5"/167 lbs. I've tried to be active but the last year only managed to go to cardio kickboxing -KB- classes about 1-3 times a week, which isn't enough. I lifted weights before but don't feel like doing it right now. I don't want to do anything that I have to think or count or get bored. Keeping track of KB class is easy. If I showed up, it counts as 1. A success. I don't have to think or worry about what to do. Just follow the instruction.

My diet is not bad, but I don't count calories and I allow myself to eat as much as I want. I'm not willing to change this just yet, thus, the weight don't come off. I gained about 7 lbs in the last year.

I'd like to weigh 150 lbs, but I don't set my goal that way. I set my goal on a daily basis like going to KB class. My biggest concern is the belly. I've developed a belly and I want to get rid of it. I know that belly fat is the most difficult to lose as they are the last to come off. I've been working on an exercise plan that would work for me. I thought of doing KB 3 times a week, and this week, begin adding 2 yoga classes to it. Even with that, I still don't think it's enough to deal with my belly fat. Thus, the rowing program

Today, I started the rowing program. And from what I learned on this board, I set the damper at 3. I went for 1/2 hour and finished with the calories burned of 256 cal. I'm pretty happy about that. I'm also happy that I don't have to think or count. Screw that. The machine does the counting for me. I also knew that any exercise that has 'friction reduction' in its process, is a good exercise (skating, skiing for example) We human like less effort for what we put in. The sliding seat of the C2 is very good. The 'friction reduction' allows you to row to the tempo of music.

I have no discipline problem if I find an exercise that I like. So far, I think I will like the rowing on C2. It has all the elements that I was looking for.

Here is my workout plan:

M - Rowing, Yoga class
T - KB class
W - Rowing, Yoga class
Th - KB class
F - Rowing
Sa - KB class

Instead of worrying about my weight or belly, I worry about making the goal on a daily basis. If I show up and do the rowing and yoga, I'm happy. That's a success for the day. My next goal is to bump the rowing to 1 hour and 500 cal.

So that's my story. I hope rowing will eventually help me lose my belly fat and take me down to 150 lbs. I don't have any time frame and I think it's silly to set one. It's like saying I want to be a millionaire by the time I reach 30 or 40 or whatever. IF it's going to happen it's going to happen when it does. Not when you want it to happen. Where the hell did the time frame come from anyway? Out of thin air.

I just want to make the grade on the work out schedule on a daily basis. That is something I can do.

CardioKickboxer wrote: My next goal is to bump the rowing to 1 hour and 500 cal.

Good going, I think you will like it. As you get stronger, you will pull more calories, and you will exceed 500 in an hour for sure. Today, my 10,000 m took 46.08 minutes and I pulled 573cal for example...

good luck,

N

nchasan wrote:
Good going, I think you will like it. As you get stronger, you will pull more calories, and you will exceed 500 in an hour for sure. Today, my 10,000 m took 46.08 minutes and I pulled 573cal for example...

good luck,

N

Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to figure out the right button to show the meter. It seems like everybody talks meter around here. I only saw the cal figure when I started the machine and I didn't play with it.

I like to go sit in the sauna for about 10-15 minutes as a warm up, then I can get on the C2 and go. I will start out slow and see how I do with the 30 minutes and 250 cal, 3 times a week. I don't want to start big, then crash and burn and quit. That would be really silly.

I like your numbers. If I can pull 500 cal a session, that'd be sweet.

That is a good plan of pulling 500 calories a session,just try and mix it up a bit,you dont wont to get bored.The thought of going to the gym to sit on the erg for an hour 3 times a week will get boring.See how far you can go in an hour,and then try to beat it from week to week.Then do 2x30 min rows at the same speed.Then try 4x15 min at a slightly faster pace.(you could set yourself new goals every week)Just a thought.

Unfortunately, I had a pre-existing condition with golfer's elbow. So only after three 3o-minute sessions, my left elbow started acting up. It's not the fault of the Concept machine. It's a great machine and I would use it if I had good elbows.

For substitution, I came up with jumping rope. With the Concept 2, I had much better record keeping. So I walked by the machines and sighed.

Anyway, my program is now consisted of sauna for 10-15 minutes. Jumping rope for 10-15 minutes total time including rests. Some weight lifting for the hams and military press, 3 sets of each. This is done and over with very quickly. As I think those two don't get much emphasized. So my program is now consisted of:

Mon - Sauna + Yoga, skip rope + weights
Tue - KB + another cardio class (total 2 hours)
Wed - Sauna + Yoga + skip rope + weights
Thu - KB + another cardio class as needed
Fri - Sauna + Skip rope + Weights (optional, less than 1 hr)
Sat - KB
Sun - Sauna + Skip rope + Weights (optional, less than 1 hr)

Don't give up too easily. I had problems with sore shoulders and tingely sensations in my fingers. I swtiched to much more gentle rowing and have very slowly worked my way up to harder rows than I was doing before, with (so far) no troublesome symptoms.

djh wrote:Don't give up too easily. I had problems with sore shoulders and tingely sensations in my fingers. I swtiched to much more gentle rowing and have very slowly worked my way up to harder rows than I was doing before, with (so far) no troublesome symptoms.

Yeah, it may seem like I gave up too easily. Perhaps, I should mention that I have golfer's elbows for over 10 years. There was time period that I would rest for months without much improvement and only gained weight in the process. As I'm battling the weight problem, I really can't afford to take chance and I have to take a no prisoner attitude. That is, any exercise that gives me any sign of trouble, must go and go immediately. At my age, I can't afford to aggravate an old injury that can interfere with my other exercises. Perhaps if I keep on rowing, it will get better, but it could also get worse. Do I want to take a chance? But why? I only have one set of elbows but there are plenty of other exercises out there that won't bother them.

I think it's the pulling motion in rowing that irritates my golfer's elbow. I can participate in cardio kickboxing for years without any problem. Likewise with yoga (except for shoulder stand), it didn't give me any problem. I expect the same experience with jumping rope. The only problem I see may come from ankles and feet, but not with my elbows.

I still think the C2 Rowing machine is a great tool for most people without my type of injury. I know I would be doing it if I had no elbow problems.

I developed golfers elbow and minor carpel tunnel from rowing some time ago.
What I did:

Changed back to a horizontal handle from the curved model d for a while
wore elbow straps

What seemed to work the best:

Dropped the damper a little lower and rowed more gently.

Now I turn my model d curved handle upside down for several 5-10 minute sections of my 50 minute sessions and I row underhanded. I believe it relieves the strain on my elbows and helps to build up muscles on thee other side of my arms. My split time goes up a little this way, but it doesn't matter to me.

grams

I dont know what monitor you are using at the gym but it is most likely the PM3. if you follow this link you will get a quick tutorial on how to use is and how to change the settings so that you see other things besides Calories
http://www.concept2.com/us/service/monitors/pm3/

grams wrote:I developed golfers elbow and minor carpel tunnel from rowing some time ago.
What I did:

Changed back to a horizontal handle from the curved model d for a while
wore elbow straps

What seemed to work the best:

Dropped the damper a little lower and rowed more gently.

Now I turn my model d curved handle upside down for several 5-10 minute sections of my 50 minute sessions and I row underhanded. I believe it relieves the strain on my elbows and helps to build up muscles on thee other side of my arms. My split time goes up a little this way, but it doesn't matter to me.

grams

Thanks for the great suggestions. I think I'll give them a try on lowering the damper and use underhand grip. It's a gym equipment so I'm not sure about changing their handle to a straight one. I'll check.

Lowering the damper makes sense, as I intuitively sensed that it wasn't a good thing for me to pull heavy load of those elbows. And the underhand technique will shift the emphasis from the inside of the elbow to the outside.

I will definitely try these out. Thanks.

GlennTeddy wrote:I dont know what monitor you are using at the gym but it is most likely the PM3. if you follow this link you will get a quick tutorial on how to use is and how to change the settings so that you see other things besides Calories
http://www.concept2.com/us/service/monitors/pm3/

Yes, it's a PM3. And I did figured it out by trying different buttons. Thanks.