Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

My guess is that we weigh the same

How many lightweight races have you done?

I have 148 lbs. of non-fat body mass.

So I make weight at right around 10% body fat.

The average elite young rower is 9% body fat.

So, in non-fat body mass, I am just a standard lightweight.

It is just hard to get lean when you are 60 years old, especially in the flow of an adult life--job, children, wife, house, yard, social life, etc.

ranger

[goblin]

The energy demands of rowing are the same as the energy demands of cycling. Erging is a measure of raw power, just as cycling is. The technical demands of each are rudimentary, and after an initial learning curve your gains are going to come from improvement to your muscular energy systems.

How can you improve a "muscular energy system" that is uncoordinated, mistimed, truncated, arhythmic, imbalanced, inconsistent, missequenced, tense, etc.?


ranger

If this is how you characterize your rowing* after nearly a decade of thousands of strokes, then its not my fault you are not athletic. You might want to get checked for MS, Parkinsons, or some other neurological condition if this is how you would define your rowing* even after 2 years of hundreds of thousands of strokes.

*= We are talking about erging, not rowing, which after an initial learning curve of technique becomes as rudimentary as a cycling pedal stroke.

Ranger, I was also glad to see no reference to your speed in your last post about your Kurt Kinetic trainer session. Be careful to not let anyone know how little power your legs are really able to produce at UT1 heart rates.

[ranger]

If this is how you characterize your rowing* after nearly a decade of thousands of strokes, then its not my fault you are not athletic. You might want to get checked for MS, Parkinsons, or some other neurological condition if this is how you would define your rowing* even after 2 years of hundreds of thousands of strokes.

I am not describing my stroke.

I now row well.

I am describing the strokes of other 60s lwts, who only pull 9 SPI.

That isn't rowing well at all.

Because of mechnical and technical difficulties, they are missing almost 50% of their potential stroking power, given their available skeletal-muscular resources and energy systems.

ranger

[goblin]

My guess is that we weigh the same

How many lightweight races have you done?

ranger

Just as many as you have done at FISA defined lightweight.

[ranger]

Removed at request of thread initiator

[mikvan52]

I will row as a heavyweight OTW.

I have no interest in rowing as an OTW lightweight.

....

Those who are heavier will be penalized by the water.

to others: Ever notice how trolls love repeating total bullshit just to get a response.

[goblin]

I will row as a heavyweight OTW.

I have no interest in rowing as an OTW lightweight.

OTW, I will be delighted to just forget about weight and row.

Those who are heavier will be penalized by the water.

So OTW, there is no need to lose weight to find a fair race.

ranger

Then don't compare yourself to real lightweights like Mike VB. You are a midweight, which to be clear is in the heavyweight category. Please begin training at 16 SPI.

[ranger]

No veteran has ever rowed well.

ranger

[KevJGK]

In 2002-2003, I rowed poorly (10 SPI)

I now row well (13 SPI)

Following a months layoff due to a shoulder injury this quote inspired me, and made me wonder whether I could somehow “row well one day (13 SPI)” or even "row well" on the day of my comeback?

So I did a bit of number crunching - made a plan – and had a go.

And this is how it went:

I did a 5,000m warm-up @ 02:10 pace & 10MPS to check my shoulder - (“warm-up” sounds good but after 29 days of zero erging it was actually a reasonable session on its own). The good thing was my shoulder felt fine.

Then it was time for my main event:

I had a good rest for 10 seconds or so to make sure I was ready for the coming onslaught - then I bit the bullet and just went for it!

The Result:

500m - 8spm – 02:26.6



I think you’ll find that works out at a whopping 13.89 SPI and believe me, it would have been dead easy to maintain that incredible effort for at least a couple of hours.

The hardest thing was knowing where to look for the 5+ seconds I sat stationary after each stroke because of the strange looks I was getting.

I’m now totally confused – does this mean that I am an incredibly gifted athlete or, and I’m sure this isn’t the case - is this SPI talk just nonsense?

[goblin]

I think that after the last post, the thread can be closed. It has become a masterpiece.

[mikvan52]

So where is your evidence of world class milers that are doing fast marathons in preparation for the olympics?

Rowing isn't running.

It is primarily skeletal-muscular and technical, not aeorbic.


ranger

Skeletal-muscular is not an energy system. If I asked you what your car runs on, are you going to tell me transmission and gears? The energy demands of rowing are the same as the energy demands of cycling. Erging is a measure of raw power, just as cycling is. The technical demands of each are rudimentary, and after an initial learning curve your gains are going to come from improvement to your muscular energy systems.

Do you just wing it with your students at Michigan, also? I will say that I'm inclined to not recommend students apply there any more if this is the type of arm-chair education they can expect to receive.

Hey goblin!

Careful, you may be falling into a standard ranger trap:
ranger will never discuss anything on the basis of fact, only bald face lies and asinine conjecture.
He loves wasting people's good advice and truthfulness by skirting the subject of discussion

Just humor him, like you would any dottering old fool.

Say something like: "Fabulous!"
or
"Well, I'll be! I didn't know that!"
or
"Wow! That 2 1/2 hours of unbroken rowing at 12.5 spi will certainly be a wonder to see! Congratulations on job well done"

Leave it at that... If you don't want to get your blood to boil with frustration.
In effect, here's the situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMEe7JqBgvg

[ranger]

Yea, I am a midweight, but because of fat, not muscle and bone.

I am only 5'11" and have small bones.

I weighed 155 lbs. in college.

ranger

[ranger]

I’m now totally confused

Sure, probably a bit senile, too, as all geezers like us are.

But so it goes.

No need for a lot of thought about these things, really.

Try a FM @ 22 spm and 13 spm.

That will clear things up.



ranger

[mikvan52]

In 2002-2003, I rowed poorly (10 SPI)

I now row well (13 SPI)

Following a months layoff due to a shoulder injury this quote inspired me, and made me wonder whether I could somehow “row well one day (13 SPI)” or even "row well" on the day of my comeback?

So I did a bit of number crunching - made a plan – and had a go.

And this is how it went:


The Result:

500m - 8spm – 02:26.6

... but:
This workout is useless because you didn't take breaks like the maestro does in his "40k of daily rowing"
Get with it
"Duh"

[ranger]

Please begin training at 16 SPI.

Begin?



I trained at 16 SPI for several years, albeit at max drag.

In part, that's what prepared me to pull 13 SPI at low drag (119 df.), just naturally, as I do now.

It forced the issue!

All the rowing at 16 SPI taught me how to get fast with my legs, core, and back.

It also taught me about length and solid, inclusive, well-timed, well-sequenced, and balanced leveraging.

ranger