Supporting Your Fitness Goals & Pursuits

[old] RowedandRode · Post by **[old] RowedandRode** » October 14th, 2005, 9:12 am

You train regularly and diet and juggle your schedule to fit in workouts. Maybe you compete in athletic events as well. Your family may have to make a few sacrifices of your time. They know it's important to you; do they attend your events to cheer you on? Maybe they work out with you? Or perhaps they ignore your efforts, or try to discourage you. What kind of support do you get from your nearest and dearest people?

[old] woolsmith · Post by **[old] woolsmith** » October 14th, 2005, 11:45 am

Hi R&R! Interesting survey, thanks for starting it! I know that persons trying to lose significant amounts of weight will often encounter resistance (often unconsciously) from friends and family members. The resistance stems from a fear of change, imho. Or perhaps those folks who are around the individual dieter or exerciser somehow feel threatened with the activities. Maybe some folks might feel guilty or inadequate in light of the new, positive, healthier behaviors being exhibited by their friend/family member. Or perhaps there is a fear that the dieter/exerciser will no longer be "one of us." I can envision resistance statements such as, "Oh come on, it won't hurt to miss one workout," or "Do you have to do that NOW? I wanted us to go get groceries," or "One brownie won't hurt you." I've been a victim of that last one, myself. It's chocolate, what can I say? And I can see women in particular caving in to any subtle or not so subtle attempts to manipulate our time we've set aside for ourselves. Many women have often been socialized to put our wants and needs AFTER husbands', children's, parents', EVERYONE's needs. To expect or demand time for ourselves can produce a lot of guilt for many women. How could we possibly be so selfish? My husband isn't trying to keep me from doing any workouts, but he's not helping that much to encourage me, either. I don't hear anything like, "Here honey, you go do your rowing, and I'll start dinner." (We trade off a lot of household chores, btw, so I'm not the only dinner-fixer). However, I *do* hear things like, "I can tell you've lost some weight; your (fill in blank) is looking a lot smaller. He's just not much of a talker though...probably because he can't get a word in edgewise with me around! That could probably lead to another whole psychological analysis in itself. I'd be very interested in hearing what other women's thoughts and experiences are with these things. Anyways, I get a lot of my positive strokes for the rowing and exercising from y'all. And I hope to be able to give some back! Thanks for being there in the Pond with me, Sister Ducks. --Jen

[old] DavidA · Post by **[old] DavidA** » October 14th, 2005, 2:43 pm

Oops, sorry I just looked at the poll title, but not the forum on which it is posted. You may take off my vote for #2. David

[old] RowedandRode · Post by **[old] RowedandRode** » October 14th, 2005, 2:49 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(DavidA @ Oct 14 2005, 02:43 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Oops, sorry I just looked at the poll title, but not the forum on which it is posted. You may take off my vote for #2. David </td></tr></table> David - It might be called a "Women's Forum" but I don't think that means you can't vote in the poll, or tell us what you think! I would like to hear your thoughts on support for your endeavours.

[old] Krysta Coleman · Post by **[old] Krysta Coleman** » October 14th, 2005, 2:50 pm

Interesting topic.. For me, I get a lot of support from my sister, Shannon/Canada Goose, who was the one who got me started rowing. My brother-in-law, nephew, and niece are also all indoor rowers, to varying degrees. My mom doesn't row, but she has endlessly patient ears, when I tell her all about my goals and results. I also really like these forums, and the RowPro community. As for my own household... well, my husband did buy me the rowing machine as a late birthday present, so that is pretty good support. He doesn't really have much interest in my race results or anything, but he is glad to see that this makes me happy and considers this to be cheap entertainment for me. He works too much to really help facilitate my work-outs, but my baby girl and I have gotten pretty good at working around that. We bring a playpen to the gym when I lift weights, and I usually row at home during her naps. - Krysta

[old] Canada Goose · Post by **[old] Canada Goose** » October 14th, 2005, 3:09 pm

Hi everyone, I am Krysta's sister, Shannon. I have managed to get my husband, two children and sister rowing which I feel is quite a feat The only thing that is irritating is that my sister is so much faster than I am My husband and sister are great supporters. They are always interested in how I do on my rankings etc. My husband actually even calls home from work to find out how I did! My son (who is not into doing ranked rows) thinks I am a bit bonkers, though. One time as I was gasping after a hard race, he said, "Mom are you trying to get a workout, or give yourself a heart attack!" I also find that my training partner, Ellen, is a bit supporter. She is a great cheering squad!! I think that the training partner idea is a good one. Plus she is a bit competitive about who has accumulated the most metres this season, so she keeps me going. She's making me look bad right now though. I've got some work to do to catch up to her! Last night my daughter was reading a book and came across the phrase "Death Row." She thought it had something to do with Concept2!! Shannon aka Canada Goose

[old] DavidA · Post by **[old] DavidA** » October 14th, 2005, 3:14 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(Canada Goose @ Oct 14 2005, 02:09 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Last night my daughter was reading a book and came across the phrase "Death Row." She thought it had something to do with Concept2!! Shannon aka Canada Goose </td></tr></table> That's great! and sometimes probably not too far off David

[old] DavidA · Post by **[old] DavidA** » October 14th, 2005, 3:23 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(RowedandRode @ Oct 14 2005, 01:49 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>It might be called a "Women's Forum" but I don't think that means you can't vote in the poll, or tell us what you think! I would like to hear your thoughts on support for your endeavours. </td></tr></table> My wife is pretty supportive, she knows that getting to row is important to me, and a I do many of the household chores, so she usually lets me. She also likes to exercise, but feels that the erg hurts her back too much, although I she has done over 1 Mm, maybe even 2, lifetime on our erg. She couldn't, however, care less about numbers: meters, times, rankings, etc. When I told her this past Wednesday that I had just passed 2000 hours on our erg her response was 'uh huh, wash the dishes'. Most of kids have erged a little, but aren't into it, although once in the while the 9 year old boy will have a spurt of a few days of doing 4 or 5 minute rows. Mainly they just know that Abba (dad) makes too much noise when the want to watch TV David

[old] ancho · Post by **[old] ancho** » October 14th, 2005, 3:35 pm

Difficult to say, my wife Berta is an ex-"elite" rower (OTW), and although we have rown some regattas together (Catalan champions in mixed master 2x in 2005! ), she doesn't really understand the whole ERG-madness, and thinks it's all about my midlife crisis. Having 3 kids, I try to organize my workouts so they don't interfere too much with family life (lots of workouts during lunch break), but I often feel some kind of passive resistance. Further we "trade" days (I row tuesdays in the evening and sunday morning, she takes fridays and saturdays "off"). My oldest son, Eric (9) instead is one of my supporters, and as a matter of fact he is just about to get hooked on erging after testing a model D during a regatta we attended in Hendaie (France), where he did the coxing. All together, I feel M U C H better since I've started again working out regularly. Have fun!

[old] billandmargaret · Post by **[old] billandmargaret** » October 16th, 2005, 10:26 pm

My husband bought the erg and is a more consistent exerciser than me. He encourages me. He's not so motivated by numbers as me so my pbs tend to be greeted by grunts, but on the other hand, when I get discouraged he reminds me of my progress. I appreciate the online enthusiasm for new pbs. Also, when he's away or not talkative it's nice to "chat" with others about my goals. I have kids who are mildly supportive. I instruct my 3-year old to entertain himself within my sight while I row outside in the carport. Now when I'm not rowing he tells me, "Mom, since you're not rowing you don't need my company. I'm going inside." I enticed my daughters to row in last year's Holiday Challenge with rewards (their own can of olives for rowing 20 days). This summer they were much more excited to row 1000 meters as a prerequisite to playing half an hour of a computer game. That got them to enthusiastically complete their age challenges and they were thrilled to get their certificates, tattoos, and patches/buttons. Maybe I should make myself row for every minute I spend on the computer. Margaret

[old] TLCoons · Post by **[old] TLCoons** » October 17th, 2005, 8:48 am

While I picked option #2 (generally supportive but disinterested) as being the most true of the options listed, I must give credit to my husband for always actively supporting my work-outs. He always proudly comments on how well I take care of myself and often compliments various aspects of my physique. He also encourages me to work-out even if it means an inconvenience for him. I am terribly grateful for his support and for the fact that I haven't yet 'converted' him over to using the C2 and, thus, do not have to compete against him! ... all's right in the world.

[old] grams · Post by **[old] grams** » October 17th, 2005, 1:56 pm

My husband is a cyclist. Although he is mildly supportive, I can tell he thinks cycling is more'interesting'. He does put up with my loud music accompaniment during my sessions. My grandson (19 years and an OTW guy) is definitely impressed but he is not around for support as he is in college far away. The rewards come in other ways: The new small wardrobe I had to get when I lost 35 pounds. The double-takes folks give me when I tell them my age. The endorphin boost after a session. My mood is generally 'up' for the whole day. Family members may not conciously associate erging with these other benefits but I'm sure they would notice if the side effects went away. grams

[old] Nayla · Post by **[old] Nayla** » November 1st, 2005, 3:12 pm

It's really nice to see that no one is being actively discouraged from exercising in this poll. Yeah!!