Ranger's training thread

[ranger]

Unprecedented stuff that you can't even manage for 1/4 of your target distance. Why is that?

If you are rowing steady state, distance is irrelevant.

Then do the distance.

Sure.

When I am fully relaxed and consistent with my technique when I am pulling 27 spm, that's what I'll do.

I'm just practicing at the moment.

ranger

[ranger]

Rowing well is so hard to do that most never consider doing it for one stroke, much less learning how to do it automatically, naturally, inevitably, unconsciously, habitually, whenever you take a full, firm stroke.

And hardly surprising that almost nobody has, given that the biggest proponent of it has been training specifically for it for 8 years, and still has to stop every 5 minutes to make sure he's doing it right.

Yep, it is pretty _darn_ hard to get right.

Give it a try.

See what you think.

When those my age and weight give it a try, they miss it by 50%.

That's a lot.

Rowing well is _hugely_ skeletal-muscular and technical.

A good counterpart, perhaps, might be a double-back flip off the mat for a tumbler.

Pretty difficult.

You can't just walk in off the street and do it.

It takes some practice.

And when you are fifty, or even sixty, years old, it gets to be quite a bit harder yet.

ranger

[jliddil]

Let's play fill in the blank

____________well is so hard to do that most never consider doing it for one stroke, much less learning how to do it automatically, naturally, inevitably, unconsciously, habitually, effortlessly, consistently, etc., whenever you take a full, firm stroke.

[Bob S.]

I love the daily summary! I can skip six pages of useless Ranger garbage and still keep up!

YES! THANKS.. IT helps me while I go through RTD (ranger thread withdrawl)

Here's another tip for those like me.. it help with what the screen looks like===>>>
I put ranger on my "foes" list so his "poetic work" can be "ignored"



I just get to read what I used to come here for .... the responses.


Why waste time reading what ranger has to say?
What a relief!

One memorable day there was a page of just 15 single lines - the best record that I have seen yet. With an additional 3 on the pages before and after, it was a total of 17 uninterrupted RC posts. I think that it was Gus that spoiled the streak, but I have forgiven him for it.

I look forward to the day when I see 2 full consecutive pages with nothing but 15 lines each.

Bob S.

[snowleopard]

A good counterpart, perhaps, might be a double-back flip off the mat for a tumbler.

Complete and utter crap. It might seem that way to you since just sitting on the erg when you're juiced up at 3:30 am probably requires what seems like an exceptional degree of co-ordination and motor control.

For the majority, however, erging involves a pretty much horizontal plane of movement with no vertical or lateral extremes.

If erging is so troublesome for you, I'm amazed you're allowed a driver's license.

[MRapp]

Utopia for addicted erg athletes: ability to set up forum so only ranger posts including a screenshot show up. Further, forum would email you when and if these posts ever arrived so we wouldn't have to continually check to make sure he did not post what he promised he would.

That was originally typed as a joke, but is it possible?

[MRapp]

A good counterpart, perhaps, might be a double-back flip off the mat for a tumbler.

Complete and utter crap. It might seem that way to you since just sitting on the erg when you're juiced up at 3:30 am probably requires what seems like an exceptional degree of co-ordination and motor control.

For the majority, however, erging involves a pretty much horizontal plane of movement with no vertical or lateral extremes.

If erging is so troublesome for you, I'm amazed you're allowed a driver's license.

I wonder how many decades it took that kid who pulled 5:48 at crash b to learn how to habituate. The day ranger admits this isn't rocket science is the same day he needs to sit his ass on the erg and pull as hard as he can for a set distance with a clock running. Don't expect it in this lifetime.

[ranger]

A good counterpart, perhaps, might be a double-back flip off the mat for a tumbler.

Complete and utter crap. It might seem that way to you since just sitting on the erg when you're juiced up at 3:30 am probably requires what seems like an exceptional degree of co-ordination and motor control.

For the majority, however, erging involves a pretty much horizontal plane of movement with no vertical or lateral extremes.

If erging is so troublesome for you, I'm amazed you're allowed a driver's license.

I am not talking about sliding up and down the rail, doing no work.

I am talking about rowing well.

Rowing well is 13 SPI for lightweights; 16 SPI for heavyweights.

Give it a try.

How do you do?

ranger

[ranger]

I wonder how many decades it took that kid who pulled 5:48 at crash b to learn how to habituate.

Sure, there are quite a few kids out there who row well.

There are also quite a few kids out there who can do a double back flip off the mat in tumbling.

On the other hand...

Check back when the kid is 60 years old.

Have him work on pulling 16 SPI--easily, naturally, automatically, habitually, inevitably, consistently, etc.

See how long it takes him.

The skeletal-muscular challenge is considerable.

ranger

[ranger]

BTW, the first guy to do a double-back flip off the mat, Hal Holmes, grew up next door to me back in the 1950s in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

http://www.usghof.org/files/bio/h_holmes/h_holmes.html

ranger

[ranger]

BTW, funny story.

Hal's parents got Hal involved in gymnastics because they were worried about his physical development.

He was a weak, little, scrawny kid, who looked as though he wouldn't develop physically in ways that he should.

Hmm.

He showed 'em, huh?

He became the most amazing tumbler that the world had ever seen.

Tumbling is one of the most demanding skeletal-motor activities imaginable.

Heck.

In its skeletal-motor demands, it is almost as severe as rowing.



ranger

[snowleopard]

ranger,

Can you pull an erg handle? Yes.

Can you a do a double back off the mat? No.

Do you see what I did there?

Trust me, bigging up a very simple mechanical movement doesn't make you a better person. And let's not even talk about OTW. We all know what happened when you had to factor peripheral awareness into the rowing action: eight people nearly drowned. And you weren't one of them

[ranger]

To test your full body power relative to their weight, you might try to following:

(1) 50 jackknives

(2) 25 extension press ups

(3) 30 pull ups

The first one to post a video doing all three of these gets a gold star.

ranger

[leadville]

To test your full body power relative to their weight, you might try to following:

(1) 50 jackknives

(2) 25 extension press ups

(3) 30 pull ups

The first one to post a video doing all three of these gets a gold star.

ranger

Hard to believe, but rangerboy's getting even more cretinous these days.

Tumbling?? Jackknives? His next door neighbor? Somehow he's able to get plenty of time to wax eloquent about topics far from the subject at hand, but can't ever post a picture of his erg monitor after a workout. When he does post one, it's clear he can't row at a low split for as long as two minutes.

I think I may have to race in Grand Rapids this summer just to watch the ol' eggbeating fishkiller's OTW row. Unfortunately, rangerboy wouldn't show up.

[ranger]

ranger,

Can you pull an erg handle? Yes.

Can you a do a double back off the mat? No.

Yea, you're right.

Hal was much too small to be a good rower.

5'6", 130 lbs.?

He might have been a good cox, though.



I could have been a _great_ gymnast.

I just didn't choose to.

While Hal was futzing around in the gym, my brother and I were both Illinois state speed skating champions.

I was on skates before I could walk.

The UCT skating club in Champaign-Urbana was one of the great skating clubs in the country.

In retrospect, I suppose the most famous family in the club were the Blair sisters--Susie, Mary, and Bonnie--although I skated with the National champion in my age category, Ray Timpone.

I skated with Susie; my brother skated with Mary; Bonnie was the baby.

Bonnie went on to be the greatest woman speed skater in Olympic history.

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

ranger