Workout during vacation...

[napoleon1815]

Hey all,

I've been using my rower every day since the first week of January 2011 and haven't missed a workout. I have a vacation coming up for 4 days and the time has finally come to miss my rowing for that time period. The hotel does have a gym so I still intend to do something and stay on my diet. However, I am not familiar with a lot of the other machines most gyms have. Any advice on what machine(s) are a good - but temporary - substitute for my morning row? From what I can tell the hotel does have ellipcatal machines, some bikes, some free weights, etc. Also, any advice on staying on track when you travel? As a reference I do 7,000 meters a morning at a moderate to high pace.

Thanks all.

[sander]

Being a frequent business traveler I revert to a combination of running, situps, pushups, and running/jumping up stairs. I do prefer to run outdoors to the hotel gyms.

[Keigan]

Find a CrossFit gym that can provide you with access to a C2 at your vacation destination - worth a few calls.

[gregsmith01748]

I travel about one week in four, often international. It's always a challenge to maintain a workout schedule. Almost every hotel has bikes, elliptical machines, treadmills and some have stair steppers and circuit training.

If I can find a fitness center near my hotel with a rowing machine, and I have time in my schedule to get there, I will try to keep rowing. Most fitness24 centers have ergs of variable quality, as do spectrum fitness centers. I'm not a member, but I buy a day pass.

If that isn't an option, I almost always opt for the elliptical because it is low impact and gets the arms to some extent. It ain't rowing, but at least I can maintain cardio vascular fitness. If I have enough time for a long workout, I'll usually break it up and do 2 or 3 different machines.

Since I am unfamiliar with pacing on the machines, I usually work off my heart rate to manage the intensity. I try to keep it in the UT1 range for a avgHR. I don't much point in doing speed work, since so much of that is neuro-muscular coordination that is specific to rowing.

By the way...you haven't had a rest day since you got your machine. Wow, that's pretty remarkable consistency. You might try an experiment to figure out if 6 harder workouts and one rest day per week yield better results than what you are doing now.

[chgoss]

FYI, C2 has in indoor rower location tool
http://www.concept2.com/us/interactive/rowerfinder.asp

[napoleon1815]

Thanks for the tips all. The locator was helpful...found two gyms in the same town with rowers...will check to see if they are close to the hotel.

Greg, yes I haven't missed a day and believe me it's getting to me. I've had such great weight loss since I started I feel like one day would be bad, even though logically I know better. I even bought a new Airdyne bike to mix things up and can't bring myself to use it...I think I have become addicted or obsessed. I am trying hard to mentally push myself into a workout like you suggested (one day off with harder rows for 6 days). I would ideally like to row maybe 5 days a week and do 2 days of some resistence training too. Again, I have to get over my obstacles.

[chgoss]

Ever consider getting RowPro? You could row online with other folks.. we love obsessed people

free evaluation copy at http://www.digitalrowing.com/Downloads/Instructions.htm

[gregsmith01748]

I got into this to lose weight and dropped about 50 lbs. I feel the same obession that you do, but I do my best to get over it and take off a day at least once a week. One thing that I've found helpful is to make the transition from rowing for calorie burn to rowing for speed. Now, I am following a more structured plan, with different workouts on different days, and you can really see the impact of overtraining in how well you can complete the sessions. The other thing is it gave me something to focus on after I lost weight, rather than obsessing about maintaining weight.

You need to do a lot of aerobic rowing to get your best 2K or 5K time, and I find that I am more motivated to both row hard and rest regularly in this structure.

[napoleon1815]

Thanks for the advice Greg. I would love a day off a week and I am working on the mental challenge of just doing it. I also have the habit of doing the same workout over and over and over...mostly because when I get on the scale every three weeks I see consistent weight loss. For example, I've been doing the daily 7,000 meter since mid-May. I want to mix it up...and it may actually help my weight loss...but again, it's a mental block. What type of different workouts do you do each day? I am looking forward to getting into maintenance mode with my weight...most things I have read (even on the Concept2 guide) say consistency is key to rowing for weight loss so maybe I fee like I HAVE to keep doing what I am doing.

[Bob S.]

Thanks for the advice Greg. I would love a day off a week and I am working on the mental challenge of just doing it. I also have the habit of doing the same workout over and over and over...mostly because when I get on the scale every three weeks I see consistent weight loss. For example, I've been doing the daily 7,000 meter since mid-May. I want to mix it up...and it may actually help my weight loss...but again, it's a mental block. What type of different workouts do you do each day? I am looking forward to getting into maintenance mode with my weight...most things I have read (even on the Concept2 guide) say consistency is key to rowing for weight loss so maybe I fee like I HAVE to keep doing what I am doing.

There is a program specifically designed for weight loss:

UK IP, Weight loss:

http://concept2.co.uk/weightloss/interactive

You might check that out.

Bob S.