Back after many years and pounds

[toppshelff]

Hello all, new to these boards.

I have an old Model C that I used heavily in 2001. I racked up over 500,000 miles and loved it. I was the most fit in my entire life.

Since then, life (and a lot of bad excuses) got in the way of my workout routine. 30 pounds later, I'm not liking where I am physically, and know that regular exercise could be so valuable in so many ways.

I like to run and I like to row. With Chicago winters coming, I'm going to skip the running for a while, and focus on rowing. I've set up my rower in the unfinished basement of my new house, with a TV and Blu-Ray player (no cable) ready for the watching.

Here are my goals:
1) Just do it (and stick with it)... this is the key to all the others
2) Rent great educational videos that I can watch while rowing to double the benefit (mind and body) and double my desire to row each day
3) Lose 10 pounds
4) Shave beard (currently covering up extra rounded face - the first place I gain weight, it seems)
5) Lose 20 pounds
6) Become a million miler


So, I'd like to ask you for your help.

a) Keep after me, I hope to track my progress here
b) Any recommendations for wireless headphones to keep the sound down (I'll do early morning rows when the family is not awake)
c) Any recommendations for good things to watch. I go to the library now for my material, but does Netflix still deliver and do they have good documentaries/education DVDs?

Thanks in advance,

topp

Day 1 - 3000 meters Video - Founding Brothers (History Channel documentary on Fathers of America)

[gregsmith01748]

Welcome Topp!

Best of luck with your plan. I used rowing to lose 50 lbs, and I've kept it off for 2 years now. I think the idea of rowing and watching tv is great. I used to do that, then I discovered audio podcasts, which seemed to work better for me.

I don't have any advice about wireless headsets, but I agree that it would be good idea. When I watched tv I had to have the volume blaring to hear it over the fan.

One thing I learned quickly was that I needed to watch what I ate closely. Rowing made me hungry and if I didn't keep track of food intake, I made zero progress on weight loss.

Do you have a rowing training plan that you will be following, or do you plan to just crank out the meters? A lot of people recommend the interactive weight loss training plan on the concept2 uk website. That gives you a plan tuned to your current fitness level that provides a variety of sessions and a progression to higher levels of challenge.

Any way, welcome to the forum.

[PaulH]

An idea in lieu of wireless headphones is to use the subtitles/closed captions instead - it's not quite as good as with the sound, but it is more comfortable than wearing headphones!

[toppshelff]

Greg, thanks for the kind words.

I ordered a pair of wireless headphones today (sennhesier 410), will let you know how they work out.

I'm going to start out just cranking the miles. I enjoy this the most, and I want to get re-addicted. Eventually, I have to start doing intervals, etc., but would prefer to wait until I start getting "bored" with my routine. I've got a long way to go before that happens. I looked at the UK plan, and perhaps that's where I'll go in a couple of months.

I was a little extra hungry this morning.

[toppshelff]

Day 2 - 3500m - no video as family was asleep
Day 3 - 4000m - watched America's National Parks - Yosemite (no volume - headphones haven't arrived)

[Bob S.]

Why does this thread keep showing up as unread?

[Bob S.]

Why does this thread keep showing up as unread?

Hah! It quit now. I guess that my message managed to turn it off somehow. It wasn't opening up with the unread messages, but it was showing a red icon on the board index.

[texzan]

Hey Topp..

I am new to Concept 2,, and brand new to the Msg Forum,, just signed up today. I discovered rowing at my Xfit class,, and fell in love with it . I had remebered reading years ago that rowing was the one of the best total body workouts you could do,, and I just never forgot it . So when it was introduced to me,,, I wanted my own rower right from day one,, well it took me a bit but I saved the money and made the investment in a Concept 2 Model D, PM 3 rower . And I love it ! I have it in my basement as well,, and I do most of my rowing in the mornings, Right now I am doing the Hoilday challenge,, and I have it figured into 20 days of 5000 m should get me to the 100,000 by Dec 24 .So that is my plan for now,, my first challenge with concept 2 and I am loving it.

When I am not rowing,, I am running biking or swimming, and doing cross fit. I am I am a Triathlete just completed my firt Half IronMan this past summer . Which if you had told me even a year ago I would complete a HIM,, I would of told you you were crazy .

Anyways enough with the boring stuff,, Just wanted to say Hi to you and tell you i will be watching for your post and seeing how you are doing,, I am like you taking it slow for now ,, may start some intreval stuff here soon,, but I love my rower,, and loving getting into the rowing world.

I just listen to music when I row,, no head phones,, I have no kids at home,, and Hubby is up getting ready for work when I am rowing,, so I crank it up Loud and clear,, turn on the Fan,, and Row my Ass off,, LOL ,, have a good day My friend.

Tammy

[jvincent]

Good luck with the return to rowing.

I just passed 1M meters today after buying a Model D in January. Similar to you, my goal was to lose some pounds. In the almost 11 months of rowing I've lost 35 lbs. I probably would have lost more but summer is golf season so I rowed quite a bit less from May - Oct than the other months.

Based on the home schedule my weekday rows are in the morning before heading out to work. On the weekend I'll row whenever it suits.

Here's the workout routine I've been following with pretty decent results. I try to row 3 or 4 days in a row, followed by a day off. On the days I row I alternate the following workouts.

1. 30 minutes - max distance
2. 30 minutes - 50/1:40 intervals
3. Performance trials - 2000m, 5000m, 10000m

I usually do the performance trials on the weekends since I don't row my best first thing in the morning.

I have found that mixing the 30 minute endurance and intervals is a really good setup. Typically the first day after a rest will be a hard 30 minutes, the next day will be intervals, then the next day will be an easier 30 min. I'll adjust based on how I am feeling and where the weekend rows fall in the schedule.

For the interval rows I do a total of 12 intervals. The first two are warmups, followed by 8 real intervals, then the last two are warmdowns. I like this combo because it works out to exactly 30 min and after 8 intervals I am basically dead.

My erg is in front of the TV and it's in the basement so I don't need to worry about noise. Having the TV on is a good distraction.