How should I ease my way into rowing enough for weight loss?

[IHateToLoseWeight69]

How did you guys ease your way into rowing long enough to begin weight loss? Also how many minutes/days a week did you guys have to row to begin to notice you were slowly losing weight? I'm thinking I should start with 5 minutes a day 5 days a week then double it in a week then add 5 minutes a week etc. But i'm not sure what other better alternatives you guys know of to slowly increasing my rowing till i have enough stamina to row long enough to lose weight. I think the reason I quit rowing before is I would over do on days when I had tons of energy then on days when I had poor energy I would either not row or row for a minute or two then quit. So i'm looking for more consistency in my rowing output.

[jvincent]

I started with 5K rows every other day for a couple of weeks, and then moved up to 30 minute rows.

Once I started the 30 minute rows I started to gradually increase my distance for 30 minutes. When I started I was around the 12th percentile for my age and I'm now around 50th. Once I was a few months in I started to mix in intervals and 10K rows.

I lost weight pretty steadily at about 3 to 4 pounds per month.

[jamesg]

Technique, Power and length of work-out have to increase together every time you row, until you can produce up to 1W/pound body weight, for 20-30 minutes, at rating 20. Higher rating is not a problem CV wise but will probably mean you're not pulling full length (needed to work the legs and improve flexibility) or full force (which helps on the strength side).

Five minutes is hardly enough to warm up, so not really a work-out. If you've never rowed on water, start with a backstop drill, pulling first arms only (50-100 strokes, rating 50-60) then add swing (same again, rating 30-35) then slowly add leg action until you reach full length, rating no higher than 20. This technical drill is also a warm-up. The object here is not to get exhausted immediately but to go the distance, so go slow and row well with full-length quick pulls and slow recovery. There is no hurry, boats and flywheels go anyway if we let them.

Low drag is needed so that the flywheel will spin fast and the next catch will be quick and smooth. The resistance you feel does not depend on damper setting, but is equal to our pull-force, thanks to Newton.

Fifteen minutes will then mean five for warm-up and ten for sweat.

At this stage, you know as much about rowing as you'll need, and will be able to extend to 90 minutes with no special problem.

Burning 500-1000 kCal a day sorts out the heat output side, will be normal and you'll be fit, which is what the erg's for. The effect on body mass depends on input too.

[hjs]

How did you guys ease your way into rowing long enough to begin weight loss? Also how many minutes/days a week did you guys have to row to begin to notice you were slowly losing weight? I'm thinking I should start with 5 minutes a day 5 days a week then double it in a week then add 5 minutes a week etc. But i'm not sure what other better alternatives you guys know of to slowly increasing my rowing till i have enough stamina to row long enough to lose weight. I think the reason I quit rowing before is I would over do on days when I had tons of energy then on days when I had poor energy I would either not row or row for a minute or two then quit. So i'm looking for more consistency in my rowing output.

An idea is the following, start with 5 minutes a day. So 35 minutes a week
On top of that mke that every week you do more, no matter how much, even 36 minutes is more, but no matter what it needs to be more every week.
Keep doing this untill you start loosing weight.

Food is very important, lower your carb intake drasticly, eat enough protein and greens.

[jimrothstein]

Also how many minutes/days a week did you guys have to row to begin to notice you were slowly losing weight?

Like others suggested, I started slowly and built up to about 30 minutes; 5x a week (it becomes a bit addictive). However, I began to lose weight only when I slowed down the strokes per minute (to 24, then 20 and sometimes 14-18 for long stretches) and I began to pay attention to my 'form' and using right muscles. (Think this is pretty much what jamesg wrote.) Then weight came off quickly. (Assuming diet, etc. is all healthy). I'm still a little puzzled, but believe fat is 'burned' when sub-aerobic (i.e. slow down).

[kayakr]

I began to lose weight only when I slowed down the strokes per minute (to 24, then 20 and sometimes 14-18 for long stretches)

That sounds like the point where your body is forced to start building and strengthening muscle to handle the load.