TimbukTOO Team Room

[Bobbie_Zee]

On a lighter note, pun intended! I crossed a weight-loss threshold this week. At my Saturday morning weigh-in today I tipped the scale at 199.5. The first time over 25 years I have been under 200 pounds!

WTG John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Quatroux]

Hubby's back is out and I've got some very tender (but thankfully not broken) ribs where the seat belt grabbed me. It was terrifying to say the least. I haven't tried any exercise yet, but at least I can breathe deeply again. We're grateful no one was really hurt, but it did kind of put a damper on things for a bit.

Bummer - hope you two make a quick recovery! Keep us posted on your progress.

Andy I - 1,327 Still sluggish from the feast?

Soooo much college football! I had to settle for some core training during commercial breaks plus a few meters during halftime before getting called away to setup the Christmas tree. I you folks want an excellent resource for core training you should try this handy guide from Sportlyzer: http://beta.sportlyzer.com/pdf/basic_module.pdf

On a lighter note, pun intended! I crossed a weight-loss threshold this week. At my Saturday morning weigh-in today I tipped the scale at 199.5. The first time over 25 years I have been under 200 pounds!

Congrats! I have crossed that threshold myself, but then purposefully went back the other way thanks to some weight training. Keep up the good work!

[ronmardix]

Ron M - 7,000 Our skeleton crew boning up again on rowing!

How does this thing work again?

[glenmbaker]

How does this thing work again?

Pull handle. Recover. Repeat.

Always here to help.

..glen

[ronmardix]

How does this thing work again?

Pull handle. Recover. Repeat.

Always here to help.

..glen

You forgot the part where your lungs fly out of your chest because you haven't rowed in a very long time

[Bobbie_Zee]

Andy, thanks for these core exercises from Sportlyzer.com. I was in the process of putting together a series of core exercises, and these will nicely do the trick. These are quite "yoga-esque" in nature. Without the chanting. While rowing, I try to remember to keep my core "engaged" but there is so much else to think about (loosen your death grip on the handles, hands flat, shoulders relaxed, posture straight, DRIVE with your legs, BREATHE). And people ask what I think about when I row....... --Bobbie

[glenmbaker]

[...]but there is so much else to think about (loosen your death grip on the handles, hands flat, shoulders relaxed, posture straight, DRIVE with your legs, BREATHE). And people ask what I think about when I row....... --Bobbie

For extra credit try it on the water. To all of the above add: get the blade right in at the catch, damn..don't catch early, feel the connection, jump on the first inch, hang off the oar, feel it with the lats, legsbodyarms, pull straight to your mark, don't row into your lap, clean release, fast feather, fast hands out of the bow, get the body over, level hands on the recovery, square up earlier, do NOT rush the slide, stay loooong.

Heck it's just rowing, how hard could it be?

(should add "get really annoyed with the experienced rowers who make it all look easy")

[KevinMcGinn]

9 weeks (OK, today is the 10th) on Concept 2 rower - New PB: 7722m ave 1.56.5 (30min) - any tips on getting to 8k?

Some Stats:

Week Total Meters Total Time
40 7,112m 30:00.0
41 37,853m 2:44:39.0
42 48,508m 3:33:07.0
43 62,611m 4:30:00.0
44 13,680m 1:00:00.0
45 64,031m 4:53:08.0
46 38,101m 2:39:00.5
47 7,675m 30:00.0
48 29,484m 2:00:00.0
49 7,722m 30:00.0
Overall 316,777m 22:49:54.5
Overall Week Average 10,219m 44:11.4
Active Week Average 31,678m 2:16:59.5

Kev

[Cyclingman1]

New PB: 7722m ave 1.56.5 (30min) - any tips on getting to 8k?

8K in 30 min (1:52.5) is a demarcation line for male HW rowers aspiring to be pretty good, much like 7:00 (1:45) for 2K. Unless one is already a decent endurance athlete, it will take a few months of lengthy rows combined with some faster, shorter rows to get to 1:52.5 for 30mins. 1:56.5 is not far away, but it is hard to say how quickly the 4 sec can be achieved without an athletic history, age, etc, etc. The meters rowed per week is fairly inconsistent. 30K every week is better than 10K one week and 60K the next, at least to begin with.

[CONLEJM]

... The holiday with family part was nice, but some guy turned left in front of us in an intersection and we were totaled (rental car). Hubby's back is out and I've got some very tender (but thankfully not broken) ribs where the seat belt grabbed me. It was terrifying to say the least. I haven't tried any exercise yet, but at least I can breathe deeply again. We're grateful no one was really hurt, but it did kind of put a damper on things for a bit.

Lisa, I am glad that you and your husband are safe at home and recovering. I hope you both get perfectly well soon. Thanks for all that you do!

[CONLEJM]

On a lighter note, pun intended! I crossed a weight-loss threshold this week. At my Saturday morning weigh-in today I tipped the scale at 199.5. The first time over 25 years I have been under 200 pounds!

Well done, John! Your results are fantastic!

My results are trivial compared to yours, but I have lost about 30 - 35 lbs total, and I owe it all to rowing and changing my diet to mostly plant-based whole foods as espoused by Dr. Joel Fuhrman in the book "Eat to Live". I weigh less than I did in college, and right about what I weighed in high school - 6'4" @ 204 lbs. (I would like to stay right around 200 - 205 lbs.). Also thanks to rowing and eating right, my cholesterol levels, blood pressure and pulse are all right about optimal, too.

But your results are amazing! I wish you continued success!

[CONLEJM]

9 weeks (OK, today is the 10th) on Concept 2 rower - New PB: 7722m ave 1.56.5 (30min) - any tips on getting to 8k?

Row faster!

As Jim G said, much of your success in rowing is going to be a function of how conditioned you are, your age, weight, height, form and numerous other factors. Also, there is going to be a law of diminished returns; you'll make great strides at first, and then incrementally smaller improvements as time goes on.

One thing that motivated me last season and the previous season was ranking myself against others. Concept 2 has a great ranking system as you probably already know, and if you are the least bit competitive you'll find it very useful. At first I tried to get all my rows for the various distances/times up to the 90th percentile. Then that didn't satisfy, so I tried to get them all to the 95th percentile. And then the 97th percentile, and so on. Some got as high as the 99th percentile. Eventually you try to get a measly tenth of a second, or a single meter, more than the guy right above you!

Keep up the good work!

[The Blacksmith]

Challenge meters 49,501-money raised 0. Boy, these guys make us work to raise a buck.

[mathineer]

I'm about 151,000 meters shy of 4M lifetime. So my goal is to try to get to 4M by the end of the year. That's about 5400m/day. What could possibly go wrong?

[Quatroux]

Andy, thanks for these core exercises from Sportlyzer.com. I was in the process of putting together a series of core exercises, and these will nicely do the trick. These are quite "yoga-esque" in nature. Without the chanting. While rowing, I try to remember to keep my core "engaged" but there is so much else to think about (loosen your death grip on the handles, hands flat, shoulders relaxed, posture straight, DRIVE with your legs, BREATHE). And people ask what I think about when I row....... --Bobbie

Happy to help.
If your mind wanders while you are rowing you either aren't pulling hard enough or you are in the wonderful state where your heart has sent the blood meant for your brain to your legs instead. I prefer the later even if it isn't rooted in medical fact. That point just a hair slower than race pace where you don't have to fight the lactic acid but get to enjoy an endorphin bath is pretty great. Otherwise, I think rowing correctly doesn't leave much room for deep thought.