Motivation to Erg

[JohnW18]

Hi recently I have found it hard to stay motivated while erging.
I erg twice a week tuesdays and thursdays and usually do erg pieces involving 2x20min or 1x15min/1x20min
Its very hard for me to stay concentrated on hitting my goal splits for these erg pieces. I cant stay motivated either, while erging I ask my self questions like:

Why are you doing this
You could do something better
Arn't you bored just doing the same motion hundreds of times.

I know its better to stay positive and I try but stuff like this gets the best of me

I also tell myself:
This is boring just stop
Fake an Injury
Its only been 5 minutes, It feels like its been an hour
etc.

I am passionate for the sport but recently im feeling unmotivated and I keep telling myself I cant hit my goal. Its very hard for me to prepare for these erg pieces.

Can someone tell me how to hit my goal times which is 2:00 for both, how to make the time go by faster, and how to approach the erg, and stay motivated while erging.

Anything is appreciated thanks.

[rhr]

Hi John,

Your dilemma is not a new one! It also becomes especially difficult to stay motivated when performance gains become marginal. There was a time when I was doing 11hrs a week on the rower in 1hr plus workouts. They take their toll.

How to fix that?
- Start entering the CTC challenge each month for variety or target a specific goal [I have chosen 3:05 for 1k and 6:30 for 2k]
- Start your workout at slightly faster than target [2:00} and see how long you can hold it for
- Pick a plan - C2 interactive / Pete Plan / Wolverine and introduce some variety that way
- Start training with someone - preferably of similar ability and try and push each other
- Alternatively you could try splitting the 20 mins into 4 mins@SPM20 / 4mins @SPM22 / 2 mins@SPM 24 on 3 or 4 mins rest x 2

I took a break from the rower and ran some marathons and ultra marathons for a year - now I'm back on the rower after a calf tear. However, this time I don't do the monotonous rows. A 'long' row I do is a 15x3 minutes on 1 minute rest - so all done in an hour + wu / cd. Other workouts are shorter and more intense. Personally I find intense workouts aren't boring at all and you are likely to stay focused on your target pace. If I'm not in the mood I also have a skierg and an airdyne so there's always alternative forms of suffering on offer! So if I want some endurance training I do [10 mins rower / 2km skierg] x 4.

Change it up until you feel motivated again.

Good luck

[Hanzo]

I have my erg placed infront of a television in the basement, and basicly I'm just doing what I would otherwise do while erging. This might not be the optimal setting for getting good results, but watching a good show will make me forget how boring the actual rowing is. Now I can row maybe 3-4 hours a week, while watching the same shows i would watch normaly sitting in a couch.

[KevJGK]

Hi recently I have found it hard to stay motivated while erging.
I erg twice a week tuesdays and thursdays and usually do erg pieces involving 2x20min or 1x15min/1x20min

Its hard to reply without knowing a bit more about you.

How long have you been erging?
How old are you?
What do you weigh?
How tall are you?
Have you ever done more than 2 sessions a week?
What other sports have you done or do you currently do?

[Edward4492]

I'm currently doing about 80k a week, just wrapped up a nice four week stretch of 15k hour long sessions. Steve Roede posted last week about doing 8 million meters in less than a year. For me it's all about the planning and the goal setting. I always have a four week plan written out and I make sure I see it through till the next phase so I'm not jumping around all the time. Most important, I always make sure the first two weeks or so are very do-able. I want some some successes in the book before it gets to challenging. By the last week of a four week cycle I should be looking at a couple of extremely challenging sessions. Then back off, evaluate, and plan again. it also helps to have some sort of goal event targeted that you can focus on. This can be as simple as a target PR attempt.

I also like to focus on different parts of my stroke during the long work-outs. It could be slow, hard pulls at 18spm or "rating up' to 30+. I'll pick out one part, like controlling how far back I lay back, and focus on that for 1000m.

Set some goals, keep them realistic, lay out a plan, and enter each work-out with some focus.It will come!

[jamesg]

I am passionate for the sport but recently im feeling unmotivated and I keep telling myself I cant hit my goal. Its very hard for me to prepare for these erg pieces.

This suggests you're trying too hard. Long term, all you need do is keep fit, and 30-40 minutes a day at low HR is enough and won't give you that frustration.

There's plenty of other ways of course, no doubt an hour running, swimming or cycling can have the same effect.

[T_M]

I personally enjoy the repetitive nature of erging...puts me into a zen-like state during longer pieces. I also like focusing on my strokes and finding those ideal ones from time to time and trying to repeat it over and over again (sort of like the perfect golf swing). Good music helps me get into the zone...and of course since I row in a commercial gym, there's usually some pretty nice eye-candy.

[JohnW18]

Its hard to reply without knowing a bit more about you.

How long have you been erging?
How old are you?
What do you weigh?
How tall are you?
Have you ever done more than 2 sessions a week?
What other sports have you done or do you currently do?

this is my 2nd year
16
160
6'
no
No other sports

I'm apart of a highschool team so a lot of the suggestions are good advice but they arn't the most helpful as I have to erg with a team at our club.

Update: I think I lost fun in rowing last year my coach seemed to be more fun and we mixed up our workouts. However this year its the same routine every week and only after 3 weeks im finding myself becoming burnt out, I can't push myself and when I try I feel like Im still destined to end up in the same boat as usual, which is the worst one. I understand its both on and off water skill needed and to be honest I feel like I have really good technique my old coach from last year seems to think I have great technique but It seems like my new coach seems to think otherwise.

All the comments are very helpful I would appreciate if anyone would add onto the list of comments. THANK YOU!

[Carl Watts]

Get RowPro mate thats all you need to stay motivated and row with others live online.

http://www.digitalrowing.com/

Pretty much impossible to stay motivated for years and years without it for most people, they just give up and sell the rower.

[gregsmith01748]

Thanks for the background on your situation. I'm sorry that your coaching situation changed for the worse. I have a couple of ideas. Some might not be practical.

I assume in addition to the 2 erg sessions a week you have multiple sessions on the water?

Here are my ideas.
- for the steady state pieces, try to pace with the pace or the rate or both. Do 1 minute at 1:59, then 1' at 2:01, then 1' at 1:58, then 1' at 2:02. Anything like that to keep you focused and break up the time.
- do the same thing with rate. 2' at 18, 2' at 20, 2' at 22 and repeat. Trying to hit rates will make you focus on taking the recovery well and might make you erg rowing look more attractive to the new coach.
- depending on whether you have time and how well you are tolerating the training load you have, consider adding a couple more short "sprinty" sessions each week. These could give you an edge in the next set of erg tests and maybe help you move up a boat.
- how strong are you? If you're 6' at 16, I think you have the height to do really well. If you struggle to deadlift more than 1.5x to 2x your body weight, you might want to add some strength training. Same with squats.

What's your current 2k time and steady state pace target?

[JohnW18]

Thanks for the background on your situation. I'm sorry that your coaching situation changed for the worse. I have a couple of ideas. Some might not be practical.

I assume in addition to the 2 erg sessions a week you have multiple sessions on the water?

Here are my ideas.
- for the steady state pieces, try to pace with the pace or the rate or both. Do 1 minute at 1:59, then 1' at 2:01, then 1' at 1:58, then 1' at 2:02. Anything like that to keep you focused and break up the time.
- do the same thing with rate. 2' at 18, 2' at 20, 2' at 22 and repeat. Trying to hit rates will make you focus on taking the recovery well and might make you erg rowing look more attractive to the new coach.
- depending on whether you have time and how well you are tolerating the training load you have, consider adding a couple more short "sprinty" sessions each week. These could give you an edge in the next set of erg tests and maybe help you move up a boat.
- how strong are you? If you're 6' at 16, I think you have the height to do really well. If you struggle to deadlift more than 1.5x to 2x your body weight, you might want to add some strength training. Same with squats.

What's your current 2k time and steady state pace target?

Thank you I'll keep that in mind for Thursday I also will try out that rowing program!
We don't really dead lift we mainly just run, run up hills, or erg. My first and only 2k was May this year and it was at the end of 2k season I got like a 7:16 or a 1:48.6 split.

[JohnW18]

I personally enjoy the repetitive nature of erging...puts me into a zen-like state during longer pieces. I also like focusing on my strokes and finding those ideal ones from time to time and trying to repeat it over and over again (sort of like the perfect golf swing). Good music helps me get into the zone...and of course since I row in a commercial gym, there's usually some pretty nice eye-candy.

I hate erging haha my coaches are making me hate it which is definitely not a good thing I'll keep that in mind thank you

[JohnW18]

This suggests you're trying too hard. Long term, all you need do is keep fit, and 30-40 minutes a day at low HR is enough and won't give you that frustration.

There's plenty of other ways of course, no doubt an hour running, swimming or cycling can have the same effect.

I wish I could take it easy but my coach wants me to push myself on these erg pieces :/

[hjs]

This suggests you're trying too hard. Long term, all you need do is keep fit, and 30-40 minutes a day at low HR is enough and won't give you that frustration.

There's plenty of other ways of course, no doubt an hour running, swimming or cycling can have the same effect.

I wish I could take it easy but my coach wants me to push myself on these erg pieces :/

So you are doing stuff you don,t like. Erging will never be not boring, you are going nowhere. If its for otw, you should look at the effect. If you really dislike it, the solution is simply, stop doing it. And pick ip something what does give you fun.

[JohnW18]

I like the sport and erging is the best way to get better at rowing... Pretty much everyone I know hates it because its so difficult. We hate it in a good way.