Training how often?

[bergerm6]

I am okay with the times.
I am wondering what is up with the 30 pound increase in weight in one day.

Check who made the posts. I wasn't the one that said I weigh 190. I weigh 162, like I said.

[bergerm6]

The routine I have been following is a longer row (10K to 12K) on Thursdays and a shorter row (5K or a couple of 2Ks) combined with full body lifting on Mondays. I have been making good progress but am thinking I'd like to add another day or two a week rowing and I can't figure out exactly how to work it in without rowing on back to back days.

In case it matters, I am 48 years old 5' 8" 162 lbs and my PRs are:
2K - 6:30, 5K - 17:21, 10K - 34:55

so you are 162 pounds here.

Well i suck! Msybe I need to lose weight.

I think i am like 190lbs now.

Mm

now you are 190 lbs here.

which are you?

I am bergerm6....the first post you quoted saying 162 is me. The second post you quoted is by mmayzak. Not me. It isn't even a similar username.

[Edward4492]

Getting back to the point....rowers row. I find it to be a sport that is very forgiving when it comes to training virtually every day. In my case it is strictly indoors (no on the water), six days a week, in the 55k to 60k range, with occasional weeks hitting 100k. The very best will hit 200k weeks, I would surmise the average poster on this site is in the 40k to 60k range, just a guess.
Not a balanced fitness approach; but it's what I do. It's also not too time consuming, 10k a day only eats up 45 minutes.

[bergerm6]

Getting back to the point....rowers row. I find it to be a sport that is very forgiving when it comes to training virtually every day. In my case it is strictly indoors (no on the water), six days a week, in the 55k to 60k range, with occasional weeks hitting 100k. The very best will hit 200k weeks, I would surmise the average poster on this site is in the 40k to 60k range, just a guess.
Not a balanced fitness approach; but it's what I do. It's also not too time consuming, 10k a day only eats up 45 minutes.

Thanks, makes sense. I am wanting a "balanced fitness approach", but right now I'm also enjoying rowing more than my other activities. I guess tipping the balance more towards rowing and less towards lifting/running is where I'm headed.

[markinnb]

The routine I have been following is a longer row (10K to 12K) on Thursdays and a shorter row (5K or a couple of 2Ks) combined with full body lifting on Mondays. I have been making good progress but am thinking I'd like to add another day or two a week rowing and I can't figure out exactly how to work it in without rowing on back to back days.

In case it matters, I am 48 years old 5' 8" 162 lbs and my PRs are:
2K - 6:30, 5K - 17:21, 10K - 34:55

so you are 162 pounds here.

Well i suck! Msybe I need to lose weight.

I think i am like 190lbs now.

Mm

now you are 190 lbs here.

which are you?

I am bergerm6....the first post you quoted saying 162 is me. The second post you quoted is by markinnb. Not me. It isn't even a similar username.

thank you for this. I apologize for my initial doubt. I have no excuse for my error.

I didn't see anything wrong with your times to be honest. I thought that you must have done the 5k at a comfortable pace. and then realized that you could do that pace for a much longer time.
hence the 10 k at close to the same pace.

[Galeere]

I mostly row 6 days out of seven, mostly with three hard sessions (hard distance, intervals or long rows) and three less intense sessions (HR-controlled, slow ones, not necessarily short). I think that´s whats needed to make the fastest progress. If you want to make the sceptics happy it would be nice to see some verified results in the rankings and/or some info on the type of machine you are rowing on and more on your fitness background.

[markinnb]

I am okay with the times.
I am wondering what is up with the 30 pound increase in weight in one day.

Check who made the posts. I wasn't the one that said I weigh 190. I weigh 162, like I said.

got it. as said, I have nothing to blame my error on. so I will use sleep deprivation and exhaustion as the default.

as for the training, I think that your training now is along the lines of the lower volume and/or higher intensity &/or weightlifting crowd.
the multi prong approach with weekly meters 50 k or less

the 5k time was relatively easy stroll for you or at least not all out.. and you later did the 10K at the same pace. sounds reasonable.

what stroke rate and drag factor did you use for the 2k ? which version of the C2 and PM? ?

[ArmandoChavezUNC]

In my case it is strictly indoors (no on the water), six days a week, in the 55k to 60k range, with occasional weeks hitting 100k. The very best will hit 200k weeks, I would surmise the average poster on this site is in the 40k to 60k range, just a guess.

On a recent podcast Bryan Volpenheim, coach for the US nat'l team, said on their heaviest weeks the US men put in 250k worth of volume (OTW + erg). Just to give you some reference. They're usually in the 190-220k range though.

For us mortals it really depends on your goals and your age. I'd say to be at the top of the "non-elite" group you need to put in at least 100k a week. More if you're younger, less if you're older. But really more volume = faster times, if done properly.

I'm still slowly building up my volume but lately I've been averaging about 100-110k per week. My goal is to top out around 150k on my hardest of weeks, but I have to build up to that.

[markinnb]

berger,

what are your goals? if it is a better 2k time, then try to toss in " X sets of 500 m R3'. 3 minute rest. you can alter the rest time as you get better. There's different schools of thought on this : 1. you want fairly complete recovery in order to max out each 500. 2. you want ~80% recovery so that each 500 is increasingly difficult - so that you got to dig deep to maintain the splits. hitting negative splits is the goal. eventually being able to string together these faster intervals to make a complete 2000m.
as often happens on internet boards, the people ( we ) tend to argue over the minutiae and the irrelevant so whether it's 7 or 8 sets or 75-92% is hardly the main issue.

in the beginning - I wanted to get complete recovery but then decided to try jumping back in a bit early. it was gut wrenchingly brutally fun. if you know what I mean.
in the beginning, I' starterd at 5 sets and worked up to 8 sets of 500.

I was in a similar situation as you are in now: couple things going on along with the rowing. So I decided to stop looking at a 7 day week constraint. I simply took 2 days off in between my rowing days. I was no longer held prisoner by the 7 day week. It gave me 1 or 2 extra sessions per month, allowed enough recovery and I was able to maintain my other activities. The other activities enabled me to do better at my rowing.
it's hard to juggle everything though.
One guy on here, Jack, keeps a daily table of his activities for the day- specifically rowing but it's quite impressive. His organization skills are top notch.
mine? not so much

[Bob S.]

If you want to make the sceptics happy it would be nice to see some verified results in the rankings and/or some info on the type of machine you are rowing on and more on your fitness background.

Personally, I would just ignore the skeptics. They are always going to complain now matter what. Even if you comply, there will be complaints about how you did it. (cf. the TJO nonathlon controversy.)

Bob S.

[markinnb]

If you want to make the sceptics happy it would be nice to see some verified results in the rankings and/or some info on the type of machine you are rowing on and more on your fitness background.

Personally, I would just ignore the skeptics. They are always going to complain now matter what. Even if you comply, there will be complaints about how you did it. (cf. the TJO nonathlon controversy.)
Bob S.

as skepticism goes... I like my " what's up with the 30 pound increase in weight?".... I want to see anyone beat that idiocy!

now, I have to search the TJO nonathlon controversy. hopefully it's something other than taking the best consecutive splits of a longer row and applying them to create the shorter row time.

[Cyclingman1]

Well, the OP can ignore the skeptics if he so chooses. But in actuality his postings simply do not add up. Been working out for decades, but does 2 rowing workouts a week and is rowing at near WR times and well under anything posted in recent years. The OP has it all in his hands as far clarification. Give one's actual name in addition to C2 moniker. Add some personal data in addition to age and wt. Post times in the rankings. Why should this topic be taken seriously if the OP draws doubt right up front and is unwilling to do anything about it. I would think that given the bogus posters that have frequented this forum in the past, that others would want some verification. Have we forgotten?

And bringing up TJO is totally out of line. For me, TJO is undoubtedly one of the most, if not the most, fantastic ergers ever. No one has ever doubted his achievements. I only wish that he would not be so reclusive. There is no doubt that he could add tremendously to discussions about training. And BTW, TJO's 10K WR 60-69 HWt is 34:54 and the 162 lb OP is 34:55. I'm from Missouri: prove it. Of course, I'm well aware why TJO was brought up. Just a opportunity to get in a little dig.

[G-dub]

I have lurked here a while but this is my first post.

Are there any rules of thumb regarding the most effective frequency of training? For example, do most of you row daily or nearly daily? Or would it be more beneficial to have off-days?

I ask because to me rowing seems like sort of a hybrid between lifting and lighter cardio (like running). I wouldn't lift using the same muscle groups daily. I have done cardio like running daily, but my knees and hips appreciate it if I run every other day.

The routine I have been following is a longer row (10K to 12K) on Thursdays and a shorter row (5K or a couple of 2Ks) combined with full body lifting on Mondays. I have been making good progress but am thinking I'd like to add another day or two a week rowing and I can't figure out exactly how to work it in without rowing on back to back days.

In case it matters, I am 48 years old 5' 8" 162 lbs and my PRs are:
2K - 6:30, 5K - 17:21, 10K - 34:55

As a 5'8" er, I am blown away at your times! And at 48 to boot! Amazing stuff - I guess I can't use the "lack of length" excuse anymore. I might have to take down Henry's picture and put yours up in its place! I agree with everyone else, you seem to have it nailed - anything else you will do on the erg will only make you more fit at it, which should make you even faster.

[bergerm6]

For you skeptics I think I understand the issue...and you're correct that my times look too good to be true. I sometimes use a concept2 (not sure what model, whatever the gym closest to home has) but mostly use a WaterRower (not sure what model, whatever the gym closest to work has). According to this thread comparing the two machines you can't really compare times rowed on a WaterRower to those from a c2.

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... es#p292228

All of my PRs were definitely from a WaterRower. Seems pretty obvious that the WaterRower is giving me times that are unreasonably fast. I'm really only competing with myself so it doesn't bother me that much....but it does mean that my times don't compare with yours from c2's.

Anyway, thanks for the helpful posts on training frequency and volume.

[ArmandoChavezUNC]

Mystery solved