Is rowing only once a week a waste of time?

[Ombrax]

1) I'm primarily a cyclist, and weather permitted tend to do that as my primary cardio exercise.

2) I do row over the winter, when it's just too messy or cold to ride outside. (I hate riding the bike on rollers inside.)

3) At this time of year I'd rather be riding the bike outside, but I've decided to try to maintain some of my rowing fitness over the summer.

I need to decide between rowing once a week and twice. If I go with just once a week will that be better than nothing at all, or simply a waste of time? (let's assume that I probably won't be doing more than 7500 meters per session)

Thanks

[Gammmmo]

how often do you get out on the bike in the winter?

how important is maintaining fitness? do you race?

do you enjoy rowing?

IMO once a week isn't a waste of time but that depends on what your goals are.

[Ombrax]

how often do you get out on the bike in the winter?

how important is maintaining fitness? do you race?

do you enjoy rowing?

IMO once a week isn't a waste of time but that depends on what your goals are.

In Jan and Feb sometimes not at all.

I'm not a racer, just a middle-aged guy who enjoys cycling and would like to try to stay in some sort of decent shape.

I don't really enjoy my time on the erg (does anyone?) but it's better than riding the bike indoors, and I recognize that rowing is a much more "complete" exercise than cycling, so I don't mind putting some time in to help maintain my fitness.

However, given the choice between riding outside and rowing inside, the bike is much more likely to win, unless I decide to give myself a minimum number of erging sessions per week. So the question is whether that should be one or two. If I go with rowing twice a week that most likely means one less day per week on the bike. If I only row once a week I probably won't be losing a ride.

[jamesg]

It could help in several ways:

monitor your overall fitness, either by watching normal workouts or by doing standard tests
keep style under control or even improve if needed, when under no pressure to keep fit, already sorted
maintain shoulder and core strength, as well as legs, and keep hands hard, so that when you do restart it's not too much of a shock.

In general, the erg is available 24/7, as well as all its other advantages: no cost, no risk, can't drown or break ribs, no need to get home uphill or against the stream, shower right next door. You don't even need to decide anything, jump on and in 30' it's done.

Just to mention what comes to mind immediately.

[jamesg]

And of course you can still do both. 7k is not a killer, do that from 0600 to 0630, plus 2-3h bike in the afternoon; or even swim a mile or two.

[Ripples]

That was a question I asked myself last week, when I was finally able to get back on the water after a long winter. I purchased my 2D in late January solely to develop cardio endurance for a 45-mile kayak event later this summer.

I work full time, have a house and property to maintain, and also do core and strength training three times a week. Living on the water, I can easily do a couple of hours of long slow distance training in my kayak midweek after work. But that doesn't give me much time for other stuff so I considered doing the LSD paddling in place of the rower.

What changed my mind was performance on the water. I use a Forerunner 310XT and saw that I paddled faster for longer distances than last summer and I attribute that to the erg. So somehow I'll fit it because it's made a positive difference. If I can't do 30 minutes or more, then I'll do 15 minutes of high intensity work (85%+ of my max HR). I never enjoy the first five minutes but after getting over the warm up hump it gets better.

[Edward4492]

I have the same dilema, I love rowing on the water (OTW) and I'm new to it so I lose erg fitness. I'm very serious on the erg, but I've had a hard time convincing myself to do an erg session when I can get OTW. I'm trying now to do at minimum one hard erg session each week. And of course the erg is always there if I have time or weather constraints. Of the various aerobic sports I think rowing and cycling are the most compatible. So, not a wast of time. Do what you can when you can.

[Oarsome Fitness]

Absolutely worth it. Not only do you keep your heart ticking over, but if done properly you are building strength and endurance in the legs which will translate onto the bike. You might even enjoy putting in some different types of workouts depending on your goals.

Intervals e.g.
3x 2km w/ 6 minute rest
6-8 x 500m w/ 90 second rest
10-12 x 250m 2/ 30 second rest

Endurance
2-3 x 6km w/2 min rest (capped at 20spm)
30 min @ 20spm