body gives up but brain wants to keep going

[6footminnow]

Firstly sorry if this is not the correct part of the forum to post ,,

new to a forum with so many topics , sub topics within topics lol.

I am coming from a background of zero fitness / exercise apart from walking the dog daily and general walking everywhere in life .

i bought a crappy rowing machine years ago , and never used it then decided enough is enough i really really need to lose weight , i have large feet and struggle to see them or any other part of my legs for that matter.

i started on the old rower daily , but after a short amount of time it broke and i discovered that it is so old the manufactures no longer make parts for it .

SO i done research into rowers , and yep you guessed it .
I invested in a model D PM5 rower . i have been on that daily for 30 mins with no issues until recently , more details bellow .

stopped ALL snacks , i stopped taking sugar in my tea years ago as i used to have 4 tea spoons of sugar . i dont eat chocolate . and at meal times i cut out a large amount of food , i no longer have enough food on a plate for 2 - 3 people.

So over the past 30 days i have went from 21 stone ( 294 lbs ) to 19 .9 stone ( 278.6 lbs ) .

i do not currently have a heart rate monitor as i am not sure where to start when it comes to something like that . i have heard the Wahoo TICKR works with the PM5 and is not to expensive.

But i am now not sure what is happening over the past few rowing sessions , i can row for a constant 25 mins . and then out of the blue something just gives up within me . my head wants to keep on going , but something just gives up, my body will come to a complete stop , gives up and its frustrating the hell out of me because the other day i was heading for 7000 meters.
by the time i started rowing again and finished i was back down to 5,884 meters. where as i have been over 6000 for the past sessions.

my PB to date is 6,623 meters with a split time of 2:15.8.

is this a normal thing to go through ?
or could it be weight related and my body is starting to use up reserves and now developing muscles , as my calves are like tree trunks and i have started to develop muscles in my arms that were once flatter than a flat thing lol.

[Gammmmo]

Unless you eat/drink very badly you should easily have enough glycogen to power you through 30mins and beyond. What happens if when "something just gives up" you just slow right down and keep rowing? You will be able to carry on. Unless you are erging so hard just prior to stopping that your body is aboslutely flooded with lactic acid it is your head that is telling you enough is enough. Even if you were FULL of lactic acid you could still slow down and continue. Without wishing to sound patronising, this is what endurance sports are often all about i.e. the body-mind connection.

[KeithT]

Agree with Gammmmo - its really your mind letting you believe your body is giving up. There is a theory by an Ex Navy Seal that when your mind is telling you that you are done you are only 40% done. Now, that may be extreme but the point is to press on, in this case keep Erging! Also, great job on the weight loss and life-style changes, it will all payoff.

[6footminnow]

not patronising at all , nothing wrong with hearing the truth .
After all we learn nothing if we never heard the truth.


i am not even slowing down any , my body will just stall and thats it come to a complete stop , grab the handle and off i go again for 1-2 mins then dead , come to a complete stop once again .

this is the first time that it has been happening .
as on the old rower i had been doing 10 mins twice a week.

when i got the model D rower i convinced my self if i am to get anywhere i need to do a hell of a lot more than 10 mins twice a week.
So i went for the 30 mins and been able to do that daily and after a week i was doing 30 mins with no issues .
this coming to a complete stop has only happened the last 2 / 3 times.

no doubt my diet is not helping , as where i live we have the grand total of 2 shops and anything healthy from them is pre made salad , salad or salad .
I have been toying with the idea of one of those fresh ingredient companies like Hello fresh , but when i contacted them they informed me they do not currently offer delivery in my area of the UK .
so i looked at one of the others but yet to actually commit.

As money / life is a bit up in the air for me as i am a full time care provider for my elderly disabled mother.

as for drink , if i don't count my cups of tea and we are talking water alone , i am drinking 6-7 glasses of water .


talking to a dietitian we worked it out last year i was eating over 4000 calories a day, and i had got that down my self from an unknown amount before i spoke to her.
and i have recently reduced it again to 2000 or a little more a day .
as her and the dr simply said "" your obese "" they offered up no help , no assistance , no advice in how to lose weight safely etc

[kini62]

You should probably invest in a HR monitor. It could be your body shutting down because your aerobically gassed. Happens sometimes. It's happened to me on workouts at a pace that I've done before. Just that on any particular day, for whatever reason you're just not capable of the same aerobic capacity.

30 minutes is way too short to run out of energy even on a calorie restricted diet, it's also too short for hydration to be an issue unless you're severely dehydrated when you start.

Keep at it and don't let a few "handle down" sessions discourage you. It will get better.

[Allan Olesen]

To me, it sounds like you are doing an all out effort every time you train, trying to beat your PB every time, right?

Instead, try 60 minutes a day at a slower pace where you can still talk normally. This way, you will end up losing more weight, and you will probably also gain more aerobic fitness.

If you want to spice it up, mix in 1-2 sessions a week where you go really hard for shorter intervals.

Disclaimer: I am not a coach. But I have lost 28 kg over 8 months doing a lot of low effort training, some of it in the C2.

[Dangerscouse]

I agree with Allan, I think you are being too optimistic with your pacing. Take it down and increase the time: distance will come eventually with lots of training, so just stay patient. It is difficult to start with but it's a matter of leaving your ego at the door and rowing what is sensible not desirable.

Wahoo Tickr is a good HR monitor if you decide to get one.

Well done on the progress so far, and keep it up

[6footminnow]

to be honest with you , PB has never once entered my thoughts .
i only ever notice the PB side of things when i have finished and log into the log book type in the numbers and up it comes , it is then and only then i notice i have increased my distance and splits from the previous time.
I have to admit it is also then when i have noticed it states if i had rowed for an hour at the same pace i would have burned off 700+ calories compared to the 300+ in the 30 mins and i just laugh and think yeah right , who the hell are they kidding no way can i row for an hour .

rowing for an hour is not always possible especially more so as darker / colder nights come in , as they take more of an effect on mum / moms health issues and i have more and more to do for her than i do say during the lighter / warmer months .

i am not sure if their really is an ideal time to exercise , the only real chance i have is in the evenings.


but i will increase the time and slow things down. the heart rate monitor is 100% on the list but have no idea what to aim for.

if it helps i am 6'7 and age 34


more than willing to try anything that increases the calories to come off quicker or rather burn off i should say.

[Erik A]

first up. good on you for taking the plunge and doing something about your situation. something is better than nothing

with regards to the handle down problem.
maybe do some longer interval stuff so instead of doing a single 30 min session something like do 3 x 10 mins with 1 or 2 mins rest in between. this is easy enough to set up on the PM 5. then when you feel comfortable with that just add another 10 mins interval and then another or say when you get to 4 x 10 mins change it to 2 x 20 mins and so on.

[johnlvs2run]

i do not currently have a heart rate monitor as i am not sure where to start when it comes to something like that . i have heard the Wahoo TICKR works with the PM5 and is not to expensive.

The Garmin HRM1G works great with my pm5 and is $15 on Ebay.

But i am now not sure what is happening over the past few rowing sessions , i can row for a constant 25 mins . and then out of the blue something just gives up within me . my head wants to keep on going , but something just gives up, my body will come to a complete stop , gives up and its frustrating the hell out of me because the other day i was heading for 7000 meters. by the time i started rowing again and finished i was back down to 5,884 meters. where as i have been over 6000 for the past sessions. my PB to date is 6,623 meters with a split time of 2:15.8.

That's to be expected, as 7000 meters is 2:08.6 pace, quite a bit faster than your PB so far. Once you're getting in better shape and faster as you're doing, it's better to not go hard every day as your muscles need time to recover and get stronger. Perhaps just take it easy for a few days and then try again. 5884 meters is still 2:32 pace, which is fine for an easy recovery day. Soon you'll be stronger and able to do the 7000 meter pace for PB.

is this a normal thing to go through ?

Yes.

or could it be weight related and my body is starting to use up reserves

No chance of that at this point.

and now developing muscles , as my calves are like tree trunks and i have started to develop muscles in my arms that were once flatter than a flat thing lol.

Yes, good work, keep it going. A healthy diet is #1 most important.

[Gammmmo]

if it helps i am 6'7 and age 34

That's a great start. Should you so wish it, you could post some good erg scores. Have fun with it, it can get addictive.

[6footminnow]

was not entirely sure where to put this , so thought in here was as good a place as any.


I have just done 1 hour 12 mins , splitting it up into 6 x 10 min , and slowing things down i managed 13,017 meters and 676 calories.
when i entered it into the log book , i was not able to rank it not entirely sure as to why.

But i am also confused as it said i done 1 hour 12 ( the 12 mins was the 2 min rest periods ) .. the calories states 676 burned then says calories per hour 563 so i have 2 diff readings. slightly confused . sorry if it is a straight forward explanation lol.


avrg split time was 2:45.9

[Allan Olesen]

If you want to rank a session, it needs to be the exact time or length.

You can't rank the first 60 minutes from a 1 hour 12 minutes session as a 60 minutes session.

And you certainly can't pick 6 intervals of 10 minutes from within that session and rank them as a 60 minutes session. That would give you an unfair advantage compared to those who rowed continuously for 60 minutes without stopping the clock to take breaks.

[6footminnow]

not entirely understanding that having a brain fart at the moment .

but once i had finished it totalled for the 1 hour 12 so thats how i entered it onto the log book , should i not bother entering the log book any more ? or should i have typed it in as 6 individuals

[johnlvs2run]

I only put the rowing time in the log book, and the pace, not the time in between.
It wasn't a ranking piece due to not being contiguous, but you can enter it manually as 60 minutes.
Then add the total meters, and the pace is calculated.
For example: 3600 seconds (60 minutes) x 500 / 13017 = 2:18.2 pace
Then I make a comment to myself, like /6 or 6 sets, to show it was divided in 6 parts.

When there are extra meters, I add them with a separate entry at an estimated or known time.