Daily Workout Strategy?

[tmozer3]

I've only had my Concept 2 for a couple weeks. Originally I started at 5 minute sessions 4 times a day and worked myself to 20 minute workouts 4 times a day. However fitting in 4 20 minute sessions around meals and other activities is turning out to be inconvenient. For the past two days I switched to 2 30 minute workouts, one before breakfast and one before dinner. Any suggestions as to which might be better? 4 20's or 2 30's??

[Tenshuu]

What are your goals with rowing? Endurance? Racing? Weight loss? General health?

[tmozer3]

General health. Also some weight loss would be nice.

I was walking 5+ miles a day until my knees started to give out on me (I turned 70 this past August). While the knees are not yet bad enough for surgery, I have a feeling that is in my future.

Rowing seems like the perfect choice for exercise. My knees and legs actually feel better after a rowing workout. We were away (and away from my Concept 2) for the holidays last week and my joints started barking again.

I figure that 1000 strokes (which take me about 20 minutes) twice a day will serve as a good substitute for my halted daily walks.

[jamesg]

General health. Also some weight loss would be nice.

The C2 rowing ergometer can help with both. We reap what we sow, but a thousand strokes in 20 minutes does not indicate very clearly just what you are sowing.

I usually pull about 400 strokes in 20 minutes, at 120 - 130 Watts, and it seems to keep me fit. Now 79y, 183cm, 90kg. There's no getting round the First Law.

[Dangerscouse]

I think you will benefit more from less and longer sessions. 20 mins isn't a very long time to put your body through its paces if it's at a slower pace as you will adapt fairly quickly to this.

[lindsayh]

General health. Also some weight loss would be nice. tips
I was walking 5+ miles a day until my knees started to give out on me (I turned 70 this past August). While the knees are not yet bad enough for surgery, I have a feeling that is in my future.
Rowing seems like the perfect choice for exercise. My knees and legs actually feel better after a rowing workout. We were away (and away from my Concept 2) for the holidays last week and my joints started barking again.
I figure that 1000 strokes (which take me about 20 minutes) twice a day will serve as a good substitute for my halted daily walks.

The rower is perfect for those with bad knees and in my experience (with mine) will delay the need for surgery and improve the rehab when the day arrives.
If you are really rowing at 50 strokes per minute for 20 minutes then you really need to step back and spend a bit of time here looking at technique and training. A good goal would be 30 minutes with a steady strong stroke at about 25 strokes per minute and a pace of say 2:15/20.
Here is a link to a useful thread but there is a huge amount of good starter info here.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=185257&hilit=newbie

[Dangerscouse]

I didn't think about the stroke rate, but 50 is way too high and don't think that 'more is better' as it really isn't.

Slow and controlled is a far better technique to have if you're trying to build better health and lose some weight. The chance of injury is a lot higher when you're thrashing backwards and forwards.

Imagine trying to really rush a deadlift, you will certainly hurt your back, and that is slightly comparable to rowing at this stroke rate. You need to subconsciously get used to resetting your core stability with each stroke, so make them longer and fuller strokes. Imagine a position of 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock as where you need to be on the catch and at the end of the drive.

Make sure you don't have it on a high drag factor too as if it's too high you massively increase your injury risk even further. Lots and lots of newbies have the damper on 10 as they think that is what you need to do, which is wrong, and it doesn't always have the same drag factor on every machine due to a build up of dust etc on the flywheel for badly maintained rowing machines.

Before you row, click on More Options on the monitor and then Display Drag Factor. After a couple of strokes it will display the drag and you should aim for 110-130, but it is very subjective so have a play around and find what feels right.

[tmozer3]

My drag has remained at 5. Is that OK?

[tmozer3]

Thinking about my post above I realized that I mis-posted. It takes me about 30 minutes for 1000 strokes, not 20.

[jamesg]

Some stats would help to help: age, sex, height etc.

Best way to start is to learn to row. You can see how it's done on the C2 pages, if you haven't rowed before:
https://www.concept2.com/service/softwa ... how-to-use

[Dangerscouse]

My drag has remained at 5. Is that OK?

It depends. Is it your machine and fairly new / been cleaned recently? If yes, five is probably an ideal setting

If it's a gym rower then it's anyone's guess. For example, a really badly maintained gym / hotel rower could be under 100 drag on 10: my new rower was 242 drag on 10 when I got it, but they are usually around about 215/220. Usually when it gets over 140ish it's too heavy for most people to maintain good technique, but there are exceptions to this rule, Lance Campeau for instance.

[tmozer3]

5'8' 215 lb 70 yo male. The Concept 2 is new (a Christmas present).

I notice if I concentrate on deep returns my stroke rate goes down but my watts go up (20's to the 40's). Is a high watt number what I should strive for?

[Allan Olesen]

Is a high watt number what I should strive for?

Yes. Watt is good. Pace is good too (same as watt, just in a different wrapping).

The stroke rate doesn't really tell you how hard you are working. The strange thing about the rower is that you decide the resistance yourself when you pull the handle. If you pull hard, you get a high resistance. If you pull softly, you get a low resistance. So you can do a lot of soft strokes without really doing any work. But the watts will reveal that.

And actually, the watts already did reveal it in your case. You say that your watt are in the 40's? That is quite low, also for your age group. You are probably doing a very soft pull without much leg pressure, and then you are very quickly racing the seat forward to the catch position to be ready for the next stroke.

Try instead to do a good, hard stroke, pushing with your legs during the drive. And then slowly (use 2 seconds or so, just for that) return to the catch position. You will see your stroke rate go down, but your watts will go up, because now you are doing real work.

And of course watch some of the many splendid videos on technique. They will explain the stroke much better than I did.

[tmozer3]

Damn. I have watched several YouTube videos and thought I was doing things mostly right. Guess I will have to re access. (That is why I liked walking as an exercise. It is just natural and you don't have to worry about technique.)

BTW, what average watt value should I be looking for?

[Allan Olesen]

BTW, what average watt value should I be looking for?

Right now you probably shouldn't look for any specific watt values. Just focus on your technique, and you will see the watt improving.

But I can tell you where you will probably end up. Take a look at the 2019 rankings for males 70-79 years old for the 30 minutes session:
https://log.concept2.com/rankings/2019/ ... 9&gender=M

The median is 2:16.3 minutes/500m. Which is equal to 138 watt.

The best 75% are all at 2:26.3 or faster. Which is equal to 112 watt.

Of course, ranked workouts are supposed to be best efforts for those persons. Their daily training will be less intense.