I didn't realise how lean rowing makes you.

[GreenStratMan]

This is the first time that rowing has been my only fitness activity. I have built quite a bit of muscle during the first 6 weeks of the Pete's beginner plan. But had a lot of wastage from illness. The veins of my arms and legs have become pronounced again. My muscle wastage is reversing quickly, looking quite ripped. Nice side effect. I'm feeling the fittest I've been for 2 years. Amazing how quickly things have progressed. My gastroenterologist was a rower and thinks my rowing is a good idea as I continue to recover.

I still have neuropathy, which causes numbness (although not complete numbness) in my feet, hamstrings, part of my glutes and left hand. But since starting the PBP, I have more feeling in my feet and hamstrings. My feet are warmer too, generally.

I'm pleased. Very much so.

I'd be surprised if I go back to the gym.

Getting back to swimming in the sea would be nice at some point too. One step at a time.

[Tony Cook]

I had to work to keep my weight on to be competitive when playing a good standard of rugby - 115kg. When I retired and did fixed seat towing I levelled out at 105kg. Since March, when I got on the erg as there was nothing else to do, I have lost 5kg. I saw it leaking out of me into the seat and floor - 2.5g per 1,000 meters rowed

[Dangerscouse]

I have been rowing on and off for 20 years, and I piled on weight about 10 years ago, and when I was made redundant in Nov 2011, and I got married in Feb 2012, a few guests said that they almost didn't recognise me as I'd lost circa 20kgs, from just regularly rowing to try and maintain some form of structure.

When I did my ultra distances in 2017 I lost about another 10kgs over six months, but this time it wasn't such a good look, and I lost so much weight I'm surprised there wasn't a sweaty oil slick on the gym floor.

Since lockdown I've lost another four kgs. I'm constantly around 88/89kgs now, despite eating mountains of food. I'm one of the lucky ones who can maintain weight with regular exercise, but I'll suffer if I ever stop!

[ampire]

This is the first time that rowing has been my only fitness activity. I have built quite a bit of muscle during the first 6 weeks of the Pete's beginner plan. But had a lot of wastage from illness. The veins of my arms and legs have become pronounced again. My muscle wastage is reversing quickly, looking quite ripped. Nice side effect. I'm feeling the fittest I've been for 2 years. Amazing how quickly things have progressed. My gastroenterologist was a rower and thinks my rowing is a good idea as I continue to recover.

I still have neuropathy, which causes numbness (although not complete numbness) in my feet, hamstrings, part of my glutes and left hand. But since starting the PBP, I have more feeling in my feet and hamstrings. My feet are warmer too, generally.

I'm pleased. Very much so.

I'd be surprised if I go back to the gym.

Getting back to swimming in the sea would be nice at some point too. One step at a time.

I've had improvements in reversing neuralgia, from spinal cord damage. Rowing has helped enormously with that. Less numb areas, less muscle spasm, less nerve pain, more flexibility without triggering neuralgia.
As for weight, if I stay under 40KM per week I don't lose weight or gain weight and seem to still make performance improvements if its rigorous enough.

[robbiep]

I've lost very little weight this year, maybe 1 or 2kg. I'm currently ranging from 86.0 to 86.8kg.

51, 179cm tall, it's a bit overweight, but not horribly so.

The real change this year has been in my body shape. With doing a lot less running during lockdown, and a lot more erging (and keeping that going once lockdowns have finished), I've put on mass on my chest, upper back, shoulders and biceps. So much so that one of my favourite polo shirts now looks and feels ridiculously tight on me (only found out on Thursday, as we were going out for dinner !)

I was a bit disappointed in the lack of weight loss, considering erging burns virtually as many calories as running, and my diet has probably been a little bit better this year, but the realisation that I've put on quite a bit of muscle mass has got rid of that disappointment.

[DNA_Rower]

I was 87kg after Christmas this year, with 23% body fat.

I'm now 74.9kg (this morning"s official Lwt weigh-in weight ) and 16% body fat.

My natural weight when not trying to get under 75kg for Lwt event seems to be about 78kg.

That's mostly from following the Pete Plan this year. I manage 100-150k metres during colder months, and 40-70k during Summer (when I switch to more cycling).

The other noticeable health benefit, is that my sleeping heart rate has reduced by 10bpm. I wrote a blogpost about it here.

[max_ratcliffe]

I have to really behave when I'm training hard or a I put weight on!

Higher intensity stuff leaves me feeling so hungry that I tend to consume huge amounts of junk unless I've prepared plenty of good food. I don't seem to have the will power to just say "no" to snacks - have to fill up on the good stuff or I pig out.

[flatbread]

I don't drink alcohol or eat junk (I don't consider Belgian chocolate junk!), and I've always trained a good bit, so I've always been quite lean. When I was a racer, I would deliberately lose muscle to be better on the climbs, and I was as light at 68kg in my 20s, and as low as 70kg a few years ago. I couldn't stay that skinny, and I had to go into energy deficit for 12 weeks to get there (those mountain races were basically threshold tests up 40-60min climbs, so the loss of high-intensity fitness while dieting wasn't a killer -- I could keep my aerobic power, but I would be weak for anything under 4-5min).

Like Gammo has said, I would get horribly weak when I was getting mountain-skinny. Couldn't do 10 push-ups, couldn't do 10 v-ups, but boy could I ride a bike. It's a pretty unhealthy kind of fitness.

No races and a lot of erging this year have me up to 78kg -- and 10% body fat. Pull ups, weight vest push-ups, v-ups, and the erg, and now I feel a good bit better. And I can do exciting stuff like cut the grass and not get sore because I'm scrawny.

[mict450]

I have major, major envy of all of you that can increase your training & still lose weight without restricting your diet. Those days for me are over 30 yrs ago I'm my rear view mirror. I train approx 10 to 12 hours a week, erging, NT Skier, Ercolina (similar to skierg) & various BW exercises. And unless I'm strict with intake, I'll balloon up quicker than a fat grey tick on a hound dog's back. Green with envy! I guess I chose the wrong parents.

[ampire]

I have major, major envy of all of you that can increase your training & still lose weight without restricting your diet. Those days for me are over 30 yrs ago I'm my rear view mirror. I train approx 10 to 12 hours a week, erging, NT Skier, Ercolina (similar to skierg) & various BW exercises. And unless I'm strict with intake, I'll balloon up quicker than a fat grey tick on a hound dog's back. Green with envy! I guess I chose the wrong parents.

Not sure if you have tried it, but you might get good results with free weights and less cardio. I find weight training keeps me lean.

[mict450]

Not sure if you have tried it, but you might get good results with free weights and less cardio. I find weight training keeps me lean.

Till I was in my mid 30's, my metabolism was like a blast furnace. Subsequently, it's slowed to reptilian mode. Have tried weights before & after. Burning carbs & sugar just makes my appetite uncontrollable. Till my early 30's, my metabolism burned off any extra calories I stuffed in my face. That is no longer the case.

Only thing that keeps my appetite under control is the boring stuff - SS, LSD.....the longer the better. Key for me to keep my svelte boyish figure is calorie restriction. The exercise is just for CV fitness. Doesn't do a damned thing to control my weight, unfortunately.

BW only for me now. My joints have been abused too much to tolerate anything more.

[Ombrax]

Only thing that keeps my appetite under control is the boring stuff - SS, LSD.....the longer the better. Key for me to keep my svelte boyish figure is calorie restriction. The exercise is just for CV fitness. Doesn't do a damned thing to control my weight, unfortunately.

I've found that for me the only way to really burn lots of calories is many, many hours on the bike. (outside, of course) Anything done inside tends to turn my brain to mush, although happily I've found that the erg isn't as bad as cycling inside.

If you need something that allows you to spend, say, 15 hours a week exercising without mind-numbing boredom, then cycling is IMO the best way to go.

[mict450]

Anything done inside tends to turn my brain to mush....

Agree 1000%!

[GreenStratMan]

This is the first time that rowing has been my only fitness activity. I have built quite a bit of muscle during the first 6 weeks of the Pete's beginner plan. But had a lot of wastage from illness. The veins of my arms and legs have become pronounced again. My muscle wastage is reversing quickly, looking quite ripped. Nice side effect. I'm feeling the fittest I've been for 2 years. Amazing how quickly things have progressed. My gastroenterologist was a rower and thinks my rowing is a good idea as I continue to recover.

I still have neuropathy, which causes numbness (although not complete numbness) in my feet, hamstrings, part of my glutes and left hand. But since starting the PBP, I have more feeling in my feet and hamstrings. My feet are warmer too, generally.

I'm pleased. Very much so.

I'd be surprised if I go back to the gym.

Getting back to swimming in the sea would be nice at some point too. One step at a time.

I've had improvements in reversing neuralgia, from spinal cord damage. Rowing has helped enormously with that. Less numb areas, less muscle spasm, less nerve pain, more flexibility without triggering neuralgia.
As for weight, if I stay under 40KM per week I don't lose weight or gain weight and seem to still make performance improvements if its rigorous enough.

I'm glad you've been able to gain improvements as far as your nerve damage goes. It's nice when you find some which you can enjoy and is so beneficial to health and fitness too. Thanks for sharing your experience, it's nice to hear about people who have been able to recover; either fully or to have made significant gains. Long may it continue.

It's funny when you've weight goes up when you've been training hard, your body fat has gone only to realise that it's due to muscle gain.

[GreenStratMan]

I have been rowing on and off for 20 years, and I piled on weight about 10 years ago, and when I was made redundant in Nov 2011, and I got married in Feb 2012, a few guests said that they almost didn't recognise me as I'd lost circa 20kgs, from just regularly rowing to try and maintain some form of structure.

When I did my ultra distances in 2017 I lost about another 10kgs over six months, but this time it wasn't such a good look, and I lost so much weight I'm surprised there wasn't a sweaty oil slick on the gym floor.

Since lockdown I've lost another four kgs. I'm constantly around 88/89kgs now, despite eating mountains of food. I'm one of the lucky ones who can maintain weight with regular exercise, but I'll suffer if I ever stop!

I love eating, I could do it as a hobby. I turned vegan about nine years ago. I fell off the wagon in 2019 while I was in hospital, I suffered from malnutrition because they weren't able to accommodate me as far a protein went. They kept giving me green salads. I started eating meat again. But have eaten a plant based diet again for about the last year. You can eat tonnes without putting weight on. I eat loads of vegetable, just love it. I'd guess you'd lose your appetite if you stopped, hopefully. Maybe you'll never stop. ;o)