Combining Weight Training With Rowing Machine

[ant_in_wales]

Hello
This is rather a premature question, because I'm still on the waiting list (7 weeks or so) but I am planning how I'll use the C2 Rower.
I'm 52, 5'11, 88kg (190lb) and have been weight training at home for about 5 years (eg 5RM squat 110kg)
I have managed to become stronger, but also fatter, and want to get down to 82kg maintaining muscle.
I'm thinking that rowing is puhing with the legs, pulling with the arms.
So do I really need to keep squatting - won't my legs be getting a good workout anyway?
I'm thinking of doing 6x 30-minute rowing sessions a week, and doing weights 3x a week straight after (upper body pushes like bench and overhead press, some arm work). And only eating noon-8pm.
Bit of burpees and chinups too perhaps.
I have done some searching, but I've not found any posts about people combining rower with some weights. Is it common?
I fear if I did just rowing, my weight would drop and I'd go too thin.
Thank you (and please join me in in willing the waiting list to move along quicker

[hjs]

Hello
This is rather a premature question, because I'm still on the waiting list (7 weeks or so) but I am planning how I'll use the C2 Rower.
I'm 52, 5'11, 88kg (190lb) and have been weight training at home for about 5 years (eg 5RM squat 110kg)
I have managed to become stronger, but also fatter, and want to get down to 82kg maintaining muscle.
I'm thinking that rowing is puhing with the legs, pulling with the arms.
So do I really need to keep squatting - won't my legs be getting a good workout anyway?
I'm thinking of doing 6x 30-minute rowing sessions a week, and doing weights 3x a week straight after (upper body pushes like bench and overhead press, some arm work). And only eating noon-8pm.
Bit of burpees and chinups too perhaps.
I have done some searching, but I've not found any posts about people combining rower with some weights. Is it common?
I fear if I did just rowing, my weight would drop and I'd go too thin.
Thank you (and please join me in in willing the waiting list to move along quicker

Combining is certainly possible, but you got to watch the amount of time you train.

Re legs, rowing does not replace weights, reason being longer distances is aerobic work, so the forces are to low. I would keep doing one squat session in.
Re weight, if you don’t change your diet I would expect your weight to drop that fast. Ofcourse with intermitant fasting that would change.

[mict450]

Hello Ant, welcome to the forum. As much as I like my erg, I would say, save your money & pass. Your goals are to maintain your muscle mass while cutting your fat. There are better methods to acheive your goals than erging.

Diet will be #1 to cut the blubber. Cut calories & carbs but keep protein high. If you're thinking IF, your eating window is too large. Best to cut it down to 4 hours tops. If you're not strict with diet, then nothing else you do will help you lose weight.

Continue to lift heavy to maintain as much mass as possible. There will be muscle loss, but can be kept to a minimum by lifting heavy.

If you still want to burn more calories, go for a walk, long one, at least an hour, two hours would be better.

[mitchel674]

Hello Ant, welcome to the forum. As much as I like my erg, I would say, save your money & pass. Your goals are to maintain your muscle mass while cutting your fat. There are better methods to acheive your goals than erging.

Diet will be #1 to cut the blubber. Cut calories & carbs but keep protein high. If you're thinking IF, your eating window is too large. Best to cut it down to 4 hours tops. If you're not strict with diet, then nothing else you do will help you lose weight.

Continue to lift heavy to maintain as much mass as possible. There will be muscle loss, but can be kept to a minimum by lifting heavy.

If you still want to burn more calories, go for a walk, long one, at least an hour, two hours would be better.

But this is a rowing web site. The answer must always be more rowing on your Concept2 rowerg.

[Tsnor]

Do google "overreach" and "overtraining". Be aware of the symptoms. At 6X per week, most/all of the rowing needs to be very slow. If you push happily along at moderate to heavy load you will end up with great results for 6-8 weeks, then trouble.

https://www.fasttalklabs.com/fast-talk/ ... d-burnout/

If you build a good training plan then doing 6 X 30 stacked with weight training is fine. Some specialists would tell you to go to fewer, longer sessions (45 min minimum) on the long/slow stuff.

Good luck and enjoy.

[mict450]

But this is a rowing web site. The answer must always be more rowing on your Concept2 rowerg.

I'll assume you're being facetious. The erg doesn't fit his goals. What's that old saw....to a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail?

If he wants to get an erg, I say great! But if he's thinking of replacing some of his weight training with erging, good luck with maintaining his hard won muscle mass. Unless he's on the juice. But then, he wouldn't be asking questions on this forum, unless he was trolling, which I'm assuming, he's not.

[Ombrax]

Personally (and I'm certainly no Charles Atlas) I think that the best possible combination for anyone (and what I do) is both, weightlifting and rowing. Where I differ from the OP, is that if I had to pick only one, then it would be the erg, because I think overall cardio is better for my body than doing weights, as neat as it may be to be bulked up a bit in a few spots.

It takes a little time to figure out how to integrate both into your life and your body's schedule, but I'm sure the OP will figure it out, and no, I would most certainly not tell him to not get an erg - the benefits far outweigh the negatives, even though he may well find that he might loose a bit of the bulk he currently has. The up side of more cardio exercise is IMO well worth it.

[ant_in_wales]

Thank you all for your considered and open-minded replies.
I can see that cardio and weight training are doing different jobs, and combining them is trickier than I'd imagined.
I hadn't considered "over-training" being a risk.
I am concerned that I'm doing no cardio at the moment, and improving my CV fitness will also burn some fat.
20 minutes erg before weights 3x a week, and 3x 30-minutes would be about 10 hours of exercise a week. Is that too much?
(PS I'm not trolling! I do a bit of trolling, but it's hopefully more amusing and provocative than "I'm going to buy a rower"! )

[hjs]

Thank you all for your considered and open-minded replies.
I can see that cardio and weight training are doing different jobs, and combining them is trickier than I'd imagined.
I hadn't considered "over-training" being a risk.
I am concerned that I'm doing no cardio at the moment, and improving my CV fitness will also burn some fat.
20 minutes erg before weights 3x a week, and 3x 30-minutes would be about 10 hours of exercise a week. Is that too much?
(PS I'm not trolling! I do a bit of trolling, but it's hopefully more amusing and provocative than "I'm going to buy a rower"! )

Overtraining is always a risk, although some people may claim otherwise. But a combination of almost daily training and eating to loose weight is tough on the body.
Also, people who are used to weights, sometimes tend to go hard on the erg, just like doing weights. For longer rows, that is not needed nor wanted. Use a pace which is doable and not racing.

[AndyWicks]

Hi,

Hopefully I may be able to offer some insight here. You sound similar to me, although my plan a is erging, I do want to keep my muscle mass. But I’m also a runner as well.

I play with my training regularly, I’m now on a plan of;
Mon - 1hr strength training (heavy weight, low reps)
Tue - 40mins interval run
Wed - 40mins size/ endurance weights (lower weight, higher reps) & 20min easy 5k row
Thu - 20-40min interval row (depending on intensity)
Fri - 40mins size/ endurance weights (lower weight, higher reps) & 20min easy 5k row
Sat - 1-1.5hr easy trail run

With this plan and similar (with only 2 weights sessions) I have managed to;
- Increase my 5k time on the erg
- increase my 5k run
- increase my strength in the gym
- maintain my arm, chest and leg dimensions
- lose 4kg

BUT, the key thing here for me, I eat properly, rest properly and am very strict with effort levels.

I think what you are saying is possible. Most on here may argue that my training doesn’t suit my plan a with only 1hr of erging sometimes a week. But I feel the strength training and running really compliment each other. I know I would be better at 1 of these if I concentrated more on 1 singularly, but I love the variety.

Hope things work out for you, but I wouldn’t rely on the erg to keep your muscle mass and spending a long time on it will mean you will be using muscle for energy at times

[ant_in_wales]

Sat - 1-1.5hr easy trail run

Thanks Andy - that seems a sensible balanced programme.
Although an "easy" 90-minute run did make me chuckle.

[mromero680]

I'm a little older than you and I've found that the older I get the more I focus on aerobic training. I still lift three days a week but it's more maintenance these days. I have phases where I decide to go heavy but I usually realize soon that it's more risky than it's worth. As long as I balance my macros I can maintain or drop weight on 3 aerobic and 3 weight sessions per week. As others have mentioned, the real key is watching your diet closely as there is much less room for error as we age.

[AndyWicks]

Sat - 1-1.5hr easy trail run

Thanks Andy - that seems a sensible balanced programme.
Although an "easy" 90-minute run did make me chuckle.

Haha, ye, probably should mention up to about 2 years ago I used to race trail marathons and have run 64miles in 1 go, so 1.5hrs is actually short for what I used to do. The easy relates to the effort level. Same with erging, my 5k pace is 1:40ish, but my easy rows are at 1:55-2:00 as I know I can sustain that pace for couple of hours if needed. Easy efforts are about building your engine and technique.

[KeithT]

There have been other post about this topic and I even created one a while back - it is a common "problem" many face and it's hard to figure out the balance but it can be done. After decades of being a weight training athlete I have become more of an Erger but I still use weights to keep muscle and strength. I am not as strong as I used to be but I will also be turning 53 soon and I am still fairly strong and have most of my muscle mass with low body fat. I have done this with just 2 days of weightlifting and/or CrossFit a week and 4 days of Erging. I may change this ratio when preparing for a rowing comp but it's my basic approach. When doing weights, stick to the basics and use progressive overload.

[ant_in_wales]

I have done this with just 2 days of weightlifting and/or CrossFit a week and 4 days of Erging.

That's just the sort of thing! I think I'd find that tough initially, so I can build up the Erg Days. How long are your erg workouts, Keith?