Rate my rowing routine - feedback appreciated

[EdL]

Hi all, I've owned a Concept2 for a few years now. I've started to get back in to it and would like some feedback on my routine (if possible).

Am I going right or wrong here?

My goals are to lose fat (a few %), remain healthy and hopefully build a little muscle as I go. I drink 50g of 'The Whey' after each row.

Every row starts with a pick of 3 mins and then 2 mins warmup (20spm). Followed by 3 mins cooldown of very light 18spm.

Monday - HIIT, 1 min on, 1 off. 2 min on, 1 off. Repeat for 25 mins. Split target <2:00 mins. Max HR 175-180.

Tuesday - steady 30 mins of rowing 20-28spm, breathing through nose only. HR 110-130.

Wednesday - Intervals of 4 minutes. 1 minute rest/very slow, 1 min at 2:20 split, 1 min 2:10 split, 1 min blast <2:00 split. Getting progressively quicker over 5K where final minute is <1:45 split (this is hard for me). Max HR 175-180.

Thursday - Steady, same row as Tuesday.

Friday - Intervals, same as Wednesday.

Saturday - mow the lawn, 30 mins.

Sunday - relax.

A bit about me: I'm 38 years old male, about average weight (75kg) for my height of 5ft 10" with 42" chest 32" waist.

[Steve180]

I’m no expert but I’d go longer on the steady rows. Gradually if necessary - 45 min then work up to 60.

I say that as someone who used to do 30 min but now do 60 mins.

Someone else might be able to comment on the HIITs.

[Dangerscouse]

I agree with Steve, and if you can find the time, rowing for longer will be beneficial: you should lose more weight that way.

HIIT sessions are fine, but you won't make much progress if that is all you do, which may not be an issue for you. Variety is key if you want to improve.

Finally I'd also say that the whey drink is probably unnecessary. This is just added calories, and a good meal will be better, especially if you have a good diet. Rowing will possibly add some muscles over a long period of time, but it's no replacement for weight training.

[jamesg]

Any work that leads to sweat is good work. As you get fitter you'll be able to do more and faster, same as any other activity, even walking.

If interested in rowing as such, make sure your stroke is a good one: rowing correctly uses a lot of muscle so can easily overload our CV systems at low ratings and so offer a substantial training effect even over short distances. Data on power and rating is available on the PM, so you can estimate the classic C2 erging markers which are W/Rating and W/kg. You can also see meters per stroke, as you would afloat. 10 meters per stroke is useful if you want to go places, and not difficult once you know how.

Tuesday - steady 30 mins of rowing 20-28spm, breathing through nose only. HR 110-130.

A typical oarman's workout is 30 minutes at rating 20; 200W is a good target.

[Carl Watts]

Pretty low HR to get a decent workout, even at my age an average HR in the 130's for a 30 min is a "Recovery Row".

Increase the distance to lose weight but 2 x 30min is easier at both ends of the day than one 60 minute.

Do more steady state meters.

[MPx]

I like short intervals, but every other day done properly hard would be too much for me. So I'd suggest swap one of the three you do for another longer slower session. And while two hard sessions per week is fine, both being sprints may not have such a good training effect as one being longer (but still hard) intervals like 4x1500 on 5min rests - this will still see a very high HR and possibly get it to max if you keep going hard to the end of the last.

Of course you are still young and although I didn't start until my 40s I liked to go hard most sessions back then as well! If it works for you, then really no need to change.

[EdL]

I’m no expert but I’d go longer on the steady rows. Gradually if necessary - 45 min then work up to 60.

I say that as someone who used to do 30 min but now do 60 mins.

Someone else might be able to comment on the HIITs.

Thanks, I am going to work my way up to 35, then 40 and beyond.

[EdL]

I agree with Steve, and if you can find the time, rowing for longer will be beneficial: you should lose more weight that way.

HIIT sessions are fine, but you won't make much progress if that is all you do, which may not be an issue for you. Variety is key if you want to improve.

Finally I'd also say that the whey drink is probably unnecessary. This is just added calories, and a good meal will be better, especially if you have a good diet. Rowing will possibly add some muscles over a long period of time, but it's no replacement for weight training.

After your comment I'll varying my HIIT. I tried a 30s on and off for 20 minutes, that was good. Averaged a 1:53 which is a record for me!

In ref protein, I'm always hungry and eat a varied diet. But I find it hard to hit my required 130g of protein per day. I also don't want to lose muscle whilst training!

[EdL]

Any work that leads to sweat is good work. As you get fitter you'll be able to do more and faster, same as any other activity, even walking.

If interested in rowing as such, make sure your stroke is a good one: rowing correctly uses a lot of muscle so can easily overload our CV systems at low ratings and so offer a substantial training effect even over short distances. Data on power and rating is available on the PM, so you can estimate the classic C2 erging markers which are W/Rating and W/kg. You can also see meters per stroke, as you would afloat. 10 meters per stroke is useful if you want to go places, and not difficult once you know how.

Tuesday - steady 30 mins of rowing 20-28spm, breathing through nose only. HR 110-130.

A typical oarman's workout is 30 minutes at rating 20; 200W is a good target.

Thanks. I'll do some tests as I've not looked at watts!

10m per row, noted. I feel like I do that, if not more. But I will review.

[Ernits]

I disagree with Carl about SS heart rate. 130 is pretty much bang on where you want to be. No need to race your easy rows. The pace will come down eventually with the heart rate at the same place. I do my easy rows at around 130bpm with max HR of ~192 and usually go up to high 180s at interval sessions. If you are interested, you can take a look at my Logbook (https://log.concept2.com/profile/1267889). I started rowing bit more than two years ago and by now have completed the beginners Pete Plan and 23 cycles of the full Pete Plan. What improved my form consistently was increasing weekly time on the rower while not overtraining - keep the easy rows easy and go hard on intervals.

What I would perhaps change is go to two interval sessions instead of three and replace one with additional endurance row while upping time. If you can't go continously, 2x30 min / 3x 20min or so is also fine with few minutes in between for water and rest for the butt. Also I would not make a point of breathing through the nose only - breathe normally, no need to really concentrate it on easy rows. I would also be very vary of people recommending you to do 30 minutes of 200W at 20 spm - that's 10 w/stroke/min that makes you go 7 min 2K at 30 spm. This is a hard workout and more akin to an interval session than a casual row. Many of the people recommending you to go 200w at 20 s/m don't even have a 7 min 2K to show for all their advice.

You said you do some protein shakes after workouts. It would be better to have some carbs instead - have a banana, some bread etc. For some more background info, I would recommend Dylan Johnson's videos on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/DylanJohnsonCycling). His sport is endurace cycling, but the science rings true for all endurance sports.

[wpuk]

I agree with Steve, and if you can find the time, rowing for longer will be beneficial: you should lose more weight that way.

HIIT sessions are fine, but you won't make much progress if that is all you do, which may not be an issue for you. Variety is key if you want to improve.

Finally I'd also say that the whey drink is probably unnecessary. This is just added calories, and a good meal will be better, especially if you have a good diet. Rowing will possibly add some muscles over a long period of time, but it's no replacement for weight training.

After your comment I'll varying my HIIT. I tried a 30s on and off for 20 minutes, that was good. Averaged a 1:53 which is a record for me!

In ref protein, I'm always hungry and eat a varied diet. But I find it hard to hit my required 130g of protein per day. I also don't want to lose muscle whilst training!

Have a look into BCAA powder

[Carl Watts]

Probably something else to think about is your final goal.

Typically you need to take your body into account, it plays a large factor in what's possible. You do want to build both strength and Cardio to what your capable of but you inevitably see what I call the "See Saw" in "Average" peoples results (meaning don't compare your results to those of Elite athletes with the perfect genetics for their sport, they are freaks), in that you naturally tip to one side or the other.

For me the sub 5Km was fulcrum point, always better at distances/times less than this and lots of work was done to improve my distance rows. These days the training has dropped to lots of 20spm rowing at now at times its drops to silly low ratings as well. Yesterdays row was a 10K at 2:08 pace doing 15.5spm with an average HR of just 144. My distance rows are starting to go to the dogs pace wise and now I get smoked by younger, lighter rowers, but the sprints are still pretty good fun.

[Dangerscouse]

I disagree with Carl about SS heart rate. 130 is pretty much bang on where you want to be. No need to race your easy rows. The pace will come down eventually with the heart rate at the same place. I do my easy rows at around 130bpm with max HR of ~192 and usually go up to high 180s at interval sessions. If you are interested, you can take a look at my Logbook (https://log.concept2.com/profile/1267889). I started rowing bit more than two years ago and by now have completed the beginners Pete Plan and 23 cycles of the full Pete Plan. What improved my form consistently was increasing weekly time on the rower while not overtraining - keep the easy rows easy and go hard on intervals.

This is a good point.

I have made very notable progress from doing lots of low HR distance, and everyone is different and respond differently.

I'm a big advocate of training at 70% of max HR, but this could be as low as 65%. For example, I've been rowing (on and off) for 21 years and I've set 7 or 8 PBs in the past 12 months since I started using this method of training. Notably, I have had quite a lot of dissenting voices saying it's too low, but it has demonstrably worked for me.

My advice is, give it a try for 6-8 weeks and see how you get on, but make sure you keep pushing yourself on the intervals and also do occasional, but not too many, 'grey zone' efforts ie circa 85% HR efforts.

You can only train as hard as you can rest and progress can be very slow so look out for the really small signs rather than big lumps.

[GlennUk]

Finally I'd also say that the whey drink is probably unnecessary. This is just added calories, and a good meal will be better, especially if you have a good diet. Rowing will possibly add some muscles over a long period of time, but it's no replacement for weight training.

One of the things i would say with regards to protein is have a look at your diet, typically it seems most of us dont eat enough protein if we are exercising .

I think target values for general health are c.0.8g/kg bodyweight protein per day. I found when i looked at my diet, iwas under that mostly so for me adding c.25-50g dependant on exercise using a whey shake put me back in the right area for my training regime which is 100k training plan currently.

You may find that you are within range already if so, agree with Stu. Probably worth seeing if you need to take anything, if not its a waste of money plus its likley to add more unnecessary sugar to your diet, last thing you need if you're trying to lose weight.

[GlennUk]

After your comment I'll varying my HIIT. I tried a 30s on and off for 20 minutes, that was good. Averaged a 1:53 which is a record for me!

In ref protein, I'm always hungry and eat a varied diet. But I find it hard to hit my required 130g of protein per day. I also don't want to lose muscle whilst training!

Interesting, what rate of protein are you using to suggest 130g per day?

THe Eddie FLetch 100k plan suggests current RNI (presumably when he wrote the book) was 0.8g/kg/day. with increases up to 1.8g/kg/day for thos eundertaking a serious marathon/100k training plan