Workout of the Day - How Effective for a Newbie

[Xrayvizhen]

74 year-old new rower here who has been happily following the C2 W.O.D. pretty much every day intermixed every few days with "races" with my previous bests at 500 - 5000m distances on RowPro. I started at the beginning of the year, have almost reached "average" in the C2 rankings for these distances in my age group so I am improving my times, but I've been wondering if this kind of approach is OK or is it a little too haphazard and should I be looking for other or additional training plans. I've seen the Pete Plan - beginner's version and RowPro itself generated a "Light-Fitness" plan that I haven't tried yet. I like the C2 W.O.D, mainly because I break a sweat and Ergdata programs the monitor automatically. I would happily continue with what I've been doing if I was confident that I'm not wasting my time. So, is the W.O.D. considered an effective plan in and of itself or does it need to be supplemented with something else?

[contdrift86]

Depends on what your goals are. To keep fit for life and general health it's 100% perfect for it.

If you're looking at competing at a high level for your age group then you'll need to follow a more structured program. Personally I like following a program but if I just need to get something done then the WOD is perfect for it. Do a 10 minute easy pace warm up, smash the WOD, then a 5-10 minutes cool down and boom, done something for a total of 40 minutes max.

[jamesg]

Been using Wods for several months now. I usually stay at 22-22 and 120-130W, about 6W' stroke and 1.5W/kg. Very effective at my low level.

[MPx]

IMO its not really about what the workout is, more how you approach it and the targets you set. I dont use the WoD at all, but from what I've observed they are mostly aimed at a 20-30min slot. When I (and many others) spend that sort of time on an erg session it tends to be an all out hard session. I very much doubt that you would be able to perform at your best going all out for 20 or 30 mins every day.

If you just want to be fitter than you were then you don't need to do any more than you are now - you will get fitter. But if you want to improve something specific (eg Fastest poss 2k (or 5k or marathon or 500m or whatever) then a more structured training programme might help more. Most training plans include various elements that are seeking to improve some adaptations in different aspects of your physiology. Just going hard every day doesn't do that. Aerobic base requires much longer seat time.

Having said that, there's clearly no one "right" way. Amongst us oldies you can find people like Nick on here who I've rarely seen do less than a 30 min piece and more typically 10k or 1 hour, never in intervals with carefully judged rate/pace to ensure progression. Nick is at the top of the age group performance rankings and has a long history of race wins and elite performances. On the contrary, before the worst of the diabetes kicked in, I very rarely saw Jon do longer than 500m continuous - always short intervals, maybe 30s, 250m, 1min, etc. on various length rests. But he did 30 or 40 or even 50 of them in a session and varied the intensity (rate and pace) of how he attacked them on different days. Jon was also at the top of the rankings, won races and set several records.

Outside of those extremes, most of us do a couple of hard sessions a week and row the rest at a softer pace. The hard sessions might be long or short intervals or a Time Trial - they all hurt. The softer sessions typically longer/further/slower - not as exciting, but they don't hurt. They are easier to recover from and are specifically aimed at long term aerobic adaptations.

[jamesg]

So, is the W.O.D. considered an effective plan in and of itself or does it need to be supplemented with something else?

Start with a good stroke, since this is necessary and sufficient. The quality indices we can use on the erg are Watt/Rating and Watts/kg (net weight). If not planning to race you may never need go over 2W/kg at low rates, 20-23.

I'm 83 and work at 1.5 to 2.0 W/kg with a 6Watt stroke rate 20-23, at height 185cm, 80kg nominal. Pulling any harder (say 400N in Ergdata) soon stops me so I only do it for a few strokes, but mostly 350N.

The Wods are like a coach: they tell us what to do the instant before doing it, and it always differs. Use the warmup and maybe the first few intervals to decide how.