What Training Have You Done Today?

[jcross485]

The funny thing here is, you are both way stronger than me in the lifts, but that doesn't seem to translate to the erg so much. Probably the intervals gave more benefit than the strength part, I don't know.

In what way did your weight impact your daily life? Would be interesting to know.
I'm far away from a state, that would impact anything in my life, 82-83kg at 177cm isn't big/huge/much weight at all. But I feel the difference to 78kg I had November last year, when I started to shift the focus a bit.

I think the strength on the lifts is due to the focus on them, be it for many years prior to getting into rowing, or the renewed focus on it now (I do believe muscle memory is a real thing). This goes back to your point also on your shorter, sharper efforts being ahead of mine - you've stayed disciplined to doing them whereas I have avoided them.

With the weight piece, it's hard to say if it was specifically from the weight and the eating, the training I was doing to get to the strength levels I was at, the lack of cardiovascular work at that time, or a combination of all.

I definitely felt strong just about all of the time but I felt strong in a pretty constricted way if that makes sense. I was able to squat pretty heavy, press ok weights (always been a weakness), and pull very heavy. Outside of that, if I got into positions that were not similar to those basic movement patterns, I didn't feel that strong.

I would still get out on the tennis court from time to time; I seemed to still have the explosive first step that I've always had during my competitive days but I lost a bit of the "lightness on feet" and general footwork. I felt explosive and powerful but not fluid.

I definitely remember having some issues to deal with digestively from the amount of food I was eating to keep my weight up. I did not sleep nearly as well as I am now (well, up until about 2-3 weeks ago). My resting HR was about 12-15 bpm higher at that time than now and my blood pressure was consistently 15-20 mmHg higher than now.

At the time, everything served its purpose and I don't regret pushing the envelope on the strength front the way I did. I do believe if I kept pushing on the strength front, I could have potentially had slightly higher numbers, especially if I took bench press training and upper body training a bit more seriously. However, I do have different goals now. Being strong is still part of the big picture but it's more about relative strength to weight and finding what the "optimal" is for me.

[Sakly]

I think the strength on the lifts is due to the focus on them, be it for many years prior to getting into rowing, or the renewed focus on it now (I do believe muscle memory is a real thing). This goes back to your point also on your shorter, sharper efforts being ahead of mine - you've stayed disciplined to doing them whereas I have avoided them.

Completely agree. The phrase "use it or lose it" is on point for that and I really feel it, when I neglect stuff for a while and then come back to it. Also feel the muscle memory, it's there again in no time.

With the weight piece, it's hard to say if it was specifically from the weight and the eating, the training I was doing to get to the strength levels I was at, the lack of cardiovascular work at that time, or a combination of all.

I definitely felt strong just about all of the time but I felt strong in a pretty constricted way if that makes sense. I was able to squat pretty heavy, press ok weights (always been a weakness), and pull very heavy. Outside of that, if I got into positions that were not similar to those basic movement patterns, I didn't feel that strong.

I would still get out on the tennis court from time to time; I seemed to still have the explosive first step that I've always had during my competitive days but I lost a bit of the "lightness on feet" and general footwork. I felt explosive and powerful but not fluid.

Understand. I never faced such problems, even when I weighed nearly 90kg, as I always trained several movements to stay mobile as good as possible. I think such problems only arise, if training is very specific and not "balanced". Of course, the latter leads to less performance in the specific field, as you can only train so much. This is what I experience every time I participate in some kind of specific sport. I can handle it well and reach 90%+, but never win.

I definitely remember having some issues to deal with digestively from the amount of food I was eating to keep my weight up. I did not sleep nearly as well as I am now (well, up until about 2-3 weeks ago). My resting HR was about 12-15 bpm higher at that time than now and my blood pressure was consistently 15-20 mmHg higher than now.

Don't know about what weight we are talking and how much you're eating now. I'm currently eating two times (breakfast, lunch) and sometimes a small meal in the evening after training. Going for ca. 3300kcal in these two meals, but not tracking. During weight gain the last months the 3rd meal was more often, nearly daily, so probably 4000kcal on these days.

At the time, everything served its purpose and I don't regret pushing the envelope on the strength front the way I did. I do believe if I kept pushing on the strength front, I could have potentially had slightly higher numbers, especially if I took bench press training and upper body training a bit more seriously. However, I do have different goals now. Being strong is still part of the big picture but it's more about relative strength to weight and finding what the "optimal" is for me.

I never had the goal to be the strongest or fastest or most flexible. I soon realised getting the best carry over into the real life and into other sports, if training has a wide range of movements and aspects. It's also much "lighter" on the body and recovery. I always put form over number of reps or lifted weight, this is another factor keeping the training in check for a good response and get no issues.

[Dangerscouse]

I definitely felt strong just about all of the time but I felt strong in a pretty constricted way if that makes sense.

That does make sense, and weight training can easily reinforce some fairly narrow planes of motion. Squats, bench press, deadlifts, shoulder press etc, they are all narrow movements with no need for lateral movements *

If you trained, curtsy squats for instance, you'll feel muscles that you never knew existed, so functional strength is really beneficial imo, which is why I do make sure to keep doing Pilates.


* apologies if I'm preaching to the converted as this may or may not be quite obvious to you already

[nick rockliff]

Tentatively got back on the erg for the first time since 6th Aug after another holiday and returning with an awful bout of covid.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
30:00.0 6,819m 2:11.9 152 823 18 123
5:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 115
10:00.0 1,136m 2:12.0 152 823 18 119
15:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 122
20:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 126
25:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 128
30:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 130

I can see it being a long slog to get back to where I was.

[winniewinser]

BPP W15S2 5x750m/2'R target 1:48.3....felt good despite very tired legs.

13:24.9 3,750m 1:47.3 283 1274 30
2:41.2 750m 1:47.4 282 1270 31
2:41.5 750m 1:47.6 280 1265 30
2:41.2 750m 1:47.4 282 1270 30
2:41.2 750m 1:47.4 282 1270 31
2:39.8 750m 1:46.5 289 1296 31

[Kerry1960]

Tentatively got back on the erg for the first time since 6th Aug after another holiday and returning with an awful bout of covid.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
30:00.0 6,819m 2:11.9 152 823 18 123
5:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 115
10:00.0 1,136m 2:12.0 152 823 18 119
15:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 122
20:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 126
25:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 128
30:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 130
I can see it being a long slog to get back to where I was.

Good luck with it Nick. I've had Covid myself this summer (as well as some physical niggles) and it"s definitely knocked me back a bit.

[jcross485]

Completely agree. The phrase "use it or lose it" is on point for that and I really feel it, when I neglect stuff for a while and then come back to it. Also feel the muscle memory, it's there again in no time.

Understand. I never faced such problems, even when I weighed nearly 90kg, as I always trained several movements to stay mobile as good as possible. I think such problems only arise, if training is very specific and not "balanced". Of course, the latter leads to less performance in the specific field, as you can only train so much. This is what I experience every time I participate in some kind of specific sport. I can handle it well and reach 90%+, but never win.

Don't know about what weight we are talking and how much you're eating now. I'm currently eating two times (breakfast, lunch) and sometimes a small meal in the evening after training. Going for ca. 3300kcal in these two meals, but not tracking. During weight gain the last months the 3rd meal was more often, nearly daily, so probably 4000kcal on these days.

I never had the goal to be the strongest or fastest or most flexible. I soon realised getting the best carry over into the real life and into other sports, if training has a wide range of movements and aspects. It's also much "lighter" on the body and recovery. I always put form over number of reps or lifted weight, this is another factor keeping the training in check for a good response and get no issues.

I was up around 92kg or so when I was at my heaviest but actually felt my strongest a tad lighter around 90kg. My deadlift was always the strongest even lighter though, more like 85-86kg. When I was training for those max strength numbers, that's all I really did - strength work in the gym. And even at that, very little variety.

Back then, I was eating roughly 3500-4000 cal a day; I'd have to go back and search but I do know it was 4-5 meals throughout the day and I would venture to guess roughly 250g protein, 100g fat daily with the balance being carbs (400g-500g). Looking back, for the amount of training I was doing, it was not the way I should have been eating but it's what I did at the time.

Now, my diet is much different; 2-3 meals a day, roughly 1:1 protein to fat (in grams), 175g of each, give or take, with pretty limited carbs outside of some fruit here and there. This has me maintaining weight in the mid 170's pretty effortlessly and without much hunger at all. When I wad dropping a bit of weight to this point, I was eating very similar but changing the leanness of protein to keep fats a tad lower (90-93% lean beef as opposed to 80-85% lean, half eggs and half egg whites as opposed to all whole eggs, etc.).

To your last point on training, I like to think of that as the inch deep but mile wide type of approach. Really versed in a lot of things but not necessarily a specialist in any one. I've always been more of the inch wide but a mile deep type of person; once I get into something, I tend to go all in on at even if it means being at the expense of other things. I've definitely matured a bit and am seeing the benefit to a bit more balance.

That does make sense, and weight training can easily reinforce some fairly narrow planes of motion. Squats, bench press, deadlifts, shoulder press etc, they are all narrow movements with no need for lateral movements *

If you trained, curtsy squats for instance, you'll feel muscles that you never knew existed, so functional strength is really beneficial imo, which is why I do make sure to keep doing Pilates.

* apologies if I'm preaching to the converted as this may or may not be quite obvious to you already

No apologies needed whatsoever! Like you mention, I was pretty strong for my size at the basic lifts - squats, deadlifts, rows, pullups, etc., but was not good at many other things. I've enjoyed getting my aerobic fitness up quite a bit the last few years, even if it meant sacrificing strength for a bit, but now am enjoying blending the two more, as well as blending the types of strength work and the types of aerobic work.

[jcross485]

8/27 - 12k erg. 4k warm up, 16 x 250m (1:00 rest), 4k cool down.

I'm taking the next three weeks to do a more intense session once a week; 250m intervals this week, 500m intervals next, and 1k intervals the following, all targeting what I hope to be around a 2k pace. I figured the 250m (1:00 rest) would be the easiest, 500m (2:00 rest) the next toughest, and the 1k (4:00 rest) the toughest of the three, so I aligned them with my light, medium, and heavy strength weeks accordingly.

This session felt pretty good all things considered. I did not feel overly taxed by any means, felt a nice rhythm during the intervals, and finished without feeling destroyed. I went out at 1:44.0 pace as I would like my first 2k to be under 7:00 so I want to get comfortable with those efforts; they did not feel bad. On the last interval, I pushed what felt more like an RPE 9 or so; not all out but definitely a tougher effort, and was surprised at the speed / power as I figured it would be more in the high 1:30's.

Tomorrow will be a long travel day for work; out of the house before 4a and home late so training might be pushed unless I can make time in the day to find a park with a pull up bar so I can knock out some bodyweight strength work.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
47:06.7 12,000m 1:57.7 214 1037 22 146

4:12.2 1,000m 2:06.1 175 900 19 128
4:12.1 1,000m 2:06.0 175 901 19 133
4:12.0 1,000m 2:06.0 175 902 19 136
4:11.7 1,000m 2:05.8 176 904 19 139
r: 1:00 35m
0:52.0 250m 1:44.0 311 1370 29 152
r: 1:00 39m
0:51.9 250m 1:43.8 313 1377 29 156
r: 1:00 40m
0:51.9 250m 1:43.8 313 1377 29 156
r: 1:00 39m
0:51.8 250m 1:43.6 315 1383 29 157
r: 1:00 45m
0:51.8 250m 1:43.6 315 1383 29 157
r: 1:00 42m
0:51.8 250m 1:43.6 315 1383 29 159
r: 1:00 41m
0:51.8 250m 1:43.6 315 1383 29 158
r: 1:00 42m
0:51.7 250m 1:43.4 317 1389 29 160
r: 1:00 42m
0:51.6 250m 1:43.2 318 1395 29 161
r: 1:00 34m
0:51.6 250m 1:43.2 318 1395 29 161
r: 1:00 47m
0:51.5 250m 1:43.0 320 1402 29 163
r: 1:00 36m
0:51.4 250m 1:42.8 322 1408 29 162
r: 1:00 38m
0:51.3 250m 1:42.6 324 1415 29 162
r: 1:00 39m
0:51.1 250m 1:42.2 328 1428 29 163
r: 1:00 38m
0:51.0 250m 1:42.0 330 1435 29 164
r: 1:00 40m
0:47.0 250m 1:34.0 421 1750 32 170
r: 4:00 36m
4:09.4 1,000m 2:04.7 180 921 19 144
4:09.3 1,000m 2:04.6 181 921 19 149
4:09.2 1,000m 2:04.6 181 922 19 150
4:09.0 1,000m 2:04.5 181 924 19 148
r673m

[winniewinser]

Don't know about what weight we are talking and how much you're eating now. I'm currently eating two times (breakfast, lunch) and sometimes a small meal in the evening after training. Going for ca. 3300kcal in these two meals, but not tracking. During weight gain the last months the 3rd meal was more often, nearly daily, so probably 4000kcal on these days.

Makes me feel feignt just saying that ...
But I have zero food discipline

[nick rockliff]

Tentatively got back on the erg for the first time since 6th Aug after another holiday and returning with an awful bout of covid.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
30:00.0 6,819m 2:11.9 152 823 18 123
5:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 115
10:00.0 1,136m 2:12.0 152 823 18 119
15:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 122
20:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 126
25:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 128
30:00.0 1,137m 2:11.9 152 824 18 130
I can see it being a long slog to get back to where I was.

Good luck with it Nick. I've had Covid myself this summer (as well as some physical niggles) and it"s definitely knocked me back a bit.

Thanks Kerry, the covid was not good at all compared with the last time we had it.

[dabatey]

indieVelo (online) cycle TTT
27 minutes/ Average Power-219W/ Normalized Power-236W/ AvHR-141

[Sakly]

Don't know about what weight we are talking and how much you're eating now. I'm currently eating two times (breakfast, lunch) and sometimes a small meal in the evening after training. Going for ca. 3300kcal in these two meals, but not tracking. During weight gain the last months the 3rd meal was more often, nearly daily, so probably 4000kcal on these days.

Makes me feel feignt just saying that ...
But I have zero food discipline

I really enjoy my food, but it's only a means to get nutrition, it's not to have pleasure. I eat until I'm full and as I'm eating mainly fat and protein it's very satiating.
I eat pretty much the same every morning (6 eggs, 500g full fat curd cheese with few nuts and a banana <- that's all of fruit/carbs I eat typically) and for lunch/dinner the cut varies a bit (chuck eye, Entrecote typically, sometimes leaner cuts with lots of butter), but it's mainly 450-550g fatty meat. In case of ground beef, I typically have 500g and mix it with 150-200g feta cheese.
After that meals I can go without food for 12 to 16 hours without problem, even with hard workouts during that time.
As example: on Sunday I only had breakfast at 5am, then the races over the day and had my dinner at 6pm. Only water during the day.

[Sakly]

Gym session today, Skierg warmup:

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M
15:00.0	3,871m	1:56.2	223	1066	32
3:00.0	764m	1:57.8	214	1036	32
6:00.0	767m	1:57.3	217	1045	32
9:00.0	771m	1:56.7	220	1057	32
12:00.0	777m	1:55.8	225	1075	32
15:00.0	793m	1:53.4	239	1123	32

Then squats, handstand pushups, wide pullups, legs curls, flies/shoulder side raises supersets, each 3 sets, before going for 4x1k intervals with 3:30 rest. Me on the skierg, my training buddy on the rower.
Aimed for 1:47 and a faster last, as my last average was 1:46.9.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M
14:08.1	4,000m	1:46.0	294	1311	42
3:33.8	1,000m	1:46.9	287	1286	42
3:33.6	1,000m	1:46.8	287	1288	41
3:33.0	1,000m	1:46.5	290	1297	43
3:27.7	1,000m	1:43.8	312	1375	44

Felt a bit harder today, but probably because it was a second faster
Rate was the same, overall 5 strokes less than last time.

[Martinbanshee]

Rowing newbie here. Did my first ever 2K effort today to set a benchmark for future training.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal S/M HR
7:14.3 2,000m 1:48.5 273 1241 34 173
1:46.8 500m 1:46.8 287 1288 35 168
1:49.0 1,000m 1:49.0 270 1230 35 174
1:49.3 1,500m 1:49.3 268 1222 35 175
1:49.2 2,000m 1:49.2 269 1225 34 177

Age 54, 70kg, 177cm DF:125

I just started rowing a couple of months ago to supplement my cycling so still trying to learn all the basics. I started using a gym Concept 2 but have now got my own RowErg at home beside my indoor bike setup. Can definitely get that 2K time down some more but good to get the first one out of the way.

[contdrift86]

Day 3 of just getting something done. Felt really good and in control again which is nice. Some cardiac drift towards the end but nothing too major. Another 2-3 weeks and I reckon that HR will be back to around 140-150 again which is my sweet spot of base work.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
45:00.0	10,315m	2:10.8	156	837	18	157
9:00.0	2,063m	2:10.8	156	837	18	148
18:00.0	2,063m	2:10.8	156	837	18	155
27:00.0	2,061m	2:11.0	156	835	19	159
36:00.0	2,065m	2:10.7	157	838	19	159
45:00.0	2,064m	2:10.8	156	838	19	164

Also as I was feeling good I had a crack at the TOC for this month. Not a bad time for someone who has done the square root of f-all conditioning work outside of a rugby match for the last 3-4 months.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	
6:35.4	1,900m	1:44.0	311	1369	26	179
1:01.5	300m	1:42.5	325	1418	28	169
1:23.5	400m	1:44.3	308	1359	27	179
1:47.8	500m	1:47.8	279	1261	23	182
1:23.1	400m	1:43.8	312	1374	26	185
0:59.5	300m	1:39.1	359	1535	29	183