Rowing wearing a weighted vest

[sekitori]

Would rowing while wearing a vest weighing approximately 20 pounds be of any value as far as getting into better condition? I assume that because the bulk of the vest may alter the mechanics of the stroke, it could also cause more harm than benefit. Has anyone ever rowed wearing one? If so, I would appreciate your comments.

[Citroen]

I doubt it. Moving 20lbs horizontally seems pointless to me. It''s more liekly to ruin the action of a good stroke.

[Snail Space]

It is hard to conceive of using an ergo for anything more than about 10 minutes without it being quite hard enough without the added encumbrance of wearing chainmail. Forget the vest, just row with a firm stroke until you sweat profusely - and then keep going.

Cheers,
Dave.

[Chet664506]

Sekitori...Hi, I did try erging with a weighted vest several years ago. And I agree with Citroen's comment, it did affect my rowing stroke because of the vest's bulk, etc. I just never could get comfortable with it on, and the one thing that drove me to stop was that I could never get it tight enough around my mid-section, and so on the recovery portion of the stroke, the vest would slap aganist my back.
Perhaps newer vests are more fitted then the one i used?
Chet.

[TabbRows]

I would question the use of weighted vest in any aerobic activity. Yes you may burn a smidgeon more calories but nothing that can't be accomplished in a short period of time without the vest, or closing the refrigator door. A 180 lb person burns approximately 10-12 calories a minute rowing. A 200 lb person burns ~11-13 calories. Even carrying hand held weights or using ankle weights on a treadmill or on the road do nothing to increase your muscles and indeed they typically work to fatigue your smaller muscles and reduce your form, risking injury.

[slwiser]

This sounds wrong in so many ways to me.

If on the water, dangerous.

If on the erg, it only goes counter to the hold ideal of minimizing inertia load on the stroke, hence the move toward the dynamic machines.

It will cause you to get used to over compressing/extending due to the added weight at the catch and return which would not be there during any event therefore losing that slight extension during training, a bad ideal itself.

[Pete Stirling]

Shoot, I'll argue the other side. I sometimes use a weight vest for shorter tabata or interval workouts. It is a great way to induce more stress and definitely makes the workout much much more difficult, but you need to be VERY conscious of your form and not over/under extend your torso. Get a good, close fitting, adjustable vest and keep it at or below 20lbs and enjoy a nice change of pace every once and a while. I definitely wouldn't suggest it for everyday use and highly recommend keeping the workouts more strength based and short. Keep that core tight.

[raaberdeen]

Right Guys,
I have been looking into this and tried using a couple of vests. First of all I am not looking at this from a rowing point of view, I am purely an indoor rower at the moment looking to improve my times. My first experienced effect is an increase in HR during training and allowing more power development through each stroke as well as a greater challenge to trunk stability.The excess weight does have an effect on the stroke in the horizontal position believe me, I just got off a 5k with an average hr of 175. I would not use this as an everyday training modality, however it will challenge the neurological system forcing adaptation. However this is where My knowledge runs a little shady in that I would not know if this would be of positive benefit to an athlete. Also as was said above biomechanics do change due to increased trunk bulk and unless the vest is attached correctly breathing will be affected. I am going to continue training with a vest and try and find some more out about the effects. If anyone has anything to add or disagree with what I have said please tell me or reference something for further reading, I would be greatful.

Raaberdeen

[Carl Watts]

Bad idea IMO.

Just drop your rating while maintaining the same pace if you want to increase your workload. No point at all wearing weights and it could physically impare your stroke, the reason I say this is because it's not required to reach your peak performance. By just changing your rating (try dropping it to 17 to 18spm) or increasing the drag factor or pace or distance you can cover all forms of training to acheive the desired goal. All I can see it doing is increasing the chances of injury.

[Bob S.]

A major disadvantage of wearing a weighted vest is that the additional work it requires does not show up on the monitor. The monitor shows on only the work put into spinning the wheel. The extra work that the vest provides all goes into moving it back and forth with your body.

Bob S.