6.56.3 to 6.45.0

[RWAGR]

I am making gains and have finally cracked the psychological barrier of 7' for the 2k. Now I want to get to 6.45, which requires 11.3'' improvement on my PB. I know there is plenty of training material out there, but I'd value real life experiences from those intermediate rowers like me who have successfully gone from a solid score to a decent score as I am trying to do. Specifically, how long did it take you? How many sessions per week? I think with my size it should be fairly achievable but I can only do 3-4 sessions/ week given family and work commitments. Thanks!

[Carl Watts]

Should be totally doable for your age/height/weight.

Managed my PB age 45 of 6:46 at 28spm.

Its quite a jump but with enough distance work and regular training you should do it no problem.

You need more cardio work, your 30 min should be over 8000m already, can still do 7700m at 20spm as a training row and I'm 50.

30min was at 8105m when a 6:46 2K was possible. Work on longer distance rows, your probably doing too much sprint or short distance rows.

[Citroen]

6:56.3 is 311.1 watts
6:45.0 is 337.7 watts

So you've got to up your sustained power output by ((337.7/311.1)-1)*100 ~= 8.5%

Whether you can do that depends on your age, weight, height and willingness to sit on the ergo every day.

[hjs]

I am making gains and have finally cracked the psychological barrier of 7' for the 2k. Now I want to get to 6.45, which requires 11.3'' improvement on my PB. I know there is plenty of training material out there, but I'd value real life experiences from those intermediate rowers like me who have successfully gone from a solid score to a decent score as I am trying to do. Specifically, how long did it take you? How many sessions per week? I think with my size it should be fairly achievable but I can only do 3-4 sessions/ week given family and work commitments. Thanks!

Better tell how you train now, that could.

Looking at your stats, think you have plenty room to improve, not want to put you down, but your height/weight ration is not ok, lots to win here diet wise.

In general, focus on longer sessions mostly, your aerobic base is never to good. Longer, relative slow sessions, think 2k pace plus 18/22 seconds. 30 min or longer, should be your main work. Use lower strokesrates here. Think 18/22
Once a week do something faster. Intervals around 2k pace or longer intervals around 1500 pace.

[RWAGR]

Thanks all. I thought my cardio is OK- is my 10k not reasonable? What 10k time should I be hitting for a 6.45 2k? I prefer 10k to 30 min for some reason!

Re my weight- I know the ratio is out. Problem is, in addition to a solid "dad bod", I like to lift weights so I am always going to be a heavy 6'1". I think 225 is probably my floor with keeping my weight-training. Will that really be a bar to lowering my times on the erg?

Thanks for the advice you guys are great.

[Gammmmo]

I'd say you show the classic drop off in performance as the distance goes out hat larger/stronger (not necessarily FAST) guys exhibit. I would say I'd be around 6:45 for 2K (about to start training a bit at that distance as other half now has the competitive erging bug and is wanting me to do some 2K comps that I probably wouldnt have bothered with!!) and can frequently do 10K in the mid 37s. I am a totally different erger to you - much more slight and good cardio. You could get faster across the board and esp the longer distances but you'd have to spend lots of time building your engine.

[hjs]

Thanks all. I thought my cardio is OK- is my 10k not reasonable? What 10k time should I be hitting for a 6.45 2k? I prefer 10k to 30 min for some reason!

Re my weight- I know the ratio is out. Problem is, in addition to a solid "dad bod", I like to lift weights so I am always going to be a heavy 6'1". I think 225 is probably my floor with keeping my weight-training. Will that really be a bar to lowering my times on the erg?

Thanks for the advice you guys are great.

It fully up to you, but in general people underestimate bodyfat %. At 6.1 and 225 you really need to be a monster to pull that off. I seldom see people in the gym pulling that off.
A lean 200 at 6.1 is already impressive. But maybe you are a monster with high strenghtnumbers, but given your rowing numbers don,t expect so.

And yes that really helps

Rough idea about times 2k versus 5k think 5/6 seconds on the average, 10k 4 ish above your 5

[RWAGR]

Certainly not "a monster", and most of my mass is in biceps and chest and anterior delts (and belly... ) which of course does not help with power strokes much.

[kerosene]

Start putting that gym time to squats and deads.

My goal for end of year is similar to your current PB. But yeah it seems that the numbers for 6:45 let alone 6:30 folks on longer distances are drastically better than mine or yours.
How long have you trained and with what kind of routine?

[hjs]

Certainly not "a monster", and most of my mass is in biceps and chest and anterior delts (and belly... ) which of course does not help with power strokes much.

You said, dadbod... So 25% if not more is be expected. Based on that lots of room.

Not saying you should, or change you weightswork, just that you could

[RWAGR]

My goal for end of year is similar to your current PB. But yeah it seems that the numbers for 6:45 let alone 6:30 folks on longer distances are drastically better than mine or yours.
How long have you trained and with what kind of routine?

Train 3-4 times per week. Used to run but switched almost exclusively to rowing a year ago. Former rugby player (hence dadbod...) Generally I do maybe 1-2 long sessions of 30-40 minutes and 1-2 intervals sessions. Also do 2-3 lifting sessions either before or after a couple of the rows.

Start putting that gym time to squats and deads.

problem is that I like having good sized arms and chest So I need to find a happy medium that slakes my vanity but also allows me to pull the erg scores I want!

You said, dadbod... So 25% if not more is be expected. Based on that lots of room.

Just weighed and measured bfp: 23.4%

[hjs]

Combining weights and erg is perfectly possible, and common biceps, 2x 5 min a week is enough.

Chestwork needs a bit more time, but again fine to combine to rowing.

[Carl Watts]

Just looking at your numbers your getting proportionally worse with distance, you 10K needs to go down to sub 37 minutes.

Get yourself a Garmin ANT+ heart rate monitor if your using a PM4 or PM5 and start using it for training in the right bands.This was the Bible for me, did the numbers and printed it out and stuck it on the wall in the rowing room.

http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/forum/ ... calculator

Wouldn't worry about you percentage body fat, back at 22-23% myself now after managing 20% at the end of last season after smashing myself for a whole year.

[lancecampeau]

Not sub 2k yet, but I'm knocking on the door... He are a few notes on things that helped me shave some time off my 2k this season...

I originally tested at 7:20, then spent about 2 months rotating days in the gym doing full body weight sessions, days doing 2-3 hard sprints at shorter distances (100m, 1 min, 500m, 1k, or 4min) and days doing hard efforts at medium range distances (5k, 6k, 30min, 10k and 60min). After 2 months of this, I then retested @ 7:06, shaving 14 seconds of my 2k PB.

Fast forward a few months... I've been focused on distances over 15k that end with a 150 to 200m sprint at paces between 1:27 to 1:40 pace. This all out "tank emptying" effort at the end of a long piece has helped me both mentally and physically. I can now regularly pull a 2k within 5 seconds of my current 2k PB without having to do an all-out, absolute max effort.

So, its time for a retest and I feel confident that the sub 7 is possible. We'll soon see... but I feel those those longer sessions ending with sprints have helped improve my stamina. Admittedly, my 30min, 10k, 60min PB's are also ready to be improved... but one thing at a time....

[JerekKruger]

Just looking at your numbers your getting proportionally worse with distance, you 10K needs to go down to sub 37 minutes.

Paul's Law suggests about a 37:40 10k should be expected from a balanced athlete who can row 2k in 6:45. For someone like RAWGR, who seems to favour shorter distances over longer, I'd think sub 38 is a good target to shoot for. Sub 37 would certainly be nice, but I don't think it's a necessity at all.