Another fat guy new to rowing.

[OregonG20]

I just started on Monday. I have been doing 2k in the morning and 2k in the evening. I am 33 years old. 6'2'' and 375 lbs. My best time was this morning. Did it in 9:26 averaging 24spm and averaging 124 watts. My drag meter says 140. That workout kicks my butt right now. What goals should I be shooting for? Getting in better shape will allow me to row for longer, which I know I need, but should I try to row longer distance/time at a slower pace just to do it? I don't have a HM right now but after that workout I am around 170 bpm. Really glad I found this board. Any info would be appreciated.

[gregsmith01748]

Hi,

I think you are starting off on the right foot. I think that you will want to increase the duration of your workouts, but only at a pace that you feel comfortable with. I think that you will acclimate to rowing pretty quickly and the effort for a 2K will decrease. I would suggest that the next step you take is to try doing a workout with something like 3 repeats of a 1000m interval with a 2 minute rest in between each. Then after that feels easier, you can try to do 3K without a break, and continue to do that until you get the time of a single workout up to about 30 to 40 minutes.

The key to improving your cardio vascular health and weigh loss is sustaining an elevated heart rate for a longer period of time. As a 33 year old, 170 is probably not close to your maximum HR, but it is probably a bit higher that you will want to do for a longer workout, so I would keep the same pace as you do now and increase t he duration as you feel less winded.

I'm not an expert, so this is just my ideas. Other may have a different view. BUt, congratulations on taking the first steps. I hope it goes really well for you.

[OregonG20]

Awesome! Thanks for the advice.

[hjs]

Yes focus on duration, the more you do the better, you should be in it for the long run, erging is a weightfriendly machine, use that. Hf 170 is to high, better keep it a bit lower, first try to build duration.

[wphunter]

I started rowing the end of January and followed Concept's recommended training for newbies, slowly building up. Beginning on about 600 meters and without overdoing it moving up to 2,000+ meters comfortably in a month, I could have done more, but restrained myself as I did not want to end up with some injury being a newbie that overdid it. After that I pretty much tried to follow Concept's workout of the day, so I wasn't doing the same thing all the time. Beginning on the short workout, moving up to medium, and have recently regularly been doing the long workout most days. The workout of the day is good because of the variety, and I particularly like the X number of 1,000 meters followed by a two minute "rest". The "rest" I don't actually stop and take a break, I just ease up so the heart-rate comes down, it become easy to build up a good total doing this. On heart rate, seems there are a lot of different versions of what is right, I train at 130-140 bpm, and try not to go over 150 as it just seems to high. Training is pretty logical I've found in that the more effort you put in and the longer you train the more you are able to put in and train longer. I was 400lbs at the beginning of January and while I am not dieting strictly I have reduced food down to what would be normal for the average person (and stopped drinking - except for once a week), coupled with the rowing I have now lost 21kgs (46lbs). I consider myself over the hump now, the hump being a sticking point where I had to force myself to get on the machine and not get off until I had completed the planned training for the day. So I would highly recommend setting a goal for each training session, and setting yourself up with everything you need to train comfortably - music of course (speakers are better than headphones), good padded seat, gloves or wraps, whiteboard so you don't lose track of your goal for that session, handy water supply, comfortable training wear, skull cap or head band/cap to keep the sweat out of the eyes etc etc. Another really great thing about Concept is the challenges they provide, I have done every one since starting, Valentine, Mud Season, World Erg Challenge and Global Marathon, next up is Summer Solstice! One more point, join an affiliation and team, it gives you more challenges to take part in.

Cheers,
Wayne

[OregonG20]

Do I need to hook my computer up to the erg to join an affiliation or club, or do you just join and report numbers? Sounds cool either way. I will just keep plugging away. I didn't get this fat overnight, and I know the weight won't come off over night either. Thanks for the info!

[wphunter]

I think you need to have a Concept2 logbook to be able to join a team or affiliation, I may be wrong though. The logbook will record all of your rowing data, and allows you to add comments, you can upload to it by hooking up your computer to the monitor, or an iPhone to the monitor. Or, you can directly input the data to the logbook online. Whether you join a team or affiliation or not, the logbook is the best thing I've seen for recording training. Attached a sample for you.