Go with the row

[Tedx]

Bar a few km, I more or less had the December target done by the 23rd of December, so I had planned to lighten the load a bit for a bit before getting back into it in 2024.

Today was my first 8km row for more than a week and it was...well...messy.

It ended up being a 4km row followed by 4km of what I call 'efforts' (short blasts measured in time (perhaps 1 to 2 minutes) or distance (say 300-500 meters) with a short break of 15-30 seconds to recover.)

This always happens when I take a break from it and it disappears in a few days.....but its astonishing how quickly you lose it in the first place.

Bring on 2024.

[Hallucigenia]

Well, got to the gym today and tried the rowing machine, a Concept 2. Did 5000m. I wasn't wise to the "damper" thing, so I think I had it too low, I only started to feel I'd been working out after 3500m. I'll adjust the damper next time and experiment with that. Knee was ok.

As I say above - the fan setting is not "resistance". What provides the resistance is the speed at which you spin the wheel, the fan setting is like the gears on a bike which allow you to optimise the speed. Most people in gyms have the fan set way too high, but if you don't feel you're working hard enough then that's on you and not the machine, you need to spin the wheel faster.

In turn that probably means you're relying too much on your arms, which are weak and which should be providing just the final 10% of effort at the end of the stroke, as I say above it's all about "punching" with your legs at the start of the stroke, as though you're on a Space Hopper rotated 90 degrees. See these videos with some US Olympians and from Concept2 themselves :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnGwdJD8enU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zWu1yuJ0_g

FWIW I got seriously into rowing on water after knackering my cruciate ligaments, it's perfect for that kind of injury as not only is rowing low-impact, it has no twisting movement.

[Hallucigenia]

Today was my first 8km row for more than a week and it was...well...messy.

It ended up being a 4km row followed by 4km of what I call 'efforts' (short blasts measured in time (perhaps 1 to 2 minutes) or distance (say 300-500 meters) with a short break of 15-30 seconds to recover.)

This always happens when I take a break from it and it disappears in a few days.....but its astonishing how quickly you lose it in the first place.

This is where targeting a heart rate rather than a split time or other target can be useful, it stops you from overdoing it if you're "off-colour" for any reason, so you keep going.

[BigB]

Inspired by the energy here, I have dropped into a habit of 6km on the rower 3 times a week. Worked into slots at the gym, with some other bits and pieces too.
Downside is that the rower is a Technogym not a C2: doesn't flow as smoothly when you get your technique smoothish, the handle is not nearly as grippy as the C2, display unit not as good as C2.
Upside is that once I go to the gym, it's harder to find an excuse to get out of it.

Anyone had a go on a C2 ski erg - I tried it last night, thought I'd start with 1000m, struggled to do 500m. Bloody hell. Feels like it doesn't do the legs too much and perhaps disproportionately does the top half rather heavily - nordic skiing is tough.
Upside: Display unit is generic C2 one, so familiar and lots of display/data options
Downside: bloody hell

[Tedx]

For 2024, I decided to keep my 100 miles a month rowing target. Really because I can't think of anything else to do in these cold winter days.

[Hallucigenia]

Inspired by the energy here, I have dropped into a habit of 6km on the rower 3 times a week. Worked into slots at the gym, with some other bits and pieces too.
Downside is that the rower is a Technogym not a C2: doesn't flow as smoothly

Also bear in mind that there can be big variations between different makes in the distance a given effort is translated into - a given time at a given heart rate might be 10km on a Concept and 8km on another make. Another reason why targeting heartrates is the way to go.

Anyone had a go on a C2 ski erg - I tried it last night, thought I'd start with 1000m, struggled to do 500m. Bloody hell. Feels like it doesn't do the legs too much and perhaps disproportionately does the top half rather heavily - nordic skiing is tough.
Upside: Display unit is generic C2 one, so familiar and lots of display/data options
Downside: bloody hell

As I mentioned above, I tend to finish off a steadystate cardio session on the rower with 5 minutes flat out on the skier. Pulling with both hands at the same time uses a lot more of your back muscles so is more like rowing, but if I've just done 40 minutes of rowing I don't really want to do more with my back, so I do alternating hands which is more of an arm workout (so is quite a bit slower).

And yep - it's not easy, although I used to go to a gym where there was one guy who obviously regarded it as his "thing", and would spend ages absolutely monstering it.