What Was Your Work Out Today?
Replies
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1 hour of slow Hatha Yoga today as an easy Sunday "recovery workout" (at least that's what my Polar called it. haha...). Most of it was Zone 1 and below, with a brief dip into Zone 2 during the sun salutations and some squat-like movements. I'm enjoying my person physiology data.
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224 minutes on the Elliptical, was an unintentionally slower pace as I only got to 14.25 miles instead of my usual 15-16 miles.2
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60 mins hiking with 40# pack2
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Monday morning Boot Camp
50 Fwd Jump Rope & 50 Fast Jump Rope
50 Skier
50 1/2 Jaxs
600 Meter Run @ 5 inc for all runs
35 KBell Swing
600 Meter Run
35 Goblet Squats
600 Meter Run
45 Jack Knifes
600 Meter Run
75 Crunches
600 Meter Run
35 Frog Burps
600 Meter Run
40 Hand Release Push-ups
600 Meter Run
25 Box Jumps (24/36/48 Box)
600 Meter Run
25 Dbell Snatch
2 laps Walk
Stretching
2.4 Miles Ran
515 Total Reps
3 -
7-8 am:
Warm-Up
Elliptical - 1mile (8m)
Mobility - (15m)
Strength: Chest/Back
Pull-up: 12-10-7r (29r)
Pushup: 24-19-14r (57r)
Row: 12-10-7r (29r)
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Had a rough 10 days or so after getting Covid (tested positive Thanksgiving Day and couldn't taste anything for like four days).
Back on the rower today. Super easy really controlling HR. All under 140, which is surprising, because last time I had a full blown flu in Feb 2019 my HR was skyrocketing when I came back to working out. Couldn't control it. Does make me wonder whether it was also Covid back then. That's more common from what I've heard. My HR was fine today. I just went a tad slower but did 8000 meters. Would like to get 100K in for the C2 Holiday Meter Challenge for charity. Certainly won't get 200K in but 100K is attainable still.6 -
Since this was intentionally a non-intense effort (that breakfast!), I decided to focus on technique. Reviewing basics is always good, and I tend to rotate through tech focuses over the Winter - things that apply to both boats and machines. For some reason (heh), it seemed interesting to focus on aspects of good technique that I've learned protect the back and shoulders. Usually, good technique (technique that makes us faster) is consonant with safe technique (things that avoid injury), fortunately.
I'm about to geek out on good technique features that also protect back/shoulders, feeling like I have a little tiny permission, but I'll hide it in a spoiler to make it easy to ignore for people who don't care.IMO, there are two main areas of concern in shoulders/upper back, when it comes to rowing technique:
1. Rotator cuff, and the associated connective tissues. Partly that risk comes from imbalance, since rowing is only upper body pull. (Smart people do some upper body push exercises to balance stresses.) Part of the risk comes from suboptimal technique.
2. Spine, generally. Back troubles are easy to create.
For me, protecting shoulders and back means focusing on: (A) Prep out of the finish, and (B) creating structure to transfer power during the drive, distinguishing which muscles create structure vs. generate power, in different parts of the stroke.
All of the arm extension and forward body angle happen right after the finish. My arms have accelerated the last fraction of the drive, almost a snap. They immediately move away from my body at that same speed: Quick in, smooth turn, quick out. (If someone has a tendency to pause at the so-called finish, a quicker arms-away on the rowing machine will tend to drop split a second or two, almost for free. It lets the flywheel keep spinning fast.)
Length is important for better splits, so it's tempting to extend the arms away from the armpits/shoulders to get more upper body length: Not a good idea. That stresses the small muscles/tendons, which can't contribute much to power. Instead, I want my shoulders packed – stabilized – pulled down and arms connected to the torso. One of my coaches talked about imagining squeezing a tennis ball between the shoulder blades, really full lat engagement.
Forward body swing happens next, smoothly, after the arms-away - as if the arms (still packed at shoulder!) pull the torso forward. The body swing isn't bending the spine, it's coming from the big hip joints. (What I tell new rowers, and remind myself, is to think of those bird toys that sit on the edge of a water glass, dip their beak in the water, swing back up on an axle, then down again. The hips are where that axle is.) My torso should be a firm unit, core engaged 360 degrees to maintain the straight back: It’s the angle of back to legs that changes.
What I want is upper body engagement: My shoulders not forward of the torso, but linked to it firmly with the lats. Upper shoulders down.
Me, I loooove to over-use the upper body. IME, that seems somewhat more common in male new rowers than female ones as a fault, but I need to have all the faults, it seems like. Part of that is a temptation is to use the upper traps, because they're kind of big. Raising the shoulders makes it feel like the upper body is working more. It's not helpful, because it’s not useful (powerful) work.
After the forward (recovery) arms-away and body swing, the slide’s tilt, plus relaxation, carry me up to the catch, shins vertical. Then all that body set-up, described above, starts to do work, during the drive phase.
During the legs & swing part of the drive, my upper body’s job is to create/maintain structure. The structure’s job is to transfer power from the big leg muscles. I want to suspend my body weight between the handle and the foot-stretchers. In the first phase of the drive, I need to augment that raw weight with a strong push (almost like a jump, but smooth) from the legs. The arms are just cables, the shoulders and back structure help transfer power through the body. Upper body is not doing power generation, at this phase.
My first coach would say “don’t be a taco!” Bending the back into a c-shape (taco) is hard on the back. The spine is weak, moved by small muscles, not powerful. The core (all the way around) is more important, and the glutes/hamstrings do a lot of the power work in the body swing part of the drive.
Ideally, the glutes are not pinned, as one might assume, by pressure against the seat. I mentioned suspending weight between handles and foot-stretcher: I want that suspension to continue all the way from the catch to the finish. There won’t be airspace between butt and seat (or the seat will escape), but there can/should be a slight unweighting or decompression of butt on seat all the way through the drive. The drive is over when that can’t be sustained.
So. TL;DR: The major points are that I want shoulders down, lats firm. Until the arms part at the end of the drive, my arms just transfer power. An engaged upper body makes that power transfer work, and protects the shoulders. I strive to suspend my body weight to allow glutes/hamstrings to do the body swing. The body swing is primarily a pivot-like movement in the hip joints. During the whole rowing stroke, the torso is a single core-engaged straight unit, protecting the spine.
Interesting, thanks!
I'm going to pay more attention next time I row. It's not a rotator cuff issue, I think. More spine/posture related, perhaps I'm holding my back too straight (if that's even possible) or perhaps my back muscle are simply a bit weak. But I'll hopefully have a better idea next time I row, based on your explanations.
So today I did a rowing session: 6714m in 35 minutes - 65% in Z3 and the rest in Z2 or lower.
I paid attention to my technique. That suspending weight thing (slight lift-off of butt) is tricky, not sure if I got that right but my butt cheeks were definitely feeling the burn 😁
As for the upper body, still discomfort in the back after a while (just below bra strap height), the only thing that seems to help is bending forward/relaxing the back just a bit (for the whole movement, not any particular phase) so perhaps I was overextending when I thought I was keeping my back straight.4 -
Rowing machine, same ol' 3 x (2k on, 2' off) + 1k on + 3' CD, for a total of 8,218 meters.
Yesterday was rest day, but I did some sun salutations after I got up, and a few light kettlebell deadlifts later, more as a stretch-out than a strength challenge. This morning, sun salutations before breakfast, too.
Once again, schedule logistics meant eating full breakfast right before the row, so I kept it easy (the 2:37 pace thing at mostly 18-20spm: ended up averaging 2:36.2), getting 74% Z3 and the rest below, HR peak at 140 (high 60s percent reserve).
It was a good time to work on technical stuff again. Through most of the pieces, I focused separately on things that I know are frequent bugaboos for me, and usually worth a second or so of pace if I nail them. It's mostly things that also lengthen the drive: Heels down first at start of drive, hold the forward upper body angle as long as feasible, think about using the glutes to open the body angle, quick arm in/out, full extension of foward body angle before legs recover.
On the final 1K, I tried to put it all together. Yup, that's too many things for me to think about all at once.😆2 -
Since this was intentionally a non-intense effort (that breakfast!), I decided to focus on technique. Reviewing basics is always good, and I tend to rotate through tech focuses over the Winter - things that apply to both boats and machines. For some reason (heh), it seemed interesting to focus on aspects of good technique that I've learned protect the back and shoulders. Usually, good technique (technique that makes us faster) is consonant with safe technique (things that avoid injury), fortunately.
I'm about to geek out on good technique features that also protect back/shoulders, feeling like I have a little tiny permission, but I'll hide it in a spoiler to make it easy to ignore for people who don't care.IMO, there are two main areas of concern in shoulders/upper back, when it comes to rowing technique:
1. Rotator cuff, and the associated connective tissues. Partly that risk comes from imbalance, since rowing is only upper body pull. (Smart people do some upper body push exercises to balance stresses.) Part of the risk comes from suboptimal technique.
2. Spine, generally. Back troubles are easy to create.
For me, protecting shoulders and back means focusing on: (A) Prep out of the finish, and (B) creating structure to transfer power during the drive, distinguishing which muscles create structure vs. generate power, in different parts of the stroke.
All of the arm extension and forward body angle happen right after the finish. My arms have accelerated the last fraction of the drive, almost a snap. They immediately move away from my body at that same speed: Quick in, smooth turn, quick out. (If someone has a tendency to pause at the so-called finish, a quicker arms-away on the rowing machine will tend to drop split a second or two, almost for free. It lets the flywheel keep spinning fast.)
Length is important for better splits, so it's tempting to extend the arms away from the armpits/shoulders to get more upper body length: Not a good idea. That stresses the small muscles/tendons, which can't contribute much to power. Instead, I want my shoulders packed – stabilized – pulled down and arms connected to the torso. One of my coaches talked about imagining squeezing a tennis ball between the shoulder blades, really full lat engagement.
Forward body swing happens next, smoothly, after the arms-away - as if the arms (still packed at shoulder!) pull the torso forward. The body swing isn't bending the spine, it's coming from the big hip joints. (What I tell new rowers, and remind myself, is to think of those bird toys that sit on the edge of a water glass, dip their beak in the water, swing back up on an axle, then down again. The hips are where that axle is.) My torso should be a firm unit, core engaged 360 degrees to maintain the straight back: It’s the angle of back to legs that changes.
What I want is upper body engagement: My shoulders not forward of the torso, but linked to it firmly with the lats. Upper shoulders down.
Me, I loooove to over-use the upper body. IME, that seems somewhat more common in male new rowers than female ones as a fault, but I need to have all the faults, it seems like. Part of that is a temptation is to use the upper traps, because they're kind of big. Raising the shoulders makes it feel like the upper body is working more. It's not helpful, because it’s not useful (powerful) work.
After the forward (recovery) arms-away and body swing, the slide’s tilt, plus relaxation, carry me up to the catch, shins vertical. Then all that body set-up, described above, starts to do work, during the drive phase.
During the legs & swing part of the drive, my upper body’s job is to create/maintain structure. The structure’s job is to transfer power from the big leg muscles. I want to suspend my body weight between the handle and the foot-stretchers. In the first phase of the drive, I need to augment that raw weight with a strong push (almost like a jump, but smooth) from the legs. The arms are just cables, the shoulders and back structure help transfer power through the body. Upper body is not doing power generation, at this phase.
My first coach would say “don’t be a taco!” Bending the back into a c-shape (taco) is hard on the back. The spine is weak, moved by small muscles, not powerful. The core (all the way around) is more important, and the glutes/hamstrings do a lot of the power work in the body swing part of the drive.
Ideally, the glutes are not pinned, as one might assume, by pressure against the seat. I mentioned suspending weight between handles and foot-stretcher: I want that suspension to continue all the way from the catch to the finish. There won’t be airspace between butt and seat (or the seat will escape), but there can/should be a slight unweighting or decompression of butt on seat all the way through the drive. The drive is over when that can’t be sustained.
So. TL;DR: The major points are that I want shoulders down, lats firm. Until the arms part at the end of the drive, my arms just transfer power. An engaged upper body makes that power transfer work, and protects the shoulders. I strive to suspend my body weight to allow glutes/hamstrings to do the body swing. The body swing is primarily a pivot-like movement in the hip joints. During the whole rowing stroke, the torso is a single core-engaged straight unit, protecting the spine.
Interesting, thanks!
I'm going to pay more attention next time I row. It's not a rotator cuff issue, I think. More spine/posture related, perhaps I'm holding my back too straight (if that's even possible) or perhaps my back muscle are simply a bit weak. But I'll hopefully have a better idea next time I row, based on your explanations.
So today I did a rowing session: 6714m in 35 minutes - 65% in Z3 and the rest in Z2 or lower.
I paid attention to my technique. That suspending weight thing (slight lift-off of butt) is tricky, not sure if I got that right but my butt cheeks were definitely feeling the burn 😁
As for the upper body, still discomfort in the back after a while (just below bra strap height), the only thing that seems to help is bending forward/relaxing the back just a bit (for the whole movement, not any particular phase) so perhaps I was overextending when I thought I was keeping my back straight.
It's certainly possible that it's a postural thing.
It's hard to say in the abstract what it could be: That sounds like roughly the spot where the lower traps and upper lats overlap. I don't know whether this makes sense, but both those muscle groups want to be engaged, but not tense, especially during the leg part of the drive. (Is engaged but relaxed a thing? 🤔) One needs the traps to be down, not letting shoulders come up, but they're not really doing power work during leg drive. I perceive the lats as the main structure-creators for power transfer from legs to handle, but that maybe an individual perception thing. In any case, I think it's the whole body of the lats doing that, not just upper. So, yeah, maybe something like working the traps too hard to be extra-upright?
Getting the suspension into the stroke really is hard, I think. It seems slightly less hard during the legs phase (I have to focus on not opening the body prematurely, or my weight drops back onto the seat sooner), but significantly more hard from the body swing to especially the arms.
I know I've said this here before, but a mind-blowing thing for me was watching a really good collegiate rower (sitting in the seat in front of me in a boat) rowing arms only (i.e., staying in the body open/layback position, just using arms) and her glutes were very visibly de-compressing on the seat. Just remarkable. (She did go on to be one of the top female rowers in the world, multi-Olympic and Worlds medalist, so I guess it's not too surprising that even in college she could do quasi-magical things. 😉)1 -
It's good to see you back @MikePfirrman: I'd wondered how you were doing, in these days we haven't heard from you. Glad that the worst seems to be past - hope it's all good from here for you!1
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After a break I've started EPIC II
Today was Day 2 - Compound Leg Workout2 -
Elliptical 5 mins
50 Pushups
50 Crunches
15 Wide Grip Pull-ups
50 Jumping Jaxs
50 Mtn Climbers
15 Wipers
12/9/6
Iso Landmine Tricep Exts
Iso Landmine Curls
50 Supine Bike/ Rev Crunches
Barbell Curls
Skull Crushers
50 Frog X/ Heel Taps
Rope Exts back to Stack
Seated Bicep Curls (low pulley system)
50 Knee Tucks/ Hip Lifts
Kickbacks
Incline Seated Dbell Curls rotate palm out at top
50 Leg Tucks / Flutter Kicks
Waiter Curls
Overhead Press
50 Choppers / Cable Crunches
900 Total Reps2 -
After a day off yesterday (I was sore from my "easy Sunday" Hatha Yoga!
), I was back to the elliptical today. My goal today was to just focus on heart health while being mindful of not reinjuring my quad. What this looked like: 40 minutes of steady Zone 3 (no intervals); 2 miles. I felt good, but HR was at upper end of Zone 3. Perhaps I should just "keep on keepin' on" here until I can do this same pace at a lower part of Zone 3. That might help prevent further injury. 4 -
Did 10K on the rower today. Likely harder than I should have but felt OK. HRM said it reached 93% max but I have a feeling that was a glitch. Really tried to cap it at around 160 (roughly 82% of max or so).4
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My strength training has been horribly inconsistent lately, so progress has been stalled.
Today's workout:
4 sets landmine deadlifts
4 sets assisted pull-ups
4 sets cable rows
3 sets dumbell side raises
2 sets cable biceps curls3 -
EPIC II / Day 3 - Upper Body Workout
Short Walk on Treadmill3 -
Did 250 minutes/18 miles on my Elliptical. I had a nursing dinner conference at a Farm to Table restaurant and figured I would have some items I'm not usually eating and wanted to make sure I had enough for a deficit.3
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Stationary bike again, 16,491 meters from a 15k + 4' CD workout. 53% of the time in Z3, the rest below; HR peaked at a 142bpm, about 70% HR reserve.
A few rounds of sun salutations again, too, before breakfast.4 -
50 Skier Warm Up & Stretching
1Mile Jog
120 Stairs (Tower Climb)
.5 Sprint
Tower Climb
Repeat X 3
Cool down walk & Stretching2 -
7-8 am:
Warm-Up
Elliptical - 1mile (8m)
Mobility - (15m)
Strength: Shoulders/Legs
HSPU: 1-2-Failure (6r) (9r)
Face Pull: 3x12r (36r)
RDL: 3x12r (36r)
Squat: 3x12r (36r)
Meditate - (5m)
3 -
5K today morning sub 30 minute. Havent run in a month but was grateful to be able to still keep it under 30.3
-
Supposed to be a rest day, but I ended up spending the morning rearranging furniture in my house. So....:
4 couch lifts
2 rug slides
1 table drag
15 minutes cable/cord wrangling
4 -
11657 meters on the rower. Odd number but I did an hour unstrapped (the foot straps not strapping you in). That helps with sequence so you are forced to do it in the correct order.
Been a long time since I did a whole hour unstrapped but it helped keep the HR and pace in check.3 -
Ouch, I can definitely feel the effect of yesterday's deadlifts 😁
Maybe that's why my run was a bit rough this evening: 5.5km in 40min10, with a short walking break in the middle.
One minute in Z4, 22 minutes in Z3 and the rest below.4 -
Rowing machine, 8203 meters (including row in/out & CD meters), usual format, 2:36.X pace on each of the pieces, 19spm, 64% Z3 (HR peak 141, just under 70% reserve), rest Z2 & below.
Earlier in the day I watched a video from an Australian outfit called Decent Rowing that I follow on Facebook. They have some for-pay content elsewhere, but offer some FB, email, and other content for free. (They're on-water people, but offer a good bit of erg coaching content, like most on-water coaching sources.)
They had a different cue for what I think of as maintaining body angle, or driving the body wedge up the slide: Thinking of the shoulders and hips moving at the same speed during (most of) the leg drive. So, I played with that idea some, along with working on suspension at relatively low pressure since I was still keeping the intensity on the low side. (It seems easier to feel at higher pressure, and I don't like changing the damper/drag factor.)4 -
Five days a week: Either a 45 or 60 minute Muay Thai kickboxing class. They are hard workouts, but they get me an endorphin high that can't be beat!6
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I went scuba diving on Sunday in a quarry to practice skills. I was terribly bad, my shutdowns were awful.
I went climbing yesterday. It was fun, I was in form. They had reset in one room so the climbds in there were ungraded. I got some harder slab in that room. In the other room, I got some overhangs. I session flashed a project I fell off the previous 6 visits.
I also did a pre-breakfast walk, a lunch walk and an evening walk, so ended up on 28,000 steps.
5 -
Rowing machine again today. 11813 meters. All strapless again. Getting back in the swing of doing every steady state workout strapless. HR was higher than I'd like but consistent. Stayed right around 75% of max nearly the entire row.
It's paying off on my form. I'm not losing any momentum at finish of the stoke (based on my feet are staying on the pads, not lifting up).
Around 820 calories for the hour.3 -
Slow and steady today.... 35 minutes on elliptical and I tried to keep a consistent pace. This kept me in Zone 3 until I approached the 30 min. mark, then I was creeping into Zone 4 and had to slow down. I guess this tells me what I need to work on.4
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220 minutes on my Elliptical for 14 miles.4
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