Rowing workouts

tbilly20

With the pandemic fully set-in, my wife and I decided to add to our home gym. We bought several pieces of cardio equipment and a set of weights with an FID bench. The piece that I have the least experience with is the WaterRower. I have used it a few times now, and I am working on my technique. If you row, what’s your workout? Do you go for distance, or do you prefer HIIT?

Onedaywriter

I don’t have a rower but Concept 2 publishes a workout of the day:
https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/wod
I’ve heard they’re pretty good and keep things mixed up to maximize health benefits and limit boredom.

sgt1372

I have a Concept2 rower and just row 5-10km/day at a moderate rate of between 550-650 cals/hr and 26-28 strokes/min which takes me about 30-60 mins/day that I do in 2-4 2.5km "sets" (combined).

I don't bother with high intensity routines (even though I could do them) or other variations offered by C2 on their website because I really don't think they make a difference and, at my age (70), it matters more that I just exercise 30-60 mins a day than "how" I go about doing it.

In fact, a recent article I just read, suggests that a moderate level of exercise for a longer duration performed daily may be better than HII execise done in shorter periods of time and less frequently.

See: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/well/move/the-benefits-of-moderate-exercise.html

My thighs/butt have never been firmer/stronger and my blood pressure/sugar levels have remained low (which is a suggested benefit of "moderate" vs HII training in the article mentioned above).

However, you do it, just USE IT! The WaterRower will do you absolutely no good unless you do!

This is NO better piece of home exercise equipment than a rower.

I'm biased but I still have a full Olympic weight lifting gym in my garage and a wide assortment of CrossFit equipment in my backyard but I haven't used any of that gear in over a year.

All I do currently is row and there really isn't any need to do anything else for basic heart and respiratory health.

AnnPT77

tbilly20 wrote: »

With the pandemic fully set-in, my wife and I decided to add to our home gym. We bought several pieces of cardio equipment and a set of weights with an FID bench. The piece that I have the least experience with is the WaterRower. I have used it a few times now, and I am working on my technique. If you row, what’s your workout? Do you go for distance, or do you prefer HIIT?

What are you goals? That's the key question.

For sure, at the beginning with the rower, getting your technique as solid as it can be is the main goal. Rowing is a technical sport. That means your best strategy at first is more meters at low SPM, with the best form you can manage, continuously checking and adjusting. (There isn't enough think time or self-observation time at high SPM). It will help that there are two of you: You can video each other, compare to good instructional or true expert rower videos . . . maybe even critique each other, but it takes some time and experience to develop eyes for it, I believe.

If you don't get technique reasonably correct at the start, the bad habits will get grooved into muscle memory, and they're viciously difficult to fix later (ask me how I know 😆).

Also, proper technique lets you get load on the water-wheel do-dad (I don't know it's proper technical name, because I row boats and a Concept 2; the latter has a flywheel - I've rowed WaterRowers a few times, and the general nature is the same, but the machine parts are different.)

Unlike most exercise machines, decent rowers (like C2 & WR) don't have "resistance" per se - you don't "increase the resistance" to get a more intense workout. They do have an adjustment mechanism to make the pull generally a little harder/easier (I believe it's the water level in the WR, maybe other factors). The workout becomes more intense when you can accelerate the mechanism faster: Each more intense stroke increases the effort needed to make another jump in intensity. In effect, you create the intensity yourself, by pushing/pulling harder/faster. Without good technique, you top out soon on the ability to do that.

I get that it's frustrating to get not-very-intense-feeling workouts at first, while focusing on form, I really do. But it's your best path, if you aim to keep this up long term. It's an investment.

AnnPT77

(Oops, hit post too soon. Sadly, I'm the queen of ridiculously long essays, when asked about rowing. 🙄)

After the technique phase, what to do depends on your fitness or rowing objectives, what other cardio/strength exercise you may have in the mix, and what your starting fitness level is.

There are formal workout plans for beginners on the web. I can't point one out, because I've never used them (only used coach-provided programs). I believe @MikePfirrman has one he recommends to beginners, so I hope he'll see that I've tagged him, and comment. (Think he's away from home right now, might not reply quickly.) These are sort of analogous to the couch to 5k running programs, but for rowing.

The Concept 2 WODs are a good source for just getting some training variety, as long as you avoid any that may not fit your goals (for example, if you're keeping rating - SPM - low to focus on technique, don't do WODs at 28+ or something. The WODs may suggest you use particular monitor settings that WR doesn't have (I don't know). Some of Concept 2 WODs IMO make unstated assumptions, too, about intensity and such, that you might not know as a beginner.

In general, there's a lot of good info on the C2 web site, much of which will apply to WR. Technique is the same, similar workouts can be done, etc. I don't know what WR may have that's similar, but you can probably find some useful things on the C2 training pages (https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training) that will apply.

Beyond that, there's a lot I could say. Sadly, I could talk about rowing all day long. But it would be an unfocused ramble, without understanding a little bit more about what you hope to accomplish: General CV fitness? Competition (even if just hitting speed benchmarks for your own gratification)? Mainly calorie burn or general health?

Personally, now that not competing**, I mostly do machine workouts to keep fitness up through the Winter months. It's a lot of "under 70% heart rate reserve" time, especially in the first half of Winter, using the amount of time I want to spend on rowing as the control (i.e., if I want to spend 45ish minutes, I might do 4 x (2k on 2' easy), set the "easy" as rest time on the monitor, and grab a drink during part of that time.

I used to do more mix-it-up stuff for variety****, but these days I tend to set a technical focus (varies from time to time) and watch my splits (500m pace); the power graph (shows power application through each stroke - I know what I want the curve to look like); sometimes meters per stroke; and if intending to work in a certain intensity band, my HR. That's enough distraction, usually.

Lately, I do a lot of workouts in the format I just mentioned: X meters on, Y minutes off (drink break and easy rowing). I almost always do meters as the control for the "on" parts. If I want an intense workout, it'd be shorter distances, fewer repetitions, and a higher rest (off) in proportion to the work (on). If I want shorter work, but not higher intensity, the rests would be shorter.

In general, I do a lot of base (<70% HR, some intervals (moderate to high intensity). I do more intervals in summer on the water (speed is more fun on water than on a machine that goes nowhere), less total volume in Winter on the machine (because less fun generally), but probably a higher proportion of time doing base in Winter vs. Summer.

Some of my friends like timed workouts, like 30' on or whatever, then break up the time with ratings (SPM) changes or intensity changes. A popular thing with many of them (that never grabbed me, really) is repeating 20 strokes hard, 6 strokes easy. There are starting to be sites like Zoomergos (https://www.zoomergos.com/) with free streaming workouts, there are various with paid workouts, etc.

High intensity should not be a main dish for anyone, IMO: It's more a condiment or side dish. If you do lots of cardio in some other mode where achieving intensity is harder, doing small amounts of high intensity rowing would be rational, and letting the other activity provide most of the base work. HIIT in particular is way overhyped these days. It has its place, but not as the day in/day out workout. (Elite athletes don't do that, why would we?)

** If I were planning on competing, I'd more likely run a formal training plan of some sort.
**** Like rating pyramids, for example: do X minutes at A SPM, Y minutes at A+2 SPM, Z minutes at A+4 SPM, then back down for the same durations of A+2 SPM then A SPM again. The C2 WODs would expose you to a lot of those sorts of variations.

I'm going to stop rambling here, mostly. If you can offer more info about what you're looking for, I might be able to help.

As background, I've been rowing on-water & machine for about 18 years, starting out (as an adult) lucky to have good coaching and opportunity to attend rowing camps. I took USRowing coaching education to level 2 (of 3), but didn't bother keeping up my formal certification. I loveLove on-water rowing, and machine rowing is a thing I need to do to improve and stay in shape for that. Even so, I'm old (65) and slow (not truly terrible in W60+ Lwt class, but I started too late without the genetic raw material or background). I just have fun, but work on technique because that's part of the fun.

Enjoy your WaterRower!

tbilly20

Thank you for the replies! Rowing is a once a week thing for me. I strength train 3x/week and do cardio in the off days. I do elliptical, bike, and treadmill in addition. This keeps me from getting too focused on any one activity. I tend to get a bit addicted to certain cardio, and my cardiologist wants me to keep things varied and light. (I am recovering from a heart valve repair.)

My Dr wants me to keep my HR between 60-80%. The goal is improve VO2Max over the next year. (56 pre-surgery; 27 post-surgery). My limit for cardio is as tolerated. Basically, if I started to get dizzy while walking upstairs later in the day, I went too hard.

I seem to fall into a sweet spot at between 27-29 SPM. At a 2:20 pace for 500m, I can keep my heart reasonable (but on the high side) for an hour. I have done a few KM efforts, but I tend to go out too hard. I really like the effort you described for a 45min workout @AnnPT77.

Rowing certainly gives me the burn I am looking for. After an hour or rowing, I feel pretty whooped. Right now, I am just bored spending 60 minutes with no variability.

AnnPT77

tbilly20 wrote: »

Thank you for the replies! Rowing is a once a week thing for me. I strength train 3x/week and do cardio in the off days. I do elliptical, bike, and treadmill in addition. This keeps me from getting too focused on any one activity. I tend to get a bit addicted to certain cardio, and my cardiologist wants me to keep things varied and light. (I am recovering from a heart valve repair.)

My Dr wants me to keep my HR between 60-80%. The goal is improve VO2Max over the next year. (56 pre-surgery; 27 post-surgery). My limit for cardio is as tolerated. Basically, if I started to get dizzy while walking upstairs later in the day, I went too hard.

I seem to fall into a sweet spot at between 27-29 SPM. At a 2:20 pace for 500m, I can keep my heart reasonable (but on the high side) for an hour. I have done a few KM efforts, but I tend to go out too hard. I really like the effort you described for a 45min workout @AnnPT77.

Without intending to be harsh here, I'm concerned that 27-29 right now will limit your ability to get a good workout as you get fitter, via the thing I mentioned: Not giving you enough feel/think/adjust time on each stroke to really groove in good technique.

One thought: If 2:20 is a good steady state pace for you, maybe see if you can drop the stroke rating, increase the meters per stroke, and keep the pace around the 2:20 and your heart rate around the same level. (I find that for me, HR and pace are fairly well correlated, at least within a normal range of workouts - i.e., might break down if I went for 35SPM or something.) That could both give you something to think about, and help you get to a SPM where there's more think time. Just a thought.

I don't know what monitor display options WR has. When I try to increase meters per stroke, I just watch the meters on the monitor, and count strokes. If I'm at (say) 723 meters to go on the catch of one stroke, I might be shooting for 711 on the next catch, or whatever works as a slight challenge from what I'd been doing.

Technique really is job 1, at the start. It will enable later progress.

Right now, in most of my <70% HR workouts, I'm mostly working in the 18-22SPM range, partly because I've also been working on power (meters/stroke). It would be rare for me to do base aerobic workouts above the mid-20s. I use stuff above around 25 more as speed work. (I don't think this is wildly eccentric behavior on my part. It's pretty common. If not for the power part of it, I'd maybe be going as high as 28 occasionally, but that's about it for anything like base work.) On the flip side, if I try really hard (😆), I can stay at 70% all the way down into the mid-teens (16SPM +/- 2) . . . it's just putting more power into each stroke, and paying more attention to patient recovery.

I hear what you're saying about going out too hard at the start (it kills a lot of people's race success, in real life). As you do this for a while, you'll come to learn your sustainable pace for particular workout lengths. You can then work on getting that pace right at the start, and sticking with it. Developing that control can be helpful.

Within a certain range, it should be possible to hold your pace steady while varying stroke rating, if you want to, via changes in power application. Obviously, a rowing workout will include a few strokes at the start where you accelerate the mechanism from stillness, and those tend to be higher SPM. (In boats, for racing, we do shorter but *really* hard, fast strokes at the start to get the boat moving, and it's usually up to speed within 10 strokes.)

If your doctor has limited your HR during exercise, you *definitely* don't want to do true HIIT workouts. h By definition, those tend to have some max effort elements. If I do (for example) old-school Tabata intervals on the machine, kind of the classic definition of HIIT, that's first a warm-up; 8 x (20" max effort, 10" easy) so a mere 4 minutes in the body of the workout; then cool down. By the later 20" intervals, I'm hitting around HR max (sports-tested max, not age-estimated).

Rowing certainly gives me the burn I am looking for. After an hour or rowing, I feel pretty whooped. Right now, I am just bored spending 60 minutes with no variability.

That's where things like going for meters per stroke, ultra-consistent pace or SPM, and the like come in. Ditto to things like the "20 strokes hard, 10 strokes easy" kind of thing (you'd need to manage the "hard" to keep your heart rate where you need it).

Rating changes are also super-popular, like the pyramids I mentioned. (Ladders are the same idea, but instead of going up in SPM then back down, you either start low and progress to faster SPM (most common), or start high and progress to slower.) Any variation is OK (up/down alternated, for example). Mostly one doesn't go from ultra low to ultra high, but steps of 2-4 SPM at a time in either direction.

As an example, a real segment that a local coach led on Zoomergos recently involved repeats of (5' at 24 spm, 3' at 26 spm, 2' at 28 spm, 3' rest). The implication (both by the rating numbers and the rest length) is that the intensity was moderately high. It would be done after a lower rating warm up. (In a workout like this, you'd be increasing pace by a few seconds in parallel with stroke rating. You can still keep your HR controlled, but it's an averaging thing. Usually HR lags a little bit behind intensity, for example, you'd hit the highest relative HR near the end of the 28SPM, maybe even a tiny bit into the rest.)

There's also technical focus as an option to break things up. Usually, I pick *just one thing* for a workout, occasionally perhaps two related things.

Lately, on my technical pieces, one thing I've been focusing on is holding the upper body shape (the forward-swung torso and straight-extended arms) very carefully from the catch through until knees are nearly flat (so not prematurely swinging body back/open or prematurely pulling with the arms - arms are just cables, connecting through the lats and back/glutes to the foot-pressure as the legs push). I want to feel that slight decompression or unweighting of the glutes on the seat that says my weight is suspended between foot-stretchers and handle as I apply leg power. I think of my body shape as a wedge that I'm trying to drive backward with leg power. On the C2, when I'm getting this, I can see a difference in the one-stroke power curve on the monitor.

Other possible foci:

* Heels down first at the start of drive;

* Getting full body swing forward from the hip joint and arm extension right off the finish then holding it through the start of the drive, with a firm core & straight back. (No "C" shape - risky! One of my coaches used to say "Don't be a taco!"😆);

* Smooth quickness at that body over/arms away (no micro pause at the "finish" - one of my coaches preferred to call it "the back end" rather than "finish" for just that reason!);

* Reaching vertical shins at the recovery/drive transition;

* Patient slide on recovery, maybe through counting within each stroke (loosely, it's at least a 4 count, which we usually count as time-equal intervals of "in"=catch, "out"=finish, "3"=arms away then swing, "4"=mid-slide of recovery, and back to "in");

* Keeping firm core all through the stroke;

* Open chest (one visual is "pretend there's a light on the center of your chest that beams out to the horizon");

* Maintain the slight glute decompression or unweighting (suspension between footstretcher and handle) all the way from catch to finish (this is hard, especially the last bit, IMO);

* Controlled breathing (various ways to do it, but generally one or two inhales on the recovery, exhale slowly with firm core during the drive *or* exhale harder at the finish)

* Think about accelerating the mechanism with the arms, i.e., the legs are main power, the big muscles continue accelerating it with the swing, then the arms try to continue acceleration (with the elbows relaxed and allowed to move naturally outward and away from ribcage, rather than being pressed into the ribcage).

* Relaxed grip, just hooking the handle, not squeezing.

* Keeping shoulders down and lats engaged through the drive (some of us like to pop the shoulders up which makes it feel like working harder through the upper body, but isn't really as effective). Think about pulling the shoulders down the back, firming the musculature between the shoulder blades, sitting up tall as if suspended from the crown of the head.

That's just a few that should be understandable/doable, probably, as a beginner.

It can also be fun to do some rows "feet out", i.e., not under the straps. It helps reinforce when one should transition from drive to recovery . . . too much layback isn't helpful, in a variety of ways, and too much layback will tend to make one tip over backwards!

FWIW, while on-water rowers do do some long uninterrupted time periods (like 30 or 60 minutes, perhaps with variations in pace or SPM or whatever), it's more common to do things like I described from the Zoomergos session above: Some kind of repeats, with embedded rests. The rests can be an actual rest, or super-easy rowing. It's when I take drinks, or mop sweat. 😉

Good luck with your rehab!

(Edited multiple times because typos: Jeesh!)

tbilly20

Thank you @AnnPT77! This gives me a ton to work on and concentrate on while rowing. I see why going slower and thinking about the whole action of rowing is important. There are a bunch of things you can mess up, and I would imagine, huge gains to be made if you get it all right. I have been a competitive swimmer and cyclist in my pre-surgical days. There is something about the beauty of a swim stroke, pedal stroke, or rowing stroke that is very appealing. Far better than a footfall on the treadmill or stroke on an elliptical. When done right, it becomes the crafting of a work of art. The exercise becomes more than simply effort, and I believe that these moments can lead to zen. The feeling of a perfect stroke is a “high” that causes you to chase perfection again and again. This is as close as I come to a drug. Chasing that feeling in the pool has helped me through some tough times. I can see that rowing might do the same!

AnnPT77

Afterthought: Flat, straight, neutral wrist, especially through the drive from catch to finish when under load.

This isn't usually as big a problem for machine-only rowers as on-water rowers, but sometimes - especially during the arms' part of the drive - machine-only rowers are too tense, and end up with the wrists cranked to the side a bit instead of neutral. (It's related to that relaxed elbows point, and also to hooking the handle instead of gripping.)

On-water rowers are more likely to crank the loaded wrists up or down, in addition (it's related to details of bladework that are pointless to get into, in an exclusively machine rowing context).

I always try to mention the potential injury points, and I forgot that one. The biggies IMO tend to be the C-shaped back or equivalent putting inappropriate stresses on the spine; the wrist cranking instead of neutrality; and over-focusing on rowing which is all lower-body-push, upper-body-pull, so can lead to risky muscular imbalances over time. It sounds like you're not at risk of that last, since you have varied activities that hit (especially) the shoulders and upper body in various ways.

Glad to feel you're finding some "mix it up" options in my enthusiast's rambles.

Cheers! 🙂

AmunahSki

I’m trying to make rowing a regular habit this year, and taking it slow and steady to get a good technique this time round.

I’ve found the ‘Dark Horse’ YouTube videos very helpful, there are some ‘10 minute’ beginner sessions (some include warm ups/cool downs, so they vary in actual ‘rowing’ time), so I’ve been working on pyramids and variable speeds using those during the week. At weekends, when I have more time, I’m setting myself a target distance (say, 5km) or a time (30 mins) to row at a steady stroke rate (aiming for 18-20), just to measure ‘progress’ (in split time, distance etc). I find the data collection and analysis very interesting... but my main goal is to just try and enjoy it!

@AnnPT77 has some excellent tips here, which I am screenshotting to save permanently Good luck, @tbilly20 - update this thread on your progress, it would be nice to hear how you’re getting on. I’m jealous of your WaterRower, it’s a fine looking machine... maybe I’ll treat myself to that (or a C2) when/if I break my current one!