Introduction

Savannahmiamaddie wrote: »

Hello, my name is Beth. I have been using My Fitness Pal for some time now. I gained quite a bit of weight during the first COVID lockdown. It seemed like a good idea at the time to bake a lot of bread and cookies. Then of course I ate a lot of bread and cookies. I also quit exercising. When I could no longer do some of the activities that I enjoy, like gardening, I decided it was time to do something about my weight. So far, I’ve lost 30 pounds. I track my meals and exercise religiously. As far as exercise, I try to walk 4 - 5 miles every other day. On the other days, I do either step aerobics, or workout on my elliptical or water rower. If you haven’t heard about water rowers, you should check them out. It’s an amazing form of exercise.

Hi, Beth, and welcome!

Congratulations on grabbing the reins and losing an impressive 30 pounds, and getting your exercise on track!

I'm hanging out here maintaining these days, but wanted to reply to your post because I *do* know what a WaterRower is. I admit, I have a Concept 2 at home rather than one of those, but I've rowed those a few times, and think they're nice machines, too.

Most of the time - whenever I can - I row the other kind of "water rower": Actual rowing shells, on the river at my local rowing club. (I've been doing this since 2002, even doing some indoor and on-water races in the past, even starting while I was still overweight/obese.) I do that usually 4 days a week in season, plus walk a 5 miles 2-3 days most weeks, and toss in some bike rides once or twice a week, too . . . weather permitting, of course. (Winter is Concept 2 rowing & stationary bike, usually some lifting and/or floor exercises.)

What are your goals going forward, now?

Regardless, wishing you much success!

Savannahmiamaddie wrote: »

Thank you for your reply and the encouragement. My goal weight is somewhere between 110 lbs. and 115 lbs. I’m only 5ft. tall so that is within my weight range. As far as exercise, I want to add on more strength training. I don’t know why but I hate strength trading. I think I’ll start with resistance bands and add on with dumbbells. Right now, I do wear wrist weights when walking or doing aerobics. I’m guessing the rowing helps build muscle too. I’ll be 70 this February so I feel like muscle strength is increasingly important for my bone health; etc. I really admire your endeavors with rowing on real waterways. My neighbor participates in a kayaking group. She has promised to take me out next summer. We live near a creek that is favored by many kayak enthusiasts. I’m looking forward to it. Winters can be very cold where I live. I am going to keep up my walking schedule as long as I can but I am looking for an activity to replace walking when it is too cold. (Temperatures below zero are not unusual.) Any suggestions?

Empathy. I don't like strength training myself, though I like being stronger. I do a little bit of it, sometimes/usually, in my rowing off-season, but it's desultory at best. Nonetheless, I routinely encourage others here to strength train (in some way), because I don't want to be telling other people they should do dumb stuff (like skip strength training too often) just because I do. 🤣

I'd encourage some caution with the wrist weights, though: Explosive movements, especially, can increase joint injury risk.

Besides weight lifting, bodyweight exercises can build strength and muscle, too. This thread is the classic here about strength training programs, and it does include some bodyweight options despite the title suggesting it would be weights only:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

IIRC, there are maybe some posts in there from smaller/older women talking about what routines they use.

I do believe rowing, with proper technique, can build muscle. Most of any muscle I have above the li'l ol' lady average is from rowing. (I'm 65 now, was 59-60 when I lost 50+ pounds from class 1 obese to healthy, around 46 when I started rowing and being routinely active, so I've been rowing for nearly 2 decades.) I'm a little taller than you, at 5'5", and maintaining at around 125 pounds these days, a weight that's not dramatically different (on a height adjusted basis) than your goal is for your shorter height. (I'm hanging around BMI 20-21 now; 110 pounds at 5' would be BMI 21.5.)

You probably already know all this, but:

The thing is that rowing is a slower and less efficient route to either strength, or muscle mass increase (two slightly different things), compared with something like weight training.

Also, for strength and mass gains, the exercise needs to be progressive: Get harder over time. Oversimplifying, that progressivity can be in volume (amount of time spent as a daily average if doing the same muscle-challenging activity, loosely), or intensity (going harder per time interval at that muscle-challenging activity). For weight training, still oversimplifying, volume increase is more reps/sets, more intensity is heavier weights. For rowing, volume increase is more time rowing on average per day - not that you have to do it every day - at the same pace; more intensity is working at a faster pace (lower split). With rowing specifically, being able to increase the pace over the long haul requires good technique.

Like I said, that's all oversimplified. Volume increases have different effects on muscle fibers than intensity increases, for example.

It definitely gets cold here: My local river freezes solid every year. (I'm in Michigan, USA - last tier of states before Canada.)

I don't have great advice about what to do in Winter, but I can describe what I usually do.

Realistically, I decrease exercise volume in Winter, compared to summer. I also routinely go through a period of denial in the Fall where I do less and less as rowing/biking get to be a problem weather-wise. The duration of that varies (depending on how early Winter starts sliding in, as well as my moods!).

Many recent years, I've participated in the Concept 2 Holiday Challenge (200k rowing meters between US Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, which I spread over 6 of 7 days each week, usually), and that tends to snap me out of denial mode. Usually, I don't do a lot of other workouts during that month, just to keep time reasonable and recovery happening well enough.

I got a Concept 2 BikeErg early in 2021 (because I wasn't comfortable going to the gym for twice a week spin classes I'd been doing for years), so that I could vary the physical stresses vs. rowing most every day all Winter. This past Winter, I got into a routine of 5-6k rowing and 10-11k biking on alternating days, 6 days most weeks, plus around half an hour yoga/stretching nearly every day; then added some strength training, core exercises, a few random exercise videos. I used to swim occasionally at the gym in Winter, too . . . rowers need to be able to swim, but I dislike swimming even more than I dislike strength training, sadly.

If we get conditions where it's safe, I'll continue to walk some in Winter, but that's kind of rare. (I usually walk on the road if walking from home, so snow piled on the roadsides makes that riskier. We get snow!)

As far as what you could do in Winter, my feeling is that - unfortunately - the best solution for most people is to figure out what *they* enjoy doing exercise-wise, enjoy enough that they'll actually keep doing it rather than procrastinate/skip.

There are lots of free video options to experiment with, including things that are walking oriented (such as the Leslie Sansone ones).

I tried a few Silver Sneakers videos last Winter, because some of my similar-age friends like them, but nothing really stuck for me. I may try again, as I have a better watching setup now (had been using just my tablet, now have a smart TV). If you haven't experimented with videos, there are bunches on YouTube. There's a thread here where people (all ages) talk about the ones they're doing/like:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10796095/what-youtube-workout-did-you-do-today#latest

Another option would be to post in the Exercise area, describe what you do & like, ask for ideas; or do that in the 60+ thread if you want age group advice:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10718336/60-yrs-and-up#latest

If you haven't visited that thread (or a similarly long term one), you'll notice that the posts on the first pages look old. It's still active: The new ones are at the end, on the higher-numbered pages.

Best wishes!

suziieq56 wrote: »

Help please. I am not finding this reply box in a group I have joined. Any help please?

You joined under Motivation & Support in the forums ...I assigned you to a team