More exercise and fitness.

[Gus]

this saturday i'm going back to rowing.

I always liked rowing more than most other gym cardio equipment. It helps that they are the least popular.

My crossfit gym just got rowing machines so I used them for the first time yesterday. I used to row a lot over a year ago but only as warm up or for conditioning after lifting not for high intensity training. Doing 30s max rounds was a lot tougher than I thought it would be.

[ithanos]

I see some encouraging advice and support being offered up in this thread, so here I post. Wellness is the goal after all.

I've dropped some weight these past few months due to a simple change in meal times along with an increased amount of walking. But the weight loss and lack of a rounded exercise regimen has meant that I've lost a lot of strength, particularly in the upper body.

There's a gym next to my workplace and last week I tagged along with a work colleague, who's been working out religiously for the last year, and followed his workout albeit with 10-15% of the weight he was lifting. Two days later I was feeling the soreness in muscles that hadn't been stressed so in over a decade. It's been so long since I'd done a workout with weights that the soreness came to my forearms and hands first. Three workouts later, still keeping to the weight light, and the soreness is mostly gone.

I can see that pinning a workout based on my work colleagues routine is not ideal as he's on a completely different track to me. He's building muscle and power whereas I'm trimming down but want to maintain/regain strength, if that's possible. But working out with him this past weeek has been benefitial for me in getting back to the feel of a resistance workout.

Before I consult the Gym trainer, which I should've done first I guess, What sort of routine would you suggest for someone on my path? The sort of reps/weight I should target to build back and maintain my overall strength. Any advice is appreciated.

this saturday i'm going back to rowing.

I discovered the joy of the rowing machine only this week. Had never used one before so decided to give it a go to warm up before the weight session. It must've been when I got into a nice cadence, after concentrating to keep good form, that I realised I really liked it. Went for 10mins at a steady cadence of 26-28 with drag setting on 5, then I paused for a minute , thinking that my friend had arrived but hadn't, so I set the drag to 10 and continued for another 12mins pushing the cadence to 30 and then easing back to 26. It felt great! Had to stop when my friend tapped me on the shoulder to start our intended workout. I think the meter indicated 3800m done by then. Can one do an entire session of conditioning based around this machine?

[Rubies & Jade]

ithanos, congrats on getting back into the gym!

i'm probably the last person to answer your specific questions, since figuring out what works for me has been a long and ongoing process. I started just by doing 3x 8 reps of everything I tried, using whatever weight seemed challenging but short of damaging. later I starting doing some drop sets. if I'm gonna go to the gym the next day, I try and focus on cardio and one area (usually "top" or "bottom" lol) but if I'm gonna skip a day at the gym then I try to do everything. that's all probably way too vague to be very helpful, but it worked for me.

good luck!

(PS I still haven't braved the rowing machine. I've wanted to for the longest time but I have never used it and in my gym the one rowing machine is right in a place where everyone has to walk by, so I'm intimidated!)

[Greywolf2375]

ridiculous how much a minor bout of the flu takes out of you. Just collapsed through a 40 minute cardio program that I had been doing last week without wanting to die.

[cjfshaw]

Ow, ow ,ow, so sore, don't know how I'm going to be able to lift tonight.

Edit: oh cool chrome works at home now, lol

[Minaku]

Ugh I have to go to Crossfit tonight! Boo!

(Just kidding. But it's way harder to motivate myself at night than in the morning.)

[cjfshaw]

My legs! They are jello! About two steps away from the second floor of my house I thought, "I'm not gonna make it." Tomorrow is going to suck. Also power cleans are hard. I just practiced them tonight with the bar because I kept feeling like I couldn't get it up fast enough.

[Minaku]

I should have stayed home, tonight's WOD sucked. 500m row, 400m run, max DU, 5 rounds. I HATE CARDIO.

[Liffguard]

A 400 meter run? That's it?

*giggle snicker*

We went on a short 8 mile run last night. THAT'S cardio. :)

I gotta admit, I always feel much worse after a 400m balls-to-the-wall sprint than after almost any other distance. It's short enough that you have to sprint flat-out but long enough to make it really hurt. 400m - 800m is just about the worst distance to run IMO.

[Minaku]

400m one time by itself is easy. 400m 5 times after rowing 500 meters and then coming back immediately to get as many double jumps with a jump rope as possible, that sucks. I can row all day. I can jump rope all day. What I suck at is running. Yeah yeah you get a 5 minute break, which is long enough to recover. Still sucks though.

Edit: Today's WOD is 7s. I don't even know what that is and I'm apprehensive. T-minus 3 hours until Crossfit...

[RaceBannon42]

I totally bonked yesterday evening just walking the dog. Was at about mile 2 of a 3 mile walk and started to get light headed and my legs felt rubbery.

My quads were killing me last night and this morning. I did leg work Monday and was fine on Tuesday. I havent felt sore like this since spring, when I started going to the gym. I decided to forego a run. Planning on hitting the gym tonight, provided it is open. LA Fitness has it listed as one that it will be closing. Its supposed to be a legs a shoulder work out tonight. I might need to take it easy on the legs...

[Liffguard]

I've decided to go really back-to-basics with my training. I'm following a variant of the Stronglifts program with the aim of hitting a 200kg deadlift by May. Breaking 200kg has been a goal of mine for a little while now but I've put off seriously pursuing it for various reasons. Not anymore. I've got exactly six months to get jacked enough to pick up 200kg off the floor and put it down again. My PB is 180kg but that's a bit out of date. My current 1rm is closer to 160kg, only another 40kg to go.

[RaceBannon42]

an "avid follower of the CrossFit exercise regimen," which involves comically extreme stuff like playing hopscotch with a telephone pole over one shoulder while juggling medicine balls with your free hand.

Man that sounds like a terrible WOD!

[alguien]

Some men do indeed use jogging bras, if they have moobs. More slender men use the band-aid method, or other sort of athletic tape. Or tons of Body Glide if they are hairy and the tape/band-aids won't stick :)

Or the shirtless route, which was often appreciated by my friend Laura in marathon training :)

I use use Body Glide and the bandaid. Depends on the distance.

I always use a little Body Glide for the crotch. If I'm doing 5 miles or less, I just apply to the nips as well. If I'm doing more than 5, I notice the Body Glide tends to sweat off after an hour or so of running. So I switch to bandaids. They can hurt a little if you have a hairy man chest, but its way better than dealing the bloody nips.

I haven't run in a week. Its driving me nuts. Going to do a 5k today.

Strangely, I haven't really gained much weight either. So that's good. Was expecting to be close to 200 lbs after Thanksgiving and was still at 193.

[alguien]

I gotta admit, I always feel much worse after a 400m balls-to-the-wall sprint than after almost any other distance. It's short enough that you have to sprint flat-out but long enough to make it really hurt. 400m - 800m is just about the worst distance to run IMO.

I remember racing the 800. God that was horrible. Two laps of just basically sprinting balls out. Ergh. It took a lot of guts. My PR in my teens was about 2:10 but I had friends who were as fast as 1:49.

I much preferred the 1600m. I could plan a pretty decent race there. My PR was about 4:40.

Oh, to be 17 and 150 lbs again. :cool4:

[Harlot]

I've been just crap at sticking to my running schedule. Work and the holidays and just plain old lack of motivation. I did run a 5K with the family on Thanksgiving. Just a little local race in Lawrence, Kansas. 28:17 is a new PR and I had barely run in a month since I finished the marathon. That's 2 minutes faster than this time last year.

So I know I need to get back into it but I've got this little voice telling me that I can put off serious training again until after New Years. I haven't gained any weight but I have fallen back to bad habits regarding eating - doing OK in terms of nutritional food, I've just started skipping breakfast lately which I always know is a bad sign for me.

[baxus]

I can see that pinning a workout based on my work colleagues routine is not ideal as he's on a completely different track to me. He's building muscle and power whereas I'm trimming down but want to maintain/regain strength, if that's possible. But working out with him this past weeek has been benefitial for me in getting back to the feel of a resistance workout.

Before I consult the Gym trainer, which I should've done first I guess, What sort of routine would you suggest for someone on my path? The sort of reps/weight I should target to build back and maintain my overall strength. Any advice is appreciated.

first off, good job on deciding to start working out and actually doing it (not as easy as it seems)

i don't think there's any downside to working out with a friend who is in better shape. don't try to lift the same weights he does and pay special attention to doing the exercise properly and you're good to go.

long long time ago (in a galaxy far far away) we had this routine in my rowing practices - 10-12 exercises done with light weights, 20 reps each then switch to the next one with no rest between them. keep doing that for 20 minutes, take a 5 minute break, then do another 20 minutes.

it was a great workout, but it is difficult to organize unless everyone in the gym is participating (whether by being involved or avoiding the machines being used) which is not likely.

also, rowing training involves different muscle groups (chest, biceps, triceps, abs, back, shoulders, legs) in every gym session.

I discovered the joy of the rowing machine only this week. Had never used one before so decided to give it a go to warm up before the weight session. It must've been when I got into a nice cadence, after concentrating to keep good form, that I realised I really liked it. Went for 10mins at a steady cadence of 26-28 with drag setting on 5, then I paused for a minute , thinking that my friend had arrived but hadn't, so I set the drag to 10 and continued for another 12mins pushing the cadence to 30 and then easing back to 26. It felt great! Had to stop when my friend tapped me on the shoulder to start our intended workout. I think the meter indicated 3800m done by then. Can one do an entire session of conditioning based around this machine?

you telling me drags on that machine means nothing to me ;)

not all rowing machines are the same. even two machines made by the same manufacturer, same model can be quite different due to different amount of use they've seen, (im)proper maintenance etc. you should set drag factor (find it in the settings) to a value of 115-120 for a most effective workout.

as i've said before, whenever you use rowing machine you must pay attention to your technique in order to reduce risk of injury and increase workout efficiency.

26 strokes per minute can be fine depending on what you want from a workout, but 30 strokes per minute is too much.

if you want to work on your strength, keep the strokerate lower (20-22 is fine) while trying to maintain the same projected time for 500m.

(PS I still haven't braved the rowing machine. I've wanted to for the longest time but I have never used it and in my gym the one rowing machine is right in a place where everyone has to walk by, so I'm intimidated!)

don't be intimidated.

ask the gym trainer to show you the proper technique and use the machine.

it's probably the best workout you can get from a single machine and it would be a shame to miss out on that.

i point out again, proper technique is the key

[Minaku]

Gah, Crossfit done for today. Traps are toast.

[cjfshaw]

I remember racing the 800. God that was horrible. Two laps of just basically sprinting balls out. Ergh. It took a lot of guts. My PR in my teens was about 2:10 but I had friends who were as fast as 1:49.

I much preferred the 1600m. I could plan a pretty decent race there. My PR was about 4:40.

Oh, to be 17 and 150 lbs again. :cool4:

I never felt like the 400m or 800m races were much of a sprint. Now, 200m and below were sprints. That being said nothing turned my legs to jello like the 400m.

[Frosty]

Jade you need not be afraid of rowing machine. Go for it!! You paid your dues to get into building and act like you own it!

A numerous amount of the girls at our gym do full body every other day and cardio. IT works but if you have the time I really urge you to kickit up a nothc and go for 6 days a week.

When I started running 3 to 4 miles a day and doing 6 days by summer I had lost some more weight not what I wanted. At one point I got a dozen compliments in and out of the gym in one day. Funny cos I dont look that good.

Wehn Fall came I hit it like hard on lifting and had to back off running cos of knees. Not to be stopped I did supersets and dropsets and tougher diet. Within a month I gained muscle and lost some more fat and got more compliments.

My theory is some Dr dismiss weightlifting and prefer cardio. Cardio is great. But for many of us its just frecking boring and I love to run but knees say f u now - so I really like gearing up lifting.

I think you should still hit set bodyparts - legs and separate larger msucle groups and do them first leaving smaller groups, triceps biceps calves to the end of ur routine.