How maximal was 245? Because if that was pretty maximal, as the reps suggest, form breakdown is expected. You can practise “heavy” work without getting to the point of form breakdown. If your absolute max is around 265 (projecting here), I see no issues with practising “heavy” with volume at 220lbs.
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Not 100% sure on how relatable other rowers are to C2, but in terms of getting it faster, pulling harder trump’s going at it faster (hopefully that makes sense), it is a reasonably technique based cardio in comparison to other (at the basics end, I’m sure cycling and running are very technical at the higher levels).
Good effort on getting it done and the time, how did you feel afterwards?
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I second this. Also: longer strokes seem to help a lot.
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I was fine! Could have done it again after a minute rest. Which is why I felt technique was wrong. Or this brand of rower is different. I have used a c2 in the past and when you pull fast, it gets this “hard” feeling.
I’ll try longer pulls next time and see if I can make it “hard”.
Ah it might be quite different if it has a fixed resistance, the C2 resists as you pull harder, and that propels you faster, so that might be why you can’t get it any faster (and why you were fine to go after a minute!).
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I don’t agree with this. Strength has been my primary focus for a while and it has definitely lead to physique improvements. If by physique improvement you mean abs and look pretty like the boys on Instagram. Then probably not. But if you mean feel and look like a unit then go for it.
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I’m good with that and going for it!
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6/29 early morning work:
20 rounds, every 50 seconds on the sec:
Push press 135lb.
Call it paleo rehab because my right shoulder is giving me grief.
Got some BPAs and a few swings in the rest periods as well.
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You guys aren’t even talking about rowing, are you,
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Dude, nice!
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Yeah I’ve been training for strength or power 90% of my life. You look good @simo74 (proof is those bots want your pics all the time 
)
Not for someone your age. Not for a powerlifter. For everyone! Your muscles and aesthetics are very obvious.
The only thing that separates you from a “physique” guy is just like 5 kgs of fat and if you were to diet down you’d be some australian Paul Sklar or something for sure 
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Wednesday 6/30
Early morning
5 rounds 135lb
1 power clean
5 rows
Was supposed to be 20 rounds EMOM but baby awake and wife asleep had other plans. So after 5 rounds I took baby for a very fast stroller walk,
2.1 miles in 32:48. Would have gone faster but the second mile had to hold the baby while pushing the stroller, and go slowly and gently.
10 pullups on arrival at the office.
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To continue on this thread, something that @dt79 and I have agreed with each other way too often about is HOW you go about getting these numbers.
If you do everything in your power to arch your back as hard as possible, maximize leg drive, shorten the ROM and run a peaking cycle so you can bench 3 plates: yeah, you won’t see much for physique. If you get to 3 plates by just doing some basic hard and heavy training, staying in a “muscle building rep range” (let’s not be stupid about “not knowing what that is”), and focus on getting in some solid muscle training vs movement training, you can see some great physique improvements by chasing numbers. Hell, “heating the log book” is one of the key principles of DoggCrapp.
I always like to point out the difference in physiques between weightlifters/strongman that use a jerk vs strongman that are push pressers. Here’s a great case by case. Look at the upper body physique of Misha Klokayev vs Derek Poundstone. Both competed in the same era and had near identical upperbody lifts, but Misha is a large torsoed dude without much to speak of in the arms and shoulders, while Derek had cartoonish delts and arms. Misha was super technical, Derek was a grinder.
Chasing strength is just dandy: just make sure it’s actually STRENGTH you are chasing, and not technique.
EDIT: Kaz and Capes is another just absolute classic. Capes was a super explosive athlete, highland games and weightlifting star…and looked like he was made out of melted ice cream in his PRIME. Kaz comes into the sport a champion powerlifter, and not particularly fast on the lifts, and looks like a terminator robot. Both multiple time WSM winners, but the outcome of the training is different.
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Wednesday evening
Finished this, 15 more rounds. Blisters again. Where are those gloves @dagill2 ?
Form was trying to get sloppy on the rows at the end.
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Agree with your comments here. I think there is a difference between making something like strength your primary focus vs just chasing a number. There is also as you say ways to increase strength without any appreciable increase in muscle mass. For me though focusing on and programming my training around getting stronger and supporting that with assistance volume and eating has been game changing.
There are heaps of people who focus hard on BB style training with all the “special” techniques to increase muscle and after years of training have nothing to show for it. At least with a focus on strength I can celebrate some small wins along the journey and hopefully look bette too.
I like your Capes and Kaz analogy but pretty sure there was more at play there than just training styles.
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I am actually curious what you mean here with the wink
My point was mearly that the physiques of these two men were not just a result of the training that they did or their athletic back grounds. Given they come from two very different countries then other factors come in to play. Diet not just what they eat but what is normal to eat and food availability, coaching influences, society influences - what do others in sport and society local look like, not to mention physical differences like height and genetics. When I read your post it seemed like you were saying that training like an explosive athlete is what made Geoff look the way he did (I could be very wrong) I think it’s more than that. Let me ask you a question. If Geoff grew up with Bill and trained and ate the same do you think they would look the same ?
That was much more complex than what I thought you were meaning: I am glad I asked.
Geoff would not look the same as Bill, no, but definitely more muscular in the upper body.
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I like to sometimes think what people like this would look like if they did grow up in a different place. That sounds silly I know. But Geoff is someone who I think of as farm strong, just a huge man who was just strong from hard work at a young age. Pretty sure he tells stories of throwing bales of hay as a teenager. Imagine if he grew up in the US where Football and college weight lifting is more common and the diet is geared more towards red meat (this is my sweeping generalisations of the US - sorry). It would be interesting to see what he ended up becoming.
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Having visited many American office space toilet facilities, your sweeping generalization has a lot of merit.
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7/1 Thursday: Not a planned training day. Did a set of 40 pushups and 2x10 pullups to keep the train rolling.
7/2 Friday:
PRESS
BARx10, 65x10,85x5,105x3, lost my notes but I topped out at 125x1, and it was the biggest grinder of all time. Attempted some backoff sets but didn’t do much, my right shoulder is hurting - it’s like it’s dead, just won’t move when I tell it to. I thought pressing would be therapeutic but perhaps doing more harm than good? IDK.
SQUAT
Worked up to 225, did some singles, then deviated from my plan (20 singles, one every 50 seconds) and asked a formerly competitive powerlifter who was training next to me to watch me squat. After trying a couple things he suggested I try high bar position. Said I could probably move less weight with it today, but in the long run have more potential, due to my height. I tried it for the remainder of the session, traps crushed like hell but it felt like the right thing to do. No more folding over like a taco, so that’s a win!
I worked my way up to 205 for a few singles hi-bar, then back down to 195 for the last 5. All in all around 20 reps.
I don’t know what switching to high-bar is going to do to my 315 squat goal, but at the moment it feels like a more stable way for me personally to squat, so I’ll go with it for now.
On the way to the rower I said “I deserve sexy arms” so I did a couple pumpy sets of triceps pushdowns for fun.
@alex_uk got on the rower at the end, 90 seconds did 435 meters, and was completely trashed. Could barely walk out of the gym! I do hope to hit 500 in 90 with a bit of practice, but doing it at the end of a squat session isn’t promising!
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