Looks brutal. Hows it going with the rowing? Are you getting back into it properly or still focusing on powerlifting?
I have my first race of the season on Sunday which is only 3k, but think it is more in preparation for head race the week after. My power and fitness is slowly getting there, but I have a lot of technical issues to sort out, mainly at the catch. Guess that is the problem with not having much quality coaching last year, bad habits have formed and are hard to get rid of. Still I am hoping by regatta season I will be able to be part fo a crew who can win the novice category.
The race wasn’t so great, was in an alumni boat and most of them hadn’t been on the water in years and were pretty out of shape but it was a good time none the less. Right now my main focus is powerlifting, which tends to have a positive effect on my rowing. Since I don’t quite have the time to put on the erg I’m just trying to focus on getting my strength up as much as possible so that way when I do transition back I’ll be ahead of the curve in terms of strength and where I need to be. Building an aerobic base is easy, time consuming but easy. Building strength while building an aerobic base is very very hard. That being said, if I was in full competitive mode that’s what I’d be doing. Hopefully more towards the spring I’ll be back at that and hopefully I can get my elite total at 181 before that too.
not really related to the previous posts at all but today I was at my friends gym and used their ERG. It looked brand new and was AWESOME!!! The ones at my gym are probably from the 80’s and I know now that they do in fact suck balls. I was pulling so much smoother than before and my time/split was much lower with a lot less effort. I kind of wish I hadnt used it now cause now all I’ll think of when Im at my gym is how much our ERG’s suck.
Probably a model D or E. You’ve probably been using a very poorly maintained model C. I personally prefer model C’s better (prefer the angles of the footstretchers and the way the wheel works) but most gyms don’t know how to keep up with them or maintain them properly at all so the band inside that keeps the tension constant and the chain retracting diminishes over time and kinks start to happen in the chain since they don’t oil them.
I see stupid shit like that all the time. I’ve seen dumb ass trainers even have their clients do stupid shit like that. It’s at that point that I sit down next to them on the erg that’s right there since they are always paired together if there is more then one and make them look like idiots. Then when the client asks why it looks like I do it different and the trainer starts to come up with some bogus bullshit answer, I stop him/her mid-sentence, tell them, “No. You’re an idiot, I do this for a living, compete at extremely high levels, coach 140+ youth at it on a daily basis.”
Then I tell the client that the trainer is going to kill their back and they should find someone new. Sure it may be an assholish thing to do since it may cost a terrible trainer a client, but hell, don’t bring clients to the machine you don’t know how to use. /end rant.
You should see the boat we rowed in my avi. The stern deck was almost under water. It was a boat of alumni that the avg weight was probably 190-200/person, the boat itself was made for people about 170. We were sitting so low it was ridiculous. I suppose my perception of my thickness is off. I’m always surprised when I see pictures of myself versus just looking in the mirror. In the mirror I’m still that skinny high school kid that couldn’t break 130. I don’t ever “feel big”.
[quote]LiquidMercury wrote:
I’m always surprised when I see pictures of myself versus just looking in the mirror. In the mirror I’m still that skinny high school kid that couldn’t break 130. I don’t ever “feel big”.[/quote]
^^I am the exact same way… total bigorexia lol
I always think I look small/untrained but get comments a lot (not tooting my own horn or anything) Its so weird isnt it? perception FTW
Yeah that guy on the ERG was insane. He was rowing like that for probably 20+ minutes. So many random stops and changes and angles. Switching to an over/under grip then a double underhand grip. Then just doing bicep curls… it was crazy lol. I couldnt believe it
I see this so often I can’t begin to tell you. A lot of it is because anytime I hear the erg fan (which I seem to always be able to hear over any noise in the gym) I instinctively go to look at who is on it.
Just ended XC season and will be starting crew training in two weeks (resting). I hopped on the erg yesterday just to see how low I could get my split and hit 1:16. I’m sooo stoked because I’ve been doing distance running since June without any strength training at all. 1:16 was the lowest split I got last year, so it looks like I’ll have a good season. I’m aiming for lowish 6:20s 2k. Best is 6:32.
Also XC was sick too. I ran a 16:20 5k.
EDIT
WHICH btw is very interesting. The 2k split of a 16:20 5k is 6:32. Basically both were done at the exact same speed, but different distances and different vehicles, so to speak.
Oh yeah I know top runners are a lot faster than top rowers in terms of actual speed. I’m just surprised that my PRs for the standard distances in both sports are exactly the same speed (different distances though). Anyway there still is a lot of overlap in running and rowing times (well between good runners and really good crews). Some of my runner friends wanted to race an 8 along shore when I told them our times. It wouldn’t be a bad race for a solid highschool runner and highschool crew. We do a 1500 in about 4:15 I think, which is a pretty competitive running time.
EDIT: Also, the 3k running record is 7:20. The 2k split of that is 4:53. Mile WR is 3:43 which translates to 4:37 2k. 2k isn’t a standard running distance though. 2k erg is like 5:36 I think. Probably won’t be broken any time soon. 6’8 Australian guy with a VO2 max in the 90s.
Have to say some quality rowing in that video. It seriously begs the question what is wrong with some people?
Some decent times there flyingdutchman. What level do you row at? Not too sure what my 2k is at the moment, but am pretty sure I could beat my current record of 6.52. I recently did a 5k in 17.47 and that was rate capped at 24.
LM that boat does look low on the water. I have never had that problem personally considering most of the people in our boat club are lightweights or not far off. In boats designed for heavy weights the balance is often terrible. I think there are only 4 of us above 80kg/176lb. What kind of times you pulling on the ergo at the moment?
[quote]Ironwarrior25 wrote:
LM that boat does look low on the water. I have never had that problem personally considering most of the people in our boat club are lightweights or not far off. In boats designed for heavy weights the balance is often terrible. I think there are only 4 of us above 80kg/176lb. What kind of times you pulling on the ergo at the moment?[/quote]
Well keep in mind that boat is a club boat at the club I coach at (high school level) which generally has guys that aren’t as big. I think I outweigh everyone of the guys I coach, yet I’m shorter than every guy I coach. My focus all season has been getting the heavyweights to be true heavyweights and lightweights actually having to cut weight for races. Their boats are generally made for people no bigger then 180 or so, the boat in that picture was just a bunch of alumni so we were borrowing the boat and it definitely wasn’t fit for us.
As far as my times go right now, I honestly couldn’t tell you. What little erging I’ve been doing has been steady state just trying to maintain my base. With work and coaching as it is my training time is very minimal compared to the past. My competitive rowing days are most likely over unless I can somehow get more free time (if my business takes off than maybe it will). So now I will be focusing on simply molding the youth of America and making some fast rowers. I’m hoping to get a lightweight 4 to win youth nationals this year. We’ll see how it goes.
[quote]Ironwarrior25 wrote:
LM that boat does look low on the water. I have never had that problem personally considering most of the people in our boat club are lightweights or not far off. In boats designed for heavy weights the balance is often terrible. I think there are only 4 of us above 80kg/176lb. What kind of times you pulling on the ergo at the moment?[/quote]
Well keep in mind that boat is a club boat at the club I coach at (high school level) which generally has guys that aren’t as big. I think I outweigh everyone of the guys I coach, yet I’m shorter than every guy I coach. My focus all season has been getting the heavyweights to be true heavyweights and lightweights actually having to cut weight for races. Their boats are generally made for people no bigger then 180 or so, the boat in that picture was just a bunch of alumni so we were borrowing the boat and it definitely wasn’t fit for us.
As far as my times go right now, I honestly couldn’t tell you. What little erging I’ve been doing has been steady state just trying to maintain my base. With work and coaching as it is my training time is very minimal compared to the past. My competitive rowing days are most likely over unless I can somehow get more free time (if my business takes off than maybe it will). So now I will be focusing on simply molding the youth of America and making some fast rowers. I’m hoping to get a lightweight 4 to win youth nationals this year. We’ll see how it goes.[/quote]
[quote]Ironwarrior25 wrote:
LM that boat does look low on the water. I have never had that problem personally considering most of the people in our boat club are lightweights or not far off. In boats designed for heavy weights the balance is often terrible. I think there are only 4 of us above 80kg/176lb. What kind of times you pulling on the ergo at the moment?[/quote]
Well keep in mind that boat is a club boat at the club I coach at (high school level) which generally has guys that aren’t as big. I think I outweigh everyone of the guys I coach, yet I’m shorter than every guy I coach. My focus all season has been getting the heavyweights to be true heavyweights and lightweights actually having to cut weight for races. Their boats are generally made for people no bigger then 180 or so, the boat in that picture was just a bunch of alumni so we were borrowing the boat and it definitely wasn’t fit for us.
As far as my times go right now, I honestly couldn’t tell you. What little erging I’ve been doing has been steady state just trying to maintain my base. With work and coaching as it is my training time is very minimal compared to the past. My competitive rowing days are most likely over unless I can somehow get more free time (if my business takes off than maybe it will). So now I will be focusing on simply molding the youth of America and making some fast rowers. I’m hoping to get a lightweight 4 to win youth nationals this year. We’ll see how it goes.[/quote]
who do you coach for
[/quote]
Generally I keep my private information regarding employers off the internet, especially on a site where I’m not always “work-appropriate” with language and etc.
Generally I keep my private information regarding employers off the internet, especially on a site where I’m not always “work-appropriate” with language and etc. [/quote]
Makes sense, I havent paid attention to the high school scene in years. There werent many competitive crews coming out of the SE when I was around. I am probably attending the US rowing clinic in a month and trying to jump into coaching out here. Like I said I have not paid attention but I got the impression last spring that my hs alma mater greenlake (My employers can kiss my ass, I hope someone sees that) had fallen off quite a bit which is obviously unacceptable. Any online res. or books on coaching/technique that you would reccomend?
As far as books go there are is all-encompassing one that kind of give an overview of training such as “Rowing Faster” by Volker Nolte. Other than that a lot of it is learning on the job. It’s a mix of having them respect you, at times fear you, cherish you, and ultimately being able to make them fast. Think of yourself as the rudder on the boat. Small movements to direct their course of action is always better than a massive upheaval with a huge turn.
I’m new to this discussion. Just saw the Vid with Pudz winning a rowing competition,and I guess I’m going to give this a shot today. Why do I think I am really going to regret doing this lol.
Pudz won on absolute raw strength, he’d be a helluva lot faster if he’d learn to row properly (which I’d love to see even if he’d never fit in a boat).