[HN Gopher] My indoor rowing tips after 15M meters
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My indoor rowing tips after 15M meters
Author : tnorthcutt
Score : 51 points
Date : 2021-10-18 20:47 UTC (2 hours ago)
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| anonymousDan wrote:
| Oh wow the description of the sedentary lifestyle at 40 is
| literally exactly what has happened to me over the last year or
| two, it's depressing. I've been planning on getting a squat rack
| though instead of a rowing machine - anyone any thoughts on which
| is better for home use?
| mateo- wrote:
| Depends on your goals. I personally prefer weight-lifting and
| think it's a bit easier to do when I'm low energy/don't feel
| like doing it. But thankfully is easy to snowball and keep up
| the momentum because the progress is quite obvious (looking
| better, feeling better, slapping more plates on the bar).
| cinntaile wrote:
| If you have the space it comes down to preference. If you're
| tight on space then a rower has the advantage imo since you can
| put it upright and roll it into a corner.
| talawahtech wrote:
| I've been rowing twice a day, every day since the pandemic and it
| has been a game changer. A high intensity 2k (while listening to
| music) in the mornings before I start my day, and a low intensity
| 5k (while watching tv) at night.
|
| It is the most consistent I have ever been with at-home exercise
| and it has been perfect for managing stress and getting good
| sleep.
| jonfromsf wrote:
| How do you watch TV? I tried and just couldn't hear it / watch
| it comfortably.
| gxqoz wrote:
| I sometimes watch an iPad (velcroed to the rowing machine)
| with standard bluetooth headphones. I don't find it too loud.
| You don't even need noise cancelling headphones unless you
| have a really loud machine.
| S33V wrote:
| Curious, what split are you going for your daily 2k? In
| college, I was doing semiregular 2k tests, and I could never
| imagine trying to uphold a regular schedule of them.
| lfowles wrote:
| I'd love to watch something while rowing but inevitably I start
| to lose form while distracted.
| oh_sigh wrote:
| Do you have a recentish concept2? If so, the performance
| monitor lets you connect apps to it and get live feeds of your
| performance data - you could do something like pause your
| stream/display a popup warning to remember your form whenever
| your force curve deviates far enough from ideal
| stefan_ wrote:
| If form is an issue maybe try a bike trainer.
| FpUser wrote:
| I row as well. Started doing it after my back did not feel well
| due to sitting in front of computer all day. It is seasonal for
| me. In the summer I cycle, hike and also every day I swim in the
| open water every. Fall is transitional period. Cycling but no
| swimming. Winter is almost all rowing.
| halfmatthalfcat wrote:
| I have a Concept2 that I've owned for three years now. I love
| rowing but I also love running and running gets you better
| kcal/min if you're trying to optimize for weight loss.
|
| If my goals were just general cardio though, I'd 100% recommend
| rowing. Just make sure you really work on your form in order to
| get the most out of it. You should be using you're core most, if
| not the entire time.
| nradov wrote:
| Running is great, but it's higher impact. So some people can't
| keep it up as long or tend to get injured. For long term health
| it's probably best to rotate between multiple different cardio
| exercises and thus hit different muscles.
| inasio wrote:
| In my experience (both indoor and outdoor rowing), you can get
| much more cardio out of rowing than running. Rather than core
| the main muscle you use is your legs, if you see professional
| rowers they're not very bulky above the waist, but they
| typically have massive legs.
| notesinthefield wrote:
| My brain is having hard time processing this - im curious
| what your running history has been compared to rowing. This
| is an...interesting assertion.
| hanoz wrote:
| I bought a rowing machine, not top of the line but still pretty
| expensive, and I was annoyed to discover the computed distanced
| rowed and all the rest of those stats were derived solely from
| the number of times the seat passed a sensor, with no account
| whatsoever taken of how much the flywheel was turning or any
| other measure of how hard you were actually pulling each stroke.
| Which all made it seem rather pointless.
| mrfusion wrote:
| Sounds like a cool project for you ...
| pstrateman wrote:
| That doesn't sound like it was a Concept2 rower.
|
| I don't think they even have a sensor for the seat.
| Someone wrote:
| Indeed. https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/tips-
| and-gen...:
|
| _"Between each stroke, the PM measures how much your
| flywheel is slowing down to determine how sleek or slow your
| "boat" is. This rate of deceleration is called the drag
| factor. On your next stroke, the PM uses the drag factor to
| determine from the speed of the flywheel how much work you
| are doing. In this way, your true effort is calculated
| regardless of damper setting. This self-calibration is what
| allows us to compare scores from different indoor rowers,
| making things like indoor racing and the online world
| rankings possible."_
| drewg123 wrote:
| Same comment but with WaterRower. The sensor measures the
| speed of the turbine in the water tank.
| hanoz wrote:
| The sensor itself is in the rail with, I assume, a magnet in
| the seat. But no, not a Concept2, it's a Horizon Oxford IV.
| PS600 new several years ago. Luckily I bought it second hand,
| but still, not the bargain I thought I was getting! I did
| wonder how common this ruse is on other machines.
|
| Anyway, doing something on the flywheel might make an
| interesting Raspberry Pi project one day I suppose, although
| calibrating it to any meaningful distance travelled might be
| a problem. Suppose I'd have to get a professional rower in to
| estimate what it felt like!
| brk wrote:
| Not sure what you classify as expensive. I have this Proteus
| unit: https://www.fitnesszone.com/product/PROTEUS.html
|
| ~$1,500, and it calculates via the flywheel, not seat movement.
|
| Not sure how much distance I have on it, it doesn't hold stats
| after a power reset. I'd guess around 1M meters after several
| years, but I usually only get to use it about once a week on
| average. Rowing is usually Tuesdays on my M-F workout circuit.
| codingdave wrote:
| I'd make one change to the advice - instead of "Buy a rower", I'd
| say, "Buy whatever machine you will actually use." Whether that
| is a rower or anything else, the point is to do something, and do
| it consistently.
| Terretta wrote:
| Precisely.
|
| And if you're all about optimization and time, you could get a
| VersaClimber cross crawl club model and spend 8 minutes (2 mins
| warm up, 4 mins HIIT, 2 mins cooldown) for better (clinically
| proven more effective at causing a metabolic shift) results.
|
| Why doesn't everyone do this? For one, the intensity makes
| people ill when not used to it. That's why it's not in many
| clubs. For another, unlike rowers or cycles, you can't just sit
| on your butt or coast.
|
| (In addition to road cycles, I own water rower, versa climber,
| and hydrow. The VersaClimber kicks your ass.)
| drewg123 wrote:
| Exactly. For me its a rower, for others it might be a treadmill
| or a stationary bike or stair climber. The key is to make using
| it part of your routine.
|
| And, protip: If there are clothes hanging on it, you've failed.
| hprotagonist wrote:
| I've been enjoying The Pete Plan. Somehow, 4 2k pieces is much
| less psychologically taxing than one 8k, and pyramids are super
| fun.
|
| Lately i've been playing a game called "can you negative split a
| piece"; usually, the answer's yes!
|
| https://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/the-pete-plan/
| encoderer wrote:
| Three months ago I bought a Hydrow (Peloton of rowers, I guess)
| and have had a very positive experience. I didn't trust any of
| the reviews because they are all paid. If you're considering,
| AMA.
| inasio wrote:
| I borrowed a Concept 2 at the start of the pandemic, it was
| great but they are pretty noisy (fan provides resistance).
| Eventually I returned it and bought a waterrower. I've been
| very happy with it. It's mostly wood, so looks nice, but more
| importantly (for me) it's much quieter than the concept2, and
| the performance is very similar ( _). Highly recommend.
|
| (_) I've rowed a lot on Concept2 machines, even on professional
| competitions, I was expecting bigger differences.
| m00dy wrote:
| Rowing is also part of my lifestyle since beginning of Corona and
| it is one of best decisions I have ever taken in my life. (I'm
| just 32)
|
| Rowing itself is good but not enough. For those looking for low-
| impact cardio, I can suggest you to try battle ropes in gym.
| drewg123 wrote:
| I swear by indoor rowing. I've dropped 80lbs (from obese to my
| target weight) in the past 8 years, and most of that was from
| rowing
|
| I was running, but living in an area with seasons, there were
| just too many excuses (its too hot, its too cold, its too rainy,
| its still dark outside, its snowing, my BT headphones aren't
| charged, etc....) and I found myself skipping runs too often. I
| bought myself the rower as a no-excuses aerobic workout. No
| matter what the weather, its always there.
|
| I now row 15km at a 15km/hr pace 3-4 days a week (alternate with
| other exercise) and I have totally stopped running. Some knee and
| hip issues that were aggravated by running have ceased to bother
| me.
|
| I have a water rower. I highly recommend it, as draining it makes
| moving it quiet easy (its pretty light when drained). I never
| setup a tablet; I just listen to podcasts when I row, the same as
| I used to when I ran.
| DelightOne wrote:
| Did you have issues with the water being too weak a resistance
| on the back-pull? I'm reluctant to go over 40-50% to still be
| able to stow it away vertically.
| xur17 wrote:
| > I have a water rower. I highly recommend it, as draining it
| makes moving it quiet easy (its pretty light when drained). I
| never setup a tablet; I just listen to podcasts when I row, the
| same as I used to when I ran.
|
| Which one did you buy?
| Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
| Pre-COVID, I would use the gym at work at the end of my day,
| and they had two water rowers. I must have been using them
| wrong, because I was pretty out of shape (5'8", 240 lbs), and I
| found that even with the rower set to the highest resistance, I
| could easily go 20+ minutes and my heart rate never got very
| high. Meanwhile, I'd struggle to jog a 13-minute mile.
|
| With each stroke, I began with my knees bent, arms straight in
| front of me, with the row handle almost fully retracted, and
| ended with knees straight, leaning back, handle pulled
| completely to my chest.
|
| My resting heart rate is about 90 bpm, and on the rower, it was
| only getting to ~130 bpm. I felt like I wasn't accomplishing
| much and used the stair machine for my cardio instead. There,
| my heartrate would be 160-180 bpm, and I'd usually climb for
| ~10 minutes, doing 20-30 floors, though I did hit 100 floors
| twice.
|
| Sadly, since COVID made me go remote, I haven't been to a gym.
| I miss that feeling of pride and accomplishment I'd get from
| setting the 100-floor goal on the stairs and hitting it. I plan
| on going back once Oregon lifts the mask mandates. Exercising
| with a mask is absolutely awful.
| aaron695 wrote:
| > 2014 - New Year's day
|
| House of Cards - 2013
|
| If you need more proof VR doesn't work and won't for a long time
| this is it.
|
| Tight parameters, easy to make safe, sensors are easy. People
| still prefer to watch TV.
|
| TV is more immersive than VR and probably always will be, unless
| you are watching TV on VR, which is legitimately one of the best
| uses for VR so far.
| amelius wrote:
| For those who don't like indoor rowing nor the hassle of water,
| here's another idea:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMZSwYf7jxQ
|
| Or, for some more challenge:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ1VxvXeQdg
| JadeNB wrote:
| According to the Rowcycle website http://rowcycle.de/en/:
|
| > It is the result of a feasibility study and a commercial
| implementation of the ROWCYCLE will not be pursued further.
| amelius wrote:
| Rowingbike has a store. It's in German however.
|
| https://rowingbike.com/de/winkel/
| nradov wrote:
| Yikes that thing would be a menace on public roads or bike
| paths.
| notesinthefield wrote:
| Our local cycling club has a subset of recumbent and rowbike
| riders who only stick to paths because they can quickly
| become "invisible" to cars in less than ideal conditions. On
| paths theyre just like anything else.
| CalChris wrote:
| Concept 2 has an app for both iOS and Android, _ErgData_. It is
| quite good for logging your meters to your Concept 2 logbook
| which you 'll need for qualifying for your t-shirt. _ErgData_
| requires the PM5 monitor which has ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart
| wireless. There are other apps, but _ErgData_ is sufficient for
| me.
|
| A downside is that an Apple Watch doesn't talk directly to a PM5.
| So your heart rate isn't displayed up on the PM5. Annoying. There
| are kluges but then they are kluges.
|
| On Youtube there are excellent channels for indoor rowing.
| Training Tall Dark Horse Rowing
|
| You also might consider gloves. If you're doing 5k sets, your
| hands will get kinda raw.
| bananabiscuit wrote:
| Is there a way to sync the rowing log stored on the pm5 to the
| iOS app after the fact?
| CalChris wrote:
| There is a flash drive on the PM5 but I don't think you can
| get that into _ErgData_. The security of taking that data
| from the PM5 to the Concept 2 logbook is important for indoor
| rowing competitions. So I think no.
| inasio wrote:
| One thing I enjoy about rowing is that you can get a lot of
| cardio in very short time. For example, 5 sets of 2 minutes on
| and one minute off aiming for 500 (or even 600) metres per set
| can leave you pretty drained.
| bob1029 wrote:
| I've got 3.8M on my C2. Easily the best purchase I've ever made.
| Rowing makes it so easy to get consistent with exercise, and it
| feels way better to me than treadmills or bikes do. The
| infinitely-variable pain levels make it super compelling for all
| ranges of training. 2k as fast as you can is one of the most
| harrowing experiences I've had. You can also go as slow as you
| want to and zone out on a podcast or something for a solid hour.
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