Who rows? (Concept2)

[kingdom-tele]

Didn’t want to lurk the whole season, hopefully it can throw a stick on someone’s fire to get after it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The AD]

First row for me of 2023. Did a total of 7500 meters in 31 minutes. Got to 7000 in just under 29 minutes. Basically I did a five minute warmup and then alternated fast and "slow" trying to keep the fast around 1:55 and the slow around 2:05. Started out doing 1:00 fast, 2:00 slow, then switching to :30 fast, 1:00 slow. Good workout.

[basinbeater]

Getting back into it. Did ok over break up to a few days after new years and then took a break for a couple weeks. I've lost some weight, down near 180lbs, lightest I've been since college. Back at it the last few weeks though, and today tried my hand at a 2k for time again. 7:25.1. My personal record is 7:21.
2k is fucking hard. I probably could have gone faster, but my brain caved to my body in the last 300m.

[phatty]

Getting back into it. Did ok over break up to a few days after new years and then took a break for a couple weeks. I've lost some weight, down near 180lbs, lightest I've been since college. Back at it the last few weeks though, and today tried my hand at a 2k for time again. 7:25.1. My personal record is 7:21.
2k is fucking hard. I probably could have gone faster, but my brain caved to my body in the last 300m.

Nice! You're getting close! 1 or two more and you'll be there.

Was an interval day for me.

500m - 2000m - 2000m - 500m
Sprinkled some weights and kettlebells into the rest periods. I'm trying to lose some weight (up at 204# and trying to get back to 190#) so pushing hard on rower and run sprints.

Was able to pull 1:34 - 7:13 - 7:29 - 1:43. Was bummed on the last 500m as I was shooting for 1:40 but didn't have much in the tank. Had to restart the 2nd 2000m after not taking enough rest. Got 500m in and had to stop. Waited 5 minutes and was able to go again. I love/hate this machine so much.

[Not DJSapp]

Had a fun moment at the gym yesterday on the C2. Tail end of a partner workout and was sprinting for the last 45 seconds. Was pulling at a 2000 cal/hr pace and suddenly there was a crunching sound that happened mid-pull and it felt like the chain slipped off the gear if it was a bike. I was flung backwards and essentially popped a wheelie on the rower. Low back was slightly tweaked but is ok today.

What gives? Gym coach thinks it's just an old stiff chain, I think I stripped teeth off a sprocket/gear. No idea what's inside there. Are these like a bike that you should replace the chain and cassette at the same time? Mostly asking because I don't want the owner to do a half assed fix for me to break it again, or to throw out my back the next time sprints come around.

[basinbeater]

Nice! You're getting close! 1 or two more and you'll be there.

Was an interval day for me.

500m - 2000m - 2000m - 500m

Was able to pull 1:34 - 7:13 - 7:29 - 1:43. Was bummed on the last 500m as I was shooting for 1:40 but didn't have much in the tank. I love/hate this machine so much.

Beast! I feel the same way, love it and hate it.

I think i gotta build more strength. Gotta lift more. Did some upper body work on the weights after the row. Goal is to get back to 185lb and lean.

Dj Sapp so tough he's breaking the machine! Lol. I don't know what happened, but it would sketch me out for future pulls if i wasn't positive it was fixed correctly.

[kingdom-tele]

Decided to see what I could muster for a half marathon in Late March. Time to start extending the time in the grinder


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[house]

Heads up on a nice deal on a C2 in Seattle (not mine)

Check out this item on OfferUp. https://offerup.co/slYK7yoglxb


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[phatty]

Heads up on a nice deal on a C2 in Seattle (not mine)

Check out this item on OfferUp. https://offerup.co/slYK7yoglxb


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. I'm local and going to try to grab it. If I get it, I'll pass my current one on.

[basinbeater]

3k today before lifting weights. 11:34.9. My best 3k time is 11:33.5. It didn't register that I could have beat it until too late.

[NW_SKIER]

Eased in to the first minute and then went as hard as I could. Surprised myself with a 7:28 2k. Pretty happy with that. Also disappointed I didn't come out stronger. Thinking I could've hit 7:10ish. These machines are ass kickers.

[phatty]

Hit my best 2k time in over 10 years. My goal for the year is to get sub 7:00 by end of June and sub 6:55 by end of the year. New job has kept me off the rower more than I wanted, but trying to ramp back up.

[Yonder_River]

Has anyone tried concept's dynamic rower? I'm interested in it due to it being a little more compact and also potentially better on the lower back. Not having tried it, I'm curious how it feels overall.

[stapes]

Would like to get a rower for the house. Is Concept2 the best way to go? Seems like it. Also, it seems like they don't go on sale, and used they hold value. Debating just buying directly at full price. Long-term investment in our health and wellness. I can justify it, but I'm wondering if anyone has other recs? Yes, I've already been perusing local CL/FB ads.

[BC.]

Would like to get a rower for the house. Is Concept2 the best way to go? Seems like it. Also, it seems like they don't go on sale, and used they hold value. Debating just buying directly at full price. Long-term investment in our health and wellness. I can justify it, but I'm wondering if anyone has other recs? Yes, I've already been perusing local CL/FB ads.

Yes….if u can afford it, just buy direct from them. It’s a great product/ has excellent customer service/support.

[basinbeater]

I rowed today. I've been hittin it more frequently the last 6 weeks, and results are happening. Pulled a 2k @ 7:32 today. Fastest in quite a while, but ten seconds slower than last year this time.
This machine kicks my ass.

[The AD]

Did anyone else see this article? Pretty impressive.
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-...sons-on-aging/

Here's one with photos: https://www.independent.ie/irish-new...539402902.html

I've been doing a few short rows lately (20-30 minutes). Generally when I haven't done any other exercise during the day it's a good way to get in something before bed.

[Woodsy]

Similar, but not OP

Washington Post
At 93, he's as fit as a 40-year-old. His body offers lessons on aging.
Gretchen Reynolds
Wed, January 17, 2024


Richard Morgan competes in an indoor rowing competition in 2018. (Row2k.com)
For lessons on how to age well, we could do worse than turn to Richard Morgan.

At 93, the Irishman is a four-time world champion in indoor rowing, with the aerobic engine of a healthy 30- or 40-year-old and the body-fat percentage of a whippet. He's also the subject of a new case study, published last month in the Journal of Applied Physiology, that looked at his training, diet and physiology.


Its results suggest that, in many ways, he's an exemplar of fit, healthy aging - a nonagenarian with the heart, muscles and lungs of someone less than half his age. But in other ways, he's ordinary: a onetime baker and battery maker with creaky knees who didn't take up regular exercise until he was in his 70s and who still trains mostly in his backyard shed.

Even though his fitness routine began later in life, he has now rowed the equivalent of almost 10 times around the globe and has won four world championships. So what, the researchers wondered, did his late-life exercise do for his aging body?

Lessons on aging from active older people

"We need to look at very active older people if we want to understand aging," said Bas Van Hooren, a doctoral researcher at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and one of the study's authors.

Many questions remain unanswered about the biology of aging, and whether the physical slowing and declines in muscle mass that typically occur as we grow older are normal and inevitable or perhaps due, at least in part, to a lack of exercise.

If some people stay strong and fit deep into their golden years, the implication is that many of the rest of us might be able to as well, he said.

Helpfully, his colleague Lorcan Daly, an assistant lecturer in exercise science at the Technological University of the Shannon in Ireland, was quite familiar with an example of successful aging. His grandfather is Morgan, the 2022 indoor-rowing world champion in the lightweight, 90-to-94 age group.

What made Morgan especially interesting to the researchers was that he hadn't begun sports or exercise training until he was 73. Retired and somewhat at loose ends then, he'd attended a rowing practice with one of his other grandsons, a competitive collegiate rower. The coach invited him to use one of the machines.

"He never looked back," Daly said.

- - -

Highest heart rate on record

They invited Morgan, who was 92 at the time, to the physiology lab at the University of Limerick in Ireland to learn more, measuring his height, weight and body composition and gathering details about his diet. They also checked his metabolism and heart and lung function.

They then asked him to get on a rowing machine and race a simulated 2,000-meter time trial while they monitored his heart, lungs and muscles.

"It was one of the most inspiring days I've ever spent in the lab," said Philip Jakeman, a professor of healthy aging, physical performance and nutrition at the University of Limerick and the study's senior author.

Morgan proved to be a nonagenarian powerhouse, his sinewy 165 pounds composed of about 80 percent muscle and barely 15 percent fat, a body composition that would be considered healthy for a man decades younger.

During the time trial, his heart rate peaked at 153 beats per minute, well above the expected maximum heart rate for his age and among the highest peaks ever recorded for someone in their 90s, the researchers believe, signaling a very strong heart.

His heart rate also headed toward this peak very quickly, meaning his heart was able to rapidly supply his working muscles with oxygen and fuel. These "oxygen uptake kinetics," a key indicator of cardiovascular health, proved comparable to those of a typical, healthy 30- or 40-year-old, Daly said.

- - -

Exercising 40 minutes a day

Perhaps most impressive, he developed this fitness with a simple, relatively abbreviated exercise routine, the researchers noted.

Consistency: Every week, he rows about 30 kilometers (about 18.5 miles), averaging around 40 minutes a day.

A mix of easy, moderate and intense training: About 70 percent of these workouts are easy, with Morgan hardly laboring. Another 20 percent are at a difficult but tolerable pace, and the final 10 at an all-out, barely sustainable intensity.

Weight training: Two or three times a week, he also weight-trains, using adjustable dumbbells to complete about three sets of lunges and curls, repeating each move until his muscles are too tired to continue.

A high-protein diet: He eats plenty of protein, his daily consumption regularly exceeding the usual dietary recommendation of about 60 grams of protein for someone of his weight.

- - -

How exercise changes how we age

"This is an interesting case study that sheds light on our understanding of exercise adaptation across the life span," said Scott Trappe, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University in Indiana. He has studied many older athletes but was not involved in the new study.

"We are still learning about starting a late-life exercise program," he added, "but the evidence is pretty clear that the human body maintains the ability to adapt to exercise at any age."

In fact, Morgan's fitness and physical power at 93 suggest that "we don't have to lose" large amounts of muscle and aerobic capacity as we grow older, Jakeman said. Exercise could help us build and maintain a strong, capable body, whatever our age, he said.

Of course, Morgan probably had some genetic advantages, the scientists point out. Rowing prowess seems to run in the family.

And his race performances in recent years have been slower than they were 15, 10 or even five years ago. Exercise won't erase the effects of aging. But it may slow our bodies' losses, Morgan's example seems to tell us. It may flatten the decline.

It also offers other, less-corporeal rewards. "There is a certain pleasure in achieving a world championship," Morgan told me through his grandson, with almost comic self-effacement.

"I started from nowhere," he said, "and I suddenly realized there was a lot of pleasure in doing this."

[Yonder_River]

That's inspiring. Super happy with our c2 purchase earlier this year, money well spent.

[The AD]

The really amazing thing is he started in his 70s. He isn't a life-long athlete who just kept going.

[phatty]

I firmly believe that there's nothing better for full body fitness than rowing. Mix in some weights to hit specific areas and you're set.

[kingdom-tele]

And nothing extreme, just consistency.

Closing on the last meters my erg will get from me, almost to 10 million

Switching to a dynamic for the next 10 million next season. Plan is to add a coastal scull once I’m 51 in a couple years. Should keep me busy for a couple decades

5k training this winter…


Keep grinding everyone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Woodsy]

I firmly believe that there's nothing better for full body fitness than rowing. Mix in some weights to hit specific areas and you're set.

This and Bike when weather allows is my keep fit & alive strategy

[bfree]

I'd consider back to back 6:53s a bit extreme...

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[phatty]

I'd consider back to back 6:53s a bit extreme...

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Uhhh, yeah. That's awesome man! This year I'll get back under 7:00.