Cardio and Strenth Rowing

by Meg
(USA)

I had always been fairly active growing up. I played soccer as a kid, and ran cross country in high school.

However during my years at university, I didn't participate in any organized sports or physical activities. In fact, the only exercise I got was walking and lifting while waiting tables at a local restaurant.

After graduating I decided to get into shape. I didn't have weight to loose, but my aerobic fitness and strength levels were dismal.

In order to improve my fitness I took up rowing. One of my friends has a rowing machine in her house, and offered to let me use it as she wasn't.

I started out rowing for a half hour at an easy pace, and even that made me sore!

Over a period of about a month, rowing five days per week, I regained much of my aerobic fitness by rowing a pace of about 2.20 min/500 m for 45 minutes at resistance 3 (the resistance corresponds to water if you wish to calibrate it to your machine).

After that month, I decided I wanted to also work on my strength. The rowing also provided a good opportunity for that by increasing the resistance.

I continued rowing at resistance 3 for about 30 minutes, then for 20 minutes I rowed at resistance 7 at a pace of 3.30 min/500 m.

Over the course of six weeks I upped the resistance to 10 for the strength rowing, and kept my aerobic rowing consistent.

I'm now six weeks out from reaching resistance 10, and have improved the definition in my arms, back, chest, and legs; gained about 5 pounds, I've dropped my body fat percentage a little, and upped my muscle mass; and have pretty good aerobic fitness.

This summer I plan on doing a lot of hiking and possibly some mountain climbing to take my fitness routine outside while the weather is nice!

Meg

Note from Dr. Dan

Meg,

You story makes an excellent point about the scale and losing weight.

You gained 5 pounds. But you lost body fat. And with your trim, athletic muscles I am sure you are looking great.

Also, your hiking plans are excellent. What better way to add interest and activity to your life than hiking in the beautiful outdoors.

Dr. Dan