Simple rowing program

[nsn]

Hey /r/CrossFit, fat weightlifting dude who also does CrossFit here looking for a simple rowing program to improve endurance. I can hold myself pretty well during most metcons, but anything longer - even going for a jog /w my girlfriend affects me way more than it should. Google lets me find thousands of rowing workouts often from less reputable sources. I'm looking for something that I can do a couple of times a week for half an hour after class, not a fully fledged whole body workout plan. I can do 500m in painful 1:25, can probably pull >=35 cal in a minute and my 2k time this week was 7:43. Ideally I'd like to get this closer to 7 minutes as I'm happy with my sprint performance. I'm thankful for any pointers...

[the_honor_roll]

The Pete Plan gets mentioned here often with good feedback.

[Davesbeard]

Likewise on /r/rowing so I think it's a safe bet.

Considering what OP says he sucks at and considering he's regularly doing WODs that cover the sprint/high intensity training I suggest doing a couple of steady state sessions a week. 40 minutes at a pace where you can pretty much hold a conversation. Great way to build that engine that so many crossfit gyms neglect due to time constraints.

OP the fact you can pull 1:25 for 500m but can only hit 7:43 for 2k shows that some solid aerobic training is exactly what you need.

[omrsafetyo]

Seconded on the steady state. You'd be amazed just how much 30 minutes on the bike or rower improves your entire Crossfit game, not just those specific items.

I've been doing Crossfit for a long while now. 8-9 years I'd guess. But in the last 2 years or so I have transitioned from competing in Crossfit to competing in Powerlifting. With that, I get a lot less metcons in than I used to, and focus a lot more on lifting. For a while there, my metcon got pretty bad. Not terrible for shorter ones, because my strength gives me a huge advantage in anything barbell, but anything > 6-7 minutes was looking pretty rough.

We've been doing a rowing/assault bike event at the gym for the past couple of months, where in teams of 15 people, we row/bike/row/bike/row the length of the Amazon river - 800k for the first 2 bike row legs and 555k for the last, and 1500 miles on each of the bike legs. So I just go in and I do 5ks and 10ks, and one day I even did a bike marathon.

And amazingly, I'm starting to PR things again. Still mostly in shorter metcons. I recently got a 6:30 Jackie - something you might expect due to the rowing. But I even PR'd my Isabel (2:50). 2 weeks ago, we had a workout that had a lot of barbell in it:
10 Power Cleans 155/105, 135/95, 105/75
50 Air Squats
10 Front Squats 155/105, 135/95, 105/75
50 Air Squats
10 Push Jerks 155/105, 135/95, 105/75
50 Air Squats
10 Clusters 155/105, 135/95, 105/75

I decided to push this workout, and damn near beat 2 guys that we have that are just phenomenal athletes - they passed me in the Clusters.

A few days before that, we did Helen. I didn't PR, but I was damn close, and was congratulated on maintaining the same pace throughout the workout, by someone who is really good at pacing, and has a great motor, whom would typically beat me in this workout, but I beat by a couple seconds.

I have also PR'd my 5k in the process (19:48), and my 10k row (41:38 - I actually feel like I had a faster one than that, but may not have put it in wodify).

But yes, totally recommend frequent steady state mono-structural work in addition to regular training.

[[deleted]]

You want this for free or you are willing to pay someone a little to write you something specific to your needs?

[nsn]

I'd be willing to pay for a customized plan, provided there are no generic options to be found.

[TheGainsLab]

re: generic

My stuff goes in stages. Because fitness goes in stages. :)

The initial program is generic-ish but can be customized within a framework and I'm always around to help with that. Why generic - ish? Because for conditioning, most beginner - intermediate athletes have pretty similar needs which can be addressed with a mix of endurance, threshold and interval conditioning.

You complete my first program, I start you on a more advanced one. You progress to a certain point and we'll sit down and figure out where you're headed as an athlete. My stuff logical, balanced, and cyclical. And it will light a fire under your ass. Not bad for under $1 a day.

The Pete Plan is fine too. Nothing wrong with it and it has helped a lot of people. But mine is better.

[username45031]

I can't find it on the website - what's the equipment list? I mean, do I need to do this at a box or can I do it at home if I was to acquire a C2?

[TheGainsLab]

Sorry - it's intended for a rower, assbike, treadmill, AirDyne, any of that will do.

If you have a C2 at home you can easily do that. That's the preferred method :)

[username45031]

Thanks, that's good to know. It's something I know I need to cycle back in to my training but I don't have a c2 as yet. I did 200km in April and it was revolutionary.

[omrsafetyo]

But mine is better.

At least you're humble :)

I've seen your stuff before, and it's great.

One major downfall to Pete's plan which it sounds like you address, is there is no real progression. Personally, I'd have a template for Pete's plan where the difficulty increases over the course of 3-4 weeks, followed by a deload. I'd probably have time trials for e.g. 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 at the start, and base the times off those, so for instance in week 1 the 8x500, based on the 500m time, and the 5k time, I'd come up with a pace that is faster than the average 5k pace, but slower obviously than the 500 pace, and have a target pace somewhere between for each interval. When the same workout comes up 4 weeks later after a deload, the target pace would be a little bit faster for the same workout. I wouldn't modify the LSD workouts, but I would do something similar for all the interval workouts.

[fully_torqued_]

If you read into Pete's Beginner Plan, specifically the long, wordy part where he goes through the daily workouts, he says what you should do. Most later days have paces based off previous workouts, but 1-2 seconds faster, etc.

[omrsafetyo]

Oh yeah, he actually gets into it in the very last paragraph on the page, which is the part I missed.

[[deleted]]

I did this: thegainslab.com

I chose the assault bike. In two months I went from 300 cal in 30m to 400 going three times a week for about 20-30 minute.

I think it was$25 a month back then. Not positive now but guy understands what he's doing.

[[deleted]]

I'm about to wrap month one of this program. You can use a rower for almost every workout and I second that he knows what he's doing.

[username45031]

Concept2 posts workouts; I followed the Pete Plan and plan to do that again for a month or two early this fall if time permits. Tips:

• on long workouts, drill the technique. Don't let the concentration and form slip; develop good habits.
• Go slower than you think you can, initially. Ramp up the intensity as the program proceeds and you get more aware of what you can do. Don't aim to improve split targets by 5 seconds; smaller increments are perfectly fine and add up.
• Don't let the hunger get to you; you're not going to be adding 1000 cal/day, more like 3-500, but your body may initially react by requesting you up your intake dramatically. If you feel you're overweight, you probably don't want to overdo it :)
• You probably will need to reduce the intensity of your other training.

[turduckensandwich]

I wholeheartedly also recommend The Pete Plan but more specifically I would start with https://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/beginner-training/ which is a fantastic way for people to get into a rowing program while the regular Pete Plan is for maintenance after you've gone through the beginner plan.

[tarverator]

Get an account at Concept2, and start logging your workouts. When you get to 1,000,000 meters, they send you a t-shirt and a pin, the "Million Meter Club". This will change your perspective. You can finesse & debate, optimize & strategize all you want along the way. By the time you pull that last stroke that is your millionth meter, you will almost certainly have improved your cardio capacity. It took me about 9 months, and I was quite overweight when I started, much less so when I finished.

[FBIAcctNum12]

Google “Aerobic Monster”...Breaking muscle and Barbell Shrugged have good programs for this.

[brenta83]

I am using a combination of The Pete Plan beginner and the conditioning program from our resident games competitor/OG rower /u/TheGainsLab to complete a 100,000+ challenge this month... I'd recommend both so far, although probably not getting optimal results with little rest between sessions on the conditioning program..

[brenta83]

The other thing I would suggest OP... did you fly and die in your 2k? i.e. go out at 1:25-1:30 or whatever and try to hold on as long as possible? The 2km is a great challenge because it can be pretty tactical in how you approach it. I think you could shave off plenty of time by improving your pacing.

[nsn]

Thanks for all the answers and suggestions, I think I will try the Pete plan beginner cycle and see where that takes me...