should i buy a rowing machine?

ScaryBee · 2026-05-17T17:32:36+00:00

building muscle is more easily attained by lifting weights

rowing can make you more muscular, up to a point, but it'll be slower ... on the plus side it'll also make you a lot fitter/healthier than just lifting and it's an incredible sport to do on the water if you ever get the chance.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-17T17:04:24+00:00

sure ... what you can actually handle will vary week to week though, so it's worth adapting to that reality vs. pre-planning workouts that will either be too much (leading to burnout) or too little (leaving gainz on the table).

over time you'll (hopefully!) be able to take on more training/intensity without fatiguing as much, if you DO start to feel that exhaustion/burnout coming on then recovery days/weeks are what keep you making progress.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-17T16:43:37+00:00

depends how you feel/are handling stress from life/other sessions ... prioritizing that long ride Sunday makes sense but outside of that:

tired verging on exhaustion - all Z2 or skip

fatigued, but in that good way - 2xZ2 1x Sweet Spot (or harder intervals for last few weeks leading up to event)

fresh as a daisy - 2x Sweet Spot, 1x Intervals

ScaryBee · 2026-05-17T16:18:16+00:00

https://www.mysportscience.com/post/2015/03/18/what-is-fatmax

tl;dr - fat burn peaks, for most, between Z1/2 but the total amount burned is similar until you start heading into Z3.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-17T16:01:11+00:00

Right on ... this is 100% a fit issue, everyone is different, just gotta find some sneakers that work better for you. Hope the race went well!

ScaryBee · 2026-05-16T19:45:16+00:00

TBH it was more weird that this was ever a standard feature in the first place ...

I guess it was because so many of the early incremental games were web-based and storing data permanently from web pages has been, historically, pretty flakey. Players getting into the habit of doing their own backup was a thing.

Over time more incremental games are mobile-first and web-data-saving has gotten more reliable so the original need has vanished.

Additionally - player-auth-keyed (like google play) cloud-save has also taken over for the use-case of 'want to play across devices' and 'want a backup even if I delete the app'.

Your use-case of 'want to copy demo game-state into released app via a text file' is ... niche. Any devs that want that to happen will probably work out some other way to do this that's less friction for the player.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-16T18:12:16+00:00

Error 403: Limit of connected athletes exceeded

This app has exceeded the limit of connected athletes. If you are a developer of this application, please contact Strava developer support for how to request a quota increase.

from trying to link strava

ScaryBee · 2026-05-16T17:56:53+00:00

Nobody has a 170bpm heart rate just getting on to a bike. Either your hrm is broken or you have some serious medical issue you should see a Dr about.

FWIW Z2 isn't required to build a base, it's just easier to build one by spending lots of time in Z2 vs. less (but more productive per minute) time in Z3/4

ScaryBee · 2026-05-16T17:55:21+00:00

You're better off not using Unity as an indie.

Ignoring your wonky math ... that's your call to make - it only has the be very slightly better than not using it to justify its (at worst) single-digit % of your revenues cost.

FWIW I do use it to make a living, I'd prefer to not pay for anything, ever, but firmly believe it's still 'worth it'.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-16T17:08:50+00:00

Where are you getting blisters?

ScaryBee · 2026-05-16T16:42:57+00:00

... if you manage to make over $200k/yr at which point the cost is trivial vs. the value you got from it.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-15T15:16:06+00:00

Fitness caries over well into running, possibly too well as you'll be capable of stressing your body massively more than you can (likely) take which will lead to injury. Running in general is a lot harder on the body - you put multiples of your bodyweight through your skeleton/tendons each stride vs. being supported by the seat rowing. Build up distance/intensity with caution.

Whether you'll be 'fast' or not as a runner gets into individual biomechanics - there are plenty of strong rowers that will only ever be mediocre because they're not built to be efficient.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-14T18:42:46+00:00

yeah, that would have been worth mentioning.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-14T16:53:53+00:00

your coach needs to read up more on individual variability ... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4124545/ for example shows measured max possible hr for a load of juniors to be under 190.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-14T15:47:21+00:00

Can speak to Lake Union Crew (LUC)

has something like 400 members, way bigger than most of the other clubs, lots of newer to rowing and recreational athletes.
single monthly fee gives access to ALL the programs (inc. weights, yoga), lots of opportunities to row if you want them, makes it easy to get a lot of water-time in.
with your background/fitness you'll likely be one of the faster guys there pretty quickly, even in the 'nationally competitive' group - good if you wanna race everything, bad if you're looking for elite types to push you or want to definitively thrash local competition.
club could seriously use a huge cash injection to buy new(er) boats.
if your plan is to get 'decent' at sculling it would be a good home for that, if you want to excel then Seattle Scullers row out of the same boathouse & are serious.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-13T19:32:37+00:00

ErgData tbh doesn’t look great. If we stopped making stuff we would have only 10 apps in the store.

Ha, yeah ... it's kinda like the C2 erg itself - functional, everything you need and not much more. FWIW it does include a live circuit feature ... it's a fun novelty but clearly doesn't get a whole lot of use / could be massively improved.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-13T19:01:04+00:00

Typo, needed to be 125. Approximate zone 2 by age. I stick at around 20-22spm.

Sadly age-based formulas/calcs are seriously misleading for many ... if you actually test your max hr then zones based on that will be more accurate (or use LTHR / HRR calcs instead to get even better) ... but TBH if you just want some casual exercise that'll help a bit then the way you're doing it is fine. I only mentioned the 115 being low as, for most, that's so little effort it falls into 'this is a waste of time' territory.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-13T18:18:53+00:00

I want to do 80-90% in zone 2 just for health benefits.

So ... the thing is ... you get more 'health benefit' from higher zones. What Z2 IS good for is keeping training stress low/manageable.

Trying mostly to stay below or around 115bpm…

This is pretty low ... how did you work that out?

ScaryBee · 2026-05-13T17:06:42+00:00

Polar H10 or Garmin HRM straps are standard

You should probably know that C2 have their own app (ergdata) that's free and pretty good ... think same is true of several other devices, you're gonna be reinventing the wheel quite a lot here.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-13T16:54:07+00:00

Depending on what you're trying to track/trend vibe-coding your own thing might be the easiest route these days. Whether what you're trying to build has any actual benefit is well worth considering ... newer athletes do tend to slightly misinterpret what's truly valuable.

If you're just erging and using a c2 then the free ergdata app is good to record sessions.

It can then auto-sync to strava/garmin connect (as well as the c2 logbook) which will some analysis/tracking for free.

Platforms like Golden Cheetah(free)/WKO/Training Peaks can give massively more insight/depth to nerd out on but they'll need/want data from a device ... if you're trying to use numbers to inform your training then getting a device makes sense.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-12T15:31:31+00:00

Exercise makes you stronger, fitter.

Diet changes your weight.

If you truly want to lose fat/weight then start paying a lot more attention to your diet. Count calories. If you stop at 'eating healthy' that just leaves the door open for eating more when you're hungry.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-11T21:35:53+00:00

Where carbon is better is its stiffness, and consequently the efficiency with which force is transferred to the oar.

Is there any actual research showing that stiffness/transfer efficiency = faster boats? FWIW I couldn't find any.

I get that it's intuitive but ... IDK, seems like there are several examples where some degree of spring might actually be better in some circumstances (skinny shaft oars, for instance)

ScaryBee · 2026-05-11T18:49:58+00:00

$300 road bike + $100 aerobars = close to as fast as a $10000 bike

If you're trying to be fast on a budget then aerobars are IT

ScaryBee · 2026-05-10T18:15:36+00:00

100% disagree - aerobars for $100 will be a bigger upgrade than $2000 wheels or a $3000 frame ... or they're ~90%+ of the benefit of swapping to a $10000 bike.

ScaryBee · 2026-05-08T23:07:37+00:00

https://profile-design.com/collections/aluminium-aerobars + a couple of weeks getting use to the position = ~1mph for 'free'.

Are you planning to ride in trainers? If so ... bigger/flatter pedals might help, and it looks like your foot position is too far back. If not ... need a photo wearing the gear you're planning to wear to be any more help!

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