WaterRower Weekly Training Tip 49 - Are you at a Plateau in your Training?
WaterCoach
improvements or progress from working out on your WaterRower. You
have more than likely hit a plateau, your body is adapting to the
routine and it is time to for a change. The change can be small, it
can include one session of something different or even doing one less
session a week.
Use the F.I.T.T. rule to help break your training plateau:
FREQUENCY- increase or decrease how often you row/exercise a week.
INTENSITY- increase or decrease the difficulty at which you row.
Possibly include a pyramid program or power strokes into your one of
your rowing sessions.
TIME- increase or decrease how long you row/exercise for. Try rowing
for 10 minutes longer or 10 minutes shorter for one session.
TYPE- aim to include another type of exercise into your routine.
Exercises such as weight training, circuit training, brisk walking,
jogging etc are for combining with rowing.
stephen...@gmail.com
F.I.T. is a handy mnemonic for a training programme structure.
A tip on Time (expressed by distance):
I do two long sessions each week, extending the distance over time,
but keeping the pace identical from week to week.
I am currently experimenting with a programme that varies the time
from week to week in the pattern light (L), medium (M), hard (H), like
this:
L: 5000m, M: 5500m, H: 6000m
L: 5500m, M: 6000m, H: 6500m
L: 6000m, M: 6500, H: 7000m
...
L: 11000m, M: 11500m, H: 12000m
So far this is working much better than a previous programme with a
relentless build up adding 500m every week.
A tip on intensity:
Always mix up long endurance sessions (~20-30min+) with intervals. I
have read cardiologists warning that doing only long and steady
exercise trains the heart to become efficient at sub-maximal rates and
SMALLER. Doing intervals (shorter time, higher intensity) develops the
size and strength and pumping volume (maximal capacity) of the heart,
protecting against the risk of heart attack. (But obviously seek
doctors' advice about YOUR heart!)
I do one short set of intervals one week and one long set on on
alternate weeks.
The short set is either 500, 800 or 1000m. It starts with 6x500, and
builds up over the weeks until it becomes either 8x500m, 5x800m,
4x1000m).
The long set is either 1500 or 2000m (starting with 3x1500m and
2x2000m, building up to 4x1500m and 3x2000m).
This gives lots of variety (you will only do 500m intervals once every
6 weeks and builds speed and anaerobic threshold.
Rests are short (2min) for short intervals, 4 or 5 min for 2000m
intervals.
Another tip on intensity:
Look back in your training log at your normal average speed (metres/
sec) or pace (min/500m), especially on longer sessions (~30min) and
your average stroke rate. Try to maintain the same speed but at 1spm
lower stroke rate. Great for breaking out of a plateau. How low can
you go on stroke rate at that pace over coming weeks? I have managed
to maintain the same speed on long sessions, but have reduced the
stroke rate from 24 to under 23 and now aiming for 22, while staying
in the correct moderate heart rate zone (avoiding lactic acid) and
while the distance builds up from week to week in the above L-M-H-L-M-
H wave pattern.
I have found that the intervals seem to reinforce improvements in
endurance sessions, and endurance sessions reinforce improvements in
interval sessions.
Also, the recovery of the body during the light and medium weeks makes
possible further improvement in the heavy weeks. Seeing improvement is
psychologically encouraging, as is looking forward to a light week
right after a heavy week, and looking forward to medium after light
and heavy after medium. Loving it.
Break that plateau!
Stephen
_____________________________________________________
Jill Lancaster
Thank you for your interesting posting. It looks as if you have a great
rowing program and it is good to hear that you are improving and getting
fitter.
I agree with your comment about shorter intervals and also with the 3 week
program of light, medium, hard - this allows good recovery time.
Lowering your stroke rate and keeping the same speed really helps with
strength and power. I am sure you will get to stroke rate of 22 in no time.
Concentrate on taking a fraction more time on the recovery while keeping the
power back on the drive - I know easier said than done.
I am very impressed with your program :). Keep up the great rowing. Keep us
informed of how you get on.
Kind regards
Jill
Robert Chambers
>...
> Lowering your stroke rate and keeping the same speed really helps with
? ? ? Hey Stephen,,,Hey Jill, I am an old guy with an S3. If you
could explain further what you are trying to say here, I would
appreciate it! ! ! The program Stephen outlined seems *way* too
conceptual! ! ! For starters, I try to row every day ... is that okay?
I usually row at 23 - 24 strokes per minute ... ramping up to that
through the first five minutes after having done some warmup stretches
beforehand. And I try to row 30 minutes per session ... is that okay?
Is that too boring for my heart? Can you suggest a *somewhat* simpler
"variation on the theme" than the low, medium and high rotation through
three or four weeks?
> I am very impressed with your program :). Keep up the great rowing. Keep us
> informed of how you get on.
I am impressed that I can row for thirty minutes a day. :-)
Heppy Rowin!
RC in VT
P.S. I dropped my motorcycle (Aprilia Pegaso) four weeks ago and to get
it back upright, I used the (dumb) "clean and jerk" approach ... the
bike weighs 450 lb, but I only needed to lift half of that ... yikes!,
good luck! :-) I spent the next day in bed and the intervening time
off from rowing, and anyways, I was digging potatoes in my garden in the
meantime ... I am just now getting beck on my rowing program. If any of
you out there have a bike and have the misfortune of having to lift it,
see the following for the correct technique:
http://www.dps.state.mn.us/mmsc/latest/MMSCHomeSecondary.asp?cid=5&mid=32&scat=27
or,
stephen...@gmail.com
I guess it's tempting to try to pick up a motorcycle the way you would
pick up a push-bike.
Jill is the coach and the former Olympian, so definitely take more
notice of her than me. But here's my 2-cents' worth.
Rowing every day shows great self-discipline. (Better than me). Since
you mention (boast?) you are an "old guy", how old is old?
Of course, all the usual caveats apply about this not being medical
advice, see your doctor if pain persists, bla, bla, bla.
Rowing every day is OK (obviously better than never or sporadically).
But you might notice your fitness improve more if you rowed a bit
harder (or longer) every second day, and rested on the alternate days.
Counter-intuitively, it's when you are resting that your fitness
actually improves (all those molecular construction workers building
new heart muscle, limb muscles, etc). Hence the value to athletes of a
good diet and sufficient sleep. But of course you need to challenge
your body with exercise in the first place so that it responds by
doing the building while you rest!
If you must row every day, why not try something like:
day 1: long demanding session (longer and/or faster than usual daily
sessions)
day 2: very light easy session (if you're compelled not to rest)
day 3: hard interval session
day 4: very light easy session (if you're compelled not to rest)
day 5: same as day 1
day 6: very light easy session (if you're compelled not to rest)
day 7: something different (swim, cycle, run, whatever)
For the intervals, try 4 or 5 x 500m, with a 2 minute rest in
between.
These should be at a much faster pace than the long sessions,
but the pace should be the same on all (not falling off in the last
ones).
Don't overdo it to start with.
All the advice I have seen says don't stretch when you are cold.
Do a very light (going through the motions) warm-up for at least 5
mins,
THEN stretch. You will definitely feel the difference stretching warm
muscles.
Then do the main workout. Then repeat the light warm-up as a cool
down,
then stretch to finish. All that is even more important on the
interval work.
If you find the variations within the week to be helpful, then later
you could think
about varying the pattern from week to week (keeping the same basic
pattern
within the week).
Keep track of your sessions, to see improvement in times, distances,
average stroke length ...
Row on!
Stephen
PS: make sure you have S3 v 2.5 monitor. If you have the S3v1.8, I
don't think you will be able to see the same speed for a lower stroke
rate (= longer distance per stroke), because it apparently just
reported everything based on a constant metres per stroke.
_____________________________________________________________
> http://www.dps.state.mn.us/mmsc/latest/MMSCHomeSecondary.asp?cid=5&mi...
>
> or,
>
> http://ibmwr.org/otech/pickup.html
Jill Lancaster
Thank you for your postings.
Stephen, your comments and advice are really useful and helpful especially
to all those who are serious about rowing and training. Robert, rowing 30
minutes everyday is impressive and if that what suits you and you are
feeling healthy and fit, then that is great! Exercise programs vary
according to individual preferences and goals.
To be honest for me nowadays, my main aim when exercising is for enjoyment
and to stay healthy. Gone are my serious training days when I was competing
:).
What I find works for me is to exercise (usually mixture of exercises -
rowing, walking, running, weight training etc.) 5x a week of between 20-60
minutes. I try to vary it as much as possible, on days when I am feeling
strong I add in a few intervals at the end of my session, other days when I
am feeling tired I aim to do 20 minutes of light exercise with lots of
stretching.
Different programs work for different people, everyone should try a variety
of different training ideas to find out what suits them.
I believe variety and enjoyment are essential in all exercise programs.
Keep up the good rowing.
Kind regards
Jill
-----Original Message-----
From: Water...@googlegroups.com [mailto:Water...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of stephen...@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 9:20 AM
To: WaterCoach
Subject: {WaterCoach:177} Re: WaterRower Weekly Training Tip 49 - Are you at
a Plateau in your Training?