I am 39. I am the proud father of four kids and life goes at one hundred miles per second. There is little time for personal fitness, partly because my kids are not quite of age yet where I can share the same exercise type and duration that I would need to maintain an acceptable fitness level and body weight. I am not the type of person who easily chooses to spend time alone to exercise. I enjoy sharing such quality time with my family and very quickly adjust such time to what works best for the group and this ranges from walking, playground, some tennis. When the kids are in the backyard playing I grab the kettlebell and go at it and this is why I am writing this blog entry, how to overdo it :-)
One attribute I don't lack is personal motivation to exercise. When time is of essence and I feel horribly guilty for not having done any cardio exercise, I have made a couple painful mistakes by choosing shorter and harder workouts. From rowing I have a strong back with solid lats which make horizontal kettlebell rows no problem and I don't feel winded quickly when I attack them. So what do I have to worry about... my elbows, it must be the lack of use but did I mess them up by pulling back the 60 pound bell like a mad former Olympian. Now I am seeking some sort of muscle cream to help whatever I messed up. My lesson learned from this pain, and I hope I won't forget it ever in my lifetime, is that any type of physical exercise that you start up doing after a longer break needs to be brought back to life slowly. The little joints and muscles will give you major flak if you don't.
So why don't I row more consistently... good point, it is because our house is too small to handle a permanent spot for the rower, and there are other logistical issues that are inexcusable reasons for not putting in the miles. Writing this makes me wonder about my ability to self-inflict "AHA" moments. I NEED TO ROW MORE. Rowing is gentle on the joints, I yell it at the top of my lungs on rooftops all the time. Rowing gives you range of motion without being hard on your joints. Rowing allows your entire body to find a rhythm that is dictated by your breathing pattern (and not the other way around!) Stay low with your stroke rate and increase the resistance by raising the drag factor on the concept2 rower, or add more water to your waterrower. One of the "special" ways to increase drag on the C2 is dangerous when you have little kids: removing the silver mesh. You will find double the drag :-) however you will also hear TRIPLE the noise!
Ok now for the business part of it all. I have a workout library that is available online at www.row2go.com. You can access over 70 workouts and use my instruction and rowing rhythm to get a great row out of your machine. In case you are a possessed on the water rower or a psychotic 2K chaser on the Concept2 machine you will enjoy www.xenorowingcoach.com. In case you want direct downloads have a look at www.facebook.com/row2go :-)
That is it for now!!!
Xeno Muller
Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.
great article Xeno! I try to remind myself that doing 60 - 90' ERG sessions will take time to re-establish a regime. All in due time. The one thing I can't afford is an injury, as my business is rowing.
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