[Sportsandrec] Rowing machine and heart rate questions for kelly

Tue Feb 26 00:00:26 UTC 2013

LM, 

The row position you describe sounds much better, and I admittedly had to sit on the floor and pull on a rope to think about it. As you describe the movement, I find that for me this is the most neutral position for the shoulder rotation. Again, I'm not a rower. 

The "M" stands for maximum (MHR being maximum heart rate). There are a couple ways to calculate this. The easiest is to take 220 and subtract your age. Then, your target heart rate (THR) is a percentage of that number. As an example, if you were 20 years old and you wanted to work out at an endurance training intensity of say 65-75% then your target HR would be between 130 and 150 beats per minute (BPM). One drawback for the "220 minus age" formula is that it does not take into account your current level of fitness, and the studies for this formula were conducted on college-aged Caucasian males, a fairly narrow population sample. 

Another formula is the Karvonen formula, (also known as heart rate reserve) which is 220 minus your age and that number minus your resting heart rate. You then calculate the target range you wish to use, then add back your resting heart rate. So, a 20 year old with a resting heart rate of 60 would have numbers that look like: 
220 - 20 = 200. 
200 - 60 = 140. 
140 * 65-75% =91-105. 
91 to 105 + 60 = 151-165 BPM. 
This formula almost always produces higher numbers than the 220 minus age formula. Your average resting heart rate is generally accepted as a measure of fitness, but of course again this was based on a limited sample population and does not take into account medical conditions, medications, or genetics. 

There are also other formulas that factor in gender, or use a starting value of 208, but I generally don't use these personally as I don't use HR as a training metric (one of those people with the genetics and medical conditions that throw the formulas right out the window). Just be aware there is more than one way to figure MHR and THR. 

As for training at one level like 180BPM, you can, but you are limiting your workouts. Let's say as an example you can workout at 180BPM for twenty minutes for a certain workout intensity like running 6mph. If you always run 6mph and always raise your HR to 180BPM, than you won't improve much beyond that point. One reason why mail carriers aren't marathon runners (typically). There are also other exercise-limiting factors like how fast you can metabolize lactic acid and your Ventrally threshold (that point when your breathing goes from heavy to gasping). 

Now, let's look at interval training, where you alternate periods of high and lower intensity segments in a single workout. Suppose you can run 6mph for 20 minutes at 180BPM, but you can run 10 minutes at 8.5mph and your HR reaches 200BPM (and remember I'm just throwing numbers out there). In an interval, you may run 8.5mph for 5 minutes, then slow down to maybe 5mph for 3 minutes. If you repeat this cycle 5 times, during the course of your workout you have actually ran 25 minutes at 8.5mph, which allows you to train those other factors like lactic acid clearance and ventrally threshold. Many studies are now showing that this type of high/low intensity workout (intervals) can provide as much endurance training as those long, low-intensity workouts we used to do, and in a shorter time of training. This is achieved by training lactic acid clearance (also known as maximum lactate steady state, or MLSS, or in the gym as lactate threshold, but not the same thing clinically). 

Another reason for mixing up the workouts is, depending again on your training goals, you want to have high intensity days and active recovery days where your THR may not exceed 60%. 

The above interval example will work for rowing to. If you get a pace (and I don't have enough rowing experience with available metrics to even take a guess at a good pace), you can design your intervals where you spend some time 10-20% above that pace followed by a recovery segment 10-20% below, just as an example. If you workout at the 180BPM every time, and you don't take enough rest days, and this is a high intensity workout for you, then you run the risk of over-reaching (commonly referred to as over-training, but again, clinically they are not the same thing). I personally perform some physical activity every day, but I throw in some "active recovery" days to work the soreness out of the muscles and raise the HR just slightly. 

So, you can workout at the 180BPM intensity the whole time, but you won't improve much beyond that level. I usually save those workouts for testing, or "race day" workouts when I want to see if my conditioning is improving. For example, maybe this time you run 20 minutes at 180BPM at 6mph, but next time you can run at 180BPM for a longer time or at a faster speed. 

On the rower, you may stroke at the same pace to see if your HR is lower (an effect of training), or row at 180BPM and see if your pace increases, or see if you can maintain that 180BPM (or even higher) for a longer time. This is where it helps to outline more specifically what your training/exercise goal is. 

Hope this helps,
Kelly

On Feb 25, 2013, at 3:32 PM, Lisamaria Martinez wrote:

> Kelly,
> 
> someone emailed me off list and reminded me to pull into the brastrap
> not the belly. I knew the belly was wrong but couldn't remember how
> high to pull toward.
> 
> Thanks for the cardio intensity tips. What does the M in MHR stand for
> and can you remind me how to calculate what my heart rate should be
> during cardio?
> 
> Also, since you are the guru of knowledge, why is it important to have
> your heart rate at certain levels during a workout? Why can't you just
> have your heart rate at 180 while running or something?
> 
> Thanks,
> LM
> 
> 
> On 2/25/13, Kelly Thornbury <kthornbury at bresnan.net> wrote:
>> LM,
>> 
>> While I'm not a rower competitively, I would think the finer points of
>> technique would depend on whether or not you want to take the skills to the
>> water. Finishing the stroke to the abdomen would put less biomechanical
>> stress on the shoulders, possibly reducing the risks of repetitive use
>> injuries, but on the water you probably want to pull a little higher up your
>> torso to get a good bite of the oars in the water. At least this is my
>> experience in oar rafts on the river where you often have to row with the
>> hands up near face level. Maybe, to work the muscles at slightly different
>> angles, varying where you complete the movement would be a better approach.
>> 
>> 
>> Remember when rowing, like any other cardiovascular endurance activity, how
>> you design the workout depends on your goals and current level of overall
>> fitness. Just like running, swimming, or cycling, you can perform long,
>> slower sessions at a lower intensity (65-75% of MHR), or intervals
>> alternating high and low intensity, "tempo" up at 85% MHR, or even "race
>> pace" over 92%. If you are able to get some exercise metrics (heart rate,
>> pace, distance, strokes per minute, etc), you can perform a test to find out
>> where you are at in the beginning, then design a routine incorporating
>> intervals that work you above those metrics separated by lower level
>> segments. Look at the numbers and set a goal like "I want to row further in
>> the same amount of time," or "I want to row that distance in a faster time,"
>> or whatever. Your goals could be a lower heart rate at a given intensity or
>> speed, to increase your average strokes per minute, to row a certain amount
>> of kms over a given time, or whatever.
>> 
>> The beauty of rowing is how it incorporates so many muscle groups at one
>> time...The beauty of any dynamic cardiovascular exercise is that the
>> training principles and techniques are pretty much the same.
>> 
>> I'm sure our rowers could be much more specific and provide much better
>> advice.
>> Kelly
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Sportsandrec mailing list
>> Sportsandrec at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/sportsandrec_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Sportsandrec:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/sportsandrec_nfbnet.org/lmartinez217%40gmail.com
>> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sportsandrec mailing list
> Sportsandrec at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/sportsandrec_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Sportsandrec:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/sportsandrec_nfbnet.org/kthornbury%40bresnan.net