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Another Starting Strength/Rowing Journal

Thought I'd get my arse back in shape after letting it slide for a few months. Ive joined a new gym recently and most of the guys there are pretty big so its inspired me to do it properly this time. Ill be beginning with starting strength for now then probably make my own programme after a couple months thats more aimed towards rowing. As it is I need to sort my squat out most of all as its pretty lacklustre.

Rowing will consist of 60+ minute pieces after lifting sessions at a low rate and low intensity. On non-weight days Ill do some higher intensity sessions, not sure what yet but itll probably just depend on how I feel on the day.

Currently I probably weigh around 14 stone. My 5 rep max lifts are 85 for bench, 100 squat and 130 dead but this was when I was a little stronger. My astest rowing 2k was probably approacing 6:40 but im probably just under 6:50 now. With starting strength Ill probably begin with something like 75 bench, 90 squat and 120 dead and go up from there. Im substituting rows for cleans as I have no fooking clue how to do them properly. Will prob row about 60 to begin I think and press im not so sure about.

So itll look something like this:
Monday: Workout A/60+ min session row
Tuesday: 3X10min
Wednesday: Workout B/60+ min session row
Thursday: 30r20
Friday: Workout A/60+ min session row
Saturday: 4X2k
Sunday: rest

Nutritionally Im pretty damn lazy. Have cereal for break, proper lunch and a rubbish dinner thats usually microwaved or fastfood. Need to cut out the crap and eat more clean food but that'll probably take me a bit of time.

Anyway will see how it goes and try to report back regularily and possibly with pics/videos.

Reply 1

Chumbaniya

Looks very similar to what I was doing over the summer - lifting 3 times a week (though I wasn't strictly doing Starting Strength, it was similar) and alternating long, steady sessions and high intensity sessions on the erg (though that branched out into more swimming and cycling later on).

I got great results from it, so hopefully you should too!

Reply 2

Sandhu

i dont think SS will work very well if you do all that rowing, but i'd ask bebbs as he's done it properly

Reply 3

Bebbs

In theory the rowing will funk with your recovery time. I manage to survive through the prescribed workouts + 5+hours of extra training a week.

Neither are ideal situations. But there is nothing to stop you doing it. I would have to check with one of the rowers about the frequency of your long ergs though.

Reply 4

Chumbaniya

I didn't find much of a problem in terms of recovery times. I think you need to be aware of it though and ease off on the weights every few weeks with all that rowing in there. It certainly didn't stop me making massive gains in both strength and speed on the erg when I did something like this.

Of course, it's imperative with something like this that you eat stupid amounts of food.

Reply 5

Bebbs

I would say the conditions for recovery will need to be ideal. lots of sleep + food. I find its the niggling injuries from playing a contact sport that bother me the most between the two, not having that in rowing probably helps.

Reply 6

supernova2

Hey there, just an update on how its going so far. Im already starting to feel a bit tired recently but the increase in training volume is not that much from what I was doing before.

Tuesday: 30mins rate 20. Was aiming for sub 2:00 splits and came in at 1:58.4 so was happy with that. My back felt a bit painful at the end of my drive phase so I need to sort technique for low rate ergs a little.

Wednesday: Squat 90kg 3X5 was fine and will up it. Bench 75kg 3X5 failed on the last rep of the final set so Ill probably hit that weight again or only increase a tiny bit next time. Bench 125 3X5 felt alright but grip was going a little. My dead technique leaves a lot to be desired.

Also saw some guy squatting 220 which made me feel like a bit of a pussy.

60 min row at 2:05.8 split avg felt fine.

Thursday: Did 6X500 with 1 min rests as I didnt have much time in the gym. I know its a good indication of 2k time so I was aiming to avg 1:43 splits. I underrated a fair amount at around 32-33 but Ill sort that with more short distance work. First 5 reps all at 1:43.0 last rep at 1:38.6 so next time I will go for 1:42's for first 5 I think.

I dont have the internet either atm so will take a couple days to update. I started taking ZMA again to help speed up recovery and it does help my sleep better. Gives me the most messed up dreams though.

Nutritionally Ive been rubbish. Had a kebab yesterday and a mcD and a curry the day before. oops.

Reply 7

supernova2

Friday:
Squats
Bar X 5
60 X 5
90 X 3
95 X 5
95 X 5
95 X 5

My knees started coming in slightly at the end so im only going to up to 97.5 next time. I hope my gym as small enough plates though..

Mil Presses
Bar X 5
40 X 5
40 X 5
40 X 5

Wasnt really sure where to start so I hit 40 and it wasnt too hard but I'll try 45 next time.

Rows
Bar X 5
40 X 5
55 X 5

Felt alright but with presses Ill take it up slow otherwise im going to stall fast.

Couldnt row that day as I was going out a little later and didnt have enough time. Im just about to hit the gym now and do 3 X 2k with 5 min rests. I might try something like 7:40 for the first, 7:20 for the second and 7:00 for the third to keep it interesting. Will probably fail on the last one though.

Reply 8

supernova2

Ok from the last post:

Saturday:
3X2k / 5 min rests
First 2k @ 1:55.0
Second 2k @ 1:50.0
Third 2k @ 1:44.6

I upped the strokes on each session from around 26-28 for the first to 32-34 for the last. The last one hurt quite a lot though...

Sunday: Day offfff

Monday:
Bench
Warmups then
5 X 75
5 X 75
5 X 77.5

Not exactly how im supposed to go but I didnt think I could go straight to 77.5 for 3X5. Will try next session and then to 80

Squat:
Warmups then
5X100kg for 3 sets.

Knees really going in at the end of it so will probably stick with 100 next time and try to sort technique.

Deadlifts: 5 X 130kg
Was alright except for grip going at the end due to sweat. Need chalk!

Then I rowed for about 20 minutes before dieing and limping off home. Not sure why I felt so lethargic but it might have been because I had a big McD's before and just ran out of steam/glucagon/water or whatever.

Tuesday:
Just a 5k as I didnt have much time. Not sure on my mid range fitness so started at 1:55splits before pulling it down to an overall average of 1:52.4. Was sprinting at around 1:30 at the end though so had a lot more in the tank.

Wed-Sunday I wont be able to work out much as im back at my parents for a few days. Did shovel snow for a bit though but my back hurts now.

Reply 9

supernova2

Read something on peak performance which isn't exactly good:

"At Ohio University in the United States, 18 elite male and 12 elite female rowers were evaluated before and after 14 weeks of off-season training. Half of the athletes engaged only in rowing during this period, while the other half devoted 30 per cent of their training time to resistance training and 70 per cent to actual rowing. Resistance training included standard exercises such as squats and bench presses. Prior to the 14-week period, there were no differences between the groups in maximal aerobic capacity (V02max), muscle power while rowing, or overall muscle strength.

At the end of the 14 weeks, athletes who spent all their time rowing improved their performances and raised V02max by a whopping 11-16 per cent, while strength-trained rowers failed to improve in either area."

Brilliant...

Reply 10

Bebbs

Depends on their definition of squats, how often they were done, how much stronger they got etc.

For instance, "squats" could mean quarter squats, done for 1 set once a week at the same weight every week for 14 weeks.

The study is pretty rubbish if it claims that an activity such as squatting does not improve your VO2

Reply 11

Chumbaniya

That's about elite rowers though, and they are in a very different position to even someone reasonably well-trained like yourself. I still think that strength training can bring great benefits for people who don't have the kind of strength that the elite athletes will have already built up.

Reply 12

supernova2

Got to agree with you on that chumbaniya. Their results will have little correlation with mine I imagine.

Ok as I haven't done any workouts recently due to being at a different location Ive been thinking about what would be decent short-medium term targets. Lifting wise I don't find target setting too hard as I do the same lifts all the time and can see progress being made week on week. Rowing I find a lot harder to predict as I dont have a great idea of where im at or what I can do without doing a maximal session (which I really dont want to do). I think im going to stick to rippetoes or a similar program until I hit certain lifts and then just train myself to be able to do those weights for as many reps as possible. As im training for a sport it'd be much more useful to be able to squat 100kg's for 20 reps compared to 150 for 5 and I should try to adapt my body more towards that.

So anyway these are my 5 rep targets which, when reached, I will concentrate on getting rep totals up.
Squat : 130kg
Deadlift: 150kg
Bench: 100kg
Press: 65kg
Bent Row: 100kg

Out of those for me I think hitting the squat target will be the hardest despite the bench probably taking longer. Not really sure on bent row progresssion as I havent done it for that long.

Rowing targets:

Short term: Get a 6:40-6:45 2k down. I havent actually done any 2k's for ages so my actual pb is around 6:52 despite being reasonably faster (I hope).

Longer term: Possibly 6:30 by summer maybe? Id also like to be able to do a sub 1:50/500m for 30 minutes. Not sure what kind of 2k that would equate for. My fastest 10k was a 38:10 which is 1:54.5 splits so hopefully im not too far off. Doing a 1:45 split 5k would be nice too :smile:

Reply 13

supernova2

Monday:

15km row, 2:09.4 splits. Not particularily fast but I usually do weights first and didnt want to tire on them.

Rows
60 X 5
60 X 5
60 X 5

managed it without too much trouble.

Press
45 X 5
45 X 5
45 X 5

again wasnt too bad but it feels like its going to get very hard very soon.

Squats:
fail... couldnt get into a rack or powercage because the gym was busy. When I finally got a bar it the weights and the bit of the bar that held them kept sliding off because one of the nuts was missing. Decided on the hack squat machine instead.

Tuesday: missed out on my row. Idiot.

Wednesday:
Today im aiming for:

Squat: 100 X 5 for 3
Bench: 77.5 X 5 for 3
Dead: 130 X 5 for 3

Row ill decide on after I see how I feel.