by Muad'dib on Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:15 pm
I just wanted to throw this in, since there seems to be a lot of "conditioning" threads up these days. So, what is your conditioning routine, and why do you like it?
I used to row crew, and just recently got back into in for stress relief, just on the ergometer/rowing machine. I must have forgotten, but really I can't think of a better exercise for developing unified body power. Though it slipped my mind, I remember my coach telling us when we started to take it slow, because it takes a minimum of 10,000 strokes before your body remembers the correct form. (I always cringe when I see most people trying to use the machine in gym, knowing they are either not going to get a good work out, or are headed to injury.) Unlike most aerobic exercises, speed is not the most important thing for burning calories here. Most long term rows are focused on keeping your strokes per minute to around 18-24. If you do that over the long haul, you build the form that will allow you to hit the 35-45 strokes a minute that will keep you in the race. If you don't practice slow, you won't ever have the form down, and you will completely begin to fall apart around 30 strokes a minute. (Slow builds fast with proper form? I think some people would consider this heresy if applied to MA. Mr. Wang?)
Further, within doing those 18-24 strokes per minute, if you are doing all the movements correctly, you should easily be able to generate enough force where you are burning 800-900 calories an hour. Most people you see though don't have the proper integration of movement, and the result is that they languish somewhere's around 500-600 calories an hour, never even realizing what they are doing wrong. Not having had proper instruction they can't even begin to get what the difference between right and wrong
Taking it yet another step, unlike most other cardio, rowing works just amout every muscle in your body, requiring full integration of your back, core, forearm and arm muscles for proper power generation, not just as secondary considerations. The exercise itself burns fat faster, and builds lean body mass like no other. It's also low impact but still helps develop bone strength because of the force being applied to the body as a whole. I recommend it strongly.
The only real drawback in my mind is that you need to go to a gym, or have a place big enough for the erg and about $3K to buy a good one.
Anyone else have a favorite?
I am no longer allowed to make statements regarding international politics in a public forum.