Today I decided to change my interval workout up a bit. The treadmill seems to be getting too easy so I thought I’d throw something new at my body. You know, shake it up a bit to see what happens. Well, in just one session, I’ve learned that I really love my treadmill because it is easy. I’ve fallen into a complacent routine where I increase my speed weekly and still feel like the interval was easy. Don’t get me wrong, the treadmill intervals still give me a good workout. They just don’t feel like a workout to me anymore. But today was a big eye opener and I think I’ve learned my lesson.
My regular workout partner couldn’t make it to the gym today so since I didn’t have someone to chat with as we ran, I decided to jump on the rowing machine instead of the treadmill. I strapped my feet in, checked out how to get the thing going and started rowing. I set the system up for a 20 minute interval session. I don’t know if I set the intensity correctly, but the workout I got from that 20 minutes was hard. I think my average strokes per minute during the recovery period were around 3.2-3.3 while my sprints were in the 4.2-4.3 SPM range. It seems as if time goes much slower on the rower than it ever did on the treadmill. Those 30 second sprints felt like 30 minutes.
About half way into the session, my arms and legs started burning. This was going to be a fight to the finish. I don’t know how good my form was, especially on the sprints, but I sure felt it and am still feeling it. This was a much more complete body workout than the treadmill, that’s for sure.
When the 20 minutes were over, I wasn’t sure how much of an interval I had actually done. Going from 3.3 strokes per minute to 4.3 didn’t seem like a big enough jump to me (even though I was spent) so I jumped on the stationary bike for a quick 15 minute interval session (5 sets). Needless to say, my legs are done for today. And not only my legs, but I can feel the afterburn in my back and arms too. It’s not painful, but those muscles are all warm and have that feeling of getting a good workout.
Now that I think about it, I hope I didn’t work out too hard the day before our Bodyweight 350 + 100. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning and if it’s that bad, I’ll do the challenge on Sunday.
I did learn something from this. And that is I need to get outside of my comfort zone and change things up a lot more than once every 6 weeks. At least with my intervals. So now I think I’ll rotate between the treadmill, the bike and the rower and maybe the elliptical (though I hate those things). As the weather gets better here in North East Ohio, I’ll take some of the running outside and do some sprints/walks up and down my street. Between these changes, adding my swimming and now biking (gotta get ready for the Peddle to the Point and a possible Triathlon sprint) to my routine, I should keep my body from getting too comfortable which should help to keep the fat burning going at an optimal level.
Besides, the rowing should get me ready for this summer when I get a kayak and hit Lake Erie and some of our rivers around here.
I always found rowing an excellent cardio exercise and warm up, when I was a member of a gym. Not rowed since my days at Canons’ though. IU have been tempted to get a machine a few times. Great work there. Keep rowing. Compliment it with some weight training, and that should show improvements with your rowing too - plenty of bent over rows and lateral pull downs.