WELCOME to New Members

[DonBasuno]

Hi

I'm Kåre and I just joined after receiving my rower today. I used to get my exercise from cycling wherever I wanted to go, but after switching jobs I'm no longer comfortable with the traffic on my current route. So far I have survived my first bout with the machine, 3 x 5min (1100m each) trying to get a feel for the technique. Looks like I'm getting blisters on both hands, at the base of the little finger. Guess thats how you learn not to squeeze the handle but rather keep it a bit out on the fingers.

[billwright]

Welcome to Free Spirits Kåre. I'm sure that your hands will harden up in time. You could try wearing gloves for a while until you get the technique worked out. Keep posting you exploits in the various threads or feel free to start your own thread.

Bill

[plummy]

Welcome Kare (sorry, couldn't find the proper "a" symbol on my keyboard). I look forward to hearing of your progress on your new toy!!

Blisters - the scourge of my rowing life!!

[zootMutant]

Welcome to the team, Kåre. Look forward to hearing about your progress!

[hewitt]

Welcome Kare. Nice to have you on the team.

Like you mentioned in your post, you do not need to squeeze the handle when rowing just hook it in your fingers. ( I don't use my little fingers when rowing). Just remember that the most power comes from your legs as they are the biggest muscles. You could try practicing your technique by rowing without the straps on at a low spm( strokes per minute) This will teach you to drive with your legs and keep your arms straight on the drive.

All the best with your new toy and we are always here to answer any questions.

[strider77]

Welcome to the team Kåre, you will enjoy your new toy, please ask if you have any questions

[Wolfmiester]

Welcome aboard Kåre (Plummy, cut and paste )

[plummy]

Welcome aboard Kåre (Plummy, cut and paste )

That would leave a gap - but maybe I'll copy and paste next time

[Stan]

Welcome to Free Spirits Kare

[DonBasuno]

Thanks for the encouragement. The blisters turned out to be a minor problem, by holding a bit further out on my hand I was not putting any pressure on them at all. I managed a 2k in 9:16 witch will be the time to beat for the future. I'm thinking I should be able to squeeze in 12 weeks of the interactive programme before vacations start to mess things up. Next thing to practice seems to be patience as I have a hard time rowing slow enough to get a sustainable tempo. As soon as I lose focus I start pulling too hard, even if I manage to keep the stroke rate down. I'm hoping to be able to fit in a row for the ctc this month. But tomorrow is definitely a rest day.

[Richard Thomas]

Welcome Kare.

I'm a newbie to the team too and have found everyone to be very friendly and supportive. I understand your patience comment. Rowing is very much a tough psychologically demanding sport as well as physically demanding but you will eventually find your own personal way of dealing with that I'm sure.

Good luck

Richard

[webberg]

I've introduced my youngest son (13) to the wonderful world of erging.

Rory has tried before on and off but now seems to be acquiring the habit with 3 x 3k done (and his blisters healing).

He's proud of the fact that his three pieces have reduced his time by over 2 minutes.

Unfortunately he's a little shy about posting at the moment.

[Rodger]

Welcome to Free Spirits, Rory!
Rowing is more important than posting anyway (for now)
Is he named after the best bluesrock guitarist of all time?

[zootMutant]

Rory! Welcome and well done! Keep at it and you'll see those times drop even further! =D> =D> =D>

[duffyoz]

Hi, This seems to be the place to introduce myself and put some goals in writing . I have played around a little on the erg since my husband bought one for weightloss and rarely used it. I love it! I have started following the beginner Pete Plan and I'm up to week 7 - 8000m. I like that you have to think and not just muscle your way through, even if all the information out there gets a bit confusing. Since I started this crazy caper I have gone from well over 9 for 2k to 8.45. The other blanks in the signature bit (hopefully it worked) will be filled in during the coming months.

Question though on how people get such similar splits. Did the 7 x 500m 2'r, started aiming for 2.15, felt too good so went faster in the next 2 and went all out in the last one for a PB of 0.4s. I was still very happy with that after doing 6 others. Is it just experience to get consistent splits?

Not sure how to best put these in the jargon, apologies if wrong
2:13.9 25spm
2:11.4 25
2:09.7

Future aims - finish the beginner Pete Plan. It seems well staged for an absolute beginner but still hard enough. (Enough sweat anyway)
Unless I find some other plan - on to the PP proper to work on times specifically.
I would like to compete at the Pan Pacific Masters in late 2014 and not come last .

[Stan]

Hi duffyoz (I am sure you have another name!), and a warm welcome to Free Spirits. Good luck with the plan and feel free to post your session in the pete plan thread in training and racing.
Regarding the pacing - that tends to come with experience - the aim with the pp is to maintain the average pace from the previous session and then speed up in the last one to bring the average down for next time. However when you are just starting out the improvements come thick and fast so the required pace may feel too easy, so you can speed up sooner. All I can say to that is that the plan is self correcting - eventually you will find your level and the improvements will slow down and you wont feel able to speed up too soon.
Look forward to seeing your progress - by the way you need change the word feint to faint in your signature (sorry about that!) - great motto though.

[duffyoz]

Duffyoz AKA Lesley Duffy

Nice pickup on the feint / faint thing - fixed it now (hopefully). Oz for Australia of course hence the aim for the PanPacs (Pan Pacific Masters Games) on the Gold Coast next year. I somehow managed to hit submit before I finished typing in the splits. The PP forum seems to be full of 'way fitter then me' people doing the normal plan not beginner PP but if I get a chance I will put some comment in there.

I have to go to away for work for 2 weeks quite soon. Where is the best place to start when I get back? I was thinking to try going back 2 weeks in the plan and see how I cope with that and then move forward. Unlikely I will be able to do anything while I am away.

Lesley

[plummy]

Welcome to the team Lesley - it's great to have you join us.

No matter where you stand on the fitness scales, there will always seem to be a collection of people that stand head and shoulders above you so don't worry about that at all. Almost everyone here will secretly think "I wish I was as fast as..(insert persons name here)" at some point. Ultimately you are competing against yourself most of the time and the Pete Plan is certainly a good one to follow but as Stan says it will come to a point where your gains kinda dry up.
In the meantime, before that happens, enjoy the ride, the camaraderie and the various challenges that come along and keep us posted of your progress via the forum

Plummy

[Daz]

Welcome to all the new members, sorry for my tardiness, I am in my own little world 99.9% of the time lol

I am a newbie to here and rowing, but this really is a superb place to join, everyone is so helpful and friendly, and as a result of my posts I know them to be supremely patient too lol

All the best with it all.

[carl2k]

hi
my name is Carl, im 35 from uk and have just got a model d pm4 to try and increse my fitness and decrease my belly.
ive decided to join up to your little group as it seemed the most normal group out there. i got quite demoralised looking on some forums from people saying the first time they had a go they managed to row 3 million miles in 2 minutes and loads of other useless info to any newcomer to an erg.
So after 2 weeks of erging ive managed to get up to 30min rows. times and distances are nowt great but are slowly getting better.

carl

[plummy]

Welcome Carl. Thank you for choosing Free Spirits (not so sure about being the most "normal" though )

It looks like you tried to put your first posting up 3 times (the second and third maybe wondering if the prior one had gone astray - but first posts from new members are held awaiting a moderators approval. Sorry for the delay, I've just picked them up (I deleted the two repeats)

Post as often as you like with your thoughts and progress - we like new faces here

Plummy

[carl2k]

thanks for deleting my repeat posts, after the 3rd time of posting i decided to read the bit that said first posts need moderating.
after 2 weeks of rowing i already have a love hate relationship with my rower. i look forward to going on it all day, but the second i get home and see it i just wanna hide from it because i know the mess im gonna be in about 2 minutes after i start.

[plummy]

thanks for deleting my repeat posts, after the 3rd time of posting i decided to read the bit that said first posts need moderating.
after 2 weeks of rowing i already have a love hate relationship with my rower. i look forward to going on it all day, but the second i get home and see it i just wanna hide from it because i know the mess im gonna be in about 2 minutes after i start.

Sounds like you'll fit in beautifully here

[Phil Lamb]

Hi,
I'm a new member, I started rowing on a cruise ship in February whilst the wife went to choir, my technique was awful but it was strangely rewarding. On return to the UK I started using the C2 at the gym and the weight started to fall away quite quickly, I needed to loose weight and this was a perfect solution an enjoyable (even if not pain free) way to drop 40lbs. The aim now is to improve my times, improve general fitness and more importantly smile broadly! If I knew how to get involved in the challenges I'd like to, grateful for guidance on how to enter, I'm not fast but enjoy getting involved!
Cheers. Phil

[plummy]

Hi Phil - welcome to Free Spirits and thank you for choosing us to join in your path to weight loss, fitness and all the fun (and pain) of the world of indoor rowing.

There are a variety of challenges - some individual (Challenge Series), some for the team (CTC) and some made to try and level out age and weight differentials (WAARC). If any (or all) have appeal, just post on here and we can talk you through joining up.
Don't worry in the slightest about asking questions - we are all friendly here and very willing to hold your hand.
Don't ask about someone pulling the handle for you though - that bit's up to you

Plummy