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No Sweat !

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:53 pm
by portoman
Hi

Whenever I use my indoor rower I never seem to sweat and it's frustrating me, as if I was running or cycling I would be! I've been doing intervals lasting for about 15 minutes, consisting of 1-2 minute warm up and then one minute steady/one minute fast etc. At the end my mouth is dry and I'm out of breath a bit, but I'm not sweaty.

Am i doing something wrong - I usually row on setting 7 or 8 (of 10) on my rower.

Thanks

Re: No Sweat !

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:41 pm
by plummy
Hi Portoman. Interesting one - decades ago I could go for a long run and barely sweat, play badminton or squash exactly the same and even when I started rowing I sweated very little. Now, it's very different but I rarely row less than 10km.

I would consider 15 minutes as just the warm up and if I was only going steady would not be anything more than "glistening" by then.

I think if you extend the time you'll find it changes but it also must have a bearing on how hard you are rowing (not necessarily the damper setting as that will vary from machine to machine depending on how clean the fan cage is).

You will find that the vast majority here will say that the damper of 7~8 is "wrong" and 10 "very wrong". On a clean machine you should be looking at 3~5 as a setting unless maybe doing flat out sprints.

Plummy

Re: No Sweat !

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:24 pm
by paulgould
I have found that the lower the DF(drag factor) the more I sweat - I have recently lowered the DF I row on quite significantly and find I am sweating buckets, and at a slower pace.
As for what the correct Damper setting is, I believe the one you are comfortable with is the right one so experiment a bit and find the setting that feels best - for some it is 3/4 and others prefer 9/10.

Paul G

Re: No Sweat !

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:57 pm
by portoman
Okay, so maybe try it on a lower setting but perform the same routine? I'll give it a go yes !

Re: No Sweat !

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:13 pm
by paulgould
As Plummy suggested, maybe do some longer steady state sessions - I think you will work up much more of a sweat than doing intervals.

Paul G

Re: No Sweat !

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:06 pm
by Shang-Chi
portoman wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:53 pm Hi

Whenever I use my indoor rower I never seem to sweat and it's frustrating me, as if I was running or cycling I would be! I've been doing intervals lasting for about 15 minutes, consisting of 1-2 minute warm up and then one minute steady/one minute fast etc. At the end my mouth is dry and I'm out of breath a bit, but I'm not sweaty.

Am i doing something wrong - I usually row on setting 7 or 8 (of 10) on my rower.

Thanks
Hi portoman

These factors are important, especially when it comes to the amount of sweat.

1. Your gender

Men generally sweat more than women. So if your sidekick is a man and the sweat hails from him, then you can blame his sex.

2. Your age

Younger people tend to sweat more than older people. The sweat glands of the younger people are constantly evolving. With age, the sweat glands become less sensitive and the amount of sweat becomes less.

3. Your weight

The higher the weight, the more sweat. That is clear. It doesn't take as much physical activity until a perhaps overweight person sweats. Simply more energy is needed and the body secretes more heat.

4. Your shape

Oddly enough, well-trained people sweat more than non-trained people. Research suggests that the more well-trained you are, the better your body can control its temperature. In turn, this also means that well-trained people are much quicker to cool down again.

In addition, your genes, medications and clothing also play a big role. For example, if you wear synthetic clothing like polyester, the sweat will evaporate faster. Cotton absorbs the sweat and makes the clothes heavy and wet.

Re: No Sweat !

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:53 pm
by Iain
For shorter rows I find that you have to push hard to sweat. Pushing hard is not comfortable and usually takes a few weeks of rowing to work up to. Also 1' hard at a time is a very short time to start sweating, I usually find it takes 6 mins or so before I am sweating (although I do sweat on a 500m, it generally evaporates quickly and so would need to be looked for during or just after). That said, 1 min is not long to recover from a hard 1 min so I would expect to start sweating on the 3rd or 4th rep not the 7 or 8 you do.

In addition, there is always the matter or technique. I have seen many people who fail to apply much force to the handle exerting most of their effort going up the slide. Certainly when doing hard minutes, the action should resemble a squat, very different from running or cycling when teh effort is more consistent, erging is a hard effort followed by a relaxed recovery.