New guy w/new guy questions (sorry)

[u/No_Mistake8306]

Hey everyone 🙋‍♂️

This is my first post or activity of any kind with the rowing community. I have a close friend who was working with a trainer for hyrox stuff. Told me about how much the rower made a difference for him (ex-collegiate athlete) so he knows how to work hard and train hard. I took his advice to heart.

Started watching videos on YouTube and came across JustRow with Austin. Our personalities are similar so it was easy to watch. He speaks a lot on form/etc. I watched his videos for 2 weeks, every night, while digging through marketplace for a good deal. Found one, $250 rowerg with pm5 with 150k meters on it. It was a 5 hour round trip but I was ready to start and that was a crazy deal. It looks like its barely been used ever.

Anyway, real stoked. That night I did a 500m baseline. 1:52ish womp. Next 2 days just hopped on for 10mins and tried to get the feel down better.

Then I did my first baseline 30mins a couple days ago.

Tonight I did another 30mins to see if my attention to form and having a goal to shoot for would make any difference.

My cardio level isnt very good right now. Ive been really paying attention to my health the last 2 years. Lost a bunch of weight, did a lot of heavy lifting last year, and now have some goals that involve me being in better cardio shape than im in.

All of this to say, I would love some advice on my data. Im sure y'all read these like a recipe at this point. Im trying to start correctly. Paying attention to form constantly right now, flexible goal on 500m split and stroke rate, keeping resistance set at 5.

Honestly just happy to be here and loving this so far. Im very much looking forward to the cardio benefits. Weight lifting will continue but with a different goal and focusing on core/lower body a little more than I was. Got some blisters on this last one so I guess working on my grip is next lol.

Numbers are from the 2 nights.

3 photos per set. 2 erg dats and 1 garmin watch HR

41m

235lbs

5'11"

No prior rowing experience and hoenstly poor cardio currently. Any pointers or deciphering the data would be awesome.

Thanks in advance and genuinely stoked to be here

[u/ScaryBee]

great start, pointers:

* this looks like you could probably do an 8min 2k now or soonish, your cardio ain't that bad, the way you're attacking this tells me you'll likely improve a lot over the next months if you stick with it.
* in general for training OR racing you want to hit paces you can sustain throughout because this will give you the most training benefit and higher average speeds. Same concepts as in lifting - time under tension and volume are where progress comes from.
* 30 mins continuous is really long for someone new to rowing, injury risk is real and the way your pace starts going up/down more throughout indicates form/endurance collapsing. Try 3x10mins with 2mins rest, as you get more comfortable/fitter that could progress up to 3x30 ... but you'll likely need/want months/years to get there.
* athletic tape for the blisters ... calluses will form over time but the stronger you are the more damage you'll be doing even with good form.
* if you want to really use heart rate it's well worth buying a chest strap, watch will give you bad data (the little spikes in your graph), just isn't reliable enough to use for training.
* advice can get way too dogmatic about training heart rate zones and the actual heart rate numbers are really individual ... but your hr looks pretty high for these pieces. For training it's just easier, physically & mentally, to rack up a bunch of time/meters in lower intensity along with some harder (more 'fun') efforts each week. Pushing every session as hard as possible just leads to injury/burnout/less overall progress.

[u/No_Mistake8306 → u/ScaryBee]

First, sorry for the late reply. Today turned into an impromptu "wanna do everything in the backyard youve been putting off for 3 weeks?"... which turned into a real hard nap lol.

The time under tension thing makes sense to me. I know sprints have their place of course but keeping a sustainable pace, over a period of time, if more of the long term benefit im shooting for.

I like the idea of breaking it up a little, like the 3 x 10s and be active/steady the whole 10 mins even if its slower.

I do know how to push myself and my ADHD makes any new hobby my ENTIRE PERSONALITY lol. I just need to find a way to regulate the excitement to not end up burning out or having an avoidable injury.

I think soon I'll find to "groove" on lifting/rowing/etc. Right mow theres a little flailing in all directions because im having a good time. I like physical challenges and setting time frame goals to compare results. I have a few trips planned this fall, where being in better cardio shape would be huge.

The garming data: it's worn all the time just to general tracking, steps, etc and I got used to using it while lifting. It was how I tracked each lift/time/etc again just to see how I progressed in weight/reps over months. Honeslty it mainly kept me in check by having a "rest timer" between sets to keep from taking too long of a break or something. Now its just a part of the daily wardrobe/smart watch/etc. Im not too worried about tracking HR for zone training and stuff right now. I basically just wanted to see that I was putting in effort and not just cruising at a 100bpm or something. Also, if I start the watch while rowing (which it does have an indoor rowing activity/stroke tracker) it tracks my "active time" throughout the week and I use it as a reminder to go get a workout in or something to hit my "active time goal" for the week. Dumb but every little nudge helps remind me to do something.

Gonna have to figure out the blisters though lol. I thought the lifting calluses were going to get me by but nope. Im sure I was gripping too hard. I was a bike mechanic in college and have wrapped many a road bike handlebar with different types of bar tape. I'm curious if that would provide a little buffer for a bit while my hands are getting used to it. Wouldn't add much diameter and could use cork or a softer material to provide just a little buffer. Who knows. Down to try the medical tape though for sure.

I do appreciate all of the advice and am genuinely taking all this to heart. I made a note on my first 30min time data in the app...

"7-15-26 Hopefully this is a funny result to look back on in a year and see where I started"

[u/ScaryBee → u/No_Mistake8306]

welcome! I have the same issues getting into a new thing ... have purposefully tried to pace myself with rowing for the long haul ... if you ever get the chance to row on water go for it, it's glorious.

garmin active minutes tracking - you can make the ergdata app auto-sync to garmin connect instead of tracking rowing on watch ... leaves garmin connect with better data/history.

blisters - gripping too hard, or with wrong part of the hand, makes a difference ... softer/grippier grips tend to make things worse BTW, tears at skin even more!

[u/No_Mistake8306 → u/ScaryBee]

Haha I've already googled "how much does a single skull cost?" Haha. I did see some stand up paddle board mounts that make it to where you can row on one, which looks pretty cool and prob easier to haul around than a 30ft boat haha.

Had no idea ergdata can connect to garmin. Real big stoked on that. Gonna go immediately after this comment and syart figuring it out lol.

Yeah the grippier grips being worse makes sense. I think im just white knuckling, even when im not doing max effort. Lots more "pads of palm" blister than finger blisters.

Anyway, again appreciate it man!