I'm rowing my tuchus off with this guy
On my march back towards a more well-rounded (yet clearly effective) exercise regimen, I've added indoor rowing -- aka erging -- into my schedule. Once or twice a week, for 45 minutes, courtesy of Xeno Muller in the video above. He leads a class of us, on the WaterRower, and his energy is infectious (which coming from a physician is saying something).
For me, weight control, stress neutralization, and BP management go hand-in-hand with continuous session aerobic exercise -- hence, the old treadmill in the garage getting 6 day a week use, 30-40 moderate intensity minutes per session. That, plus Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution eating habits (an Amazon.com affiliate link, but I'm following that regimen myself, feel free to find it separately if you like), has so far kept my weight to within a pound of 200 lbs -- which for my 6'2" frame, I haven't weighed since college.
But the next step is to add two higher intensity, shorter session days, while keeping the total days/week at 6. And something other than running faster or harder had a certain joint sparing appeal.
Hence, the WaterRower, and Row2go.
My 220-age max heart rate is estimated at 175. Today's workout, where I really pulled for the first time like I had a purpose, pushed it to over 181. Not that rowing is about maxing out, but it just goes to show how you can get your heart really going with what is essentially a zero impact activity.
I'm basing my strategy on John Ratey's outline in Spark [another affiliate link], which touts exercise first and foremost for brain health: 4 days/wk of moderate cardio, 2 days/wk of high intensity but briefer cardio, and on those 2 days some strength training. Dr. Gundry's book gives some interesting counter arguments for a more genteel yet focused regimen, emphasizing not too long but slow cardio + occasional sprints + strength training. Like the Taoists, trying to avoid burning yourself up (along with your muscle mass).
Will continue to evolve. Oscillating now, to find that exercise sweet spot. So far, with the weight, cortisol, and BP behaving, that seems to be brisk walking/jogging most days, plus rowing.
