Serious Tabata Water Row Machine Exercise Log 20190221

I wanted to try a few things recently. The second was food, before or after or both, the exercise set. The first was a more intense Tabata cycle. What a morning I've had !!

I got home from the volleyball factory about 11:45 pm, ate some leftover baked potato stuffed with venison lentil chili, had a wee drop, and went to bed earliesh. Up at about 7:30, wondering about food before exercise, remembering the prior experience, and skipped that. Just coffee with a splash of heavy cream. My stomach was just fine on the day.

The water row Tabata cycle:

10 minutes warm up, which really helps with form and focus
5 cycles of
4 sets of 1 minute sprint row, 30 seconds easy row
2 minutes rest after each cycle

My "full on" max sprint rate is about 30-32 strokes per minute. It's difficult to go faster because the cycle time on the stroke is dominated by how long it takes the handle and seat to return to the rest position - about 1 second or so. I can pull as hard as I choose, but it takes about 1 second to fully extend the pull. I might be able to get a higher rate, if my form is perfect, and I help the handle and seat return to rest. Maybe.

My target sprint rate is 30 per minute. I found myself counting splits - I needed 10 strokes in 20 seconds. The Tabata timer on my phone is ideal for this.

Arrived around 8:40 or so. The first set went to plan. The second set started to show 'slower' on the last splits - like 27 per minute. The third set I picked up the pace with nominal normal splits. The fourth set was on target. The 2 minute rest was welcome.

And, I did that 5 times. The 5th cycle was work.

Again, the music was Pandora's Metallica Station, but it sounded more like Sabbath and AC/DC to me. No one was sharing the room with me, so no need for earbuds.

Went home, cooled off and ate (venison lentil chili, protein 40 grams, fat 10 grams, carbs 25 grams), showered and dressed, went to Skip's Meat Market for a beef shoulder clod. Turns out that packers / distributors are harvesting the Tender (petite tender roast, shoulder tender, teres major, and probably more names), and selling them into food service places, for the higher margins they bring. BASTARDS !!! Anyway, by 11 am or later, it was time to repackage the beef for freezing, and my breathing was still heavier than normal. Which is just great news.

I'll do this again next time.