Today’s rowing session was chosen because it is supposed to help increase a person’s VO2 max, if it is done twice a week on non-consecutive days. It was a set of twelve 30 second intervals with 2 1/2 minutes rest after each interval.
The workout suggestion was found on a website called Healthy Living (healthyliving.azcentral.com) and was found on THIS PAGE (<-click to get to that page). It’s a big page, so if you don’t want to bother going to that page, the relevant part of that page where I got the idea for today’s workout was: “VO2 Workout: According to Bicycling.com, sprinting all out for 30 seconds in the red line zone followed by 2 1/2 minutes of easy recovery can improve VO2 max by 3 percent in just four weeks. Do the intervals 12 times per workout, and work out no more than twice a week on nonconsecutive days.”
The website’s definition for the term “red line zone,” is 90% to 100% of maximum heart rate. But it’s not possible to get heart rate up to maximum or even 90% maximum in a mere 30 seconds, so I just rowed as hard as I could for each 30 second interval. Except the first one… during which I had to take my hand off the rowing machine handle for a bit, to make an adjustment.
Thirty seconds passes very quickly and you can row very hard for 30 seconds. Most of the 30 second intervals were done at a calories-per-hour rate of between 1,500 and 1,800 calories per hour.
The rowing session was scheduled and done online, but nobody noticed it in time to join, so I had the fun all to myself and rowed alone.
Happy rowing with a nice measure of zip, to you.
