Too Hot to Train Outside?

Summer is the time of year we get to bring our fitness outside after a winter of training on the ergs. That is, of course, unless the temperature reaches the 90s (F) and the humidity goes up and it begins to rain. As much as we want to play and exercise outdoors, sometimes the weather forces us back inside to the ergs.

My summertime sport is mountain biking, and while an argument can be made that it’s a full body workout, of course it's actually leg dominant (especially climbing trails in Vermont) and not the same fully body workout the indoor rower can deliver.

When I’m pushed indoors because the heat is too much or we have a week of rain, I make my way to one of the ergs. Now, in the winter the BikeErg is my go-to, as it helps me build up for cycling in the summer, but come summertime, I want to make sure I’m targeting the opposite muscle groups. This is where I jump on the Indoor Rower or SkiErg when I really want to keep my body guessing. If I’m doing 60-90 minute rides, I’m probably spending 70% of my time climbing using my legs and at a pretty steady moderate heart rate. To mix things up, I’m going to challenge both my muscle groups and my lungs. This means intervals. Here are a few solid workouts you can do on either the indoor rower or the SkiErg on those hot or rainy days.

Workout 1

3 rounds of:

750m row/ski, Rest 3 minutes

500m row/ski, Rest 2 minutes

250m row/ski Rest 1 minute (or: alter the rest for a 1:1 ratio of work:rest)

Workout 2

Pick a distance that you know you can cover comfortably in one minute, then add 20% i.e. 250m+20%=300m.

Set up the monitor for a time interval workout with 1 minute of work and 1 minute of rest. Go until failure.

For our example, row/ski 300m in 1 minute, then rest 1 minute. (Alter based on distances that make sense for you.) This should be challenging but achievable for more than 15 rounds.

Switching up your workout stimulus is a great way to get out of a lull and to make rainy day workouts more interesting. If it’s sunny out, but too hot to work out, you’ll want your mind to be occupied, and a challenging interval workout is a great way to do this.