The Sub-7 Experiment

Tag: health

  • The Big Scary Machine

    Just out of the gym. It’s Wednesday, and that was a cracking session.

    I’m delighted with myself.

    You might remember the big scary assisted dip and chin machine from Monday. The one I was nearly brave enough to try, but not quite.

    Well, today I had a go.

    I did a few sets, worked out roughly where my starting point is and set myself a baseline. That’s good. It is no longer the big mysterious machine in the corner. Now it is just a machine I have used.

    While I was feeling brave, I also had a go on the preacher curl machine.

    That was another one I had looked at before and quietly avoided. Not because it is particularly complicated, as it turns out. It is actually very simple. But it normally seems to be inhabited by rather large gentlemen who look like they know exactly what they are doing.

    Today it was free, so I climbed aboard.

    And then, just for good measure, I finally did a Pallof press.

    That is another exercise I have been meaning to try for ages and have been putting off, and putting off, and putting off. Again, not complicated once you actually do it.

    Funny how often that is the case.

    There was plenty of familiar stuff too. Ten minutes on the bike to warm up, two ten-minute sets on the rower, and a spin around the weights.

    Nothing heroic.

    But three things that had been sitting in the “I’ll try that another day” category have now moved into the “I know how to do that” category.

    That feels like progress.

    I came out of the gym genuinely delighted with myself. Really, really pleased.

    The refurbished gym is already starting to feel a little less new.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment.

    We continue.

  • The Machine Will Still Be There

    And we’re back.

    It’s Monday morning and I’ve just finished at the gym.

    A good session today. Nothing heroic, just weights and a bit of rowing.

    The rowing was good. About an eight-minute 2,000 metres, which is okay. Not a test, not a max effort, just a decent row to get things moving.

    Then it was a spin around the weights, trying out some of the new machines, getting a baseline, and seeing what feels comfortable and what doesn’t.

    There’s an assisted pull-up and dip machine in there now, which I was nearly brave enough to try, but didn’t quite get there.

    And that’s okay.

    Still making progress. One day at a time.

    The pull-up and dip machine will still be there the next time.

    So that’s it. Done and dusted. In and out. It’s half past nine, so now it’s time to go to work.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment.

  • Reflection, Riding, and Reassessing What Matters

    It’s been a while since I’ve written anything.

    The “new” rower in the shed is not so new now. It has been there for six months, and the new routine of rowing, then heading straight back into the house to start work or whatever the day brings, has meant I haven’t been giving myself any time to reflect on the workout afterwards. No reflection has meant nothing to post.

    Rowing is still important to me, and so is the wider exercise regime as a whole. But I think I’ve been missing that reflection piece. I also wrote in a previous article that I’ve missed the gym visits too. So it feels like time to reassess what matters.

    Exercise matters. Having an exercise goal matters. Reflection matters too. And so does being around like-minded people. My gym membership has lapsed, and I think it is time to renew it.

    In other news, I’ve been cycling a bit more.

    This Sunday I’m riding the Tour de South Coast, a 100km sportive that covers some roads I’ve used before in training. I don’t know anyone else who is doing it, but there will be a couple of hundred cyclists out on the day, and I’m looking forward to it.

    I’ve also been back to see Bike Fit Barry, who has once again sprinkled a bit of magic over the setup on the Triban. On top of that, I’ve decided to make it even more comfortable. I’ve taken the mudguards off completely and fitted some big 35mm tyres, which means I can run lower pressures and take a lot of the buzz out of the road surface.

    A quick 15km test ride yesterday showed they are doing exactly what I hoped.

    I spent a lot of last year tweaking the Giant to try to get more comfort out of it, but the truth is that the early carbon technology makes it so stiff that it just takes too much out of me over longer distances. I’m keen to see how the newly fettled, balloon-tyre-equipped Triban gets on over the 100km on Sunday.

    In Coach ChatGPT news, I’m still consulting with it and still completing the workouts it gives me after I upload my daily WHOOP scores. I’m getting stronger and faster on the rower, and my technique is getting better too. I can really feel the progress.

    The aim is still to get to a sub-7-minute 2,000m row.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment. We continue.

  • Releasing the Valve

    Oh man. What a morning.

    I genuinely didn’t know where my head was at today. It was all over the place. I wasn’t feeling the gym. I wasn’t feeling the rower. I wasn’t feeling anything.

    I did that thing where you’re not doing anything, but you’re also not resting. Up and down the stairs. Round and round the house. Looking out the window. Rain. Wind. Sit in front of the TV for a bit. Make a cup of tea. Walk again. Another cup of tea. More pacing.

    I even told Coach GPT I wasn’t going to train today, that I’d just go for a walk, but I was talking myself out of that as well. The truth is, I knew I needed to do something.

    And then the voices started. The men in my head.

    “What’s the point?”
    “What’s the point of any of this exercise stuff?”
    “You’re not getting anywhere.”
    “Just go back and watch TV.”

    I battled it and battled it. Right up to the point where I was pulling my gear out of the wardrobe. Shorts on — still fighting it. T-shirt on — still fighting it. Shoes on — still fighting it.

    Then I went out to the shed, sat on the rower, and started.

    I did 15 minutes, and every five minutes I got faster. By the last five I was holding sub-1:57 pace.

    Then I stopped and did two 250m sprints , pretty much flat out, but controlled. Controlled frustration release. Controlled anger release. The kind where you’re emptying the pressure without blowing up.

    It didn’t solve everything. I still feel like there’s a lot going on and a lot to do. But it released the valve.

    And I am genuinely grateful I have a rower in the shed, because if I’d had to get in the car and drive to the gym this morning, I don’t think it would have happened at all.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment — as much for mental health as physical health.

  • Green Means Go

    Monday morning, another good session.

    WHOOP was green when I woke up, and green means go. So I went.

    I did a short warm-up, then 35 minutes on the rower at an average pace of about 2:04/500m, which worked out to roughly 8,500 metres. With the warm-up and cool-down, it comes in around 11k for the day.

    Nothing dramatic, no heroics. Just a solid, steady session and another brick in the wall.

    When I finish my sessions, I take screenshots of the WHOOP data and the ErgData app and feed them back into Coach ChatGPT. Today I noticed something new. It didn’t just say “good job.” It started to ask for specific changes in the data.

    My pace was where it had asked for it, if not a little quicker. What it picked up on was my stroke rate. It pointed out that I was moving a bit fast and that it would like to see the same pace but with a lower stroke rate.

    That probably doesn’t make much sense unless you are used to the action of rowing.

    Inside the rower is a flywheel that gives you the resistance on each stroke. On the recovery part of the stroke, that flywheel slows down, and how much it slows depends on the damper setting. The higher the damper, the more the flywheel slows, and the harder you have to work on each stroke to get it spinning again. To keep a 2:04 pace at a higher stroke rate, say 26–28 strokes per minute, you can “get away with” less power per stroke. To hold the same 2:04 at 22–24 strokes per minute, each stroke has to do more work.

    In simple terms, CoachGPT is asking me to slow the stroke rate down and put more power into each stroke. Get stronger, not just spin faster.

    I hadn’t really seen it nudge me like that before. That is good. It means the coach is starting to care about how I make the split, not just the number on the screen.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment.

  • The Day I Ignored CoachGPT

    I’m afraid I didn’t listen to CoachGPT at all today.

    I knew I wanted to row, and I knew I wanted it to be tough. When I asked ChatGPT for a plan earlier, it came back with something sensible enough, but my head wanted a long, hard row for the sake of headspace, not optimisation.

    So that’s what I did.

    It’s chucking down with rain outside. This is exactly why I wanted a rowing machine in the shed. With the way my head was this morning, there was no way I was going to get in the car, drive to the gym and do a session there. Walking across the garden to the shed felt possible. Driving across town did not.

    On the Concept2 PM5 you can connect your phone over Bluetooth and use the Concept2 app ErgData. There’s a feature in there called Real Time – basically a virtual 1,000 metre lap that anyone can join in real time if they’re logged in.

    I’ve used it on the last few longer rows, and I really like it. Today there were 36 people from around 20 countries on the same virtual loop. You don’t see their exact pace numbers, but you see if they’re coming past you or if you’re moving through them. There are also virtual pace boats going round, so if you want something to latch on to, you pick a boat and hang on. Alongside that you still get your own pace, stroke rate, distance and time. Plenty to chew on.

    Today’s session was:

    • 5 minute warm-up
    • 30 minutes on the virtual loop at an average pace of 2:04/500m
    • 250m all-out sprint
    • 5 minute warm-down

    I was moving, and it felt good.

    It wasn’t by the book. It wasn’t what the coach recommended. But I finished feeling great, and I needed that sense of control today – the feeling that I had chosen the hard thing and seen it through.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment, and sometimes I’m the one steering.

  • The Rest Day That Paid Off

    I thought that having a rowing machine in the shed would mean I’d use it every day. That was the plan in my head: step out the back door, sit on the erg, job done.

    What’s actually happened with this new training regime is almost the opposite.

    Since I started feeding my WHOOP scores into Coach ChatGPT, there have been more recovery days than I expected. Yesterday was a perfect example. I woke up fully intending to do a decent session in the shed, or maybe even go to the gym. But my recovery score, according to Whoop, was 37%, and the advice from Coach ChatGPT was simple: take a recovery day.

    It felt wrong.

    In my head, I wanted to train. But this is the deal I’ve made with myself: if I’m going to use data and a coach, I have to actually listen. So I did. I gave myself the day off. My total strain for the day was only 4.4. Not much happened physically.

    Then came this morning.

    Recovery was 97%, the highest it’s been in a long time. Suddenly yesterday’s “non-session” made a lot more sense.

    With that green light, today’s plan was a decent workout on the rower in the shed: three 8-minute intervals with 2 minutes rest between them, each one slightly faster than the last. Warm-up first, cooldown after. It felt like a well-judged session, enough to make me work, not enough to bury me.

    I’ll admit, I’ve been wondering if I’ve made this whole thing too complicated. Copying WHOOP numbers into ChatGPT. Using the new app on the rower to program intervals, target pace, target stroke rate. It’s a few more moving parts than just “sit down and hammer it.”

    But I think this is just what happens with any new process. At first it feels clunky and over-engineered. Then you learn it, repeat it, and it becomes habit. Muscle memory. Copy, paste, adjust, row.

    Today was a good workout and a good lesson: sometimes the smart move is not to train, so that when you do train, you can actually go to work.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment, and I’m still figuring it out.

  • Missing the Gym, Just a Little

    I have just walked back in from the shed after a good session on the rower.

    I am really starting to like this new version of ChatGPT. It feels like it remembers more of the coaching conversation as we go, which makes the whole thing feel more joined up. Today it had me doing 5 minute intervals, and it was a proper session. Enough to feel it, not so much that it wiped me out.

    What has surprised me is what I am starting to miss.

    I thought that once I had the rower in the shed, that would be it. Training at home, no commute, no waiting for machines, no distractions. And a lot of that is true. But I have realised I miss the people at the gym more than I expected.

    I am not a big talker there. It is usually just a quick hello to the staff on the desk, a nod to the regulars, and then everyone gets on with their own programme. Headphones in, sets to do, not much conversation. But there is still a sense of other humans being around you, all doing their thing. I did not think I would miss that, and yet I do.

    It is a small thing, but the nods and the “alright?” moments matter more than I gave them credit for.

    Rowing will always be the main thread. The shed is perfect for that. But I think I will still go to the gym now and then for strength work and, if I am honest, for that tiny bit of human connection. A different kind of fuel.

    Today’s row kept the body ticking over, but it also taught me something: I need both the quiet of the shed and the presence of other people now and then.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment, and we are still learning.

  • The Sunday I Nearly Skipped

    And we are back. Sunday morning.

    There was ice on the car. The heating was on in the house. Everyone else was warm and cosy. It would have been very easy to stay in bed, put something on the TV and write the whole morning off as “rest.”

    Instead, I scraped the ice off the car, put my gym gear on and went.

    Same routine as the last few days: I took my WHOOP scores and fed them into ChatGPT. Recovery, strain, sleep, stress, all of it. This time the response was different. Instead of another rowing session, it came back with a strength and conditioning workout.

    The plan was very specific. Exact machines. Exact reps. Exact weights.

    There was only one problem. The weights it suggested were based on the numbers from a couple of months ago, pre-surgery, when I was training regularly and feeling stronger. I am not quite there yet.

    So I asked the obvious question: are you sure about those weights, given that we have not done this in a while?

    To its credit, Coach GPT backed off. It lowered the recommended loads to something more realistic, and in the end they felt pretty much perfect. Hard work, but not stupid.

    There was another small win before I even started. On Thursday I had left my heel wedges at the gym. I assumed they were gone. When I walked in this morning, the receptionist handed them back. Someone had found them and turned them in. A tiny thing, but it felt like a good sign.

    Session done, I finished on the rower with two 250 metre sprints. The first one was fast but messy. I got a bit carried away, my wedges slipped and my feet came out of the shoes with about 18 metres left. Almost there, not quite. The second sprint was much more controlled.

    I am counting all of this as prototyping for the wedges. When the rower finally arrives at home, I want that setup dialled in so I can just strap in and go.

    Right now the car thermometer says minus 0.5°C. It is still cold, but I feel great. I have a solid session in the bag, I am not wrecked, and the next job is to go home, rouse the rest of the house and get everyone out for a walk around the lake.

    Training done. Family next. A good Sunday.

    Another good session logged. This is The Sub-7 Experiment. And it continues.

  • Trusting the Data on a ‘Meh’ Day

    I have just come out of the gym after my first proper session in a while. Last week was a family trip to London, which was brilliant, but it knocked me out of my routine.

    This morning was one of those days where I really did not fancy going at all. WHOOP had my recovery in the yellow. Sleep was fine, stress and strain yesterday were nothing dramatic, but I still felt flat. It would have been very easy to decide that today was not a gym day and leave it at that.

    Instead, I tried the new approach I have been talking about. I took my WHOOP numbers and dropped them into ChatGPT. In return, I got a clear session plan with target figures that matched how my body was supposed to feel on a “medium” day.

    The structure was simple. Five minutes of warm up at a set pace to get moving. Then three blocks of 2,000 metres on the rower, again at a set pace. Nothing heroic. Just long, steady, repeatable work.

    On paper it looked almost too easy, especially with that “you should probably train” yellow score. In reality it was exactly what I needed. Each 2,000 metres felt long and cruisy. Hard enough that I knew I was doing something, nowhere near the point of blowing up. By the end of the third block I felt like I had trained, but I did not feel broken.

    The bigger difference was in my head. I walked into the gym tired and not really in the mood. I walked out feeling lighter and quietly pleased with myself. The combination of WHOOP data and ChatGPT as coach gave me just enough structure to get over the hump of not wanting to start.

    It is early days for this experiment, but right now it has promise. If this is what a “didn’t want to go” day can look like, I am curious to see what happens on the days when I actually feel ready.

    This is The Sub-7 Experiment.