I’m 5foot 7inches and I am a heavyweight right now. I weigh 155. Should I consider losing weight to be a lightweight since I’m sort of short to be a heavyweight (compared to the other girls on my college team)?
My initial thought when reading this was no, mainly because 25lbs seems like a lot of weight to lose before the spring season (assuming you mean you want to be a lightweight THIS spring). The reason I say that is because you’d have to lose around 6-8lbs/month between now and March to be at or close to 130 by the time the racing season starts. With the holidays coming up and the major overhaul you’d have to do to your diet/exercise routine, I just don’t think it’s practical. Not that it couldn’t be done, because I’m sure it could be … but like I said, it doesn’t seem practical.
If you’re actually set on doing this and have a goal to be a lightweight NEXT year, that sounds more reasonable because not only are you giving yourself a decent chunk of time to lose the weight, but you’re also giving yourself time to get used to a healthier diet (because you just cannot maintain that weight and vigorous workout regime without a healthy diet). You’ll also have a substantial amount of time to build up your muscle mass, which is critical as lightweight.
You obviously know your teammates better than I do and know what your coach looks for in the rowers so I would talk to them and see what advice they have. My guess is they’ll probably tell you to just stick it out as an openweight, which can be tough at first if it means you’ll “peak” in the 2V or 3V but your health is the biggest factor here and it all comes back to whether or not transitioning to a lightweight is a viable option.
