lower 2k time

Question
Hey I'm 15 years old (sophmore) I weigh 147 and my height is 5'11" I see all of these 14 year old kids saying there 2k times are at 6:55 while my time is a 7:39 and I am much bigger than them. I don't understand how this can be. I own an erg. Does this help to gain muscle strength? should I lift weights? How much should I lift? And what can I do to break 6 by junior year

Answer
Hi Mike: I think your friends are exagerating about their times.  For lightweights your age, a time of 6:53 or better would put them just below the Top-10%.  I can't imagine all your friends are that good.

That said, your time is a bit below the average (7:32.5) for your age category.  For one thing, you may bigger than your friends, but relatively speaking, you still can gain another 10 pounds and still be a lightweight.  The erg will do very little to build muscles.  You need weights to do that.  You must develop a weight lifting routine in order to build muscle mass.  And you need to lift heavy. Lift as much as you can so that you can barely lift the tenth rep of your second set for each exercise, like the bench press, military press, and squat machine.

Since only about 30 people in the world can break 6 minutes in the 2K, I recommend you set more modest goals like trying to break 7:15 by this time next year.  Try the Wolverine Plan which you can read about here:

http://www.concept2.com/forums/wolverine_plan.htm

Good Luck/AP