Comments on: Indoor rowing technique

By: gubernatrix

gubernatrix — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:48:15 +0000

Good post Martin – and good luck with the rowing!

By: Martin Prest

Martin Prest — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:26:03 +0000

I need to knock 30 seconds off my 2,000m time to hit my target of 8 mins but hope to achieve it.

I’ve not been rowing for very long, so this has pointed out a few areas I need to improve – thanks!

Still trying to find the best resistance.

http://www.martinprest.com/2012/01/05/my-secret-love-affair-concept-2-indoor-rowing-machine/

By: gubernatrix

gubernatrix — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:30:54 +0000

It’s very hard to build muscle on a rower, or any cardio machine. You need to lift weights, or at the least do bodyweight exercises such as pull ups and push ups.

By: Otis

Otis — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:41:39 +0000

Thank you very much for all the information!. At last things seem to become clear.
I do have a question though:

What’s the best way to build up muscle on a rower, instead of losing too much weight?
Are there any training programs for that?

My rower has a resistance level of 1-16.

Ik hope someone knows the best way to achieve this.

Thank you!

By: Bataanivy

Bataanivy — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:36:45 +0000

hello there, its a nice day outside today, dont you think?
winter almost gone!!

By: gubernatrix

gubernatrix — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 19:26:50 +0000

Anna, take a look at my post on ergo training – this will really help you:
http://gubernatrix.co.uk/2008/03/indoor-rowing-training/

One of your issues is that your SPM is very high. You are probably cutting your stroke short and losing a lot of drive through the legs. You need to train at a lower SPM and focus on getting more from each stroke. The sample workouts in the post I linked to will help you.

By: Anna Davenport

Anna Davenport — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 08:41:19 +0000

Great info and follow on comments. My dad won the gold at the British Indoor Rowing a few years ago and I thought I would start to train to see what it was like. I am fit and healthy but so far this machine is beating me. I have concentrated on technique and can row 5k with no problem but 2k is a struggle. I can’t seem to get the speed up high enough. My times are 10 minuts which I know is rubbish but don’t know where I am going wrong. Resistance is on 6, RPM is 33 for 1500k and up to 40 for last 500k. Any ideas how to increase the speed?? Thanks

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Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:01:17 +0000

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By: steve

steve — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:25:04 +0000

Reading the above I would comment.
When setting the damper on a concept2 always go into the menu and select drag factor and then row hard. Ideally you are looking for between 120-140 on I have concept2 rowers used at various gyms this can be between damper 4 to
10. 10 Is too high for 99% of the population 4 – 6 is normal.
For some excellent workouts check out pete plan on the web. Some are very hard.
My comment to the chap above ref pain in the glutes it can only be solved by spending more time on longer rows or try interval training where you can get off and stretch for 30 seconds and keep putting the overall distance rowed up.
My favourite workouts are to lower the stroke rate to 20 strokes per minute but keep pace at about 1.55 per 500m. Try this for 2.5K between squats, deadlifts, lunges its a real killer on the legs.
ROWER = Best gym kit available.

By: gubernatrix

gubernatrix — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:22:52 +0000

I am sure you can improve significantly on that time. Technique improvements alone will knock quite a lot off.