2k row time & general rowing

itsyourround

I was told once by a fella in the gpa (gaelic players association) a good quick test of your aerobic ability and good for improving your explosive strength is to do a 2000m row at resistance 6, i never found out what kind of time you should be aiming for? I tried it last night in the gym, after 3 attempts had it down to 7 minutes 16 seconds, what kind of time would be good/bad here? My main sport is gaelic and im very interested in fitness and training, was chatting to a rugby player in the gym yesterday was telling me they do 6 500m row sprints, tried it last night, talk about feeling the burn!! Anyone else know any good rowing regimes?

slowrunner

you should check out http://www.c2forum.com/ which is a forum for people that are serious into erging. They have various differnt workouts of the day etc for keeping it varied. Also if you go to their main site www.concept2.com and sign up (for free) then you can post your time for various different distances and compare against others in your age and weightclass. There is also a fully complete training guide that you can use via their uk site. http://www.concept2.co.uk/guide/ 7mins 16 is alright for 2000. not hugely quick but quite respectable, but ultimately it doesn't matter, once you're pushing yourself and making gains then it's a good time. Everyone has their own level. There are a huge number of differing routines that you can try out and I find it one of the more useful aerobic machines for keeping your routine varied and interesting but as ever different strokes for different folks.

justfortherecor

Doing a single 2000m piece as a single piece of training isnt really worth it. We usually do it as a test of our overall sprinting fitness, but we never do 2000m pieces on the ergs before that test.

Sessions to train for the regatta season on an erg usually consist of 5min pieces X 5. 3 X 10mins is also done regularly and of course the dreaded 10X500m pieces are thrown in as 1 session per week as well. All of these are done at different rates as well, my 5min pieces are usually around 32 strokes per min, but the 500m are usually flat out at around 36/37spm to prepare the oarsman for the first 500m of a race where you have to find your '2nd wind' after being knackered from the initial massive effort.

After doing these pieces continuously over a number of weeks, the 2000m test is usually used by the coach as a gauge of overall fitness. I was never great at them though. P.B is 6.51 but I'll always struggle against the big lads because of my weight (65kgs) and height (5' 9"). A decent time for a 2k is under 6.40 IMO and the world record is something like 5.48!

If you want to improve your time quickly and get the most out of the machine though you should work on getting proper technique. I see many other lads from other sports, obviously pretty fit, trying to belt away on the machine with poor form. If you dont have decent technique its pretty much a waste of time. That concept website above should have some pointers on it. Just drive with the legs first, keeping the arms straight to maximise the initial drive. Then bring the arms up to the chest and lean back a bit to finish the stroke.

Good luck with it anyways, great way to keep fit and you'll find yourself becoming obsessive about trying to beat certain times!

brianon

Can anyone recommend a rower?
I keep hearing about the concept 2 but they are seriously expensive.

Are these just the most popular ? or the most advertised ?

Brian.

justfortherecor

Concept 2 rower is the most popular becuase it offers the most realistic resistance of that experienced in a rowing boat in water. They pretty much have a monopoly on the market, I know of no rowing club in Ireland that has a different model.

They are expensive to other models but thats because: they can be adjusted, manually and electronically, to meet the demands of a rowing session for a certain oarsman/woman. They are also well built ( I find some of the other fitness models flimsy) and well designed. It registers your power output, monitors the distance rowed, all the stuff you need to know really. It's probably about 80-90 per cent similar to riding a boat on the river.

If you're just looking to do rowing on the odd occassion a normal erg from a fitness store would suffice, but if you want to make it an integral part of your training regime I'd suggest buying a Concept 2. It is expensive but I would recommend trying to source the slightly older model, the Model C with the PM2 digital display unit. The new one is a bit flashy and the handle isnt as comfortable to row with over long periods. Also the more advanced PM3 display kills batteries.

Model C is perfectly good and remains the choice for most clubs I think. They're usually snapped up fairly quickly I think but you can check from time to time to see if there's any available on the 'buy and sell' section of http://www.irishrowing.com. Either that or do a google on the model c. Good Luck!:)

brianon

thanks for the info. I see theres a new model due out this month. I'll have to think about it some more.

Cheers.