Rowing

Kev

Does anybody have any advice on rowing, like what 2k times i should be aiming for and how much distance to do, what weight machines would improve performance for rowing.
I've been going to the gym for a few weeks now and find the rowing machine more enjoyable than the other cardio machines , at the moment my best time for 2k is 8:42 and the longest distance is 10k.

Quigs Snr

Hi Kev,

I raced for a few years with Neptune Rowing Club, so I will give you a few pointers.

Your 2k times will depend a bit on your weight, in general the bigger you are the better your time will be.

As a general rule however, between 6 and 7 minutes for a man is good.

A good lightweight (of international quality) will run to about 6:30, a good novice would be a bit higher, say in the 6:50's, basically anything below 7. A good heavyweight will score lower than 6:30, I have seen 6:03 once.

There is no quick way to boost your rowing times, its a long hard slog. But like everything else, practice makes perfect. I have my own rower at home now and my times are better than when I was still racing.

A typical training program would kick off in september consisiting of long rows on the river (10k on the erg would be a good equivalent at a fairly easy pace, say 22-24 strokes per minute, be doing enough to sweat, get a heart rate monitor and try to keep your heart rate around 70% of your max).

You would also do a couple of long (say 10 miles, but it depends) runs a week (again, you could do long distance rows instead) and then you do heavy weights. Normally, 5 sets of 8 reps of 80% of your max on the following 4 primary excercises, powercleans, bench press, bench pull and squat. Don't forget as well that you should always no matter what the season, be doing lots of flexibility exercises and trunk strengthening exercises. Every day in fact. (i.e. sit ups, and back excercises, make sure you don't neglect the back).

Moving into christmas you would drop the heavy weights, maybe do them once a week, keep up the runs and start gym circuits, thats when you get lots of machines, say 12 excercise stations like sit ups, bench press, bicep curls etc.... try do, arm,leg,trunk,arm, leg trunk etc......... alternate them, you would put about 40-50% of your max weight on the bars and go round the excercises, doing about 25 reps per station in one minute, with about 15 seconds between stations. When you finish the 12 you take a 3-5 minute break and go again. Do this 5 times when you get used to it.

Onto spring, near race season the training changes. You should keep up your long distances a couple of times a week and perhaps your gym circuits, but now you introduce interval training.

Say 500 metres full blast on the rower followed by 4 minutes of light rowing, then 500 fast etc.... normally about 6-8 fast 500's go in there. You might also so 20 hard strokes, 10 light and so on, ensuring that you do 200 hard strokes at least, this type of training is also known as fartlek, I have seen some coaches use 17 strokes 'on' 5 off.

You might also do say 4 fast 1000's with a small break in between, say 5 minutes.

Around the same time you might start hill sprints, which is where you get a hill (I like to get one that takes about 4 minutes to get up) and run up it like it was a hundred metres, you should literally be half dead at the top, then you jog back down and go again. 5 times in all. Do this once, maybe twice a week if you like pain.

This really sharpens you up and brings down your times to peak for race season.

Now 8:42 is your marker. Set small milestones. Aim for under 8 next. Try for now to beat your current time by just a second or so each session, don't go for broke and get put off. It will take you a while, then after that the gains are harder to come by. Under 8 is the first major milestone. When I coached ladies novice crews, breaking 8 minutes was the major barrier. Some of them were doing similar times to yourself initially, but over the course of a year got down to 7:20.

Go about your training in a structured way. Write out a training program and stick to it. If you miss a session, forget it, and do the next one you had scheduled. Rowing is all about discipline and there is no tougher sport out there.

The other tip I would give is technique and flexibility. It's easy to hurt your back rowing. God knows, I did it myself. warm up and then stretch for at least 15 minutes before you get on the rowing machine, do not take short cuts. I did for a while and the damage built up.

Extra flexibility also gives you better or more comfortable reach which gives you more leverage per stroke which brings your times down. Technique is the final thing, although in a real boat I would argue its the first thing. However, the rowing machine is a great leveller. However, with the correct rowing technique, you will have a better chance of avoiding injury and your times will also be better. It's not easy, rowing is a far more technical sport than people give credit for. There are websites out there, look for Rachel Quarrells (might be spelt wrong) world rowing services, there should be links there to articles on such things as the cambridge rowing technique etc........ Invaluable (there is only one rowing technique by the way, Cambridge college crews tend to be very good at it).

Also Steve Redgrave has a 'complete book of rowing' thats also quite good, hunt it down on amazon. Don't get confused with his autobiography.

Jak

Good choice of machine

As a Heavyweight ...

My best 2k time at the moment is/was 6m 41 dead. Anything under 7mins is pretty good territory.

Best 30min was 8012m afair.

At the moment I am not doing anything more than a 30min session a week - to just keep my hand in so to speak. And for the laugh now and again I will try break my best on the 500m sprint.


I'd say just get into the ranking system and do maybe 1 30min session a week and 1 2000m session a week and even toy with doing 2 500m sprints if you want to keep it interesting. Given the orientation of my training at the moment I am just gunning for a 500m sprint time of 1.22 which would get me into the top 20 in the rankings ... but always be prepared to lose massive placings later in the season when the pros submit competition times. The rankings don't make you a world champion and are based on trust (unless you go to a registered meet) but they are a fantastic way to stay motivated on a machine which is the mother of all pain.

Go to this url - sign up - submit your times after every session and rank your highest ones - then try and climb the ladder in either the open category or in your class.

Concept2 World Rankings

Good luck.

JAK

Benbaz

I can't really give you any advice on using the rowing machine as I've only been going to the Gym for 3 months now. But what I can do is tell you how long it takes me to do 2k. My first atempt on the rower took nearly 10 mins on a resistance setting of 5 (1 being the lowest and 10 the highest).....I know!!! a bit embarrassing but I'd never been to a Gym before and I'd never been that sporty!!! but with regular training I got that time down to under 8 minutes after about a month on the same level.
I upped the resistance to 6 over a week ago and I've already gone under 8 minutes....obviously my regular weight training has helped me a bit. I might be wrong about this but I'm sure everybody's times will vary depending on size, weight & muscle mass!!! Just for the record I'm 6'1" and 12 stone.

B.

Jak

Assuming you are on a concept2 Benbaz ...

The lever on the side going from 1 - 10 is not resistance levels.

It determines the resistant 'point' of the stroke. 'The damper'
You can set it at one to have the majority of resistance on the leg drive (start of the stroke) or ten to have it at the end of the stroke (the pull with your arms). I may have that backwards tho - just try it out.

The point is - the same effort is required on any setting. Thus in competition you can have someone on 2 and someone on 8 and compare times fairly without modification.

Personally I always go to 5/6. But you can use it as another way to vary your training.

JAK.

Kev

My first time was about 10 mins too, i've only used the machine about 6 times so far. at 5'10" and 190lbs ish, i geuss that makes me a heavy weight and fat

Quigs Snr

The lever at the side of the concept 2, would normally be set to about 5 if you were doing an erg test in a rowing club. 5 is probably the closest match to real rowing conditions on a still water olympic course, which makes it more realisic. Of course you could buy a RowPerfect machine and hook it to a PC like I did for maximum realism (and cost).

A lot of people use 10 settings for bravado and end up with a sore back. These people would typically not be people who row and compete (in boats that is).

5 is a what you should stay at for now I think.

Again, I can't stress the importance of stretching and flexibilty enough. At least 15 minutes before and after any hard session on the machine. During my time as a competitor and coach, I have seen many a talented athlete detroy him/her self by failing to follow this advice.

By the way as a rule of what can be done. My best time was 6:43. Height 5 7" Weight 142 pounds at the time. Average stroke rate between 38 and 40 for the entire session. Thats reasonable good for a wee fart like me. Damper was set to 5. (I am slower over this distance with the damper higher as I can't keep the rate up, over 15 seconds slower). Over 500m though, I can still hit 1:29 with a damper of 10. 1:31 with a damper of 5.

Jak

Thats fairly solid for a lighweight quigs. Did you row for long in Neptune? My brother rowed with them for a few years, and I have a few other friends who rowed down there. My brother only rowed intermediate on the water, but he was an animal on the erg .. and still is

Personally at the moment, I have stopped doing 2k's altogether - I don't have the time, it is fairly lethal training and I need to keep my remaining 3 days free each week for resting up.

Interesting point about the damper on the 500m - never thought of moving it from 5 tbh - must give that a go to see if i can take another second or two off. I think my last rating was 1min 25 - but I almost came to a stop in the last 100m - had just blown out basically. I neither had the lungs nor legs to keep the split down low - I mean max stroke I can get it down to a 1:13 split, but that kills me, so I try to keep around 1:19/20. So even on a the 500 I need to pace myself better i think.

I know it's a sort of jokey distance and I am only doing it for a bit of a laugh - but any thoughts on training for a faster 500 Quigs? I have the strength training side of things pretty much sorted - and am 104kg - but maybe some short burst split training or something would help? Any idea?

Cheers,

JAK

The'real'Guvnor

Quigs,

When were you racing?
Coaches like Walter and others thought 5 was the setting to use but I personally never agreed with that. For me the optimal setting is 3.5 or a DF of 130 but I would not sway far from 3.5 to get closer to a DF of 130. All the top guys like Pinsent and Cracknell and Wadell and Siejkowski use a setting of 3-4.

Who did a 6m03? Was it Jacobs or Maher? Not a bad time but when will we see an open heavyweight going sub 6mins like they should if they were good. Tim Foster who is a small heavy has done 6mins dead and not that tall either!

As for the training - very complete but the volume is fine for the insane rowers down in a club but we'd scare all the rec rowers away!

What's a good time? For me personally I'd like to be able to do a 2k faster than any woman alive and anything after that at present would be a bonus.

Hunter gatherer

Buying a rowing machine for use at home. Minefield deciding.

Jarren

12 years man, 12 years...

Omega28

for the life of me I can't get my 2k under 8 mins

S/W around 26/27

around 2 mins per 500 m

me: 6ft 1, 79kg, athletic, train 6 days a week, only getting into rowing recently

Duck's hoop

2k is an all out effort. You should rate 32-36 and maybe 38 at the end. Play around with your damper setting and find whatever gives you your wattage sweet spot.

You need to train smart for 8 weeks absolute minimum. Try the wolverine plan.

LuckyLloyd

That's because a sub 8min row IS a decent marker. There's a post above saying 6 - 7mins is a decent time for a man...if they're a rower.

Duck's hoop

He's 6'1 and in shape. Going under 8 shouldn't be a big deal with right prep and application.

shamrock55

I might give this a go in the gym tomorrow, ive only really started with the rowing though but i enjoy it, funnily enough its one of the machines thats nearly always free, i think folk are affraid of it:D

Duck's hoop

It's boring and hard. And it's twice as boring precisely because its hard. Your mind will play endless games with you to get you to stop, coming up with dozens of great and rational reasons.

This is boring is the no1 reason to stop. But imo your sad carcass just likes staying in the comfort zone and the second that's threatened it gets in cahoots with the mind to stop all that nonsense.

LuckyLloyd

I genuinely hate my rower at this stage. Nearly four months hammering away at the bloody thing. Can't wait for the race in a couple of weeks to be over!!

Duck's hoop

You doing indoors in UL? Draws a great crowd but I cba so soon after November.

LuckyLloyd

Duck's hoop wrote: »

You doing indoors in UL? Draws a great crowd but I cba so soon after November.

Yep. I gave the provinces one a miss, would have been hard to do both.

Yer Aul One

After reading this yesterday I tried a 2k on the erg for the first time.

Did it in 8:12 @ 6'1" and 80kg.

A poster above explained the 1-10 counter, I would never have understood that if he hadn't said it, I would have presumed it related to resistance across the full stroke. So thanks!

shamrock55

Tried the 2k today, 1st effort was 8.21, but that was straight after a 30min run, 2nd effort my foot strap on my right foot came off after about a minute but kept going and got 8.13, its pretty tough going, for my first effort i went too hard at the start and tailed off pretty bad, but my 2nd i tried to stay consitant throughout, i am determined to get under 8 mins now, my left thigh/groin is a bit sore now though because my left leg was taking all the pressure after the damb strap came off my right foot

Yer Aul One

Yer Aul One wrote: »

After reading this yesterday I tried a 2k on the erg for the first time.

Did it in 8:12 @ 6'1" and 80kg.

A poster above explained the 1-10 counter, I would never have understood that if he hadn't said it, I would have presumed it related to resistance across the full stroke. So thanks!

Scratch that: I did it in 7:45 today. Actually hated every second of it!

shamrock55

Yer Aul One wrote: »

Scratch that: I did it in 7:45 today. Actually hated every second of it!

Holy crap that is a brilliant time well done, to take that much time off your previous best is some going, it is tough going alright and is no fun, your head goes through some ****e,you feel like killing everyone in the room,its the toughest 8mins or so on earth:D

Yer Aul One

shamrock55 wrote: »

Holy crap that is a brilliant time well done, to take that much time off your previous best is some going, it is tough going alright and is no fun, your head goes through some ****e,you feel like killing everyone in the room,its the toughest 8mins or so on earth:D

Thanks mate. To be honest though, my previous best was my first time attempting the 2k (I used to just use the rower as a warm up).

I actually can't stop bragging about it to my mates, need to shut up because they have already gotten annoyed with my excessive use of the term- "Erg".

I only found out what an erg was 3 days ago...

abutler101

Just to join the conversation, there are never many about rowing on boards. I am 15 (junior 16) and started rowing in September. I am 5'8 and weigh about 73kg. My current 2k time is 7:44 but that was six weeks ago. I have an erg test next week and I'm hoping for 7:20, but about 7:27/28 would be more realistic.

LuckyLloyd

abutler101 wrote: »

Just to join the conversation, there are never many about rowing on boards. I am 15 (junior 16) and started rowing in September. I am 5'8 and weigh about 73kg. My current 2k time is 7:44 but that was six weeks ago. I have an erg test next week and I'm hoping for 7:20, but about 7:27/28 would be more realistic.

Wow, class!! Best of luck bringing that time down.

Mellor

Yer Aul One wrote: »

A poster above explained the 1-10 counter, I would never have understood that if he hadn't said it, I would have presumed it related to resistance across the full stroke. So thanks!

I assume you are talking about this post;

The lever on the side going from 1 - 10 is not resistance levels.

It determines the resistant 'point' of the stroke. 'The damper'
You can set it at one to have the majority of resistance on the leg drive (start of the stroke) or ten to have it at the end of the stroke (the pull with your arms). I may have that backwards tho - just try it out.

Unfortunately, that post is 12 years old, and its also wrong I'm afraid.

The position along the stroke doesn't affect resistance. Play around with the damper and that should be obvious.

The damper setting isn't a constant resistance level. Not as one would get on a pin loaded rower, or other cardio equipment. It controls how much air is let into the fly wheel, more air increases the drag (air resistance) on the flywheel, but the resistance is also dependant on the speed of the flywheel. The faster it spins, the more resistance. Pull the handle slowly, and you feel little, jerk it hard and the resistance picks up.
Think of it like gears on a bike, the damper makes the rower feel heavy or soft and light.

A setting of 10 isn't always better than 6. It's all personal. To further complicate things, settings between machines don't co-relate. A 6 on one machine might equal an 8 on another. It's affected by all sorts of variables, dush, damage, maintenance, lubrication, etc The only way to compare is to go into the options and display the drag factor. This number is the real resistance at the handle, and how the erg calculates everything.

I like rowing at a drag of 130 for short pieces. And 115-120 for longer pieces. Which is usually a 5-8 on most machines. But some are just way off. The rowers in my main gym all have drag of about 85 at a damper of 10. That's very soft. I've no idea why, and it noticeably affect my times.

LuckyLloyd

Simply put:

if you're a big strong athlete who is best staying behind their heart rate you probably want a high drag factor and can achieve faster times with a relatively lower stroke rate
if you've got less power but a good engine you probably want to lower the drag and work with a higher stroke rate

but it's personal to everyone.

Alf Veedersane

The 1st time I ever used one was at the Sports Expo in UCD - the rowing club had a competition where the top ten 500m over the week made a final. Gave it a go and did 1.32.

I had no idea how much I would feel it in my body for days

That said, this thread has me thinking about tackling a 2k.

Because I hate myself.

Yer Aul One

Mellor wrote: »

Unfortunately, that post is 12 years old, and its also wrong I'm afraid.

The position along the stroke doesn't affect resistance. Play around with the damper and that should be obvious.

The damper setting isn't a constant resistance level.

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Simply put:

if you're a big strong athlete who is best staying behind their heart rate you probably want a high drag factor and can achieve faster times with a relatively lower stroke rate
if you've got less power but a good engine you probably want to lower the drag and work with a higher stroke rate

but it's personal to everyone.

Thanks for the clarifications. I would describe myself as slight with a good engine so that explains why I am getting much better results off the lower drag.

I am actually looking forward to my next 2k on saturday, although I will hate doing it. I want to get that time down!!

Duck's hoop

I mentioned wattage before. As Mellor said you've got to use the drag factor reading when setting up. People talk about no.6 and so on but it's meaningless without drag factor displayed.

I row my long pieces at 155. I can go to 180 for shorts but it puts major stress on everything.

You should set up your monitor so it displays watts. So you're looking for max watts for a given stroke rate at a given HR. find sweet spot for X distance and go kill your body.
Simple.

Magill

I've been getting back to the gym the last few months after a while out with an injury and have been using the rower as the primary workout, really enjoy it. I'm sure my technique is pretty poor though, I find it hard to keep a consistent rate + split time. Does anyone have any tips for improving technique form ? I've watched some videos so I have good idea of what good technique looks like.. just putting it into practice !


Anyway, I've been tracking my progress over the past month or so with a weekly 500m sprint and I did my first proper 2k all out last night. Managed to get my 500m from 1.30 to a 1.23.9. Finished the 2K in 6.48 last night, but felt I had a little more to give so hopefully I can bring that down too, i'm still a long way off being in decent shape again but its nice seeing some decent progress at least.

LuckyLloyd

Magill wrote: »

I've been getting back to the gym the last few months after a while out with an injury and have been using the rower as the primary workout, really enjoy it. I'm sure my technique is pretty poor though, I find it hard to keep a consistent rate + split time. Does anyone have any tips for improving technique form ? I've watched some videos so I have good idea of what good technique looks like.. just putting it into practice !


Anyway, I've been tracking my progress over the past month or so with a weekly 500m sprint and I did my first proper 2k all out last night. Managed to get my 500m from 1.30 to a 1.23.9. Finished the 2K in 6.48 last night, but felt I had a little more to give so hopefully I can bring that down too, i'm still a long way off being in decent shape again but its nice seeing some decent progress at least.

Those numbers are pretty good going.

Duck's hoop

These are impressive scores for a 'part-timer' with no proper training! You should consider a club tbh.

Magill

Thanks guys. They're probably not as impressive given my size (I'm 6'4, 255lb). Im enjoying it anyway.. Hoping I can get sub 6:30 and close to 1:20 in the next 6 months or so.. Will be tough though I'd imagine but I have a lot of room for improvement in just general fitness so probably do able.

There's only really clubs for actual water rowing in Belfast and I'm not so that'd be my thing unfortunately. If there was an indoor one that'd be awesome.

Duck's hoop

You'd be a great addition to a crew boat. They'd love someone like you walking in the door! I'd give it a go. Crew boats are great craic.

People have this idea of rowing being some elitist rich man's sport. In my experience nothing could be further from the truth. All sorts of people in rowing. Much more heterogeneous than many other sports tbh.

Magill

It is tempting, I might look into it when I get back to a decent level of fitness as i'm still a good 2 months from being back to normal.

Did a proper 2K yesterday, managed a 6:41.. had to take a 5 minute break afterwards though... shattered !

LuckyLloyd

Magill wrote: »

I've been getting back to the gym the last few months after a while out with an injury and have been using the rower as the primary workout, really enjoy it. I'm sure my technique is pretty poor though, I find it hard to keep a consistent rate + split time. Does anyone have any tips for improving technique form ? I've watched some videos so I have good idea of what good technique looks like.. just putting it into practice !


Anyway, I've been tracking my progress over the past month or so with a weekly 500m sprint and I did my first proper 2k all out last night. Managed to get my 500m from 1.30 to a 1.23.9. Finished the 2K in 6.48 last night, but felt I had a little more to give so hopefully I can bring that down too, i'm still a long way off being in decent shape again but its nice seeing some decent progress at least.

Magill wrote: »

Thanks guys. They're probably not as impressive given my size (I'm 6'4, 255lb). Im enjoying it anyway.. Hoping I can get sub 6:30 and close to 1:20 in the next 6 months or so.. Will be tough though I'd imagine but I have a lot of room for improvement in just general fitness so probably do able.

There's only really clubs for actual water rowing in Belfast and I'm not so that'd be my thing unfortunately. If there was an indoor one that'd be awesome.

Magill wrote: »

It is tempting, I might look into it when I get back to a decent level of fitness as i'm still a good 2 months from being back to where to normal.

Did a proper 2K yesterday, managed a 6:41.. had to take a 5 minute break afterwards though... shattered !

You're making this all sound trivially easy!!

I did a 2k test last year, got a 6:38 and was barely able to walk for about 10 minutes after. Was in a huge amount of distress. If you're maintaining those splits despite shaky technique (maybe or maybe not) and being out of shape it's pretty extraordinary. Might just have a huge amount of untapped natural ability there.

Savage going though irrespective of whether you choose to pursue it further or not.

Alf Veedersane

Magill wrote: »

Did a proper 2K yesterday, managed a 6:41.. had to take a 5 minute break afterwards though... shattered !

I had to take a 5-minute rest after reading that just at the thought of how destroyed I would be.

Magill

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I had to take a 5-minute rest after reading that just at the thought of how destroyed I would be.

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

You're making this all sound trivially easy!!

I did a 2k test last year, got a 6:38 and was barely able to walk for about 10 minutes after. Was in a huge amount of distress. If you're maintaining those splits despite shaky technique (maybe or maybe not) and being out of shape it's pretty extraordinary. Might just have a huge amount of untapped natural ability there.

Savage going though irrespective of whether you choose to pursue it further or not.

haha, I've been trying to do a timed all-out row once a week so maybe I'm just getting used to the pain !! I usually do it at the start of my workout too.. be assured that the rest of my workout on these days is anything but impressive !

I honestly have no idea how good/bad my technique is, I try to follow what the guides on youtube say but its hard to tell if I've actually got decent form. I might try and record myself sometime this week if the gym is empty enough.

biZrb

I row and we always set the drag factor on the ergs to 125 for the ladies and 130 for the men. We do all our tests; 2K, 5K, 30@20 etc on a the same drag rate.
You need to make sure you are doing your testing on a realistic drag rate, it really makes a difference to your score. (You set it under the More Information section on the Concept 2 ergs).
The stroke rate for a 2K should be well over 30 for guys and around 28 for ladies. It is tough and unfortunately it never gets any easier, you just get faster!

Also, make sure you've got the right technique on the erg. I see so many people in the gym rowing incorrectly. You'll never get a decent score if your technique is all over the place. Just remember its arms body slide, slide body arms. Slow up the slide and faster when you pull back using your legs (as that where the power is) to drive you back.

LuckyLloyd

biZrb wrote: »

I row and we always set the drag factor on the ergs to 125 for the ladies and 130 for the men. We do all our tests; 2K, 5K, 30@20 etc on a the same drag rate.
You need to make sure you are doing your testing on a realistic drag rate, it really makes a difference to your score. (You set it under the More Information section on the Concept 2 ergs).
The stroke rate for a 2K should be well over 30 for guys and around 28 for ladies. It is tough and unfortunately it never gets any easier, you just get faster!

Also, make sure you've got the right technique on the erg. I see so many people in the gym rowing incorrectly. You'll never get a decent score if your technique is all over the place. Just remember its arms body slide, slide body arms. Slow up the slide and faster when you pull back using your legs (as that where the power is) to drive you back.

Please bear in mind that not everyone is trying to replicate the resistance offered by water when on an erg. While it makes perfect sense to use 'standard' drag factor settings for a crew erging as a supplement to their training, it doesn't make sense for me if I have no intention of ever getting into a boat.

My 2k PB was achieved with a stroke rate of 21. I think I'd be on a gurney if I tried to maintain 30+ on such a piece!

biZrb

Yeah good point, you're not exactly trying out for top boat

If people want to compare scores with indoor rowing standards then I think the resistance and stroke rate i stated above are important. People should definitely be using the same drag rate with all their training though and not wacking the dial thing up to 10.

Its great to see a thread on erging and 2ks here, its nice to know others share the pain of doing them

Inspector Coptoor

I did a 2km piece this evening.
Haven't been on a rower in a long time, save a 100m sprint in Dec @ 14.9s.

I just did 2:00/500m pace and got 7:56 for the 2km with a strike rate of 22 with damper set @ 6

Hope to get back to 7:05 standard within a couple of months

LuckyLloyd

biZrb wrote: »

Yeah good point, you're not exactly trying out for top boat

If people want to compare scores with indoor rowing standards then I think the resistance and stroke rate i stated above are important. People should definitely be using the same drag rate with all their training though and not wacking the dial thing up to 10.

Its great to see a thread on erging and 2ks here, its nice to know others share the pain of doing them

I agree with attempting consistency in your training. But I strongly believe people should use a drag factor that suits who they are as an athlete. Worth bearing in mind that you can set the drag factor as you like in an indoor rowing competition unless you're in the high performance picture. I'll be setting my drag factor nice and high at the weekend!!

Duck's hoop

But even in a boat the rigging can be adjusted to lighten or increase the load. It's gearing. Angles, levers and fulcrums.

Ted_YNWA

Been lurking on this thread for a bit ( few days, not the 13 years).

Sub 8 is achievable.


Was just over 8:30 at setting 10, & around 8:20 when I changed to 5/6.

Makes challenge more real when thread is being followed.

Mellor

I think I've gone 3:40 for a 1k, not sure If I'm want to do a 2k right now.

LuckyLloyd

i wouldn't have any interest in testing a 2k more than a few times a year. I think that once you have some training history on the rower and can push yourself a 2k takes so much out of you that it's something to train for over a period of time and then attempt.

biZrb

We do them about every 4-6 weeks along with 5ks - but only because we have to! (no sane person would do them that often voluntary!)
Doing them a few times a year is grand as you can see your progression - you can set yourself little goals like increasing the stroke rate or getting the split down etc.