Your 1000m row time!

Cheers for the videos.
Went out Monday at stuggled to keep 1K at under 3:15, but from a cold start before work.

Today I got a lunch time 1K row at 3:06.5 (average 28 SPM).

I have to improve the breathing as it hurt my chest which already had a tickle....

Pulled 4.43 for 1000m(and puked up the bowl of cornflakes I'd eaten after coming in from school all over the toilets of Garda Rowing Club) and 17.10 for 5000m as a callow 13 stone 17 year old. I still get the pangs of nostalgia for the sport when driving past the clubs on Islandbridge.

Just in correction to my previous post I pulled 4.43 for 1500m.

Just for people who are reasonably inexperienced using rowing machines, without meaning to sound like a know it all, I cannot emphasis the importance of getting your technique right on the machine before you start to concern yourself with getting good times, upping your stroke rate, lowering your average per 500m etc. It's very easy to hurt yourself on these machines.

This morning I tried my usual 1000m with a slower spm, around 28, and could only manage 3.20. I don't feel I could have gone any faster with that spm, so I'm either lacking leg strength for the push or there's something else seriously wrong with my technique.

I must check those videos out tonight.

The concept 2 when used properly is the best work out you can get. Personally I try and maintain a steady split time and stroke rate from the word go with the resistance set on 10 and concentrate on keeping my body as streamlined as possible with my back straight, chin up and always looking forward. If I've anything left in the tank with 200m to go I'll rip the machine out of it.

I've attempted to articulate the technique below as I see it but its like knowing how to drive or play chess and teaching someone who doesn't its quite difficult to put yourself in that persons shoes. Ideally the best way to learn is sit on a machine beside another person who knows what they are doing and just copy them. Unfortunately from what I've seen these people are few and far between in gyms. People who really want to get it right should go into one of the boat clubs in Islandbridge in Dublin and somebody will be able to show them.

Anyways here is my version of it. Power off the footplates at the catch with your back straight with all the power initially being generated in the legs. Tilt back slightly at the finish drawing the handle up to your sternum. Instead of racing back up the slide for the next stroke use this section of the stroke as a mini recovery to prepare yourself for the next stroke. Don't stop obviously but keep everything as one fluid movement rather than jerking around the place. Push your hands down and away back towards the wheel of the machine. Most importantly wait till your hands have cleared your knees on the way back up before you bend your knees back up to prepare for the next stroke. This is the most common technique flaw I've observed in gyms. People have to lift the handle up and over their knees because they have started to move back up the slide too soon. This leads to massive inefficiencies within the stroke as it impacts on power generation in the legs at the catch and could cause injury. A high stroke rate is not the b all and end all. It looks great and you think you're doing great work but ultimately you're going to blow up and go nowhere. Find a stroke rate and split time that suits your fitness levels and keep them constant throughout your whole workout and try to incrementally decrease your average split time by half a second each work out. In the bottom left hand corner of the little screen your average per 500m (the average of your split times) over the course of your row will be displayed. You may have to play around with the settings to bring this up but its a great way of keeping tabs on your progress.

Thats my

I just watched it again.

It is all wrong imo.

He is taking a very short leg drive and is bum shoving.

Bum shoving means that the seat is going back before his upper body is finished going forward.

It can be quite subtle but on the water (irrelevant) the bow of the boat would check, be driven down into the water and therefore the glide of the boat is gone and you basically expend a lot of energy but a percentage is not propelling the boat forward but rather slowing it down.

IMO - he is doing most of the work with his back and arms whereas it should be with the legs.

I cannot believe he is pulling a 1m08 for 45secs in the clip - it does not look that fast/powerful to me.

His 2k time is 6m40 so all his inefficencies and poor technique would I imagine catch up with him - it would even worse the longer the distance gets.

However even on water - crews with rubbish technique have won with nothing else but power!

I never use watts.

I always set it on 3.5 - ignore the drag factor and use spm as my guide.

18-22 for long pieces such as 30/60mins.

22-26 for medium pieces 5k's/12/20mins

26/28/30+ for your 2/1/.5k's.

HTH

All just a guide.

I say all of this but this am I did a few times do the classic rest arms on knees which is not the best!:D

cmyk wrote: »

Out of interest Guvnor, what differentiates the technique. Is it just that the top video is a bit more erratic, particularly in the recovery?

Would using wattage/force curve setting help with improving your stroke rate?
I've managed to pick up a C2 so i'll be experimenting a bit myself.

Trying to get my head around the technicalities on the machine is tough.

thimbleking wrote: »

There's a team of 4 of use entering. Only 500 each!!

LOL all on the same machine or 4 separate ones?:D

evil_seed wrote: »

Before I dislocated my shoulder I was doing 2k in 8 mins flat at the end of every gym session. I'll note my time this evening on 1k at the start of my sesh and update you all later this eve

You doing much rowing mate? How is the shoulder?

Good man!

Same here and tbh - whilst not relishing it - not disliking it either!:D

The Guvnor wrote: »

30mins this morning 7825m.
1m55 per 500m pace
21 spm average - range was 17-23.
It was quite comfortable apart from my left cheek going a bit numb during the second ten minutes!:)


I am going to stick with the 30 minute pieces for a while and then move to adding in some speed work in an attempt to get my 1k time down.

thats the main issue I have with longer rows (5km+) - arse numbness!!!

The Guvnor wrote: »

I always set it on 3.5 - ignore the drag factor and use spm as my guide.

I don't understand what you mean.

I was under the impression that the damper settings 1-10 mean nothing. From one machine to the next, various factors could mean that the same number setting is a totally different drag - and therefore more/less work required per stroke, distance travelled, speed etc will change.

If you are using your own C2, then maybe 3.5 works. I use all different machines, different models, new or old etc, drag factor is a great way for me to set so they feel the same for me.

As a warm-up today I did a gentle 5 mins at an average spm of 21 and the split was 1m51 - distance was 1350m IIRC.

If I could do 1m45-1m40 splits for 5 mins comfortably at 21spm then I would be happy.

I actually think I am good for the 1m45 kind of now - just depends on how hard I want to push myself.

In the back of my mind is a decent 2k time - i.e. can do 1m40 for 5 mins at 21spm so go upto say 24-26 spm and perhaps maintain 1m37-1m38 and see what is left for the final 500m or 1m30?

Under 6m30 for a 2k would very much do me right about now but how to achieve this is another question...:D

I did another 5 min warm-up today.

I did 1403m - 1m46.9 at a stroke rate of 20.

It was interesting!:D

As for finding out - anyone have a 2k calculator based on 500m times...LOL

Thanks AV - very pessimistic calculator!:D

I am going to stick with the 30mins and 5 min w/ups for this month.

Just if anyone is interested in getting an Irish record - or posting a top time have a look here:

http://concept2.co.uk/records/2000_irish

http://concept2.co.uk/records/1000_irish

http://concept2.co.uk/records/500_irish

http://concept2.co.uk/records/100_irish

Obviously there are others out there who have gone faster and never submitted. I definitely witnessed a 40+ do 2m58 or less on the erg for 1k!

However a record is a record!:D