Any keen indoor rowers out there ?

[gensetsteve]

Bought a concept 2 when it was 4 years old for about £400 good bit of kit I do ten minutes on the rower and 40 minutes on the cross trainer sometimes throw in 6 k on the rower I feel like it. Been on it 4 times a week since October and given up drinking feel 20 years younger.

[Paul Jenks]

2k in 6m is between lightweight Olympic and heavyweight Olympic. Very impressive.

 

My old coach told us to visualize the whole movement as an acceleration using three main muscle sets; legs, back and arms. Legs being strongest, then back, then arms.

The back and arms have to be fixed as the legs take up the first part when the boat/ergometer is slowest. If the back or arms start to work before the legs have finished their acceleration phase the power transmitted to the footplate from the legs is diminished. As the acceleration phase of the legs comes to an end, (just as they pass the 90-100 degree bend), the back starts to work and then as the back reaches the vertical the arms do their bit.

This maximises the input from each muscle set.

The recovery is another thing altogether.

[Paul Jenks]

Interval training is brutal and very effective.

Try one minute on one minute off, ten times.

Work out a rate that you can keep up evenly for each of the ten individual minutes.

 

The first time you try it, take it a bit easier so you can get the measure of your ability. By the time you finish minute 4 you should be unsure as to whether you can continue on to numbers 5-10:laugh1:

[jaime bray]

I stopped rowing at gym six year ago. My best distance in twenty minutes with restrictor set to ten was 5288m. On holiday last week, and the gym had an old concept rower, managed 4662m in 20mins.

 

It is a good personal challenge rowing. I find it hard between 8mins and 14mins on a twenty minutes stint. I always try and row the last minute at sub-1.50secs.

 

It's a personal mind over matter improving times with rowing. You have to dig in. I myself to quit, at x amount of time, then keep picking off the minutes therein.

[Peter]

The gym I used to go to had a little charity rowing comp, I put in a slightly under 6 minute time, and the guy running the comp checked the time against the indoor British championships times from the previous year. My time would have placed me 70th in the UK in my weight class.

 

If your doing interval training start with shorter intervals, 20-30 seconds, spaced further apart, then work the intervals up and the spaces down. The idea is to get your heart rate up during the intense part of the workout, and it will stay up while your on the relaxed part of the workout.

[welwell]

Interval is on the cards for me, but I thought I'd start off with standard rowing in order to get the technique correct. My times are improving I think a month of this then maybe next month on to the intervals

30secs hard - 1min rest sound good?