Concept2 Forum

Hi All,
Ive got my model E on a Concept2 rubber mat. I have noticed that the rower tends to move forward on the mat when I row at high intensity.
Any ideas please how to stop this movement?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Chas.

If you're not rowing on an ice rink then it's usually due to sequencing the stroke. Depending which way it moves stop slamming into front stops on the recovery or snatching at the handle during the drive. The whole movement needs to be a single fluid action.

If you're pulling 1:15 or harder you may need to add some additional mass to the front legs to prevent them moving.

chas.s wrote:Any ideas please how to stop this movement?

Try rowing "strapless." (i.e. don't use the foot straps to keep your feet connected to the base plates)

The idea is that if forces you to improve your technique and not have your body bouncing all over the place. Unless you're going 110% all out in a race, you ought to be able to do it without any impact on your motion. If you find that you can't row strapless, that's a sign that you need to smooth things out.

Good Luck

Oh - I have to mention this - over 5 years between your original registering on the forum and your first post. That has to be some kind of record!

Define high intensity, whats your pace and rating ?

Yes bolt it down if its a major problem, you would only need a single fastener in the middle of either the front or the back or just bolt a strip of wood to the floor in front of the rower, I have seen this done to all the ergs at one College.

chas.s wrote:Hi All,
Ive got my model E on a Concept2 rubber mat. I have noticed that the rower tends to move forward on the mat when I row at high intensity.
Any ideas please how to stop this movement?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Chas.

This happens easily, put heavy stuff on the feet. At races ergs are often taped to the floor. Very big guys even make the erg jump, pulling the end up.

Re If you move forward, you have not enough connection when you start the stroke, try to catch the fan right away. Every movement which does not go into the flywheel is lost energy.

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I row on a tiled floor. My Model E moves backwards about 8-10mm a stroke when I am fresh, say for the first 2-3km and pulling 230+ watts (1:55 pace), and continues to move back for the whole 10km row. It's because, on the return, I yank a little on the straps a little rather than accelerating myself forward smoothly. Initially I developed a technique to shunt the machine forward by 20cm or more every so often, but that gets annoying. Yesterday I found a gem of a solution though: just one, slightly oversized elastic band looped around under each of the rear feet. Tried it again today -- voila! It's a 10km row so I'm obviously not hammering away, but for now, it's a winner.

Machine movement is due to the inertial forces we apply through the feet. At low ratings (most training is done at something like rating 20, 200W) you won't need to pull yourself forward.

Maybe your drag setting is too high; this would be enough to cause a slow short pull and force you into a high speed recovery, pulling the straps.

My strokes are long: I damn near reach the chain guard and pull back to just past the vertical -- like in the animation -- but I have long legs and arms. Indeed, my drag setting is high, very high, but if I lower it and do more strokes per minute the movement is worse. It's like I said, it's just that I yank on the straps a little when I start my return. If I focus on accelerating myself smoothly forwards at the start of the return there's no problem regardless. Thanks for your reply though.