Hi friends, rather than posting a new thread I’ll resurrect this one with feedback.
First, context to gauge how reliable is my feedback: I’ve only been rowing since last August, and only have just around 1.4 million meters experience. Of these, about 400k on a model D, and around a million in c2 dynamic. I’ve taken exactly 1 lesson of sculling on the water, so accounting for off-water lecture time around 1h total on the water.
Ordered the flowrow kit with 3 difficulty levels (level 3, 4 and 5), this kit -
https://www.flowrow.fit/shop/flowrow-bo ... 16fd43adaa
With shipping to California it was $321. Not cheap by any means, but offset by a good flip of a model D (best I’ve had yet - bought for $550 sold for $780). Quick detour on the topic of cost - if you live in a metropolitan area, set an alert on Craigslist for the search term of “concept2” - people sell rowers cheaper than they’re worth fairly regularly; and if you fancy trying a dynamic one you can find those too occasionally. My dynamic I got for $600 with 171k meters. Apart from that I’ve bought 4 model D-s and resold them for small profit with a bit of patience (usually around $100). In total for all my gear - including heart rate monitor, c-breeze, c2 maintenance items and now flowrow kit - I have only paid $793, accounting for resale profits as reducing total equipment cost.
Now back to the kit: just did my first workout (4x1500m +3min) - and I LOVED it. Feels like it forces better technique, and it helps a lot to keep the core engaged all through the stroke. Definitely felt similar to my (very very minimal) experience on water. And it felt like most balance benefits came from keeping obliques (like… side of the trunk muscles?) engaged at all time through the stroke; abs could be relaxed during the release/recovery as usual. I look forward to tomorrow to see how a longer single session will feel (10500m up next, according to BPP schedule).
On the topic of difficulty levels: when just trying it out level 3 (training plus) seemed pretty solid, rocking was there but seemed to bring me back to center almost on it’s own. So I switched to the softest of the options I got - level 5 (pro). Switching is super easy - 4 bolts with a long leverage Allen key provided in the kit, a matter of minutes. The “pro” level was waaay too rocky haha, so I then switched to the middle option - level 4, “challenge” - and that felt juuuust enough work. Definitely recommend getting a kit with multiple levels, as I would have been disappointed had I only ordered it with a damper too soft or too stiff.
Anyway, if someone years from now finds this thread in search - if you’re considering the kit above, get it!
