Concept2 Forum

Hi,<br /><br />As I posted before my SPM was usually 37-38. Most of the people here said that was way too high so I experimented with a lower speed. A few things happened when I did this:<br /><br />1. I was able to increase the force of my pulls by 10%.<br />2. My arms give out before my legs, aerobically I was much less tired overall though.<br />3. My speed increased and it required less effort.<br />4. I can feel my arm muscles responding to the increased effort, am now able to pull harder.<br /><br />My new SPM is around 22.<br /><br />Peter<br />

Peter,<br /><br />Seems another convert to the concept that you row slower to go faster.<br /><br />Do you also feel that the stroke is better - more rhythm and more "relaxed"? <br /><br />How is your technique; if you are using the arms too early i.e. before the full benefit of the leg drive this can lead to the arms tiring.<br /><br />What drag factor do you use?<br /><br />Neil

If your arms hurt more than your legs, then you may be starting to pull with your arms too early. As I understand it (and I should point out that I'm new at this), your arms should ideally stay straight out and relaxed while your legs extend. Only when your legs have fully extended should you start pulling with your arms. I know that when I mess up my stroke and start pulling early with my arms, they start to hurt pretty quickly.<br /><br />Frequently wrong, but never in doubt,<br />Dave<br />

It feels like less rhythm and I extend my arms further foward with each pull. I don't use a Concept Rower, I have a WaterRower. Still perfecting the technique of rowing at a slow spm. I count 1-2 at the end of each pull before resuming the next one. The WaterRower in conjunction with my PC based software shows me pull effort and spm. <br />Rowing at 37 spm I pull at 120, at 22 spm my pull is around 140. <br /><br />For comparative purposes I went all out on my WR and acheived a time of 4:30.30 for 1,000 meters vs a best effort on a borrowed C2 of 3:29.

I am also new to rowing.<br /><br />I set a drag factor of 140 and stroke at between 28 to 22 spm for speads ranging from 2:04 to 2:15 depending on the distance.<br /><br />Will i have to change any of these as my stamina and speed increase?<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Tom