Difference between normal 30' v 30' 20SPM PB

[Dangerscouse]

That makes a lot of sense. When you guys are doing R20 stuff, do you drop the drag factor or keep it the same? I have been rowing at 107-110 all this year. How about you guys?

I don't change the DF for a specific session, and I'd only consider it for a really short sprint, which I don't do, but you will create enough of an effort at your standard drag, or any drag, if you really want to.

Resistance is futile.

[iain]

If you increase the rate by more than you decrease the work per stroke you will go faster. You do not need to keep the work in each stroke the same and jam in more of them. The product of rate and work is the key. If it goes up, you go faster. If not, you don’t.

+1

Agreed it is the product that matters, just trying to keep it simple!

as long as the product of Force x Stroke Rate increases (let's assume that force is constant in a given stroke - it really isn't, hence the "work per stroke" term, which is more accurate) then power will increase. Of course you'll be putting more demands on your cardio systems, but they may well have more to give, whereas your muscles may be at their upper force limit.

To continue pedantry You won't be near your force limit in a 30R20, it will just be that the muscle fibres have insufficient endurance to maintain the higher work per stroke.

Re CV impact (only because I have been picked up on it in the past), it does depend where in the continuum of work generated per stroke. There is indeed a region where reducing the stroke rate while maintaining the pace (ie compensating with increased work per stroke) does reduce the CV load. However as you approach the maximal sustainable load, CV loads are actually higher at the same pace. As a result we all have an optimal stroke rate for a given piece, although as we tire this may move slightly. Finding this is one of the efficiencies that can allow us to go faster..

Re DF, I do think that increasing it a little for some training does help to build strength (hence strength workouts in original EF Marathon Plan). However this comes with a need to use upper body more. I use 120 for most workouts >500m and less than 30km. I decrease slightly for very long rows and increase for very short. That said, because I am weak, increases are modest (typically to 135 for min or 145 for 100m. As stroke rate decreases the flywheel slows more at the same DF, so it feels like a higher DF anyway. I have even heard some people advocate reducing DF for lower ratings to maintain the feel.

[ampire]

Is there a maximum force limit for a low rate effort that someone can reach before hitting an improvement wall? At a certain point improvement in additional force requires additional acceleration that must come from type 2 fiber, increasing type 1 fiber cross section to generate force is difficult due to the nature of slow twitch vs fast twitch fiber hypertrophy. Type 2 fibers do contribute lactate fuel that can be used by type 1 fibers, so training to improve lactate transport and mitochondrial density might be helpful to a point. I think at a certain point one has to do some weights to increase leg fiber cross section and raise that force limit.