Beginners question(s)?

[Willy.VdW]

As you want to train a strong stroke which can be used at any rate, your last assumtion is right.
In low rate training you go for good technique and learn a strong stroke. In rows with faster rates you try to maintain the stroke and this leads to more output due to upped rate. Typically in high rate trainings (or PB attempts) you will not reach the same power output per stroke. Best to compare for that is looking at a 30r20 and a 30' without cap.

Thanks for the advice. However, due to my limited understanding of the English language,
I don't understand what you mean by "30' without cap". Please let me know what it means.
I did find what 30r20 means, but I fear that I won't get very far
So perhaps I should do a 30r20 regularly to measure progress?
In order to become a better rower, I will need to develop more muscles, escpecially in the legs.
Is this accomplished on the rowing machine itself?
If so, please let me know what kind of workouts are best (my guess is intervals)

[Sakly]

As you want to train a strong stroke which can be used at any rate, your last assumtion is right.
In low rate training you go for good technique and learn a strong stroke. In rows with faster rates you try to maintain the stroke and this leads to more output due to upped rate. Typically in high rate trainings (or PB attempts) you will not reach the same power output per stroke. Best to compare for that is looking at a 30r20 and a 30' without cap.

Thanks for the advice. However, due to my limited understanding of the English language,
I don't understand what you mean by "30' without cap". Please let me know what it means.
I did find what 30r20 means, but I fear that I won't get very far
So perhaps I should do a 30r20 regularly to measure progress?
In order to become a better rower, I will need to develop more muscles, escpecially in the legs.
Is this accomplished on the rowing machine itself?
If so, please let me know what kind of workouts are best (my guess is intervals)

30' without cap means unrestricted 30 mins row, so an all out effort with a rate that suits you best. And this is exactly what the difference of 30r20 and 30' unrestricted is about. The 30r20 shows your ability of strong stroke over time.

Developing more muscles is only the half truth. Erging depends very much on cardio capabilities, not so much on strength (talking about the longer distances, not sprint). But surely strength is helping.
If you want to get a better rower, I would focus on rowing. Additionally you can go for weights, but I would not expect big achivements on a rower due to weights training. I think high power intervals on the rower build more specific capabilities.
If you want to go for sprint distances - 500m or less - weights could possibly help more.

[Willy.VdW]

Thanks again for your reply!

[p_b82]

It's probably also worth thinking about what you want to get better at.

If it's 2k, then there's a lot of material out there to help you, but if it's endurance: Half marathons and upwards etc, you'd need to take a slightly different approach.

As a fellow n00b, for me just putting in lots of meters is helping me improve; I've done 330,000m since I started in late June & after 4 months, I smashed my 30min and 60min distances. The jump in my 10k time was as large (taken 2 months apart); But as yet I've not set a 2k time (or revisited 5k or 6k).

I still have a long way to go, as I'm not training with any specific aims, but I do now have my eye on a half marathon...

[Willy.VdW]

I want to become able to do a 2K in a decent time, but endurance also appeals to me.
However, my butt tells me not to row longer than 30 minutes for the time being.
I can feel my sitbones while leaning forward and/ or backward.
The problem may be partly that I don't have very much "sitting flesh"
I now have a C2 seat pad and it feels (somewhat) better.

[Tony Cook]

I want to become able to do a 2K in a decent time, but endurance also appeals to me.
However, my butt tells me not to row longer than 30 minutes for the time being.
I can feel my sitbones while leaning forward and/ or backward.
The problem may be partly that I don't have very much "sitting flesh"
I now have a C2 seat pad and it feels (somewhat) better.

It toughens up! As a sometimes ‘C2 in the gym’ user I couldn’t get past 20mins of sitting on the seat.
When I knuckled down to making the erg my only/main thing it was a painful push beyond 20 mins. Did a couple of 30 mins then did 20 mins, get up walk around for 3 or 4 mins then another 20 mins. One day you’ll think, ‘I just did 45/60 mins and my butt didn’t hurt.’
Some spend a lot on a more expensive seat pad but I found some folded bubble wrap under my C2 pad helped as I built to an hour and beyond.
I now do a half marathon/ 90 mins in one go with just the pad.

[Sakly]

I want to become able to do a 2K in a decent time, but endurance also appeals to me.
However, my butt tells me not to row longer than 30 minutes for the time being.
I can feel my sitbones while leaning forward and/ or backward.
The problem may be partly that I don't have very much "sitting flesh"
I now have a C2 seat pad and it feels (somewhat) better.

It toughens up! As a sometimes ‘C2 in the gym’ user I couldn’t get past 20mins of sitting on the seat.
When I knuckled down to making the erg my only/main thing it was a painful push beyond 20 mins. Did a couple of 30 mins then did 20 mins, get up walk around for 3 or 4 mins then another 20 mins. One day you’ll think, ‘I just did 45/60 mins and my butt didn’t hurt.’
Some spend a lot on a more expensive seat pad but I found some folded bubble wrap under my C2 pad helped as I built to an hour and beyond.
I now do a half marathon/ 90 mins in one go with just the pad.

Funny how different that is.
When I started erging I did a HM after 2 or three weeks and before at least one or two 10k without any problems
And I do not use a pad or similar stuff, only the seat itself.

[Dangerscouse]

I want to become able to do a 2K in a decent time, but endurance also appeals to me.
However, my butt tells me not to row longer than 30 minutes for the time being.
I can feel my sitbones while leaning forward and/ or backward.
The problem may be partly that I don't have very much "sitting flesh"
I now have a C2 seat pad and it feels (somewhat) better.

Sometimes your physiology will make it bearable (I don't use anything at all any more and I've rowed 82k without any issues) but it didn't always feel like that. I also know of other people that never get used to it despite doing many many metres.

The strange thing for me, is that I can't sit in a cinema seat for longer than an hour without it getting uncomfortable.

[p_b82]

Getting a C2 seatpad helped me go from about 30mins to 70mins - my discomfort is more muscular/nerve sort of feeling - starts as an ache, then develops into a low level pain and then tingling starts to work down from my glutes into my hamstring.

Wriggling helps but getting up and then re-seating myself is more effective - downside is then I get out the groove and takes me a while to get back into it.

I was probably going to look at a gel seat pad as the cushioning is slightly different, if it takes too much longer to adjust - or cut down the duration for a bit and work back up again.

[Willy.VdW]

I feel improvement! Not perfect yet, but a lot better. The seat pad helps.
Didn't yet make it to a 70min. workout, but that's not because of a painful butt
But the is another "problem", or rather something peculiar.
When I step away from the machine after a workout, I walk lake a drunk.
It's not that my legs feel weak, neither does it feel like a sudden drop of
bloodpressure from getting up to fast.
It just takes a few breaths before I find my balance, a strange sensation

[JaapvanE]

When I step away from the machine after a workout, I walk lake a drunk.

Some competative rowers simply fall off, curl up like a baby, and lay in a puddle of their own sweat, sometimes sobbing about their time. Often someone else needs to release their feet from the straps. So walking away by your own, like you do, is a big improvement (just like in a bar, where you have drunks that can get home by themselves, and the ones you have to drag out at closing time).

Joking aside, it probably is the lack of power in the legs in specific muscles you use for stabilisation (either quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors or abductors): they probably are exhausted and need to replenish food and oxygen before they can perform work again. After a heavy workout, you can't always feel that, as every muscle is still warm and full with adrenaline and the like. It takes a minute or to sitting on the rower to cool down and get that back. I typically grab my towel and dry myself a bit, and do the bookkeeping on the PM5/ErgData.

[Willy.VdW]

Aha, it's reassuring to know that there is a "healthy" explanation

[Willy.VdW]

A surprising development took place recently.
I use a C2 seat pad to reduce butt pain and it helps.
After a 4 week holiday, the pain was a bit worse. I thought this was because
I hadn't been on the rower for several weeks, but it disn't get much better.
So I decided to try without pad, thinking I could always place on the seat
during a rest in an interval workout.
But it felt better without seat pad. I can still feel my sitbones tilt, but it doesn't hurt.
I can't explain this development, but I hope it stays this way.
However, I won't throw my seatpad in the dustbin, not yet anyway

[KeithT]

A surprising development took place recently.
I use a C2 seat pad to reduce butt pain and it helps.
After a 4 week holiday, the pain was a bit worse. I thought this was because
I hadn't been on the rower for several weeks, but it disn't get much better.
So I decided to try without pad, thinking I could always place on the seat
during a rest in an interval workout.
But it felt better without seat pad. I can still feel my sitbones tilt, but it doesn't hurt.
I can't explain this development, but I hope it stays this way.
However, I won't throw my seatpad in the dustbin, not yet anyway

Interesting. There is no issue using a seat pad - I usually use a thin one not so much because of the cushion but because it seems to help with the rub/burn at the bottom of the tailbone. I still can get that but prob do to my posture - the little bit of separation seems to help though along with some gel. Anyway, if feeling better without then go without.

[Dangerscouse]

So I decided to try without pad, thinking I could always place on the seat
during a rest in an interval workout.
But it felt better without seat pad. I can still feel my sitbones tilt, but it doesn't hurt.
I can't explain this development, but I hope it stays this way.
However, I won't throw my seatpad in the dustbin, not yet anyway

I never used to be too comfortable on the erg, and anything over 40 mins was uncomfortable. Now, I don't use one for any distance, and that included 82k of a failed 100k.

I think some of us are lucky enough to get used to it, but I don't know why. I still get uncomfortable on a cinema seat within an hour though, so figure that out