Help With Technique

[Twitch]

Hi Everyone,

I'm pretty new to rowing. I picked up my Concept 2mid February and have been using it since. I thought it was probably time that I recorded myself and asked for some critique.

A few things about myself. I'm going to be turning 35 end of May. I'm about 6'4" and 238lbs, so I can stand to lose a few. I have a desk job and really haven't been involved in any kind of physical activity at all in the last 15 years so I feel like I'm really playing catch up.

Right now I'm rowing about half hour (7km) a day. When I row a continuous 30 minute stretch I row at about 2:10 @ 23 spm. If I'm doing a series of shorter rows I do them at about 2:05. I'm trying to roughly follow Pete's 26 week plan. I've rowed just under 300k meters total now.

If anyone could take the time to watch some of this video and help me pinpoint what I'm doing wrong and some ways to correct it I'd really appreciate that. Please let me know if the video link doesn't work, but I think it should.



Thanks for your time

[Volker]

Hi Twitch,

first of all, congrats for the 300k meters in this short time. Its a really good performance!
When I saw your video, I found out, that the chain could be pulled more in a straight
line towards you. Now it looks like it "bump" over your knees. A good help to improve
your technique performance could be to look at the youtube videos of concept2 and
compare it to your video simultaneously.

best regards,
Volker

[Bob S.]

If anyone could take the time to watch some of this video and help me pinpoint what I'm doing wrong and some ways to correct it I'd really appreciate that. Please let me know if the video link doesn't work, but I think it should.



Thanks for your time

I don't spot any major flaws, but I don't have a really great eye for them. A minor item is that your knees come a bit short of vertical, so you could get a longer stroke. The first thing that struck me was tying in. My suggestion is to skip that. You are using a moderate stroke rate, 23spm, and you should be able to handle that very well without footstraps. The purpose of rowing strapless is to fine tune the legs/back/arms sequence. Your sequence looked O.K. to me, but I think that it is worthwhile trying the strapless route. Try it cautiously at first, but I don't think that you would have the "flying off the back" problem that a lot of people have when they first go at it without straps.

Bob S.

[jvincent]

I noticed that your shins don't get to vertical as well so your stroke is shorter than it could be.

[Twitch]

Thanks for the replies so far.

When I'm rowing I've often looked at my knee/ankle alignment and it always seems like my knee is close to or past my ankle, clearly this isn't the case after seeing this video. I'll try and compress a bit more there.

I think I need to lean forward more when I'm starting the pull and back a bit more at the end. Not a lot more mind you but if 1 o'clock and 11 o'clock are the standards there then I could probably do with a bit more body lean.

I've never considered not using foot straps but I'll try it next time. I know what you mean with the 'flying off' effect because I remember that when I started, it felt like the only thing keeping me from going to the back of the rail was the foot strap, but that hasn't been a problem the last few weeks.

I'm surprised my form is as close as it is, when I'm sitting there rowing especially if I'm tired it feels like limbs and body parts are flying all over the place. I really expected it to be a huge mess.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[Citroen]

What drag were you using?

[Twitch]

I just double checked and it's at 116.

Edit: Until just now when I went to watch it with my speakers turned on did I remember that my iPad recorded audio as well. Sorry for the obnoxious music, you should probably just mute that right out the gate.

[Citroen]

I just double checked and it's at 116.

That may be a bit low for a big fella like you.

Also with the position of your damper lever you're either a long way up a mountain or that machine is full of dust.

[Twitch]

I just double checked and it's at 116.

That may be a bit low for a big fella like you.

Also with the position of your damper lever you're either a long way up a mountain or that machine is full of dust.

I don't quite understand drag factor and how it relates to the rowing experience, I guess I need to read more. I just read somewhere around 120 was good.

I'm not up a mountain. I wondered about the drag factor setting because from what I had read it seemed I had to set it very high as well. I think it's been like that from the start.

Just now I took a flashlight and shone it in the side of the adjustable grill to look for dust and I saw none whatsoever. Like I said I've only had this machine since Feb. We do own a longhaired cat so there is probably more dust/hair in the air than maybe a normal home but I don't know if it could affect the machine so quickly.

Is there somewhere else I need to be checking for dust, because through the side I couldn't see any. I can't really see much through the fine holes on the mesh.

Edit: I just checked the manual here and it suggests cleaning the flywheel every 250 hours of use, the machine has maybe 35 hours or so between me and my wife.

Edit 2: I opened the gridded metal strip thing that goes around the circumference of the flywheel so I could see in unobstructed. There was really no dust at all visible on the flywheel or the inside of the metal stripping so I'm not sure what the deal is. In that video the lever is set to 5. Maybe I'll send support an email and see what their input is.

[Bob S.]

I just double checked and it's at 116.

That may be a bit low for a big fella like you.

Also with the position of your damper lever you're either a long way up a mountain or that machine is full of dust.

I don't quite understand drag factor and how it relates to the rowing experience, I guess I need to read more. I just read somewhere around 120 was good.

I'm not up a mountain. I wondered about the drag factor setting because from what I had read it seemed I had to set it very high as well. I think it's been like that from the start.

Just now I took a flashlight and shone it in the side of the adjustable grill to look for dust and I saw none whatsoever. Like I said I've only had this machine since Feb. We do own a longhaired cat so there is probably more dust/hair in the air than maybe a normal home but I don't know if it could affect the machine so quickly.

Is there somewhere else I need to be checking for dust, because through the side I couldn't see any. I can't really see much through the fine holes on the mesh.

Edit: I just checked the manual here and it suggests cleaning the flywheel every 250 hours of use, the machine has maybe 35 hours or so between me and my wife.

116 is about what I get with a damper setting of 5 and I live at 4000' - not on a mountain but in the California high desert country. At near sea level elevations, the lowest setting (0 on a scale from 0-10) should give a DF of around 80 and at the highest setting (10) it is reported to be around 210. It looks like your damper lever is about half way up, so it would be at about 5. It doesn't seem likely that a new machine would pick up too much dust that soon. I had my old D for about 6 years, much of that time in a garage, and never did have to clean it. The video doesn't show to the right of the wheel. Is there any airflow obstruction there? That could cause a low DF.

Bob S.

[Twitch]

. Is there any airflow obstruction there? That could cause a low DF.

Bob S.

Not really, there is a loveseat there but not so close that I'd think it would stop airflow. I dragged it out a bit so it was even more in the clear and the drag factor at 5 stayed at 116. At a the lowest setting the drag factor was 73, at 10 it was 199. Specifically I live in the Canadian prairies.

[Bob S.]

Specifically I live in the Canadian prairies.

For Regina or Edmonton, the DF seems low, but about right for Calgary. I based this on the elevations I found on the net for those cities.

Bob S.

[jamesg]

6'4" and 238lbs; 7km a day; 30 min at 2:10 @ 23 spm

These numbers mean 160W and at 23, 7W'/stroke; and if your fit weight is say 90kg, around 1.8W/kg. Both are on the low side, but you'll start to get fit.

I think you should target 200W at rating 20 for long SS pieces over 30'. The reason you're not there already is that your catch is short and your finish weak, so you are effectively pulling half strokes. At 6'4 you should be able to touch the chainguard and so get a stroke at least 20-30cm longer at the catch, without getting into a weak posture. Just make sure, during recovery, that you get your hands away and swing well forward before lifting your knees. The aim is to get our weight on our feet for the catch, with shoulders well forward. It's like the "front quadrant" idea in freestyle swimming.

The drag is easily adjusted: set it low and increase slightly if you can't catch up with the flywheel soon enough.

The adjustable drag lets us set the machine to suit ourselves, pulling at our own best combination of force and speed. Rowing is unfortunately very hard work, because the idea is to make boats go fast and a long way every single stroke; but the suffering can be slightly mitigated by using the drag we prefer. Strangely enough, some people like working hard, and even think it will get them fit, lose weight, keep their hearts working and avoid osteoporosis. However such ideas imply we can never stop.

[hjs]

Looking ok, the stroke is a bit ti short thought, your feet should come loose a bit more at the front and you should lean back a bit more, that will make your stroke longer.
The drag is ok, but your machine is not clean, there must be dust in th fancage, but at this point tht does not hinder your rowing.
In time a guy age / build will be sub 2.00 soon, at the moment you are not doing much work.

[Twitch]

Thanks guys, it seems like the length of the stroke is the biggest problem I have right now so that's what I'll focus on. I was worried that if I leaned too far forward I would lose efficiency so I was always careful not too, but now after the seeing the video of myself rowing it's clear I need to be leaning forward and backward more than I am.

The thought of rowing sub 2:00/500m is still pretty far off for me. 1:55 - 2:00 is what I was rowing when I was trying some 500m sprints a few days back. It just goes to show how out of shape I was when I started all this.

Like I said earlier I checked inside the machine and there's no dust in there that I can see. All the baffles or whatever you want to call them on the flywheel looked clean, no dust really visible. I looked around the inside of that flexible metal strip that covers the flywheel as well and didn't really see any dust there either. I'm going to drop support an email and get their input once. I'm pretty sure it was like this out of the box. I remember reading that a setting of 3 should give me a drag of around 100 or so, when I got the machine I set it to that. But then shortly after I found the display drag factor thing on the PM3 and checked the drag and if I remember right it was just in the 80's. That's when I turned it up.

Thanks everyone for your time, I'm excited to try rowing today to see how a longer stroke works out.