Concept2 Forum

This is my first post. My gym coach gave me an older model erg (the one with the wooden handle) with i refurbished to a working state. Ever since I've become a devoted rower.

Here is something that I'd like to hear more about:

How often do you do the Medium or Long WOTD from the Concept site? I usually do two workouts a day, CrossFit in the morning and the short WOTD in the evening after work. I can barely fathom doing a Medium or Long workout. What does it take to regularly pursue these workouts? I get pretty bad back soreness from doing just the Short workout.

Thanks!

dougfarre wrote:This is my first post. My gym coach gave me an older model erg (the one with the wooden handle) with i refurbished to a working state. Ever since I've become a devoted rower.

Here is something that I'd like to hear more about:

How often do you do the Medium or Long WOTD from the Concept site? I usually do two workouts a day, CrossFit in the morning and the short WOTD in the evening after work. I can barely fathom doing a Medium or Long workout. What does it take to regularly pursue these workouts? I get pretty bad back soreness from doing just the Short workout.

Thanks!

While I don't do the long WOTD per se, I do often row for 40 - 90 minutes. My first thought, if you are having back soreness, is your form, or your drag factor. Your form might not be correct, or the drag factor might be too high.

David

I usually use a pretty high drag factor, but even when its low, the hardest part is just keeping my back strait. After a few mins on the erg I just naturally start to round it. I have to put a mirror next to me to remind me to keep it strait.

When you row for that long, are you keeping at a steady pace? Do you take breaks? If I row for more than 7 or 8 mins I need to get up and stretch my back and hamstrings every thousand meters or so.

Hi, it sounds like your technique needs quite a bit of work if you are suffering that much after only 1k of distance.

I can, and in fact have done 55 minute rowing sessions without stopping and felt fine... but obviously my technique is up to par.

You just need to keep working on improving your technique before thinking about anything else... because rowing continuous with poor technique will end up taking much longer to cure the problem if you don't address it immediately.

Continuous half-marathons of ~1h 20m are commonplace.

Sounds to me like your stroke does not begin with the legs but that you haul with your upper body. You should have the sensation of pushing the front of the machine away.

Unless you have a specific need -- short sprints -- high drag offers nothing.

Concept 2 has an excellent video showing proper erging technique. It's the best and most concise one I've ever seen:

http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/t ... que-videos

Only when you attain reasonably good technique and feel comfortable with it should you attempt these first workouts suggested by C2:

http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/t ... t-workouts

I think a big mistake people make when starting out is that they go too fast. Notice that all the workouts listed are done between 20 and 24 strokes per minute. Rowing at a high drag factor accomplishes nothing and could cause injury. Keep it on the low rather than the high side. Poor technique combined with workouts at a high stroke rate and high drag factor are for a beginner, a recipe for disaster. Actually, they could be anyone else as well.

Some people, even if they have pretty good technique, can develop some degree of back soreness--if they row long enough. If someone performs the same repetitive exercise over a long period of time, that can happen. It's called an overuse injury. If it's not severe, doesn't become worse, and has no real effect on your everyday life, it shouldn't be a problem. If on the other hand, rowing causes severe pain or discomfort, expert consultation should be considered. Poor technique probably is the cause but there could be other physical factors involved as well. That's why I believe an exercise physiologist who is knowledgeable about rowing technique rather than a rowing instructor, even a very good one, should be consulted.

I used to always plow on through for 45 - 60 minute sessions but now I like to take short breaks every 20 minutes - just long enough to stand up, have some water and wipe my face. Has very minimal effect on the workout but makes things MUCH more comfortable.

If you can post up a video of you rowing, then you'll get a ton of useful feedback. Probably much more than the average gym instructor would be able to provide.

aussieluke wrote:I used to always plow on through for 45 - 60 minute sessions but now I like to take short breaks every 20 minutes - just long enough to stand up, have some water and wipe my face. Has very minimal effect on the workout but makes things MUCH more comfortable.

Yep yep i can relate to that!!! On very rare occasions when i'm doing long sessions my left ass cheek sometimes gets bit numb so i just get up have a swig of water and a bit of a stretch then i'm fine to go again.

Great tip that I recently discovered is to use the 'Just row' function instead of setting up a timed workout. If you stop pulling, after about 5 seconds the timer pauses!

You get about 2 minutes before the screen goes off - or you can keep pressing one of the display buttons to keep the screen on longer.

But perfect if you want a pause and stand up for a few seconds without messing up the scores at the end so much.

dougfarre wrote:This is my first post. My gym coach gave me an older model erg (the one with the wooden handle) with i refurbished to a working state. Ever since I've become a devoted rower.

Here is something that I'd like to hear more about:

How often do you do the Medium or Long WOTD from the Concept site? I usually do two workouts a day, CrossFit in the morning and the short WOTD in the evening after work. I can barely fathom doing a Medium or Long workout. What does it take to regularly pursue these workouts? I get pretty bad back soreness from doing just the Short workout.

Thanks!

Most importantly make sure you got your technique right (as posted above). Especially for long rows a drag factor to 125 or below is recommended. Also, for long rows reduce SPM (for 1hour-rows and above I usually go below 24, sometimes even @ 20 or 18) and get a good seat pad (Im am using a Squoosh). For the reason to fight boredom my set-up includes two screens, one to watch a good movie and a second for the row-pro-utility (where I am usually rowing against a previous row). As a result multiple HM-distance-rows per week are no problem. Cheers - Hardy

dougfarre wrote:I usually use a pretty high drag factor, but even when its low, the hardest part is just keeping my back strait. After a few mins on the erg I just naturally start to round it. I have to put a mirror next to me to remind me to keep it strait.

When you row for that long, are you keeping at a steady pace? Do you take breaks? If I row for more than 7 or 8 mins I need to get up and stretch my back and hamstrings every thousand meters or so.

I usually keep a fairly steady pace, with a slight, negative split. (I.e. I get a tiny bit faster as I go along.) I don't ever take a break, but sometimes I might stop earlier than I had originally hoped. (E.g. at 45 minutes instead of an hour.)

David