Erg Book, Wiki or Other source of summary information?

[Mlevison]

As I get deeper and deeper into rowing, I come here and ask questions. I get terrific answers from many people: @Ombrax, @Sakly, @contdrift86 @Jamesg @Dangercourse @p_b82 @JaapvanE @Iain — thanks I really do appreciate the help so far.

What's missing, is that I don't understand the big picture. I've only just started to understand why to choose one stroke rate over another. I know I don't understand breathing technique or drag factor. ... What strength training pairs well with rowing. (Even worse there clearly big unknown unknowns still).

This forum is amazing to get a question answered, but that same insane supply of information makes it very hard to glean the core.

In my core work (helping software development teams), I've read enough of the basic material that when I see a new idea, I can assess how it fits with what I currently do and decide if I want to adapt. Here in the rowing world, I have no compass and so my choices are close to random.

What would you read? (I have "The Erg Book: 375+ of the Greatest Indoor Rowing Workouts of All Time" Short and Snarky Coxswain - it just doesn't give enough of the basics to make sense of this forum. I'm trying "Complete Indoor Rowing" - Jim Flood, it seems dated - PM4)

[Ombrax]

The C2 web site is a good starting place:

The left side of the page at the link below has some general information, including a short bit on breathing.

https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/ ... stretching

This doesn't have a huge amount of information, but it does have links to additional stuff:

https://www.concept2.com/files/pdf/us/t ... _Guide.pdf

[Dangerscouse]

I'd recommend reading Jack Burns (Edge Rowing) and Alex Gregory on Instagram. Both are ex GB rowers and provide a lot of good information to read.

I'd also recommend Aram Training on YouTube. It's slightly geared towards on the water rowing, but it still has some really useful technique advice

[jamesg]

Problems are solved by breaking them down.

Practicalities.
First thing to do on the erg is warm up. This uses what we call the "backstop drill".

Sit on the backstop, legs straight, head up, back straight: relax, paddle arms only for a minute. Feel the wheel and work with it.

After a while, add a second movement: a little swing forward, but only AFTER getting hands away and past the knees, in each single stroke. Do it slowly, consciously and mechanically with back always straight, until it becomes relaxed, quick, smooth and automatic.

If you can do that, and you must, you've learnt the first lesson: how to pull one stroke at a time, in sequence and cooordinating one movement with the next. That's enough for today.

Tomorrow things will get really difficult: you'll have to learn the third movement, which of course, comes after the second. The warmup starts as for the first two, then adds the third.

When hands are away and the swing forward has taken them well past your knees, you can move the slide forward an inch or two.

This coordination is extremely difficult, but obligatory. So do it.


Theory.
Theory is a description of reality as expressed by engineering, math and physiology. It always rules. Not something you can apply at will. It applies itself to us.

The analytical aspects are many. The interesting connection is between physiology and engineering. We can use both and deny neither.

Useful words are length, angle, force, tension, mass, height, weight, inertia, speed, acceleration, work, power, lever, blood, muscle, tendon, oxygen, hip, knee, foot, relaxation, sequence.

Plus a lttle math too, noting for example that AB=BA, W=kV³, F=ma, W=FV.

The units we use are Newton, Watt, meter, second, kg, km.

Traditional rowing terms are pace (time to go 500m), rating (strokes per minute).

Training.
Don't try to train, try to row. I've noticed that if I use all the muscle I can in the rowing sequence I get fit with no injury. Just go slow: rowing at twice the speed is eight times harder. Rowing 30% harder produces only 10% more speed, so it's not worth the effort, unless you have a race coming up soon that you want to win. In this case a few short fast efforts can offer some interesting lessons.

[p_b82]

I can't recommend anything specific to read, I've just used the C2 website (and the v2 training guide on there - for FM training guidance), and here mostly. (and I'm really a n00b compared to many on here)

I think it is really easy to get lost in the weeds when starting out - especially as you start identify areas you feel you wish to improve, and how best to go about doing it.
Follow a plan - if so what distance, what plan - don't follow a plan; pace, stroke rate, power, drag factor, stroke-length, Hr Zones, training zones etc.

What is the "best" way to get to your goal is subjective and personal; as you'll respond differently to different sessions - both physically and mentally.

I'd say it has taken me about 18months to understand more what I'm doing, and how different training stimulus effects me and what the impact on my rowing is. I'm still only doing 3 sessions a week as I still mostly "look forward" to rowing after a day or two off - which if I were to do it more frequently would unlikely be the case...

I was purely playing around when I decided to do the r20 "challenge" but I realised that it forced me to work on my technique and so had serious value - so I kept at it for 6 months in the end. The added bonus, is that I have a more efficient stroke now, using my legs a lot more & thus feeds into rating back up generating more power.

Using some numbers to highlight my point, while playing around, I've managed to hit 465W@r40 and I feel I now have "ok" power outputs for very short distances & can rate up and carry that technique I improved doing the r20 through.
At some point I'll probably work on that more - to enable me to hold those power numbers for longer, but I've a dodgy lower back and those efforts can expose it if I'm not careful.

So my focus is now my CV side - forcing myself to take on the FM was a way to step outside my comfort zone, but I knew it would do wonders - both the long steady state sessions and the Vo2 intervals (9 or 10k total) from the C2 FM plan(s) - which were the bulk of my training for it.

I smashed my 10k pb the other day - and now the medium term goal is meeting that improved performance on the other distances.

Long term goal still the same as it was when I started - improve my general body shape and CV fitness.

[Dangerscouse]

Peter makes a valid point that I was thinking about earlier on today. Info can all too easily become info overload as there's far too often a counter argument to everything that you can read is the best course of action.

The human body is so complex, but we like to think in simplified terms that fit neatly into boxes. There's obviously a lot of instances that cause and effect will correlate, but there's also a lot of instances where it doesn't. We've all had days when we can inexplicably pull up trees and others when we can just about drag ourselves out of bed, despite there being no obvious reasons.

Attack, analyse and assess is the best thing you can do whilst having an inquisitive mind for the subtlety of the signs that can gleaned. I'm a massive advocate of trying something for about six weeks and then seeing if it's helpful, but don't give up to early or persevere for too long either.

[jamesg]

What's missing, is that I don't understand the big picture.

The big picture says, use your legs, where the muscle is. And use them the same way every single stroke, whatever the rating, but especially at low ratings.

Low rates are used precisely for that purpose, so that we can use the legs to overload all our systems and get a training effect: legs are strong already.

During the pull, even I see say 350N and 1.9m/s, which is 1.9*350 = 660W peak; but my average W is 110-120, since I rate 20.

The low average is what makes training possible, the high peak is what makes it effective.