New Rower Question

[Johnny B]

Hello,
Brand New here, unfamiliar with forums in general. I have a question. I am 59 years old. I row 10K Meters in just under 45 minutes. My heart rate during this workout is about 135 bpm. I have my damper set at 8. Is that correct?

[jamesg]

10k in say 44 minutes is Pace 2:12 and 150W which at HR 135 means you're doing well.

Check the Drag Factor, via the PM. It's best set at 130 or lower, according to your age/strength. If the fan is clean, level 3 is the usual damper setting.

What Drag actually lets us do is use a combination of pull speed and force that best suits us as to production of Power, which is Force x Speed by definition.

If we can't move the load, Power is zero. If the load is zero, there is no Power. So we use a handle Force/Speed level somewhere in between.

Controls you can use to qualify your efforts are Watts/kg bodyweight and Work per stroke, which is Watts/Rating. Needless to say, the higher the better.

[iain]

Hello,
Brand New here, unfamiliar with forums in general. I have a question. I am 59 years old. I row 10K Meters in just under 45 minutes. My heart rate during this workout is about 135 bpm. I have my damper set at 8. Is that correct?

THat's a lot better than most newbies who wouldn't manage 10k in a stretch let alone at a decent pace. But beyond that need to know weight, height and any sports / fitness background. As said above unless your machine is very dirty, setting on 8 suits few people for anything longer than 500M. The machine adjusts the pace so there is no benefit of different settings so it is about finding what works for you.

[Joebasscat]

As others have said those are pretty good numbers for a new rower. Just a quick note on heart rate monitoring. If using a wrist based monitor the results are likely to low. As an example I cruised along at about 140 bpm today for a 10k as measured by my chest belt. Wrist based monitor never exceeded 111. Apologies if this isn’t applicable to you. Welcome to the forum.