Concept2 Forum

Hi all

I am a new rower, and recently did my first 30 min piece with a stroke rate of 35 S/per minute. Someone at that gym, off handedly, expressed surprise at the 35 strokes.

Later, I was thinking about the comment and wondered if I should be lowering the strokes and pulling harder?

I guess I don't understand the relationship between stroke rate and overall average/500m speed.

Thanks

Rich

While a lot would depend on the Pace (time/500m) a R35 for your first 30 minute piece seems a bit on the high side.

As rate increases, pace should go down (less time/500m = faster).

At R35 you are going to have a tough time making the rate higher, so slowing it a bit and driving harder would be a prudent step.

Definitely get some qualified feedback regarding technique, learning it on your own rarely goes very well and sets you up for a tough go at ridding the bad habits.

If you give a bit more information regarding yourself, there are probably some folks in the forum of similar age, build, experience that will have perspective on various targets to build up to.

Cheers, welcome to the fray.

You really want to think about the stroke as a push rather than a pull. This thinking puts the focus on the leg drive rather than the upper body pulling the chain. It sounds to me like you don't have much in your leg drive. For most people with a steady strong drive through the legs, maintaining a 35 rate for 30 minutes would be extremely difficult (I usually row at around a 22-24).

My advice would be to hold your back and arms in place (slightly forward leaning) through the leg drive. Keeping a stiff upper body in this part of the stroke will help you transfer power from the legs. When your legs straigten begin the swing back and finish with arms pulling in. Some beginners feel they have to slide up and down quickly to get resistance. This is likely because you are not driving with the legs. (Hence you need to compensate for the low torque by getting the SPM's up.) If you focus on a nice push with the legs, you will feel the air resistance become much more pronounced.

Take your split time at 35 spm. Try to achieve that same split time with a strong leg drive and a controlled motion. With some practice you should be able to achieve the same split time at 25 spm, no problem.