Concept2 Forum

36 year old mountain of a man, all rugged and stuff, just got my shipping notice yesterday of my D model. Looking to make the mountain into a molehill so to speak. One issue that has been hindering me as of late is a knee injury, tossed off a "side by side" ATV lacking seat belts, 5 weeks of crutches and a few months of physical therapy has left me with a knee that still gives me considerable trouble a little more than a year out... Been looking for a cardio machine for quite a while now that will get me more of my knee back. Other than a bike...

The Bally's near me used to have a "rower" that had a kayaking motion, you kept an adjustable weight stack suspended with the rowing motion through some magic mechanism. I was the only one who could figure the thing out so I had it anytime I wanted. I am hoping I will like standard rowing just as much, I loved that machine *sob*. Enough with the life story.

Maybe I am obtuse but upon my research on some of the workouts. The term rest seems ambiguous... In some places it looks like "stop rowing" in others it looks like easy paddling. Is that up to me or unless it says get off the rower or some such, paddling is assumed? Or will this be more clear by the PM prompting, dunno, never seen a C2 in person...

DW wrote:.

Maybe I am obtuse but upon my research on some of the workouts. The term rest seems ambiguous... In some places it looks like "stop rowing" in others it looks like easy paddling. Is that up to me or unless it says get off the rower or some such, paddling is assumed? Or will this be more clear by the PM prompting, dunno, never seen a C2 in person...

DW,

If you have occasion to get into OC or LA once in a while, you might check out the facilities that have ergs there — The Newport Aquatic Center, Xeno's Iron Oarsman, the Long Beach Rowing Association, the California Yacht Club, and others. Not only can you see the ergs in operation there and get an idea of the technique used, but you can get some good advice — depending on who is around. They probably all have websites, so you can check out the net for their addresses and hours of operation. Xeno's would be the best bet, since there is a regular schedule of instructors. In the LA area, there are also a couple of other outfits that give instruction on a regular basis, but I don't have their names at hand.

Bob S.

I was going to get kinda broke in with the rower for a bit, then likely look up Xeno's place for a lesson or two to make sure I am good to go. I have been scouring you tube for technique videos. I think I got the gist of it, but some tweaking will likely be needed... We shall see. Delivery is next Wed.

there are two links at the bottom of this page:

http://www.concept2.com/us/commercial/crossfit/

that you might find useful. One regards damper setting - the other common rowing mistakes. It was prepared for crossfit folks by angela hart - one of our master indoor rowing instructors based in VA.

We are working on a more comprehensive online training section for our website - but that is still a few months off.

-bill

DW wrote:I was going to get kinda broke in with the rower for a bit, then likely look up Xeno's place for a lesson or two to make sure I am good to go. I have been scouring you tube for technique videos. I think I got the gist of it, but some tweaking will likely be needed... We shall see. Delivery is next Wed.

If assistance is close by, get the instruction right up front. A coach will have you pretty well sorted on the basics in your first 30 minutes (as long as you listen to them), then you will be well on the way to creating good habits. Create bad habits on your own and it could be a long time trying to break them.

Tip #1: Do not try to produce fast paces (by "pulling really hard") until you get some adequate coaching on technique, either the video (plus a mirror to watch yourself in) at a minimum.

DW wrote:I was going to get kinda broke in with the rower for a bit, then likely look up Xeno's place for a lesson or two to make sure I am good to go. I have been scouring you tube for technique videos. I think I got the gist of it, but some tweaking will likely be needed... We shall see. Delivery is next Wed.

http://www.invernessrowingclub.co.uk/pe ... o_erg.html

http://www.concept2.co.uk/guide/downloads.php

c2bill wrote:
We are working on a more comprehensive online training section for our website - but that is still a few months off.

-bill

Bill,

One of the best I have seen is a video (about 12 minutes) of Josh Crosby instructing a beginner in his New York gym. It was taken from a TV broadcast. I just looked for the URL in my files, but couldn't find it. I have posted it several times on this forum, but I didn't go back through the messages to look for it.

Bob S.

Bob S. wrote: In the LA area, there are also a couple of other outfits that give instruction on a regular basis, but I don't have their names at hand.

Bob S.

I just remembered the name of one of them, indo-row. It is a nationwide chain of clubs that have instructors for the C2 rowing machines. I believe that the first one was the one in Santa Monica, and according to their website, you can get a free first lesson there.

Bob S.

Bob S. wrote:

c2bill wrote:
We are working on a more comprehensive online training section for our website - but that is still a few months off.

-bill

Bill,

One of the best I have seen is a video (about 12 minutes) of Josh Crosby instructing a beginner in his New York gym. It was taken from a TV broadcast. I just looked for the URL in my files, but couldn't find it. I have posted it several times on this forum, but I didn't go back through the messages to look for it.

Bob S.

I stumbled across that one, the ABC "couch potatoes" segment. As far as personal instruction, that will likely happen, at least a lesson or two. The issue is that all of those facilities are an hour and a half(at minimum) away without traffic. So I will wing it until I can get out there...

c2bill wrote:there are two links at the bottom of this page:

http://www.concept2.com/us/commercial/crossfit/

that you might find useful. One regards damper setting - the other common rowing mistakes. It was prepared for crossfit folks by angela hart - one of our master indoor rowing instructors based in VA.

We are working on a more comprehensive online training section for our website - but that is still a few months off.

-bill

That one did drive it home, it made me actually read the stuff on drag factor. It allowed me to get the joke when people were giggling at the people who crank the damper to 10 in health clubs...

c2bill wrote:there are two links at the bottom of this page:

http://www.concept2.com/us/commercial/crossfit/

that you might find useful. One regards damper setting - the other common rowing mistakes. It was prepared for crossfit folks by angela hart - one of our master indoor rowing instructors based in VA.

We are working on a more comprehensive online training section for our website - but that is still a few months off.

-bill

It was good to see that she didn't actually row with the handle upside down.

Nice spin on the "barely visible" damper scale. (Who thought that one up?)

DW wrote: I stumbled across that one, the ABC "couch potatoes" segment.

Yes, that is the one I meant. What I liked about it was that, even though it was short, he covered the basics of getting an absolute beginner started.

Bob S.

Bob S. wrote:

DW wrote: I stumbled across that one, the ABC "couch potatoes" segment.

Yes, that is the one I meant. What I liked about it was that, even though it was short, he covered the basics of getting an absolute beginner started.

Bob S.

DW,

Did you actually find the video? I just went back into the files to one of my messages, but when I tried to log on to the URL, it came up with a blank video screen and the activity window showed a long list of files that no longer exist. It appears that it is no longer available, which is a shame, since it was a good starting point.

Bob S.

Bob S. wrote:

Bob S. wrote:

DW wrote: I stumbled across that one, the ABC "couch potatoes" segment.

Yes, that is the one I meant. What I liked about it was that, even though it was short, he covered the basics of getting an absolute beginner started.

Bob S.

DW,

Did you actually find the video? I just went back into the files to one of my messages, but when I tried to log on to the URL, it came up with a blank video screen and the activity window showed a long list of files that no longer exist. It appears that it is no longer available, which is a shame, since it was a good starting point.

Bob S.

Yeah, it worked fine for me. It was a good intro.

I came across this clip on YouTube that I found helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXnKyJdA ... ed&search=

As a neophyte, it has helped me to understand better some of the tips that are offered on the forum. I plan to make the trek to get some personal instruction at Xeno's establishment, but for now it has to wait.