Concept2 Forum

I'm new to this forum,but I'm not new to Concept 2.I have over 31 million meters logged.I never pull for speed,but when I read this forum and look at the spits and that people do 10000 meters under 40 minutes,I would like to know what their SPMs are for those times under 40 minutes.I pull between 35 and 40 SPM and I can't get close to those times.How many SPM do you have to pull to get under 40 minutes.
Thank You

bigd9 wrote:I'm new to this forum,but I'm not new to Concept 2.I have over 31 million meters logged.I never pull for speed,but when I read this forum and look at the spits and that people do 10000 meters under 40 minutes,I would like to know what their SPMs are for those times under 40 minutes.I pull between 35 and 40 SPM and I can't get close to those times.How many SPM do you have to pull to get under 40 minutes.
Thank You

Welcome to the forum.

My 10 PB of 38:44.7 was at 32 spm.

Your stroke rate depends quite a bit on how tall you are, your torso height, and the length of your arms.

For example, I'm 5' 8 5/8, have an inseam of 32 5/8 inches and my reach is less than my height. The swimmer, Michael Phelps is 6' 4", has an inseam of 32 inches and a reach of 6' 8 inches. Although his inseam is less, his torso and reach give him 20 inches additional distance. He could probably lean forward and touch the cage with his fingers. Also there is a big difference in weight. There is no way that I could compete with Phelps on either a rowing machine, swimming, or at touching one's toes.

This relates to stroke rate, as the longer one can comfortably and mechanically drive with each stroke, the less number of strokes they need to take for a given effort and speed.

bigd9 wrote:I'm new to this forum,but I'm not new to Concept 2.I have over 31 million meters logged.I never pull for speed,but when I read this forum and look at the spits and that people do 10000 meters under 40 minutes,I would like to know what their SPMs are for those times under 40 minutes.I pull between 35 and 40 SPM and I can't get close to those times.How many SPM do you have to pull to get under 40 minutes.
Thank You

35 to 40 SPM is very high for 40 minutes. Actually I think almost everyone would think it is high for anything over 2K. I'm 5'7" ~148 lbs with normal proportions and can easily do a 10K in 40 minutes at 20 spms.
My stepson who is 6'5" can comfortably pull 1:48 splits at under 18 spms.
It is impressive to watch.
Most people will do there 10K PR under 28 spms. I think I did mine at 26-27.
John likes higher spms and lower drag then most.

bigd9
You must be pulling very short strokes, maybe against a very high drag. Try doing exactly the opposite.

Low drag is fundamental, because it means the pull can be long and quick, i.e represent plenty of work, while leaving a lot of time for the boat to run during the recovery. Never hurry to the next stroke, the boat goes anyway.

In general, the higher the rating, the slower we go. To see this, try pulling arms only, then add swing, then add increasing knee lift and seat travel until your hands are near the chainguard with shins vertical, straight back and trunk hard up against your thighs; all in about ten minutes.

You don't tell us how tall you are, but I agree that this kind of stroke rate is not something anyone uses for anything else but sprints.

Try to stretch out your stroke; reach further and respect proper stroke rhythm.

Observe videos of rowers (YouTube has a ton of them) and get a feel for what you should achieve.

Good luck!

I did a 10k the other day, my split was about a 25 the entire time. I think alot of it has to do with height - I'm 6'3'' and on a 2k go at about a 34. When I do a 40 minute Level 4 Wolverine piece, 10 minutes at 16, 18, 20, and 18, I average about 1:53-ish.