Slide Guide and optimal knee bend

Dreadnought · Post by **Dreadnought** » August 9th, 2009, 8:38 pm

Has anyone tried the Slide Guide? The idea is to prevent the knee from bending too much when rowing.

http://www.row-right.com/slideguide.html

I think that I bend my knees fully when I row, which is proabaly incorrect.
Does one get more power by bending the knee less: shorter range of motion, but perhaps more concentrated force?

SirWired · Post by **SirWired** » August 10th, 2009, 11:09 am

You can accomplish the same thing by bending your knees by the correct amount (shins vertical) and having somebody slide a rubber band to the correct spot on the track. This has the advantage that it won't bring you to a jarring stop if you go too far.

If you bend your knees past shins vertical, you won't be able to push off with your feet, and your knees won't be too happy doing the pushing off all by themselves.

grams · Post by **grams** » August 10th, 2009, 11:45 am

Stupid question: how do you get the rubber band around the erg?

grams

tdekoekkoek · Post by **tdekoekkoek** » August 10th, 2009, 8:49 pm

Another way to prevent over bending the knee is to make sure that the feet are not set too low.

SirWired · Post by **SirWired** » August 11th, 2009, 1:07 pm

grams wrote:Stupid question: how do you get the rubber band around the erg?

grams

If you have a C or D, split the machine and slide a big rubber band on. You could also simply cover a piece of string with tape on the track, etc. You just need something to provide a little "bump" that will tell you if you are stretching too far.

SirWired

grams · Post by **grams** » August 13th, 2009, 11:42 am

Thanks. I'll probably go for string. No sticky residue like tape would leave, and I don't have a big enough rubber band.

grams

Dreadnought · Post by **Dreadnought** » August 13th, 2009, 8:49 pm

So what landmarks do you use to make sure that the shin is vertical. The shin is not perfectly straight, so where do you start? What tools do you use a plumb line, a level, or just rough visual inspection?

Along the same lines, is there an optimal knee bend in terms of degrees?

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » August 13th, 2009, 11:09 pm

Dreadnought wrote:So what landmarks do you use to make sure that the shin is vertical. The shin is not perfectly straight, so where do you start? What tools do you use a plumb line, a level, or just rough visual inspection?

Along the same lines, is there an optimal knee bend in terms of degrees?

I doubt that many use anything more exact than a rough visual inspection — if that, since it would require a mirror or another person to help out.

The knee bend angle would vary from person to person depending on the length of shins and thighs, but with vertical shins, correctly positioned foot boards, and a consistent amount of flex in the ankle, the angle for any particular individual should be constant.

Bob S.

edit: One thing I forgot is that some might add an extra pad to the seat. I have the thin pad that C2 sells on the seat permanently, but for half and full marathons and the training that lead up to then, I used additional padding.