Wife doesn't feel any leg benefit

[RowerJon]

Hello all, my wife and I received our rower 2 weeks ago. I love it and I'm getting a great workout in both legs and upper body. My wife who's 5' 1" doesn't feel much if any in her legs. I've watched her row and she has proper form. Her knees are an issue as she doesn't have full range of motion. Perhaps 75-80% range of motion. She was rowing with resistance at 4 and went to 7, with no difference in the legs. Any ideas will be appreciated.

[mict450]

Welcome to the forum. If you could post a video of her, we have many here who could provide additional insight.

Glad you're enjoying the erg.

[Carl Watts]

What pace is she rowing at ?

Its all relative to pace at the end of the day. Rowing is about 60% legs, 25% arms and 15% back from memory so it has to impact the legs.

[jamesg]

What are her typical numbers, such as Rating, Watts, Watts/kg, Watt/Rating ratio?

The erg gives mainly cardiovascular benefit, especially at lower power levels (up to say 1 W/kg). At 5'1 (155) and with a nominal BMI weight of around 53 kg, this is just over 50W.

[Ombrax]

Jon,

I know you said that she has good form, but when I hear "leg's aren't getting a good workout" the first thing that comes to my mind is "shooting the slide" - a somewhat common error for newbies that she definitely wants to avoid. See the video below from C2 for help on that: (bottom link)

https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/ ... mon-errors

https://youtu.be/QLEezSLwE1g

[winniewinser]

My wife is also vertically challenged ....she rows up to 60' and is looking to lose weight but it's not dropping. I too don't think she's feeling much exertion in the legs. We've tried changing the DF but her best splits are still around 2:45/500m.

I dunno

[Ombrax]

I too don't think she's feeling much exertion in the legs. We've tried changing the DF but her best splits are still around 2:45/500m.

If she has good technique, and after rowing 2k at 2:45 her HR is maxed out and she's exhausted, then I'm sure she's benefiting from the exercise.

If she doesn't feel like she's tired out, then there is an issue that needs to be addressed. Otherwise, she's probably fine, just not as fast as some others.

[jamesg]

Pace 2:45 is 78 W, so maybe 1.5W/kg standard weight if height 5'-5'2; and very satisfactory, especially for an hour. I wouldn't mess with drag; it serves to set the speeds and timing that give a comfortable rhythm, nothing else.

To make muscle suffer, climb hills on foot or bike using only one leg at a time.

[hjs]

Hello all, my wife and I received our rower 2 weeks ago. I love it and I'm getting a great workout in both legs and upper body. My wife who's 5' 1" doesn't feel much if any in her legs. I've watched her row and she has proper form. Her knees are an issue as she doesn't have full range of motion. Perhaps 75-80% range of motion. She was rowing with resistance at 4 and went to 7, with no difference in the legs. Any ideas will be appreciated.

Not the machine but the rower makes the effort, she clearly must be not using the legs and pulling to much with the upperbody.

Upper the drag is not the solution, just the opposite. Set the drag at the lowest setting, use low spm and try to row at the same speed per 500. This way you are forced to use a fast, legdominant stroke. If not you simply get no speed.
Once you get the feeling right you can slowly up the drag to normal. For a smaller woman around 100 drag is plenty.

[Dangerscouse]

Does she have relatively strong legs, and what distance and stroke rate is she doing?

Sometimes I think that people can expect too much from the legs and expect them to be burning like you've just done really heavy squats. I don't always feel much in my legs, especially if the stroke rate is higher and the distance is shorter, but not a really hard pace.

[ArmandoChavezUNC]

If done correctly, the rowing motion more than works out the legs. If someone isn't "feeling it," then they are either not pulling hard enough, not using proper technique, or are expecting some sort of feeling that the erg just isn't going to give them.

Also, weight is lost via diet, not exercise. You'd need to row for hours and hours at something like a 2:45 to burn any significant amount of calories.

[RowerJon]

Thanks for all the replies! I will post photo of screen asap.

[ampire]

Try a lower drag factor and a lower SPM rating. Grip the handle loose in the hands, this minimizes involvement of the arms. If she is able to maintain a good wattage with low SPM and low drag factor and a loose grip, then she must be using her legs.

Instead of considering resistance as a fan dial number, use drag factor and aim for 100. This is probably a 3 or 4, but instead of guessing just go into the menu and check the drag factor.

The higher the drag factor, often the more back and arm involvement because the stroke ends up slower. If she is rowing on a 7, that is too high of a drag factor (probably 160). Try for 100 DF.

https://www.concept2.com/service/monito ... rag-factor
1 On the Main Menu, select More Options.
2 Select Display Drag Factor.
3 Begin rowing, skiing or riding. The PM will display the drag factor after a few seconds.

[RowerJon]

Looks like I can't post a photo. In the "Attachments" block I get: "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached"


Jon

[RowerJon]

I posted a video of her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43hveGv ... l=ROWERJON