Newbie to indoor rowing

[smokersteve]

I’m a cyclist who recently tried out rowing. I ride 6000-7000 miles a year, use an elliptical machine 2x’s a week, and treadmill at times.
Recently I picked up a used First Degree Fitness water rower. It’s decent(monitor stinks) but after trying out a c2 I decided c2 pm5 is the way to go. It’s hard as heck to find a used one in my area(SoCal) that’s not about the same price of a new one.
Lots of great info on this forum!
Hopefully I’ll be part of the c2 family soon

[Ombrax]

Welcome, Steve.

I'm also a cyclist, but now spend most of my cardio exercise time on a rower instead of a bike. Of course winter doesn't mean much to you SoCal types, but I've found that using the erg indoors is much less boring to me than rollers. Maybe because I associate the bike with riding outside, but either way, for me it's way easier to put in 30 minutes indoors on the rower than on the bike.

Good luck finding a rower, but unless you do get lucky and find a great deal, you may conclude that you might as well go ahead and buy a new one.

[smokersteve]

Found a used C2 Model d pm5 for $650.
It had some dust on it but I could tell it wasn’t used that much. Cleaned it up real good and oiled the chain.
I updated the software on the pm5 and did a factory reset so it only has my meters on it. When I got it there was 55k meters registered on it.
Got the ErgData app and created an account with concept2. Saw that I could connect to Strava and Garmin Connect so I did that also.
Now I just have to figure out how to row...

[Citroen]

First you need to figure out that it's not a "CM5" it's a "Performance Monitor 5" or "PM5".

Next learn about "drag factor".
https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/ ... etting-101

[smokersteve]

First you need to figure out that it's not a "CM5" it's a "Performance Monitor 5" or "PM5".

Next learn about "drag factor".
https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/ ... etting-101

Thanks. I fixed it to pm5..I must have had it mixed up with my Kahr handguns.

Drag factor - 120 -

[Ombrax]

Congrats Steve.

As you suggested regarding your next step, the single most important thing for you is to get the basic rowing technique right. You don't want to start off wrong and ingrain a bunch of bad habits. That's bad for your body and bad for your overall performance.

Along with all the "newbie" threads here, the C2 site is a very good place to start: https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training

Some other suggestions: 1) Don't slam the damper lever to 10, the right place for you (unless you're a 250 lb power lifter) is most likely around 5, or a Drag Factor in the 100-140 range, 2) Try for a stroke rate of 20-25 strokes per minute. If you look at the PM memory in gym rowers you'll find lots of people going up and down the slide like crazy around 30 spm, which is silly, given that most of the time they're also at a relatively slow pace of 2:45-3:00 / 500m. You want to be able to put good power into the handle at relatively low stroke rates, then when you want to go faster you can increase your stroke rate (assuming your cardio capability can keep up).

Good Luck and keep at it. Rowing is a great way to exercise, especially in the winter when the weather's cr@ppy outside.

[smokersteve]

Thanks Ombrax. I was messing around on it a little today and at damper setting 4 the drag factor was 120. I’m a little guy at 5’8” 142 lbs.
I’ve been watching some of the c2 videos which are very helpful.
I’m going to jump on it tonight and do a short 2000m at an easy pace. I’ll be videoing from the side so I can see how poor my form is. I can’t go to hard cause I was doing intervals on my InsideRide rollers this morning that wiped me out.

[Ombrax]

I’ll be videoing from the side so I can see how poor my form is.

If you like you can save the video somewhere online and start a thread here with a link to the video.

Folks will be glad to offer advice or suggestions.

There are a few ways you can check your technique on your own:

1) Set the PM to display the force curve. If your legs, back and arms are working well together it should be a nice smooth single hump. (a square wave is actually better, because that way you get more area under the curve, but your body really can't do that, so it's better to shoot for something that looks like a hill)

2) Row "strapless" (i.e. without the foot straps) for a while (carefully at first) and see if you have a tendency to shoot off the back of the slide. When you're strapped in you don't want to bang into the straps at the end of every stroke because that's a waste of energy, so by rowing rowing strapless you force yourself to refine your technique to eliminate using them as a brake. If you find you can't do it then keep tweaking things until you can.

Good Luck

[Citroen]

I’m going to jump on it tonight and do a short 2000m at an easy pace.

There's no such thing. 2000m is an evil distance which pushes you into the hurt locker with about 500m to go.

[MPx]

I’m a little guy at 5’8” 142 lbs.

Good advice above...but other than for practicing pure technique/form (which is very important), I'd say you'll find it more satisfying to adopt a slightly faster stroke rate, say 24 to 28, when cruising. The big guys (well over 6 foot) do well in the 18-22 range for steady state rowing, but IMO that's just too slow for a smaller person with limited stroke length which will make it hard for you to achieve any sort of pace that you'll be happy with.

[winniewinser]

I’m going to jump on it tonight and do a short 2000m at an easy pace.

There's no such thing. 2000m is an evil distance which pushes you into the hurt locker with about 500m to go.

Hell yeah.....2km = pain!

[smokersteve]

I’m going to jump on it tonight and do a short 2000m at an easy pace.

There's no such thing. 2000m is an evil distance which pushes you into the hurt locker with about 500m to go.

Thanks for all your great advice to someone who is completely new to rowing

[smokersteve]

There are a few ways you can check your technique on your own:

1) Set the PM to display the force curve. If your legs, back and arms are working well together it should be a nice smooth single hump. (a square wave is actually better, because that way you get more area under the curve, but your body really can't do that, so it's better to shoot for something that looks like a hill)

2) Row "strapless" (i.e. without the foot straps) for a while (carefully at first) and see if you have a tendency to shoot off the back of the slide. When you're strapped in you don't want to bang into the straps at the end of every stroke because that's a waste of energy, so by rowing rowing strapless you force yourself to refine your technique to eliminate using them as a brake. If you find you can't do it then keep tweaking things until you can.

Good Luck

Did a 30 minute session strapless. Tried working on getting better technique. Averaged 22 spm. Only did 670 strokes/4735 meters.
The force curve definitely helped. It showed me I am real jerky at the end of the stroke.
I might start wearing bibshorts (sitbones got a little sore)

Thanks for the tips

[Anth_F]

I’m going to jump on it tonight and do a short 2000m at an easy pace.

There's no such thing. 2000m is an evil distance which pushes you into the hurt locker with about 500m to go.

Thanks for all your great advice to someone who is completely new to rowing

No such thing as 2000m at an easy pace? ehh of course there is... you can do 2000m any which way you please. It's only an evil distance if you choose to go into the redline on it.