New to indoor rowing...relatively!

[JaapvanE]

Okay. At the gym this morning I entered the drag menu and set the damper to 7. Drag was about 71 ish. Lowered to 3 and about 54. Up to 5 and drag of low 60's. I couldn't get anywhere near the 3 digits in your post. Could it be that the machine is just very tired?

Oh, the joys of bad maintenance practices at gyms. Seeing these numbers, this machine hasn't been maintained in decades. Typically, a dragfactor of 70 is found at damper setting 1 on a new machine. And at damper 10, you get a df around 230.

I had a similar case in my gym. The thing is that the machine will feel and behave differently than you are used to. Part is the low dragfactor, but a large part also was the badly maintained chain and the seat rollers. It took me a couple of weeks to get used to the machine. After I got used to my own machine, I started skipping it at the gym, as it is quite a dissapointing experience.

I'm still on the fence whether the bad maintenance has good side-effects. In my experience, these badly maintained machines are found at gyms where attention to good rowing technique is also lacking. And thus people tend to set the damper to 10 there, with bad technique. The extreme low dragfactor kind of makes this an acceptable situation. But when people buy their own machine, they are in for a surprise.

[Sean65]

Thanks for all your replies. It will be interesting to see the number for dr when I get home on to my new machine. I did notice a difference straight away, but I only had time for one row on it before coming away for our half terms hols. Even on a damper setting of 10, the gym machine barely hits 90.

So, to summarise. Use the legs to the full extent from a more bent over catch position before pulling back on the handle and use a bit more back movement? I will get used to the terms the more I read, I am sure. That explains why I was not perhaps feeling such a drive from my legs. Essentially though, I hope I am not a million miles off technique wise? Certainly better than some of the frighteningly bad techniques I see when people use barbells and dumbells in the gym.

[Dangerscouse]

So, to summarise. Use the legs to the full extent from a more bent over catch position before pulling back on the handle and use a bit more back movement? I will get used to the terms the more I read, I am sure. That explains why I was not perhaps feeling such a drive from my legs.

You need to primarily push from the legs, but don't exclude the upper body as this still plays a role, albeit probably a 70/30 split, changing to 30/70 when you pass the horizontal plane.

To get used to the push with your legs, drive predominantly with one leg then, the other leg, then both together as normal, and repeat for as long as you want. Aim for a 70/30 emphasis, so you can build a mind muscle connection with the pushing action

[Sean65]

At the gym this morning, I wound the damper up to 10, for what it is worth on this machine. (it has done a mere 12,998,947 lifetime metres since 2010). I then proceeded to row a leisurely 15 minute 3k to really concentrate on getting the legs working first and incorporate a bit more movement to try and get the 11 o'clock lean. Not perfect by any stretch but I felt there had been an improvement. It stated a s/r of around 29 but who knows with this tired old machine.

[Citroen]

At the gym this morning, I wound the damper up to 10, for what it is worth on this machine.

Take a screwdriver in to the gym next time and you can easily show the gym staff how to open the fan cage and remove the dust and cruft from their ergo.

[JaapvanE]

I then proceeded to row a leisurely 15 minute 3k to really concentrate on getting the legs working first and incorporate a bit more movement to try and get the 11 o'clock lean. Not perfect by any stretch but I felt there had been an improvement. It stated a s/r of around 29 but who knows with this tired old machine.

Concept2's can take quite a beating, and there metrics are pretty good regardless. The 29 SPM seems a bit high for a pace of 2:30/500m. Try to slow down in your recovery.

[Sean65]

Okay I shall try that when next at the gym, although i suppose I am not likely to get true figures until i get back home.
I shall certainly mention the bit of routine maintenance to the gym staff. See what, if any difference, it makes. Thanks.

[Sean65]

I tried to give the rower a bit of a clean. Then after leg day at the gym tried a quick 500m whilst trying to maintain s better form. S/r is better than the 40s and a better time compared to beginning of the week.
Looking forward to trying mine out later.