Why I think an Assault bike is better than a Rowing or skiErg for weight loss

[jamesg]

Firstly, the posterior muscle chain is extremely powerful

Rowing certainly uses the hips, since it's a power sport and that's were our largest muscle does the work. However we may need to pull 200+ strokes in a race, so the details of how it's done can become important.

[Ombrax]

The other one is Brian Shaw's record breaking 100 m row in 12.8 seconds, where he uses backswing

I'm no expert and a total wimp compared to Brian Shaw, but just the same he's about the last person I'd use as an example of how to use a rowing machine. But yeah, he's strong and he can sprint.

[Dave Neve]

Hello everyone

On the last two comments, and the previous comment about backswing going out of vogue, I'm not sure if we are talking at cross purposes (rowing on water v rowing on the RowErg)

But concerning backswing on the RowErg, as Jamesg said, the hips are a powerful muscle group

Brian Shaw's form can indeed be faulted but form generally goes a bit haywire when we do short bursts all out and I agree his form in the video is not "classic". But he does use backswing to its full, which was my point.

I was surprised to read the comment about backswing going out of vogue as other rowing sites I've watched also advocate it (11-1 o'clock). I'd be interested to read more about why some people don't use it.

Regards

[JaapvanE]

Brian Shaw's form can indeed be faulted but form generally goes a bit haywire when we do short bursts all out and I agree his form in the video is not "classic". But he does use backswing to its full, which was my point.

Look at this Mark Lewis video about the effect of back swing on an erg: https://youtu.be/xlifl4fdBlg

I was surprised to read the comment about backswing going out of vogue as other rowing sites I've watched also advocate it (11-1 o'clock). I'd be interested to read more about why some people don't use it.

I see sites like RowAlong and DarkHorseRowing actively promoting it.

However, a (80+) friend of mine had a fracture in one of his lower verterbra, making a hip rotation a big issue. He uses the C2 tractor seat to actively prevent hip rotation. I can imagine people at a higher age having similar issues.

[jamesg]

Backswing in some crews before WW2 and even in the fifties involved the back touching the knees of the man behind. Todays 11-13 is much like as seen at the '36 Olympics. Long swingback maybe was inherited from fixed seat rowing.

To me Shaw's technique looks good for an effort involving 15 strokes, hard to see what else he could do.