Foot Straps

[APM]

Hello, I have tried looking for this in the forum to no avail, so here goes:

basically to cut a long story short when I row I prefer to keep my feet tightened to the machine as firm as possible, and as such attach the available part of the foot strap underneath my shoe laces, which always works.

However, when rowing last night I over-enthustiastically tried to attach part of the foot strap underneath my laces and seemed to have pulled at least part of the stitching out of the strap.

Therefore, my questions are as follows.
Has anyone else had this issue?
And, are the foot straps easy to replace?

Thanks,

EDIT: Sorry, I have a brand new Model D

[Citroen]

The way most of us get the straps really tight is by passing the loose end back through the bottom of the buckle. You can make it so the strap won't move.

It's a ten minute job to change them.

If the machine is really new then call Concept2. The straps should last for years, not weeks.

[APM]

The way most of us get the straps really tight is by passing the loose end back through the bottom of the buckle. You can make it so the strap won't move.

It's a ten minute job to change them.

If the machine is really new then call Concept2. The straps should last for years, not weeks.

Thanks Citroen; and I know about passing the loose end back through, I just prefer it this way. However after this, I may look to alternate again.

I called Concept 2, and they are willing to provide a replacement set free of charge.

And really? How do you cchange them? Just feed the material through?

[Citroen]

And really? How do you cchange them? Just feed the material through?

You'll need to unscrew the footplates.

[michaelb]

If you are not racing, you probably should learn not to have the straps tight. They should be unnecessary for training. If you like the straps tight for regular training, that makes me think that there is an issue with your technique somewhere.

If you try to same training row without straps at all, what happens?

[APM]

michaelb, I have tried rowing strapless before, but simply did not like it. I don't believe there is a definancy with my technique, it is just a personal preferance.

[water-ratt]

i have a lot of miles on my 'D' model and also like tight footstraps so i replaced the straps with daKine tie down straps with cam buckles.
They are awesome! took about 15 min. needed to remove a screw and put a hole in the straps but they work sweet.

[APM]

Hi, finally managed to swap them over, but for the comment below...

It's a ten minute job to change them.

It took about an hour!

[Super Dave Osbourne]

It has been told to me by 3 olympian single scullers that rowing with straps tight is not a good thing to get used to doing. It encourages too much of a power stroke resulting in jerky boat motion. However, if you are only rowing on an erg, it may not matter than at all. I have been told to row without foot straps on at all for a bit to make myself aware of flat foot push (opposed to tow extended push) and also a smoother recovery. Of course in real racing on boat or erg it would make sense to have straps down pretty tight.

[Cayenne]

Hope this is not too much of a thread-hijack:

I've been told that ideally balls of feet should be at top of metal plate that foot straps are on. I would like to experiment with feet much higher than foot straps will accommodate. (I am cool with strapless, but rely on the heel cup to rest foot on. If I hold foot higher, it creates excessive "tension."

How can I raise the foot strap much higher ?

TIA

[Byron Drachman]

Hope this is not too much of a thread-hijack:

I've been told that ideally balls of feet should be at top of metal plate that foot straps are on. I would like to experiment with feet much higher than foot straps will accommodate. (I am cool with strapless, but rely on the heel cup to rest foot on. If I hold foot higher, it creates excessive "tension."

How can I raise the foot strap much higher ?

TIA

If you raise the footstretcher a lot then you have to change the angle of the footboard. The C2 has the footboard at approximately 45 degrees relative to the monorail, whereas in a boat the angle would typically be around 39 to 41 degrees from horizontal. It doesn't sound like much of a difference but it is.

I got my feet higher and changed the angle by installing a simple wooden wedge. So I now have my feet very much like in a boat. It is much more comfortable going into the catch and I can now get my shins vertical without raising the heels at the catch. I can keep my feet planted in my boat at the catch and during the entire stroke and now I can on the C2. The first part of the drive feels stronger to me with the entire foot planted instead of having the heels up. I showed details in my blog at the UK forum.

I replaced the straps with some Velcro straps. I did it for a couple of reasons. As everybody says, most of the time you don't want straps to be tight. In fact, if you take a perfect stroke you don't need straps. The first reason is that I like to do the ab exercises at the end of Xeno Muller's 100K-200K no problem training video, and I want to be sure the straps hold when I get horizontal. The second reason is that I do a twenty minute warmup using an unstable seat. Sometimes some pressure against the top of one of the feet helps control a wobble while using the unstable seat. Rowing with an unstable seat is a great core workout.