Newbie with observations and sore butt...

[Steverino1955]

I've been rowing just a little over 2 weeks now and overall am enjoying it. A few observations...
1. Erging for time is much more intense and aggressive than I thought it would be.
2. I'm much slower than I thought I would be based on the rankings.
3. Maintaining great form without conscious thought is going to take me much longer than I guessed...maybe forever.
4. My back feels fine, which is surprising considering I've put in about 140K so far and have a history of some back issues.
5. My biggest problem so far is chafing below and on both sides of my tail bone just inside my cheeks. It has become very tender and I am now rowing in pain all of the time.

I'm wearing my cycling shorts and using vaseline and it helps a little bit but I need more relief. Looking for suggestions. Are there other shorts I can buy that would be better, a seat cushion of some sort? I'll try whatever. I can't believe my first post is about my butt!

thanks

[Cyclingman1]

My biggest problem so far is chafing below and on both sides of my tail bone just inside my cheeks. It has become very tender and I am now rowing in pain all of the time.

I had the same problem. I thought a pad that was the same shape of the seat would help. WRONG. And I used Vaseline and cycling shorts, etc. The solution is to use about a 1.5 in thick piece of fairly dense foam cut to the same size as the seat where a distinct "U" shape a few inches deep and wide is cut out at the rear of the pad, which keeps the tail bone from having any contact with anything. Get enough foam to experiment if need be. Problem solved.

[j1huegel]

I have had the chafing issues as well. I needed a few days off to "heal" then I use Bag Balm liberally before the row begins. I have found that once you get the meters up and you are healed, it doesn't happen so often. Kind of like blisters in new running shoes. Heal and break them in and you are good to go.

I just broke 1M meters on my home erg with a 216k month. I haven't had the chafing issues for a couple of months now.

[Atorrante]

Chafing issue will vanish. The foam solution will take care of the seat bones. So get the foam, use Vaseline for now, and happy rowing.

[Steverino1955]

Thanks for the input...I will be looking for foam this weekend. In the mean time I am using towels to get my butt up high enough so when I lean back I'm not contacting the seat with a lot of force.

[Bob S.]

Thanks for the input...I will be looking for foam this weekend. In the mean time I am using towels to get my butt up high enough so when I lean back I'm not contacting the seat with a lot of force.

Are you sure that the seat is not on backwards? The notch should be at your back. Most cases that I have heard of problems of leaning back were caused by reversed seats. In that case there is not only no notch to allow for the tail end of the spine, but the ridge that belongs in the front makes it even worse.

If that is not the case, it sounds like you may have too long a lay-back. A common rule for that is 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock. In other words about a 30 degree angle each way.

Bob S.