DAMPER SETTING

[jackarabit]

Great illustration Fratboy fizzix to make Belushi proud.

[8sWwr2]

I've read Damper Setting 101, and also another video with Olympic rowers recommend: 5 is the closest representation to water - at around 1:09 in the video. In this article: The Damper and Drag of Olympians, one guy says this: When I used the Concept2 Indoor Rower I always used a 130 drag. How do you convert drag to the 1-10 settings?

Go back and read Damper 101 again.

The lever setting is abitrary. The damper reading is what you're working to set. On a clean machine lever setting 5 should be 130 drag. On a hotel machine that's full of crud and cruft (because it's never been clean since it left the factory) may have the lever on 10 to get drag 130.

On a new machine check it every month. When the drag on lever 5 drops below where you need it then clean your machine (which is a five minute job if done frequently or an hour job if done once in a blue moon).

Thanks. I'll check it out.

[jamesg]

How do you convert drag to the 1-10 settings?

Don't bother, it's a waste of precious training time. You're on the erg to get fit, not mess around pressing buttons.

So if you are still learning to row and using a quasi new machine:

1. set the damper lever to 3 and
2. row with long hard strokes at low ratings.
3. continue for a few years, more if you like.

When you have learnt to row at highish power levels (100 - 200 Watt) at low ratings (20-24) and you know what drag factor suits your size weight and age, press (on PM5): Menu - more options - display drag factor. Then pull a few strokes; the PM5 will display your current drag factor. Adjust the damper lever and pull again until you see the DF you want (usually between 80 and 130).

Low drag lets us pull fast and light; high drag, slow and heavy. Your choice, but start low.

[nates]

I'm a new rower too, so this might be presumptuous. But I've been asking the same questions, and haven't seen this spelled out quite this way in all the damper threads I've read. I started asking myself "Why can I not get a workout at the damper settings and stroke rates everyone recommends". Oh sure I could get a good thrashing but I had to either have the damper set crazy high or make the machine hop around (45spm). This morning it dawned on me after reading another thread about the recovery stroke: If you rush the recovery portion of the stroke, you're just spinning your wheels, both figuratively and literally. If you rush the recovery you will NEED to set the damper higher to get a good pull (yeah, I know it's a push, but the cable doesn't know that). Sure enough this morning I made sure my damper was around 120, and cut my stroke rate way back, and bam - my times actually came down a bit. I was shooting for 22spm but since this was a heart rate capped workout I ended up between 17 and 20 spm most of the time. And I finally broke a 10 minute 2k. I was starting to think of the damper as more of a throttle (ie how fast do you want to row) but it's more of a clutch to match my speed to the flywheel. Today was an endurance/calorie burn day (rowed my first 10k!) trying to stay around 150bpm or so. I can't wait to see the impact on my next max effort interval day.

If you can't get the workout you want without crazy high damper settings, it's probably because you're rushing the recovery.

[hjs]

I'm a new rower too, so this might be presumptuous. But I've been asking the same questions, and haven't seen this spelled out quite this way in all the damper threads I've read. I started asking myself "Why can I not get a workout at the damper settings and stroke rates everyone recommends". Oh sure I could get a good thrashing but I had to either have the damper set crazy high or make the machine hop around (45spm). This morning it dawned on me after reading another thread about the recovery stroke: If you rush the recovery portion of the stroke, you're just spinning your wheels, both figuratively and literally. If you rush the recovery you will NEED to set the damper higher to get a good pull (yeah, I know it's a push, but the cable doesn't know that). Sure enough this morning I made sure my damper was around 120, and cut my stroke rate way back, and bam - my times actually came down a bit. I was shooting for 22spm but since this was a heart rate capped workout I ended up between 17 and 20 spm most of the time. And I finally broke a 10 minute 2k. I was starting to think of the damper as more of a throttle (ie how fast do you want to row) but it's more of a clutch to match my speed to the flywheel. Today was an endurance/calorie burn day (rowed my first 10k!) trying to stay around 150bpm or so. I can't wait to see the impact on my next max effort interval day.

If you can't get the workout you want without crazy high damper settings, it's probably because you're rushing the recovery.

At lower drag, the fan has not much air to catch, so it keeps spinning, the recovery time needs to be longer for the fan to spin slower, so you can pull it up speed again.