Do High Watts = Good Form?

[miket-nyc]

I've been rowing about 7 months and I find myself mostly looking at the watts screen on my PM 3. I look at other screens (especially when rerowing), but I mostly focus on the watts became they're showing me in real time how much I'm working on each stroke. That seems to keep me more psyched than other measurements.

But I'm wondering, is the kind of rowing that gives you the most watts per stroke also automatically giving you good rowing form? I watched several of the Training Tall videos, and I particularly liked one that said you should be pulling forcefully, but returning much slower and NOT trying for high strokes per minute. When I started rowing that way, my watts per stroke and total meters immediately went up. (Right now, I'm doing about 5500 meters in 30 minutes -- not so bad for a 71-year-old who's new to rowing).

But I still wonder, is rowing in a way way that makes your watts and meters go up automatically rowing the correct way? Sometimes I'm exhausted after a workout, but I never have long-term pains afterwards, so I assume my rowing form is acceptable. But no one's ever seen me row. I'm just going on the idea that if what I'm doing gives me the most watts and meters, I should keep on doing it.

Mike Taglieri

[Citroen]

The time per 500m is just a proxy for watts. So it doesn't really matter if you watch watts or time (although watts has better granularity).
Watching time makes your rows easier to compare with other people, since most folks use time.

Internally the PM5 measures watts and the display (watts, time or calories) is a mathematical calculation from the watts number.

[iain]

There are technique changes that improve the work per stroke in a way that cannot be reproduced at high ratings (notably excessive leanback). So not all increases are equal, unfortunately some potentially harmful errors also take a while to have an effect, so a lack of pain now doesn't mean that form is good. As for what is good, that depends what you are trying to achieve and in what timescale as well as what rowing you do and how often as well as what other exercise you do. Efficiency issues are not really a problem if all you are interested in is getting a good workout even if the pace produced may suffer.

All that said, if you are brave enough, the best way to improve form is to have someone knowledgable comment on it. This can be in person if you know a rowing coach, or by posting a video from the side on here for people's comments. Overall a good work per stroke is certainly something to aim for, but what is "good" will depend upon your exercise history. There are people your age much faster than me although I am only 55 and have rowed over 20M metres.

[Dangerscouse]

Imo higher Watts is only an indication of higher fitness and/or strength.

As you allude to, your Watts will (usually) increase with a higher stroke rate, but this could be detrimental to form as some smaller issues will be magnified as you increase the spm, and I've seen some very fast rowers with terrible form.

As Iain mentions, it's all reliant on what you want to get out of the session. If it's just enjoyment and maintaining some fitness, just keep doing what you're doing, but if you want to improve then it will need to get a bit more technical in terms of what you're doing and possibly how you're doing it.

[KeithT]

Others have explained you can have high watts with bad form - I have seen some really strong athletes get a low pull with bad form but they can't keep a pace at all. You do want to build a strong stroke but be carful of trying to overpower the rower, especially if trying to go faster. If you look at the best rowers their SPM is fairly high for competitions and time trials - you can only pull so hard. If wondering about form I would do as suggested earlier and post a video.

[jamesg]

be pulling forcefully, but returning much slower

This is typical of rowing, since if we pull a long hard and fast stroke the boat goes fast. But as drag is low, she keeps going during the 2-3 seconds when the blades are in the air.

The C2 flywheel mimics this, if we use low drag so that the pull takes 0.6-0.7s.

NB even at half power (or half race rating), a boat still goes at 80% full speed, due the the hydrodynamic cubic power law; C2 uses this same law when using Power to estimate boatspeed and pace.

This is a very good sculler in training UT2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf84O5cTWY4
See also C2:
https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/ ... que-videos

Further, pulling hard clearly trains us, but also helps maintain strength.

Major protocols (Interactive, Wolverine) for rowing training on ergs say do a 2k test, then use the same stroke or better in training at lower rates. The value of your stroke = Watts/Rating.

[Willy.VdW]

This is a very good sculler in training UT2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf84O5cTWY4

I notice his knees are quite a bit separated at the catch.
Is this a difference between indoor and OTW technique?
The technique of this athlete looks quite different.

[jamesg]

Quite so. Most scullers keep their knees close:
https://worldrowing.com/video/2023-worl ... x-a-final/

C2 for erg says:
The Catch:
Shins are vertical, or as close to vertical as is comfortable for you. Shins should not move beyond perpendicular.