Row2Go membership: my best investment in years

[Bart Dijkman]

I wanted to share a very positive experience with Row2Go on the forum. I used to be a competitive rower at university (20 years ago...). My competitive character is still there, the physical form not entirely so. I have owned a C2 for about 7 years and used RowPro a lot during the first 4 years. It was great, racing against friends and strangers.

Recently I tried picking up rowing again after 2,5 years and struggled to finish my RowPro sessions. Lack of focus, shape, motivation. With RowPro I usually enter a distance (5-10k) and then try to complete it as fast as I can. Not good when just starting up. I know that there are other ways of using RowPro, but this was my habit.

I decided the try Row2Go of Xeno Mueller. From the very first moment it was clear that this was the thing for me. Suddenly I rowed 12k sessions and they were over before I know it. I got back on the C2 pretty much for 10 days straight, which for me was highly unusual. The combination of a good warm up and down, motivational chatter, tough intervals and technique coaching make it a blast. After a few of these sessions I attempted another RowPro 5K and shattered my SB by over 20s.

I went as far as creating an account on the forum to share my enthusiasm and I would highly recommend considering it if you are looking for ways to get back on the erg.

Bart

[Quatroux]

I'm a huge fan of Xeno's. I think some folks have a problem with him switching from Concept2 to WaterRower. The man is trying to make a living in a sport not known for providing a comfortable living. Perhaps he's a bit too forward with his marketing, but I think he is very genuine - in everything he does. He's real. I like his free material and hope to one day pull the trigger and buy some of 1-on-1 coaching.

I see Xeno as more of a mentor than a coach. Perhaps he has a lot of broad knowledge, but I think he really speaks about what worked for him. This is very valuable and very few rowers in the world wouldn't benefit from this. You could probably say the same about Mike Caviston (Wolverine Plan) and most other coaches average rowers will come into contact with. Contrast this with Mike Spracklen - he's a coach. There is a line of people that have followed him to greatness. Xeno isn't there yet, but that doesn't detract from his potential value.

[Cyclingman1]

Let's get this right. An ex-competitive rower, undoubtedly used to a training program, who has since used RowPro for four years suddenly forgets that one does not get on a rower and row as hard as possible for 5-10K each rowing session? So you have forgotten what you once knew, are unmotivated and unfocused, and out of shape? And now you sign up to some sort of online program at a cost of x hundreds of dollars and you row tough intervals, are motivated, row 12K like it is nothing, and shatter previous 5K records - all in a matter of ten days? Okay, if you say so.

I dare say that most C2 rowers find ways to stay motivated and given years of experience definitely do not row themselves into the ground. One can compete at ragattas, in the C2 ranking system, Nonathlon, etc. The fitness and health benefits are obvious. One can watch TV or as you did use RowPro. It is hard to see how Row2Go is needed, unless perhaps Xeno is individually coaching one to maximize racing performance, which is not stated in the original post.

Color me a skeptic about this post and its intent.

[Bart Dijkman]

Dear Cyclingman,

As I mentioned, I know that there are other ways of using RowPro. You can do intervals, take it easy, etc.. And I love RowPro and will continue to use it. For me however, it always feels like a race platform. I can't stop but focus on my 500m split time and I typically do not do intervals. It served me well for years.

After doing less sports for some years (little kids) I started rowing again. Still use RowPro and the C2 Rankings, but most sessions are now with Row2Go.

And yes, one can watch TV and I always did this as well during rows. But stopping and just watching someone else on a rowing machine may be the biggest change. Instead of focusing on some TV show, I focus on my rowing, my rhythm, my breathing and technique. I simply enjoy it a lot.

And there is no "intent" of the post other than making people aware of something which worked surprisingly well for me. And I dare to say that there are a lot of C2 rowers who do have occasional motivation issues.

The 5k record was only my seasons best by the way. A long way to go to by PB...

Bart

[RogerR]

I also like Xeno Mueller's workouts at Row2Go. There are a great number of different interval workouts and intensity levels. It never gets boring and helps me to push harder if desired than training "alone". The other great benefit is the ongoing reminder for proper technique and Xeno uses plenty of drills to reinforce good habits.

To me, that was a good investment. I rather spent a few bucks than wasting hours of time searching the net for (unvalidated) information or get it wrong in the first place.

[cas_sj]

I have a question then for you guys regarding the on-line memberships....

Are the workouts identical to the ones on the flash drive that Xeno sells? I see a one year membership to his site runs $220; the flash drive is $299, but then of course you have the workouts permanently.... Both are fairly significant investments.

Are there any other benefits to on-line membership?

[Carl Watts]

RowPro is really all you need. One of the first things you need to learn is to separate the training from the racing.

This appears to be very difficult for some people, however before you even pull your first stroke you simply need to pick a pace and stick to it regardless of what the others rowing are doing.

You can be compeditive without having to race all the time, look for other areas to judge your performance on like minimising your heartrate for a given pace and dropping your rating over time.

People that treat every row like a race on RowPro are not getting the best out of it. Anyone can go mad and then have to have a few days off to recover, but if your rowing five to six days a week then you have to change your strategy.

[Bart Dijkman]

cas_sj, after hesitating for a few weeks I bought the $220 online membership. It allows you to download all training sessions, which I did (around 70 or so, I think). I assume that these are identical to the ones on the flash drive. All the drive does is save you the effort of downloading. I guess that once your membership expires, you can't download any newly uploaded sessions. Not sure if that is an issue, because I do not think that Xeno has uploaded any in that past year. Not sure why that is, but whatever is there will keep me busy for a long time.

[RogerR]

Carl, that's a very good point on separating racing and training. Though I like the row2go workouts a lot I do not use them every day. 1-2 x per week to spice things up and the rest is well paced longer pieces. I am turning 51yrs soon and can't go crazy all the time but I do train 5-6 x per week starting at 5am and follow along Xeno frequently helps me a lot. If I train for racing, I would use a structured program for 3 months prior to the event and disregard Xeno's workouts during that period.

To me, the money was well spent. I am using the workouts since 2 years and they never got stale. I downloaded the routines using a fast internet connection.

Rowpro is cool too. Does it work on the Mac?