Any rowers on here? I've been trying to incorporate rowing into my workouts and in some ways I really enjoy it (it's a hell of a workout, and I feel like I can use it to help maintain/build both cardio and strength) and in some ways I find it very frustrating. Looking online, I see that
a novice 15 year old is supposedly capable of turning in a 8:15 2000m. I am a pretty avid cyclist with an FTP somewhere around 3.1-3.3w/kg on the bike (not earth shattering, but I would say decent) and can do over 1100w in a sprint, and I've done 5 hour races - all of which is to say is that my cardio is pretty solid. On the ERG, I have a very hard time getting my 500m splits under 2:00 - I've seen splits of 1:45 but it felt like the end of the world. I did a 2000m row the other day in 8:45 - this wasn't an
all out pace, but probably 85% effort. The weird thing is that I can manage a 2:20 pace barely trying, and I can do 5,000 or 6,000m pieces at around 2:30/500m pace without too much difficulty. I just have a really hard time going
fast. Any ideas? Technique? Lack of core strength? I'm weak?
Maybe all of the above, but how can a 10 year old possibly be faster?
edit:
Found a few pieces of advice that, conceptually, make sense to me:
An EXCELLENT exercise to learn leg drive is to put the damper to 1 or zero, whatever is the easiest. Then try to row your best split at 20 spm you can. To produce any power at all, like a 2:00 split, you have to absolutely explode from a good starting position then accelerate that handle all the way. It feels weird. But 1 min or 500 m of that a couple of times, then back to your regular damper setting works wonders on form.
Wish I could find the video of one of the concept II founders doing some low damper setting work, pulling 1:45's at 20 spm at zero damper, but youtube has been saturated by a ton of redundant row crap now by a couple of people monetizing erg videos.
Rowing at 18 SPM. Improved connection and power. Sequencing stroke drive 1 sec recovery 2-3. Faster times are also higher SPM. My best I’d be doing 34.
It seems prudent to try to improve my pace at slow stroke rate (which naturally would mean better form) before trying to increase the stroke rate. I'm gonna give both of these a try.