Need to develop some core and upper body fitness as well as legs, so this seems a good way about it.

What features do I need to be looking for? This is for home use, and something which folds up would be handy. Looking at 2nd hand off ebay or similar, spend £150 – £200.

Concept rowing machines are ace, don’t fold up to small and way over budget but personally wouldn’t use anything else.

The industry standard erg is the Concept 2. Brand new they are about a grand, I picked up a virtually new 2nd hand model C on Gumtree for £500 a few years ago. They are a worthwhile investment if you’re serious about using one as they will last forever in a home environment. Obviously you can get cheaper ones but if you’ve ever used a concept 2 (most gyms have them) you really wouldn’t want to.

BTW rowing is probably about 80% legs. This makes them a good training tool for cycling IMO but if you’re looking for something to use when your legs are knackered from too much cycling then rowing is not it! It’s a pulling motion so works the back a lot more than the core as there’s little stabilisation required. Arms are just there to hold the handle to be honest but if your grip/forearms are weak they will get a lot stronger quickly. Lots of good info on the concept 2 site on what they do & how to use them.

It gets very boring, very quickly. I now only ever do 10 mins at the gym as a warm up before going on the treadmill, or bikes.

Maybe splooge the cash on a gym membership? Or visit your local rowing club, if you have one, as most do lessons and have gyms with the Ergos available for training.

It gets very boring, very quickly.

you’re doing it wrong 😆

They’re evil, painful and hurtful machines. They will expose any weakness you have and leave you a vomit covered, quivering wreck.

Ergs; not even once.

What features do I need to be looking for?

One with magic pop-up rowing coach?

Seriously – doesn’t matter what machine you buy – if you can’t use it you won’t do anything except get out of breath.

As a rowing coach -I’d strongly recommend you get down your local club to learn, or find a gym where they know what they’re talking about. There is nothing quite as painful as going to the gym and seeing people batter around back and forth wasting masses of energy for zero benefit.

To answer your actual question – look for a Concept 2, second hand, ideally not one from a gym or rowing club as they’ll have been beaten to death, you want one from someone who got it, got bored of it and now wants rid

Concept 2 best machine. Get row pro and connect to virtual world and race others or train with others, its very addictive. From September to January I row rather than swim for training and soon becomes addictive…..only machine that I need a sick bucket beside me in my garage 😈

2k TT on erg worse than any intervals on bike or run!

Fan ones in your price range will be very noisy.

Learn the technique – judging from yesterday’s trip to the gym, go a local gym and watch people using the machines. Then do the opposite.

Helios/rooney – what part of the foot should one be pushing with on a concept 2? The angle feels odd on the ones in my gym if i put the strap across the widest part of my foot (as instructor suggested)

Used them for training and love them. Concept II is the benchmark machine get to the gym to try them out before spending money, not a biggie if you buy as they hold their value. Get down to the boat club too and try the real thing, it’s ace.

I now only ever do 10 mins at the gym

Lightweight, you stick to the easy stuff and leave the real exercise to the men. 😆
5,000m min for a warm up minimum.

As said above, learn to row first (doesn’t have to be in a boat).
I love watching non rowers on ergos. Why do they keep bashing their knees? Don’t they think ‘Is this right?’

I don’t think rowing machines are any more boring than turbo trainers or running machines, you’re inside so it’s going to be boring. just put some (water proof) head phones on.
(I used to do 1hr sessions when I was young and stupid.)

people batter around back and forth wasting masses of energy for zero benefit.

Both Concept II and WaterRower will rent you a machine for about £35 a month if you can’t stretch to one.

Why do they keep bashing their knees?

Don’t want crabs, do they?

CaptJon – You want to push with the ball of your foot – so the gym instructor is probably not far wrong saying to put the strap over the widest part. However I find the footplate on Concept2 machines can make people do funny things.

When you say the angle feels odd – do you mean that as you come into the finsh you feel like the back of your legs get pulled taut, and that as you come into the catch you feel like you can’t compress fully?

A couple of things to try to make it more comfortable and get a better foot position:

Set the footplate height as normal – now wedge your trainer in the heel restraint and DON’T use the strap. Try erging for a bit and see if this feels better, pointing your toes into the finish. If you find it is more comfortable – it probably means you have the footstrap a little too far down your feet which is restricting your foot from coming up off the footplate. Lower them slightly (1 or 2 notches) so the strap goes over your foot closer to your toes. Try again and see if this feels better.

Alternatively – take your shoes off (and socks if you think you’ll get away with it in the gym), without shoes you’ll need to raise the footplate by several notches, but try to fit the strap over roughly the widest part of your foot to start with, give it a try and adjust to feel comfortable (up or down a notch at a time). Take note of where on your foot the strap goes over. Then try to mimic this position with your shoes back on.

Not rowed competitively for a while now, but still train on a erg pretty regulary.
I’d only recommend C2 ergs really, tried water rowers and didnt get on with them. (Although the one designed to mimic actuall rowing rather than sculling was pretty clever). YES, they’re a lot of cash, but last for ever with almost no maintainance IMO.

Got to be honest too, I get quite a lot of satisfaction sitting down at a gym erg next to the proverbial “mirror monkey” who is absoltely beasting himself at 30odd strokes per minute for a split of over 2 minutes. A nice slow stroke rate and low split then seem hugely enjoyable, despite the pain.
Rowing is all about efficiency, not about lugging on the handle like a crazed man!

As for 2k’s, they are, and shall always remain, the spawn of satan’s personal training regime.

I’d be interested to know whether you feel i am doing it correctly as I really enjoy beasting myself on the C2 at the gym a few times a week and have noticed my fitness has really come on using them.

I tend to either do 20 mintues on there, being 8 minutes warm up, followed by 10 mins of 30 seconds all out and 30 seconds back down to 24 strokes per minute,then 2 minutes warm down.

Or I do an hour on there on level 8, around 26-28 strokes per minute for 60 minutes covering about 12.5kms? I find that I can switch off and get into a zone with this,matching my breathing and some good music

I always attempt to make sure that i am doing a “complete” stroke, in that the start is as far forwards as is comfortable with my hands, bringing the handle/ oar back in a straight line to just below sternum and make sure that i push with the ball of the foot, as i lean back with the upper body to about 30 degrees and pull with arms in a straight line(difficult to describe!) as opposed to those that seem to sit bolt upright and push with legs then pull with arms up to their chest?

scud,

first workout sounds good to me. IMO ergs are perfect for HIIT. A lot of people also do the intervals by distance, e.g. do 250 or 500m as fast as you can, then recover.

Second workout sounds like a complete waste of time to me. Very much the traditional way that most people use “cardio” equipment at the gym. Stick to HIIT and leave the hours of easy work to the fatties who like to think they’re getting fit. IMO, YMMV, etc. 😆

Helios – Member
CaptJon – You want to push with the ball of your foot – so the gym instructor is probably not far wrong saying to put the strap over the widest part. However I find the footplate on Concept2 machines can make people do funny things.

When you say the angle feels odd – do you mean that as you come into the finsh you feel like the back of your legs get pulled taut, and that as you come into the catch you feel like you can’t compress fully?

A couple of things to try to make it more comfortable and get a better foot position:

Set the footplate height as normal – now wedge your trainer in the heel restraint and DON’T use the strap. Try erging for a bit and see if this feels better, pointing your toes into the finish. If you find it is more comfortable – it probably means you have the footstrap a little too far down your feet which is restricting your foot from coming up off the footplate. Lower them slightly (1 or 2 notches) so the strap goes over your foot closer to your toes. Try again and see if this feels better.

Alternatively – take your shoes off (and socks if you think you’ll get away with it in the gym), without shoes you’ll need to raise the footplate by several notches, but try to fit the strap over roughly the widest part of your foot to start with, give it a try and adjust to feel comfortable (up or down a notch at a time). Take note of where on your foot the strap goes over. Then try to mimic this position with your shoes back on.

Great stuff, thanks. I currently push with the ball of my foot, but i feel like i could get more power pressing against more of my foot – like when you do squats or leg presses. I guess it feels odd because the angle of the footplate only lets me press with the ball. I used to have my own machine (cheapish one) with a footplate which pivoted and let me use more of my foot. I’ll give your suggests a go and see if it makes any difference.

I love using the rower in the gym, and only partly because i’m tall have a long stroke (ahem).

Concept 2 all the way… I bought one as an ex-demo over ten yrs ago and it still looks and works good as new (yes it does get used!)

It’s proper excercise, but boring as **** though. A nearby telly or hi-fi are essential

I do 2000m in a best of 8:39 on resistance 10, beat that suckers . . . (runs and hides)

The erg measures total work done (that’s the whole point) which will be the same for 2000m regardless of the level. Try setting it to 4/5, you’ll probably get a much better time!

Recall reading somewhere that in competition it’s set to resistance 5

I’ve done 7:20-something this year on that… I used to get close to 7:10 in my twenties, but a couple of lads I worked with could get under 7mins!

Ignore the resistance bar that’s just for meatheads at the gym who crank it up to 10. You need to set the drag factor found in the menus at around 115-125 IIRC.

C2 rowers last forever and hold their value well too. Plenty of tips and training plans over on the c2 UK forum.

I did the Pete plan and that improvedy my times dramatically and has been said is very complimentary to cycling fitness.

As for 2k’s, they are, and shall always remain, the spawn of satan’s personal training regime.

Oh yes!!!!

As for level 10 or level 1 …… Not important as mentioned before you really need to find the drag factor on the machine. My home C2 is level 5.5 for drag of 126 what I use. While at work it’s level 4 for this and the gym level 8 (I have told them it needs a Hoover out!)

Best iv seen was at gym ….. Instructor giving induction to an over weight female who was keen to loose weight, never used a rower before. Instructor ramps up to level 10 and says 5 mins and walks away! She struggled but once shown a simple legs, core, arms pull and lowered level. She got on a lot better!

Over winter I row, Im fitter in february than when peaking for races!
Good for all over body development especially the engine! You will find the short sharp climbs easy in spring!

Anyone else on row pro ?

2k times hard to compare as you get lwt or hwt categories 😉

Concept 2 another vote for if you must, buy it off ebay, buy well and you get to sell it for more than you paid for it when you inevitably get fed up with the sheer mind numbing boredom and get back out pounding the pavements then doing chin ups on a tree branch in the garden, or buy one of those expanding tunturi bar things, put it in the door and split your whole house in half as your continued chin ups keep winding it up..

Bad news, the 1st bread knife wasn’t to happy, she left me shortly after that incident, moral of the tale, use someone elses house or a gym… Oh and er don’t shag her mate.. 😉

I got my Concept2 Model D with PM4 computer for £600 with only 10km on it off EBay, I could sell for that again with the 200km plus I’ve put on it since. It gets much more use than the cross trainer I had before and gives me a better work out.

2ks are a doddle. its 2.5ks that were horrible – 1s less split than a 2k but for what seems like an eternity longer.

Most of the advice above is good fwiw.

oh and 6:12 😉

oh and 6:12

HWT I hope 😉

definitely!

oh and 6:12

Yep beat me. 6.17min but I was in my late 30s and training for HORR so an evil ergo thrown in by the coach.

I think 2x3000m at sub 1.40min pace / rate capped at 26, with 5min easy paddling in between was harder or 5000k tests (16min 40)

Anyone remember the Dreissigacker machines of the 80s? Or am I that old.

I do but they were heading or something like that. Dreissigacker are the oar guys

I moved the footplat up a bit and had the strap lower on my feet and it felt much better.

I did a 2k challenge and did it in 8.39 – I managed to match the pace of a woman from the rowing team next to me, and i was quite chuffed. Then I noticed she was doing a 5k!

Geisling was the alternative machine in the 80’s. Proper evil they were too.