Concept 2 – bike or rower?

I’ve had an operation on my big toe and no running for the foreseeable. I’m looking at getting a Concept 2 Bikeerg or rower. It will be for me to train on as part of recovery and then whole family to use for fitness.

Not interested in other makes, we have already wasted hours on research. However which should we get? Doing my head in!!! Bike obviously will help my cycling, but rower better for all-round fitness.

Thoughts?

SkiErg? A positively ‘evil’ piece of kit, cracking workout on it. Might not be good for your toe mind. Will a bike be OK for your toe too? A lot of pressure goes through the ball of the foot. I would throw in Wattbike Atom we all use ours, but as you’ve settled on the C2 I won’t. Of the two it’d be rower for me.

The rower will always sell second hand for a good price. I don’t know if the bike has as good a reputation if you come to sell it.

Best thing with C2 is to get all three and do ergathlons, it is the only interesting thing you can do with them, the rower and the skierg are dull by themselves, no one but professional rowers or xc skiers are going to use them enough frequently over a period of time to make any reasonable difference to their fitness to justify their costs. And there are just much better options for indoor cycling than the bike erg.

Get all three and do ergathlons a few times a week though, isn’t any where near as tedious as using them individually and much more likely to keep training consistently over a long period of time.

MSP is right about the SkiErg being dull, I use it as as part of longer sessions with weights for S&C. Can you connect to the cycling apps on the BikeErg?

If you had an operation on your big toe I think a rowing machine might be out you bend at the toes as part of the stroke.

Rowing machines are far more interesting than stationary bikes though you can Really focus on technique and get extra speed by getting the strokes bang on. It’s full body too and good for the core.

Good point about pressure on ball of foot with bike. However, I have been experimenting with an old exercise bike we have and a few tester workouts peddling on my heels – doesn’t seem to have caused an issue. I should point out I’m seeing a sports Physio we regularly use on Friday, for specific advice and a plan.

Yes – I know they may be boring, but I can’t do much else at the moment and I will go insane! I’m used to exercising every day. Mate has a rower which I tried yesterday which he has successfully used through a running injury. Only issue was foot strap was in same place as surgery, but I adjusted foot size, which seemed to work.

I’ve looked at a smart turbo and bike indoors, but wife isn’t having it, and in fairness not as good for whole family to use.

If you had an operation on your big toe I think a rowing machine might be out you bend at the toes as part of the stroke.

I’ve looked into this. Seem to be 2 schools of thought on whether you should bend your foot or keep it flat.

I really don’t see how you can do a complete stroke unless you lift your heels or fold you feet up towards your shins!

My shoes were always bolted to the boat at the toe only.

As above, if your heels were meant to stay flat, they wouldn’t be free to lift in the boat.

I think you would need very good heal flexibility (certainly way better than mine!) to row with flat feet.

I had the rower previously and have a ski erg now. This is in addition to a Kickr/ bike. My eperience is that I did not like to row so much, partly sore backside over any distance (for me) partly boredom even using RowPro etc. It also seemed to be mostly legs and I get a lot of that with cycling. So sold it on.

I then talked myself into the ski erg. This was based upon my impression that it would exercise a different muscle group [anterior chain]. Its still boring but no sore arse is a bonus. I think it does improve core strength in a way that is beneficial on the mtb. That said I still rarely use it.

I cycle most days and use the kickr a lot so its not that I’m fundementally lazy. My hope is that I can integrate the ski erg into a garage workout with kettlebells etc and make gains that way.

I have seen a YouTube on the Concept bike and its supposed to be a good test of fitness but I’d probably rather have the kickr and use TR/ Zwift etc.

If you’re anywhere near Bristol I have a barely used Concept 2 rower you can have for £700.

Bought the Bikeerg in Nov, you can connect the computer to Zwift and Sufferfest really easily. Like the build quality and they only make about 5 things so spares would be fine. My other half has actually done a lot of road cycling outside after getting into it over the winter, so my vote is for the bike.

Pros:
– Super fast to change set ups if you are all different sizes and no oily chains or swapping wheel/tyre shenanigans
– Pretty quiet compared to magnetic or fluid trainers
– Light, compact and easy to move around but still solid I.e. not a 60kg Peloton monster
– Can’t see you ever “topping out” in terms of resistance as it increases with cadence

Cons:
– My wife found it hard to remember the fan resistance settings for a given power/cadence, a taped on scale helped make it clearer
– Does not change resistance to the workout automatically, I’m fine with that but then repeated more workouts so could shift quickly
– Expensive, but should last an age with home use

Left field…

How about a punchbag. My whole body is aching today from 30minutes.

Aching in a good way. And it’s great fun.

If you’re anywhere near Bristol I have a barely used Concept 2 rower you can have for £700.

Thanks – do you know which model it is? I’m in Somerset so close.

Rower, fantastic kit in terms of quality and workout.

Once you have your technique dialled in its a fantastic heart and lung improver. As you work nearly muscle group the cardio bits in you hit their limit before your muscles do.

And if you hate it, someone will buy it off you in a heartbeat.

@Clink – it’s a PM5.