Any one use one. I have just acquired a concept 2 and am wondering what I should be doing , distance and effort. My plan is to use it on shitty days as well as maybe before or after runs or cycles.

Used to have one at home, now don’t but it’s the only cardio machine I bother with at the gym.

As ever, what you should do depends on what you achieve. Intervals/HIIT work well, that might be a good compliment to running/riding.

What I specifically like us that it feels like a better full body workout than running our riding, so I use it to almost ‘balance out’ all the leg biased stuff.

I love mine, no particular plan as such. Stick a cd on & listen to the end. Go fast, go slow, go hard etc. Use it 4 or 5 days a week. Usually before tea or breakfast is best

Had a go tonight, 5000 metres took me 20:13. By **** it fair gets the heart going.

Thats a decent time for 5000 they had a 2000m challenge in our gym recently which is a killer if you give it some

have a lookt the concept 2 website and forum, they have good workouts on there, and plenty of advice.

I’d do some HIIT training stuff, such as 8x500m with 30 seconds rest between. The aim is to make the last rep as fast as the first rep.

Have a look online at technique. If you are so inclined you can log your metres. They are a damn good way to get fit, and are ranked just less than running for burning calories … but without the high impact on the knee. Like cycling, they use the bigger leg muscles so are great for cardio.

On the Concept2 website you can do your own training plans. There’s also PetePlan http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/the-pete-plan/ among others.

Distance wise, 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 2000m, 5000m, 10km, Half Marathon and Full marathon.

Time wise, 30m and 60m are longer pieces.

I’ve only recently returned my hire machine, as it was costing a chuffing fortune. But have had a great love-hate relationship with my rowing machine, and even had a bash at the Indoor Rowing championships … not that I got any kind of ranking!

I’d set the resistance bar (on the side of the flywheel) to around “5” … you can see those in the gym that jump on there, whack it up to 10, row frantically for 5 minutes and get off there thinking they’ve done a great row.

Standard times are usually measured for 2000m. Below 8 minutes is good, below 7 minutes is excellent, below 6 minutes you should be rowing for Team GB.

Technique wise, try to keep a good rate of say 25 Strokes per minute, and a pace which you can maintain. For example when I first started using it I could only maintain about 2:45/500m … but over time it improved to about 1:45/500m. Try to drive hard with the legs, and not use your back as a lever.

Mostly, stick some music on and enjoy!

18:12 was my best 5k, rather proud of that one, and remember being so chuffed in joining the sub7 2k team!

greatest piece of kit youll ever own. have put on nearly 2 stone since (stupidly) selling mine around 18months ago.. gosh.

I tended to float around 29 to 31spm. many say that proper technique should be slower than this, but felt right to me.

Mine takes a back seat to cycling/weights/running these days, but I use it as a light warmup before every weights session, plus once a week for interval training, working towards improving my 2k time (do one of those once a month to see how I’m getting on).

IMO interval training is where it’s at, ergs are perfect for it as it’s a full-body workout and you can go all-out without worrying about tripping up/riding under a bus/etc.

My one biggest tip would be: if your technique isn’t perfect, find someone to teach you EVEN IF IT COSTS MONEY. Technique is absolutely key and if you do it wrong you’re at worst risking injury and at best ingraining bad habits. Once you have the technique get lots of long, slow rows so your brain/muscles become used to the movement then gradually increase the speed.

FWIW my stroke rate is around 24-26 when going for it, 2k time getting close to 7min but not there yet! I’ve definitely found it’s more efficient for me to pull harder and slower, YMMV. Don’t get too hung up on the “resistance level” as it’s different for every machine, just find a level that suits. Google “concept 2 drag factor” if you want to know the full details.

Just had a go at 1000 meter 3:35. Because of where I live, the isle of Mull I’m not really going to get a chance of any one to advise me.

FWIW my stroke rate is around 24-26 when
going for it,

you’re probably losing 10+ seconds on your 2k time just by rating so low… 2k should be 32-34ish, maybe 30 if your technique isn’t great.

To the OP, watch the concept technique videos then film yourself. I guarantee that what you think you’re doing won’t be what you’re actually doing 🙂 speaking from experience …

feet out of the straps is a good way to check you’re doing things right-ish. You should be able to get the same score feet out up to around 26 rate if you’re accelerating the handle properly.

24-26 does seem low, I’m normally around the 28 spm rate without going nuts.

http://concept2.co.uk/training/guide
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