Distance on Rowing Machine

Hey,

I have a rowing machine (tunturi R710, not the concept 2) and it displays the following information on the display:

Reps
Time
Strokes/min
Calories
Pulse (for if you have one of those heart rate monitor things).

Does anyone know what strokes per minute (ie. the speed) that is reasonable?

Everyone else goes on about distance but i can't do distance!!!

Reply 1

username245060

30-35
But you can achieve high stroke rate without doing much work. Calories seem to be the best measure of exhertion from the ones you have.

Reply 2

_imperator_

Your rate (strokes/min) is not your speed, you can basically pull the same time at any rate (within reason), just depends how hard you push. As for what rate is reasonable that depends on how far your rowing and what level your at, at the gym I always see people rowing at rate 30-35, but not actually getting anywhere fast, they simply rush back up the slide to get the rate up and end up burning out or pulling abysmal splits.
As a basic idea we tend to row at 30-32 for anything 5km or less, (roughly what we would be looking at on the water in a long race), and for distance work around 21.
What exactly are you aiming for (weight loss, CV etc)?
looking at their website it seems your ergo doesn't actually give any information on how fast your going (ie time/500m), so your best bet is to get a heart rate monitor and aim to work at a set intensity, calorie estimations on these things are just that, and inaccurate at best, and wont give you a discrete value at each point through the peice, just a running total, which isn't much use for rowing at a consistent pace.

Reply 3

Cirsium

Basically, if you're wanting to do sprint work then sure 30/32 is a good marker, but chances are if you're asking you're not an experience rower. So if you try to row that fast I guarantee you're going to do it with diabolically awful technique, get an awful workout and probably injure yourself into the bargain.

Far far more sensible IMO to do say 5k (which will take you between 18 and 30 minutes depending on whether you're an actual rower, a regular fit person, or a no-muscle newbie, so it's actually more like a regular workout rather than some crazy 8 minute sprint) at probably rate 24. That way you can actually concentrate on getting good technique, build stamina, and you'll burn way more calories anyway.

The important thing though is the split, which actually shows how hard you're pulling, rather than the stroke rate, which just shows how quickly you are flailing, with no indication of whether there's any pressure behind it.

Reply 4

dobbs

_imperator_

^This post is significantly more useful than the 2nd post in this thread which simply stated "30-35" lol (no offence intended to that poster but if the OP were to do something like a 30minute row I wouldn't expect them to last very long at 30-35)

Unfortunately if your display doesn't show your split time (which is your actual speed in terms of how long it would take you to travel 500m, rather than your rate, which is simply how many strokes per minute you're doing - bear in mind that you can do more strokes per minute but you may not necessarily actually be travelling further in the same amount of time), then you'll have to go off other things such as heart rate or maybe calories could do until you get a heart rate monitor.

I would highly recommend that you look on the Concept 2 website and pay attention to the 'technique' section; and maybe search on YouTube for "British Rowing Technique" or "Ergo rowing technique" (an ergometer or "ergo" for short is a Rowing Machine) and see if you can replicate this. If all else fails, find out where your local rowing club is and see if you can go in just for a quick 30 minute session with a rower to show you how to use the proper technique.

This may sound like a lot of work, believe me I realise that, but if you don't use the correct technique you may end up with back pains, joint pains, etc. and not be getting the best out of your body :smile:

Reply 5

dobbs

PS. Note all of the rowers come out of our cupboards and jump on threads like this "OMG someone wants tips on what to do on an ergo!!! YAY!!" haha

Reply 6

mike2niner4

dobbs

Thanks

I did do a 5 week rowing thing through school where i went to the local rowing club and they showed us how to do it and we did some rowing on the water too.

Is it beneficial at all to to just arms only or anything like that, to concerntrate the excersise?

Reply 7

_imperator_

mike2niner4

Is it beneficial at all to to just arms only or anything like that, to concerntrate the excersise?

What exactly are you aiming for with the erging?
I wouldn't think that arms only for a long period would be of any real benefit, only as part of a warm up (arms only, arms+body, etc up to full stroke). You'll still get the work on the arms if your drawing through at the end of each stroke in terms of building up the stamina, but if your looking at increasing strength then a rowing machine probably wont help much on the arms.

Edit: as you say 'i cant do distance', i would think the best thing for you to do would be to work on increasing your stamina to begin with, start off with just 10 minutes at a low rate (18-20), and gradually build that up, 15 minutes, 2x 10min etc, your speed will probably increase as you go. I seem to remember the concept2 website having some good training plans for a variety of levels of experince and different targets, so maybe have a nose around on there, I dont have time tonight but will try to find a link tomorrow if you want.

Reply 8

SMed

mike2niner4

Everyone else goes on about distance but i can't do distance!!!

No, you're right. You won't go very far, they're bolted to the ground you know. :smile:

Reply 9

partoftheweekend

What I do to find rate:

Look at distance,
work out what pace im doing (Dependant on distance and how hard im pushing)
then work out what stroke rate depending on pace compared to 2k

eg if im going at a faster pace than my 2k pace ill rate higher and vice versa. down to about 18 if im doing UT2 or long stuff.