Buy one. You won't regret...

Until someone suggests something else.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

They are horrible devices, but you should definitely get one! Way too much time spent staring at myself in a mirror using one. I’d get one if my wife didn’t loathe those indoor hours of erging so much.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

I've owned one for about 4-years and love it. Reasonably priced & very low maintenance (I oil the chain one a month and replace the batteries in the PM5 monitor every couple of years.) Great full body workout -- especially legs & core. I use it two or three days a week -- 3-4 hours total time. Definitely helps my cycling. The company was founded and is run by rowers who have developed a terrific international community of like minded folks. Rowing is a technique sport, and Concept2's website has tons of videos & other info to help you get started and stay motivated. There's a good reason why Concept2 is used by virtually every prep school & college rowing program. BTW, although I live in Vermont, I don't work for or have any financial interest in Concept2.

Horrible. Hateful. Wouldn't use it as anything more than a clothes hanger.

But indestructible if you decide to use it, sport standard if you want to rank pieces and know where you stand, and great resale value if you want to get rid of it.

My view is through a glass, darkly. Like Nate I spent far too much of my life and sweat, vomit, and blood on C2s. I never, ever want to get on one again. If I was buying an erg for myself, I'd buy an RP.

But I am buying one for my wife as somehow she does not have the same feeling towards it as I do in spite of having rowed nearly as long as I did. If she uses it, great, If not, we'll not lose on the transaction when it's turned over. But I know that it'll hang clothes well, it'll give our kittens somewhere to launch attacks from, and if, when hell freezes over and I feel like getting on an erg again, I'll know it works.

Do you do „easy“ sessions on the C2 and interval work on the bike or the other way around or is it a mixture? I thought that getting on the C2 in the morning for 20-30 minutes and then after work on the bike.

How did help your cycling?

Sounds like fun :)

Scored a super-cheap one a couple of years ago for my daughter to supplement her HS crew training.. and she promptly quit crew. After it sat in the garage for a while I upgraded the PM3 to a PM5 and replaced some worn/corroded parts, started using it myself and it kicks my ass - legs, core, upper back, cardio. I alternate with Zwift sessions, so 2-3 sessions/week.

Get one.

On the erg, I do about 25% easy steady rowing, about 25% intervals (mostly 5 or 6 X 1500 or 2000 hard with 500 recoveries) and 50% moderate effort varying strokes per minute every 1000 or 2000. For SPM I generally do 22,24,26 & sometimes 28 if I'm feeling frisky.

The biggest benefit for my cycling has been improved leg & core strength -- most evident in climbing. It might not be as noticeable if I had a weight training program, but I've never done anything other than a few planks & some pushups.

Your idea of a short row in the AM with cycling in the PM is similar to what I do several days a week except that I often do a longer row in the morning and an hour spin on the bike later in the day.

In all fairness if there's a better all around indoor exercise and machine I don't know what it is.

Just spent far too much of my life going backwards, and I spend a lot of hours every week trying to help people go backwards faster so I don't want to come home to it (or even look at them when I go downstairs at work!)

Love mine! I have a dynamic and it’s awesome:). Great company to work with. You won’t regret it. Right now I am rowing on the water, but late fall through late spring, I use it a ton.

We have a Ski Erg and use it a tun. My whole family uses it.

I’ve been wanting one for a while for no good reason and finally got one last November. I used it 2-4 times a week since then until about end of May. My main thoughts are:
- I find using it to be absolutely brutal for some reason. I just can’t figure out how to go “easy” on it, so anything I do I’m in z4 HR (compared to running; so it’s even higher if I compare with cycling).
- I do feel like it’s a good workout when I do it, kind of like cardio cross fit with emphasis and legs and VO2Max if you will
- I stopped using it for now because I’m within a few months of IM and I feel like if I have time for something other than planned SBR, I might as well just ride easy or do functional strength. I’m sure I could swap some of them for rowing but because of the first thing I mentioned, I feel like it will be a random taxing workout vs trying to go with the plan (which I’m doing)

You won't regret it.
I am back into rowing on the C2 after nearly 6 years of dedicated triathlon training secondary to a nasty leg fracture and not being able to run.
It will make you suffer initially, just doing 20 mins was super tough despite having a solid base going into it 2 months ago.
Now I am hitting numbers I have never hit before starting triathlon and I am sure it is benefiting my cycling and swimming, and hopefully will make running somewhat easier when I am finally allowed to again.
There are lots of good websites and youtube channels out there.
My fav would be dark horse rowing on youtube.
The Concept2, esp with a PM5, is awesome in terms of what it can do and show you.
I did my first half marathon this morning on the C2, 1:27:18....average pace of 2:04/500m.....pretty darn happy with that.

So have you purchased one yet? I’m considering one too.

No, not yet. I will next month.


Thanks to everybody for the help.

I realize you're prob talking strictly about "indoor exercise machines" but, if you actually meant "indoor exercise" in general, then I would argue that swimming uses at least as many muscle groups as rowing, espec if you swim all 4 strokes. If you mean strictly indoor machines, then take the "and" out of your 1st sentence. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

It's funny, for some reason I don't click with pool swimming as an indoor sport!

Indoor sport for me is simulation - so the equivalent for me as indoor swimming Vs erg would be a Vasa or similar, or bike a trainer Vs on road.

Yep, moving the goalposts... Pool swimming transfers better for me to open water far better than ergs to rowing... With a wetsuit I'm faster in open water then I am in a shortcourse pool according to last night's OW 'race'

I get what you’re saying, and I agree that swimming is one of the best all around, all body and aerobic exercises. But I literally never swim indoors so I don’t associate it with indoor exercise.

Do it!
Most of my friends have a C2 and that makes it cheap for me as I just hang out in their garage for my rows or I use the one at my gym after treadmill runs. Resale can sometimes be higher then MSRP when they run out of stock and the wait times are months away. Crossfitters will buy them the same day they hit FB Marketplace.


When I have to do treadmill runs I hit the C2 Rower after to balance out the hamstrings that don't get worked as much as they do when road running.

Its great for finishing back day or leg day in the gym. Like running the times are almost comparable. A 5K on the rower is almost the same as my 5K run on the road. Its weird.
For fun you can watch this while you row.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0XguaVkRyY

This x2....

Never owned one but used them a lot at a gym I used to belong to, when I used to lift regularly, and when I used to race more . . . (in other words, quite a few years ago).

For me it was the most perfect warm-up... Just 5 mins and every muscle group is hit.

For longer workouts, I definitely think it helped my bike climbing, w/all the leg-driving motion. But like the other poster mentioned, I could never do an easy workout on it. It always hurt, in a good way, mostly.

Do any of you folks bother to use the C2 Logbook and rank their best times? Slowtwitch has a club affiliation slot in their athlete profile but so far as I can tell I think I'm the only one using it.

I've been battling a shoulder issue that keeps me out of the pool and the current red tide issue on the west coast of FL has me out of OWS options too. So now I'm a Bike / Row guy for a while. The C2 does a great job of balancing out the TT bike stresses and it's great for rainy / hot days.

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

Well, obv you can swim indoors or outdoors but many elite swim meets, such as this Oly Trials and the Oly Games themselves, occur indoor pools. And of course, for the majority of the U.S., the winter/spring/fall swim seasons are all indoors. But whatever...:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Do you swim 12 months per yr and where do you live??? Most places in the U.S. you have to swim indoors if you want 12 months of swimming.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

he lives in texas and has a 25 yards pool in his backyard

I finally bought it a couple of days ago. Right now I am trying to learn how to use it properly.

Checkout dark horse rowing, row along, and training tall on YouTube.

I think I watched all the videos before I bought it and thought, well, this looks is easy. Wrong. I signed up for the Dark Horse membership, which offers instructional videos, training plans and most important feedback on your technique.

I still training for some gravel bike events so not much hard rowing. But I’ve been just following along with beginner workouts and/or technique focuses workouts for now where I’m doing like 10-20 easy sessions but trying to get the feel for it. I am finding following along with the YouTube videos and trying to mimic their technique is helpful.

Resurrecting this thread because I'm looking into getting a Concept2. What are your thoughts now that you've had it for awhile?

I got one a few months ago. I have used it in streaks. It's a great workout and with good technique it's definitely a whole body workout. I can get my HR up quite high, which surprised me (it shouldn't have, but it did).

If Peloton introduces a rower soon, however, we will probably get one of those and sell the Concept2. The interactivity is what sells Peloton hardware, and the Concept2 does not have that.

As an added note, just like a stationary bike trainer, a great fan or two can really increase your enjoyment by an order of magnitude if you put in any long pieces.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Check out the Apple Fitness rowing program. That’s interactive and built by a national team rower

There were rumors of Zwift adding rowing, but then COVID and I suspect that Zwift put all their resources towards cycling.

On a related note, has anyone found a good app to use while rowing? I’ve been using the Ergdata app on my iPhone, which tracks my basic rowing data and heart rate, but it would be nice to have something more interactive.

The app EXR is closest thing to Zwift for rowers. It’s only been around a short time so I don’t think there will be a ton of rowers on at one time.

I did a trial of Kinomap. It was ok. I did not pay to continue subscribing.

For a guy that wants to try rowing as another alternative to running but does not want to spend on a Concept 2. Is there another cheaper option? I also don't like a subscription model for workouts.

There are definitely cheaper rowers out there, but I think what sells the Concept2 is the durability, ergonomics, and wide availability. You could probably find one used fairly easily. For example, if we get a Peloton rower when it comes out I'm going to list a barely used Concept2 for probably 750-900 bucks (paid maybe just over $1000 shipped). So you don't lose much money on them as they don't depreciate.

No regrets buying one. I am using it for morning workouts. I am getting back into it after a few weeks off training due to Covid, doing the Pete Plan (the beginner option) and I think it is great addition to my bike training. For me personally I don´t mind that there isn´t a Zwift or whatever option, because I don´t mind looking at a simple graph and I am so focused on my form that I don´t need it anyway.

I've had one for 25 years (Model C). Very durable, low maintenance, but it is not a substitute for running. It will keep you aerobically fit and give you some upper body work but it's more complimentary to cycling as it's mostly a leg/quad exercise.

For those who want to have their Concept2 simulate a cyclist on Zwift , I found an app called RowedBiker. You link your PM5 to you phone and you watch Zwift on an iPad . It’s pretty cool .

I've read good reviews about Horizon's top level machine but they are not easy to find. Was looking to try to find one with financing like Peloton's but can't find that anywhere.

Some things to consider when comparing prices for devices... how long will it last, how well will it work, and what can you sell it for if you tire of using it? Hands down, the Concept 2 is the least expensive rower when considering cost per year of faultless service and retained value at resale.

I'm about to put my Concept2 (Model E with PM5 monitor) for sale if anyone in the Jacksonville, FL area is interested. Bought at the end of 2019.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

and on top of that, if you ever do need parts, the consumables are very reasonably priced and readily available.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Men's Health had a an article a while back "You can't call yourself fit unless you can pass these 7 tests". Two of them were rowing.

500 in 1:30
2k in 7:00

I had never rowed prior to this year. I'm 5'7 on a good day so not a terribly long pull. Hitting the two benchmarks above are proving to be much more difficult than I anticipated. I'm probably able to hold a 1:45 pace for 500 at best. Don't know that I've ever hit a 1:30 even for a few seconds. So if you're getting into rowing and want some legit challenges to work towards...there you go.

A 500 in 1:30 and 2k in 7:00 is way easier for a large rower than a smaller one since it's based on total watts not watts/kg so it's not fair to use across a size span.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Peloton officially announced their rower “coming soon” today. No pricing or release date yet that I’ve found.

Yea that's a ridiculous standard.

I'm 5'11 and 155lbs and the best 500 I've done (as an adult onset rower) is maybe 1:45. The 40min 10k row was a much more satisfying thing to strive for.

Pelo Buddy has estimated 2500ish, which I find very steep. A rower is not a complicated machine; the Tread and Rower should not be the same price.

Yeah that’s crazy. I’ll forego the content to save 60%

Yea, it's a hard sell especially if you already have hardware (for example, a Concept 2), a peloton membership, and a nice workout room TV to cast from the phone app...

These are tough numbers.

1:45 for 500m is 300W. At 5'6" that is very solid. If you held that for 2000m you hit 7 min holding 300W rowing. That's like a 5'6" athlete holding 300W for 20 min on the bike. That's not easy at that height unless really heavy and muscular.

I am 5'6" and around 64 kilos now. For my rowing 30 second sprints on a good day I try to hold 300W which is your 1:45 number. I am also 56. Maybe the 25 year old version of me would be cruising at 1:30 since I could also cruise 5on running miles back then and I can barely break 7 min for mile now lol