So, assuming you’ve signed up for a free Logbook account with Concept2 (https://log.concept2.com/login) then you’re able to select an affiliation - it’ll let you scroll throught or search the list until you find SlowTwitch. Although you’ll always have the affiliation when you upload a row to the logbook, you’ll have to row a set distance or time (commonly a :30, 1:00, 2k, 10k, etc.) and then choose to rank that piece with the button that will appear next to it in the log. Free form pieces won’t give you the option to rank against others. Hope that helps.

As for the fan, I use it in summer but in winter I tend to row shirtless (as I did for a 10k yesterday). It definitely helps me, and it most definitely heats the garage up a little by the time I’m done.

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I would say "all of it" within 2-3 weeks of biking. This was my previous experience with XC skiing to biking. I'd come off ski seasons in the winter with zero trainer time and be right at my peak bike capabilities for the summer in a few weeks of riding. Fortunately biking is a very non technical sport and the legs are connected to each other with an axle making things really easy (unlike run and swim where you indepenently have to control all body parts).

The guys who have done proper row to bike transitions over seasons should chim in, but at the end of the day, you're using all the same muscle groups (and more) and stressing the cardio. This is all you need to do to get ready for cycling.

Hello,

I am looking at getting a c2 as these days my only activity is on the bike.

I trust that I can get a good workout utilizing more body muscles and calorie burn.

How much space does a c2 take up when folded up?

Thx

It stands up vertically to save space and doesn't need to be broken down or "folded"

OK, so another thread has the gory details about me getting run over by a bus after just having started some riding again. In any case, I think the strength developed in my arms from rowing helped the accident not gettting worse and no bones breaking around my biceps forearms and hands.

Once the docs give me clearance to do light exercise, I think the elliptical will be number 1....initially one armed then two armed. I THINK the rowing motion will actually be a good one for initial range activation since the upper body in the first phase is just a link. I asked Rowtotri about maybe 1 armed, perhaps holding the handle in the middle, but maybe I wait till I can hold the handle with both hands and just not apply any force with my injured right arm and just do legs + 1/3 arms...not sure how that will work, but let's see.

Feedback. My right arm from bicep to fingers got run over by the bus so everything is crushed but aparently not broken. Today (3 days later), my right arm is the size of my leg compared to "skinny me"

WOW. I've been hit by cars, but never a bus!

Maybe time to get in boats. There are NO buses on the water (just dumbass coxswains, who despite being able to see where they are going still seem to run into things.).

Glad you're relatively OK enough to write about this! So sorry.

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no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here

the funny thing, is that I have largely been a risk free indoor athlete for 2 years...swim, weight, elliptical and now rowing machine. Zero risk there. I just started riding again in the last month thanks the the leg control I had attained via some of the rowing rehab and the ability to ride again, and I had the worst nightmare accident of my cycling life in a lifetime of 300,000 km+ of cycling and never being bounced back into traffic during a fall. I was actually quite attentive to my bike handling skills (they were formerly superior....my buddy and I at one time had the all time top 20 Alpe d'Huez descent Strava...you won't see my name on it cause we did it together), but missed chunk of concrete on the road...oh well.

I do think that the rowing made the arms stronger than pure swimming. I think the force is much higher at 30 pulls per minute. Even in a 100 fly where I do 44-48 pulls in 90+ seconds (so around the same rate), I don't think I can apply the same amount of force (due to overall aerobic load distribution) and for as long (you can row for 8 minutes straight really hard and you can't fly for that long).

I think if you’re finding that you may be overloading the arms...it should be your legs doing the vast majority of the work.

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For sure, I am getting most of the work off the legs (maybe 60 percent legs, 30 percent core, 8 percent shoulders/lats, 2 percent arms). But during the "other 98" the arms are statically working like a chain link (actually just like the taught chain link under tension) helping to transmit to the flywheel....so there is static load on the arms which I believe has strengthened them in a way that swimminig and weights would not. Does that make sense...for example I noticed when I hang off the chin up bar and do leg lifts, I can do more of them to the point that I have to stop because of ab/psoas/hip flexor fatigue (and that part of my body is currently hyper conditioned from 200 fly training)....so my hands, forearms etc are all stronger from rowing than before, and I don't know if the bone density got better due to all that loading but whatever, the bones including in my hand had no fracture from the weight of an entire bus.

....or maybe I am just trying to justify another reason why the rowing training has been good.

And on a plus note, I have had a few local folks offer to lend me a C2 during my rehab. So I will have one in the basement by next week to overdo it LOL!

I'm curious what type of a calorie burn do you get with the erg say at a moderate intensity for 30 mins for someone with a FTP 300+w fitness on the bike.

It's off topic but not so much.

This Rich Roll Podcast episode was very interesting. How John McAvoy turned from an organised criminal to an athlete. He started by rowing 32 km a day in prison and set a lot of records.

Now he does 9 hour ironmans.


http://www.richroll.com/...ast/john-mcavoy-379/

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

I don't know, I never look at calories. I generally only look at pace per 500m when I am going hard. When I am going easy, I just look at Watts. If I look at pace per 500m I go too hard because I start relating it to hard intervals.

On that note since the accident 4 weeks ago when I got run over by a bus, I can do sub 4 min 1 K during a harder session in any workout and 3:50 if I am rested. Before the accident it waas 3:42 for super hard and 3:50 for going hard on days when I was not "on". I still don't feel comfortable yanking too hard as I I have various aches and pains in my right arm that was crushed under the weight of the bus, so all in all it's pretty good.

My FTP is ~320w on the bike, moderate intensity for me on the erg is 1:55-2:00 per 500m splits, which equates to 200-230w. Calorie count at that pace works out at around 1000/hour according to the machine, so 500 cals for 30 minutes. My HRM normally comes in a little lower than that, but not by much.

this is interesting that cruise on erg is ~2/3 your bike FTP. For me it is 150-180 range on the erg vs my recent bike FTP which was around 260W. So a bit lower on the erg. Once I get over 190W it is work.

I had 7 years of rowing indoor or outdoors about 6 days per week for 9 months of the year, probably helps a bit! The 2:00 split for rowers is also a bit of a psychological/pride/dumb macho thing, it's a bit like 10 minute mile or 6 minute kilometre pace when running. Splitting over 2:00 is fine when recovery paddling between intervals or for warming up, but the day I can't hold a sub 2:00 split overall for any session up to an hour is the day I admit I'm getting old, and I'm not quite ready for that yet...

Yes, when I was a good runner, any medium effort run where I was not breaking 4 min per K pace was equivalent to you rower guys. My PB marathon EVERY Run I had to average 4 min per km come hell or high water as that was my target marathon pace (I ended up at 2:48 so bang on). One of my friends that I went to grad school with raced for Norway at the 10,000m at the Olympics in Barcelona and Seoul. Any run with him minimum was 3:30 pace (1:45 per 500m, which mean I was getting close to my 10K run pace), while my "minimum run pace" was right around 4 min per km. So I can see how the magic 2 min per 500m barrier fits in....I am finding myself on the erg, not willing to go slower than 4 min per K/2 min per 500m when I go moderately hard. It's like even when I was doing tri in my late 40's if the run took a detour to the track for a few quick km's, I had to hit 4 min per K, no matter how much I sucked at the advanced age of 49.

Soooooo I am find that 2 min per 500m pace has replaced my 4 min per km running "moderate hard" track repeat pace at age 52 now. 4:30 was my half IM target run pace so I am finding myself gravitating towards 2:15 as my erg jogging pace.

Dev

This stupid thread, so after this discussion I go down to the erg and do a warmup 1500m at 5 min pace then two times 1500m with the middle 1000m just sub 4 min in keeping with my run heritage and the mandatory sub 4 min per km requirements. Then off to a 90 min swim.

What's the swim equivalent of the 4 minute km? 100m repeats on the 1:40?

Dumbass coxswains can do some serious damage...

Did you know Mike Aller? He was bow seat in a Potomac Boat Club quad when a GW 8+ came up the wrong side of the river through the wrong arch in the bridge. The bow of the 8 first sheared though his rigger leaving the bow as sharp carbon shards. Then, with all the momentum of the 9 people in the 8 and 4 people in the quad, that bow impacted Mike's back and pierced all the way through his abdomen.

Of course he recovered from that and rowed in the US LM4x at world's several years later.....

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Just read through this entire thread. Lots of information. Will need to go back and re-read a bunch of it. My daughter got into rowing this past year (sophomore in high school) and wanted to get an erg. I told her if she paid for half of it I'd split it with her. She's terrible with saving money so I never thought she'd do it but she did and now we're the proud owners of a reconditioned Concept 2 PM5.
Got on it for the first time this week and have been using it almost daily. Mostly 30 min efforts. I find after 20 min or so my hamstrings start to hurt. Right where my legs connect to my butt. Is it my butt just getting used to the seat or is it my hamstrings are weak and they are getting used to the rowing motion?

I'm going to watch some form videos then go back to the forum and re-read some of the posts. I have no idea how my form is but I do notice on my pull my toes pulling away from the footplate so I need to re-read those technique posts.

I'll try to post a video at some point.

I would guess that you're not maintaining a good connection to the handle all the way to the finish, so to stop yourself from sliding backwards and to begin your recovery you are using your hamstrings.

Try rowing with your feet out of the straps. I bet at first it will seem impossible but if you're doing it right, you can row just as well with or without the straps.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

What Rowtotri said....do almost all your rowing with no straps until you don't pop off. I still do all my easy stuff no staps. It really makes a huge delta on a solid connection throughout. Also I doubt your hamstrings are that weak. It is probably your butt muscles getting activated in a way they were not previously. Once I really "got it" rowing with no straps, my glutes were on fire for every workout for a week whenever I got into the 2:0x range.

These expert guys on this thread were super awesome. Everyone at my gym was completely useless for input on how to use the machine. Lots of smart guys contributed here. I have one in my basement on loaner now and will buy one this fall.

Did a quick couple of pulls last night after reading the replies. Feet are coming off on the return. During the pull the feet are on the plate, soon as I go to return, I need to pull up on the straps to get me going back towards the machine.

I have been rowing for serveral years at the u19 and u23 national teams. (not rowing any more)
For the last 4 season im been doing ironman and atm I am in really good IM shape. I haven't been at the ERG the last 3 years I think.
But back in the days my record on the 2000m was 6.19, 1.34.8 m/500. But even though I'm in super in shape now, I do not think I'll be able to do a 2000m at 6.50 atm.

I think you don't have enough contact at the finish which suggests to me you are finishing pushing against nothing and there is not this connection between the feet and chain though your glutes/core/shoulders/arms and its just shoulders/arms at the end. But I am not an expert, just a few months ahead of you and still learning.