Tacked with no date for removal

I'm game. We already put in a bunch of meters for the January challenge. I'm planning to use the Concept 2 workout they send by email, in addition to regular gym workouts.

Just to pile on a little more praise for C2: I help maintain the units at my gym. We have 7 rowers and they get industrial scale usage. We have a few guys who are 6 ft +, 250 lb +, I watch them pull the handles and the rowers flex and strain but we've never broken one. In fact they have had nearly no maintenance, and they just keep soldiering on. I think they were purchased when the gym opened in 2013.

Having dug into the sensor mechanism I am very impressed with the simplicity and elegance of the design, both mechanically and electrically. I say that as a 30 year veteran EE, I've worked on high end science equipment and these machines are a high-performance design. Remember the part about the big guys abusing these things? The machines can be wheeled around by our teens class with ease.

A few of my fellow gym members noticed I was rowing a lot in January, and chimed in with coaching. Turns out I now have 4 rowing coaches, all former collegiate and national team rowers. They used C2's in their training, in fact the coaches used the data output to select crews for fastest times based on conditions. The machines self-calibrate on every single stroke so you're credited with the exact amount of energy you put into the flywheel.

IMO rowing is great for developing your posterior chain, something that most of us neglect. Be sure to get some coaching or watch videos. Develop a good stroke cycle. Start with your shins vertical, lean forward slightly, drive with your legs until they are straight. Observing correct timing, lean back and pull with your arms. Reset to the catch position at about a 1:3 ratio, pull:reset. Keep the stroke rate down, let the flywheel slow before your next pull.

Watch the force curve, and use it to refine your stroke. Subscribe to the C2 workout of the day emails. This month we did the C2 challenge, and all that rowing had great benefits in my butt, hams, lower and upper back, and in fact has got my right shoulder nearly straightened out.

The thing is an investment. I just bought a C2 with 4800 meters on the clock for $850. That's about the average cost for a used machine. Considering the machine will last a lifetime, it's a good investment.


ETA: forgot to mention C2 support. I've sent emails to their customer support with oddball questions, and they always respond with 24 hours, with concise instructions to get out gym rowers back online.  Their documentation is second to none, and there are tons of coaching videos online.

Congratulations! I propose a general strike until our C2 commission checks arrive!

I'd like to emphasize the importance of developing good technique. If you develop bad habits now you're at risk of injury which will set back your training efforts. For the first 2 - 3 weeks row at low intensity and focus on form. Taking video of yourself from a side view is invaluable. There are a few apps with tools to help coaches. I have one called Coaches Eye but I believe it's discontinued.

IMO damper setting/drag factor - terms that I use interchangeably even though it's not quite correct - is more like gearing on a bike. Just as I don't set my bike to one gear and ride hills or flats, I set the damper for the workout I want. For most of the Jan. challenge I used a low setting. Why? Because it lets me increase handle speed, and keeps peak forces low. Just like with a bike, using high forces for long periods is a recipe for injury. So I did most of my meters at something akin to a brisk walk. A conversational pace.

Not that I'm reverting to the C2 WODs, I intend to mix it up. I'll always warm up at low settings. Today I'm planning to experiment with short pieces at different drag factors to see if I can find my "sweet spot". IMO using the same drag factor for multiple users and different workouts discards one of the best features of the machine.

Most of your tech questions have been answered. I second the advice for both of you to make your own C2 logbook accounts, install ergdata and let it manage your meters. I don't think the PM5 allows multiple users. The only other program I use is the C2 utility on my laptop, it's used mainly for firmware upgrades, maintenance, and troubleshooting.

I typically connect the HRM to the PM5 using ANT+. I had dropout issues if I connected the phone and HRM using bluetooth, while running music via bluetooth. In my case the myzone HRM will also upload data from each workout to the myzone site. That gives me 2 records, and keeps a consistent myzone dataset. Why do I want 2? Because the C2 actually does a better job IMO, it overlays HR data with stroke and power curves, and lets me download .csv files with more detail. I'm building a dataset that will let me inform decisions about how to attack various workouts.

The PM5 also collects HR data for every stroke, while myzone gives me 1 minute averages that I feel are too coarse to spot small variations (doesn't satisfy Nyquist, for you signal processing geeks). I found that if I wear the myzone on my arm, it lags actual HR by about a minute while wearing it on my chest gives near-instantaneous response. Is that really important? Hell no, HR data has limited use and it's not really necessary to get a good workout.

Definitely watch videos and read articles and share what you learn. I am pretty new to this machine. We use them at the gym as part of larger workouts, with only a little coaching. Once I got interested and started learning the technique I started using them much more effectively.

Also look us up on the C2 log site, we can connect as training partners. There are online races as well. Competition is a great motivator.

Great video. It captures everything in one place that I learned from multiple coaches. One of them tells me she periodically takes a break during each workout and does deliberate, segmented strokes. She's been doing this for a decade, with collegiate coaches on a championship team and did undergraduate research on the machines - and she still emphasizes fundamental skills in every workout.

The segmented stroke he does around 9:00 is a great drill. Notice how his chain moves out in a straight line on the pull, that means his hands are pulling in a straight line. He has good leg extension. I find when I'm fatigued I tend to fail to fully extend my legs. This is very similar to how I teach new shooters: train them on the fundamentals, then combine them.

He mentions pushing. It's valuable to think of the motion as an exercise in pushing the foot stretchers, instead of pulling on the handles.

He raises a point that IMO is extremely important: training goals. I think it's valuable to pursue a goal so we don't settle into a routine. Pick a competition or a yearly meters goal, or quantifiable goals such as improving 250m row times or doing a row marathon (41 km?) and work toward it. It's a great motivator and brings training into focus.

Warranty. Voided.

Congratulations!

As I understand it, the machine calibrates itself on every pull. It measures the deceleration rate of the flywheel, which is a direct measure of its air resistance. So it should self calibrate for blockages such as dust, or drag reduction at high altitudes.

The real number to pay attention to is the drag factor. It is the calibration the machine derives. You could test the effect by setting the damper, rowing in unobstructed air, then move the rower close to the wall without changing the damper:

1. Set the damper, it doesn't matter what number. 5 feels about right.
2. Move the rower well away from any wall so it has unobstructed airflow
3. Bring up the drag factor display, start rowing
4. Note the drag factor
5. Move the rower to its place near the wall. Do not change the damper
6 Row again and note the drag factor.

Obstructed airflow should reduce the drag factor. That should not matter, the machine measures your effort based on its calibration for every stroke.

I logged a 10k today. Nothing special, spent the first 10 minutes at a warmup pace, then picked up to about 75% effort, went hard the last 1000 m and finished in 45:16

ergdata app on my phone. You can also log into your account and manually put in the meters. ergdata gives very detailed records including heart rate if  you have a monitor and you're in to geeking out over performance.

We had a 3 x 1k, with 3:00 rest workout at my gym. Only one guy logged a result. He beat me by 4 seconds. 4 bloody seconds. If you're ever tempted to let the flywheel coast the last 20 m, don't do it.

The monthly summary page is pretty useful, it's an easy path to a yearly total. Go to the season summary, there are buttons for season/monthly/weekly summaries. I got 190k in January, and so far I have 40,363 m in Feb. Gotta pump up those numbers

Today we had a 5k row for time as a benchmark wod. Best time in my gym was 19:43. I was shooting for 20:00.  Today is the first day I tried out the pace boat feature. Create a new 5k workout, set the pace boat for 2:00. I couldn't hold that pace, finished with 2:04.5 average pace, total time 20:45.8. I'm 1305 out of 2822 in my age group.

For warmup, I rowed 3 x 5 min pieces using the pace boat set at 2:30, 2:15, and 2:00 respectively.

Today's numbers: 8,450/230,363

Nice, I'll try that when I retest. Today was an excercisse in heart rate management and breathing efficiency. I set my drag a little higher, damper a little over 5 which yielded drag factor 138. Maintained a relatively low 20 - 22 spm by pulling hard and fast, and focused on breathing during the return. I've been gradually increasing my sustainable HR over the past year.