Question for experienced indoor rowers

emmab0902
emmab0902 Posts: 2,338 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am just starting out with the indoor rowing at the gym, as I find the other cardio machines a bit monotonous and want a challenge.

My question is, once good form is established, should a beginner be looking mostly at stroke rate, distance or watts as the benchmark for improvement??

I did 10 minutes the other day and rowed 1925metres with average of 90 watts.

Replies

  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    Stroke rate pretty much means nothing, you can batter the handle in and out fast without actually putting any effort in. It's all about the acceleration you give the fan, not how often.

    I assume you could use watts, but I've always used time/500 metres. I'd suggest you pick a distance and try and improve your time. Time/500 metres can help you judge how you're doing. Since you're near 2k in 10min, I'd go for that, then pick small goals towards getting 2k in 9 mins, which would be a very good time for you.
  • binfieldbrown
    binfieldbrown Posts: 3
    The pace or time to row 500m is the best way to follow your progress although it is correlated to the power.
    When trying to improve you can either (as suggested already) pick a distance and try to do it faster or try to keep the pace going for longer - so if you can hold 2.36 pace for 10 minutes then try and hold that pace for a bit longer each time.

    It depends whether you want to improve your cv system (try and row for longer) or increase your power endurance (row faster).

    Whatever you do, go for small achievable increases.

    Matt
  • binfieldbrown
    binfieldbrown Posts: 3
    I row all the time - while stroke rate isunimportant with respect to the effort or power you are putting in it is important for the overall session. Too slow a stroke rate makes the session more about power. The longer the session the lower the stroke rate normally would be.

    For example if I row a fast 2000m I have a stroke rate around 30, If I row a half marathon I rate around 22. I am quite tall though - the shorter you are traditionally means a slightly higher stroke rate.

    Have fun,

    Matt
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    Emma's smart enough to realise she has the freedom to choose other distances, and there's no need to worry about reductio ad absurdum.

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