Rowing Concept 2

The good doctor

I'm toying with the idea of getting a concept 2 for home use. My gym membership will soon come to an end and I will not be renewing it. The only enjoyable aspect was using the rower hence my post, does anyone have any home use experience?
Will I turn the house into a sauna as I did with the turbo trainer and how much noise do they generate, it's difficult to judge in the gym. If I had a garage then there would be no problems but I don't so the apsre room is the only option.

Any thoughts please ?

John

bluecow

Hi,
My brother has a concept 2 in his study/home gym. They are pretty quiet and you should be fine to use it without disturbing anybody. I've used it with the his baby asleep in the room below with no issues at all.

bluecow

Oh yeah, and you dont need masses of ventilation/ huge fans like you do with a turbo. Not quite sure why...

GavH

bluecow wrote:

Oh yeah, and you dont need masses of ventilation/ huge fans like you do with a turbo. Not quite sure why...

Because unlike on the turbo your body is actually moving back and forth thus there is more passage of cooling air over your face which is not a feature on the turbo.

I used to love the C2 a couple of yrs ago when I was injured and couldn't run. If you get into it in a big way, make sure you pad the seat with bubble wrap and a towel before doing a 1/2 Marathon and stay away from the online PB thing they have on the C2 website, it'll make you uber-competitive. A lot to be said for indoor rowing, I still think the 2000m in sub-7:00 is a proper man test!

shockedsoshocked

Thinking of getting one of these myself if i give up the gym and take up cycling full time.

Don't a few pro's use these as cross training?

liversedge

If you have wooden flooring get the rubber mat thing for it, otherwise you will find you move around a little. I had mine resting against a wall for a while and when I pulled it back it had left a tidy dent in the plaster. Oops.

Anything from Model C onwards has a decent computer and allows racing over t'internet. Averaging 2:00 for 500m at any distance over 6k is pretty tidy.

I reckon its more akin to track since 30 mins on a rowing machine is a LONG TIME. Great for quads, core and back muscles tho.

Mine is gathering dust :oops:

pbt150

If you're going to be using it in your spare room check you've got space - they're deceptively large. You can store them on their end against a wall though, which saves space. And you WILL want a window open if you're planning on being on it for > 20 minutes!

I'd suggest buying a good quality second hand Model C and fitting a new Model D handle to it (17.25 http://www.concept2shop.co.uk/product/handle). Be careful though - my rowing club has 10 Model Cs and there's a massive variation in how much noise they make, and what they feel like to row. If your budget stretches a bit further then get a Model D, they are brilliant. Don't bother with a Model E though, the only 'improvement' over a 'D' is the seat/slide is 6" higher off the ground.

r3 guy

they are good and are "the" rowers to get, i splashed out for one but after 2 months sold it, just wasn't for me, i had no motivation to sit on it endlessly pulling the handle. The online rowing challenges are good and there is a great community around concept.

What i wished i had done was hire one, i remember that they could be hired (i think a min of 3 months) then if you decide to but it they take some of the hire charge off.

Ended up selling mine, got a decent amount back, they don't lose value

nasahapley

Never thought I'd say this when I quit rowing, but I'd love to get a concept 2 - especially for the winter months - for all-round fitness they're brilliant. Pbt150 makes a good point about the variation in noise - a new one or a second hand one that's been well maintained will be pretty quiet, but knackered one will be like a 747 at take-off.

You don't want to sell yours do you liversedge?!

singlespeedexplosif

The very thought of them still makes me feel ill. Still can't believe I used to do marathons on them.

steve-m

GavH wrote:

I still think the 2000m in sub-7:00 is a proper man test!

Not that I am competitive, just curious of course....I presume that is on 10 on the resistance?

nasahapley

steve-m wrote:

GavH wrote:

I still think the 2000m in sub-7:00 is a proper man test!

Not that I am competitive, just curious of course....I presume that is on 10 on the resistance?

There's nothing to be gained from whacking the resistance right up. It's a bit like gearing on a bike - generally speaking you want to be pushing a gear that allows you keep up something like 80-90 rpm for ages and ages, it's not the case that a bigger gear = going faster. When I used to row we always used a drag factor of between 120 and 130 (resistance setting 4-6 on most concept 2s, though they can vary a bit). Even olympic athletes will use something like this. For the odd person (like the 110kg indoor rowing monsters who pull sub-6 for 2k), a higher resistance might work, but for most a resistance somewhere in the middle will be best for endurance stuff.

ugo.santalucia

Used it in my days at the rowing club. It's a fantastic toy to keep fit. It is a bit noisy, as your action activates a fan which keeps you cool and is also used to measure your power output.
I think it's a much better exercise than sitting on a turbo, but that's just an opinion, I guess... you have to learn to do it right legs-back-arms-arms-back-legs and, as mentioned before, keep the resistance low, your back will thank you and you'll produce less noise

TonyWard

I wouldn't read too much into the scores - it is very height and weight dependent as well as fitness/ technique, etc. Most cyclists are more like lightweight category rowers (70kgs for the men) than the 90-100kgs+ athletes that break records.

That said, Eskild Ebbeson (Danish multiple Olympic champion) was a lightweight and rowed on the Concept2 for an hour at sub 1:40 pace :shock:

I have in the past seen some research that rowing is good cross-over training cycling
There have been quite a few examples (Chris Hoy, Rebecca Romero to name an obvious couple, Superstars at less serious level!) of former rowers doing pretty well at cycling. Have yet to see it much evidence of it in my case though!

ugo.santalucia

TonyWard wrote:

I wouldn't read too much into the scores - it is very height and weight dependent as well as fitness/ technique, etc. Most cyclists are more like lightweight category rowers (70kgs for the men) than the 90-100kgs+ athletes that break records.

That said, Eskild Ebbeson (Danish multiple Olympic champion) was a lightweight and rowed on the Concept2 for an hour at sub 1:40 pace :shock:

I have in the past seen some research that rowing is good cross-over training cycling
There have been quite a few examples (Chris Hoy, Rebecca Romero to name an obvious couple, Superstars at less serious level!) of former rowers doing pretty well at cycling. Have yet to see it much evidence of it in my case though!

The big guys at the rowing club, those who aspired to olympic glory, rowed at 1.35 average and did sweat litres... after their session the floor under the rowing machine had a rather large pond of sweat... quite impressive

singlespeedexplosif

....and did sweat litres

One bloke at our rowing club used to sh1t himself quite frequently on sprints. Nasty. PArticularly if you were on the erg next to him and had another 2 hours to go.

ride_whenever

That is really nasty, I've heard of people pissing in the boat (not over the side, but in it) just before seat racing (now that is a good way to put off the other guys...) but sh1tting themselves on the ergs, that is gross...

nasahapley

singlespeedexplosif wrote:

....and did sweat litres

One bloke at our rowing club used to sh1t himself quite frequently on sprints. Nasty. PArticularly if you were on the erg next to him and had another 2 hours to go.

Seen quite a bit of this sort of thing myself - there was one chap at my old rowing club who seemed to pride himself on the amount of bodily nasties he could get rid of during an ergo session. It's fair enough if you're at the end of a 5k test and are virtually dead, but this bloke would be gobbing out greenies five minutes into an hour's steady state - not pleasant!

Eat My Dust

r3 guy wrote:

i had no motivation to sit on it endlessly pulling the handle.

Er what?

ugo.santalucia

ride_whenever wrote:

That is really nasty, I've heard of people pissing in the boat (not over the side, but in it) just before seat racing (now that is a good way to put off the other guys...) but sh1tting themselves on the ergs, that is gross...

Barbarians!

pjm-84

5k test at sub 1:40 splits. Now that was something not to look foward to.

Managed to maintain all my bodily fluids both in and out of the boat. Walking, well that's a different matter. Tunnel vision and blotchy blue mottled legs is all I can claim.

brit66

I rowed for 12 years and can still remember those butterfy nerves on the day of the dreaded 2k erg test.

I've recently started getting back into them - only with 20 mins at a time though!

Top international lightweight rowers (i.e. 75k) doing a 2k test will be able to hold a 500m split time of about 1:32 for over 6 mins. Try that at your local gym and you'll realise how fit/talented they are.

The erg is 'the' ultimate fitness machine IMO.

Sheptastic

brit66 wrote:

I rowed for 12 years and can still remember those butterfy nerves on the day of the dreaded 2k erg test.

I've recently started getting back into them - only with 20 mins at a time though!

Top international lightweight rowers (i.e. 75k) doing a 2k test will be able to hold a 500m split time of about 1:32 for over 6 mins. Try that at your local gym and you'll realise how fit/talented they are.

The erg is 'the' ultimate fitness machine IMO.

agreed.
did a bit of tabascula on my turbo the other day and was quickly reminded of the 3 x 1500m with 4 minutes rest i did as a schoolboy rower. nothing like you're vision going black..

TonyWard

Did you see that Rob Waddell (NZ 2x 2008 and Olympic champ 1x in 2000) did a 6:36 (1:24 split) 2k and a 14:58 (sub 1:30 split) 5k last year. Truly extraordinary

FJS

TonyWard wrote:

Did you see that Rob Waddell (NZ 2x 2008 and Olympic champ 1x in 2000) did a 6:36 (1:24 split) 2k and a 14:58 (sub 1:30 split) 5k last year. Truly extraordinary

That'll be 5:36, 6:36 isn't that fast. 5:36 will be pretty close to the current WR I assume.

pbt150

Waddell is the current WR holder with 5.36.6. He is also the biggest man I've ever seen!

The lightweight world record is currently held by a Dane, Henrik Stephansen with 6.02.2. That's for a guy who will have had to weigh in at 75 kg a couple of hours before his race. And he didn't even look tired at the end:
http://www.quistmedia.dk/roklub/crash-b08/08022602.html

pbt150

And as for bodily functions in a boat, we heard the following conversation just after a seat-race on a training camp last week: (names changed for modesty's sake)

Coach: That was quite good guys, good commitment. Bob, you were really going for it in the second half, you looked a bit like Stevie Wonder towards the end!

...pause...

Bob: Coach...I think I might have sh@t myself...

teagar

Just a few tips...

After spending a lot of time coxing and coaching, I would seriously recomend you get someone to show you how to row properly on them.

I'm sure you think you know, but just wait after a big 20km effort when you suddenly stand up and you back goes ping.

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR BACK STRAIGHT!

And I was always told that taking the resistance to beyond 6 would definitely damage you a lot more. Water tends to be around 4-5 on the concept 2.


And as for the shitting story - there is nothing macho about crapping yourself on an erg - I hope....!

FJS

pbt150 wrote:

The lightweight world record is currently held by a Dane, Henrik Stephansen with 6.02.2.

Wow, so Eskild's legendary record has finally tumbled? The things you learn on a cycling forum . I did a year in a pair with a guy who has done 6:11 as a lightweight; mine was quite a bit less impressive...

brit66

Here are the current Word Record listings...
http://www.concept2.com/us/racing/records/2000m_records.asp

The older age groups are phenomenal.

pbt150

brit66 - you weren't the 2 man in OULRC in 2003 were you?