Concept2 Indoor Rower set up

[dobbo996]

Les678 - as she said, it's more to do with 'feel'. I use the erg for endurance work (10,000 metres non stop); I have no interest in short distance times. I set up at 3 because that's the closest I can get to OTW sculling. My stroke per minute is deliberately low - 24 in the correct otw ratio of 1:3 (drive being 1 and recovery being 3), which is right for sculling. The difference between rowers and most non-rowers is that non-rowers race up and down the slide and have poor technique.

[MrRobertEdmondson]

To see how to turn the old family sedan (the Concept 2 ergometer) into a sports car, check out "The Canadian Slidewinder" on YouTube.

[wenwon1]

agree with you les, i can't row with a damper setting set to low...

[samjwhite]

im the same

[les678]

You say the damper is not effective resistance and a high setting results in longer muscular contractions and a slower stroke rating. This is nonsense. The damper does increase resistance, that's why it's harder to row fast on high settings.

[addicted2cocoa]

she said "affect the resistance", not "effective resistance". Officially resistance is from air, which changes with the speed of the flywheel. The damper is a "modifier", (reseach design and stats term), affecting the relationship between the speed of flywheel, and resistance. It probably works by affecting the airflow in the erg (the vasa swim erg site explains this), though the reference to bicycle gearing on the concept 2 site could be either an analogy, or the actual mechanism.

[addicted2cocoa]

In terms of muscular contraction, the damper does not tell our muscles what to do. Speed of contraction is inversly related to load force, and muscles contract faster when there is no load. Muscles recruit fibres in the same order all the time, first slow twitch oxidative then fast twitch oxidative/glycolytic, and finally fast twitch glycolytic. At low resistance though, if you are trying to produce max force, your slow twitch fibres do not have enough time to develop max tension.

[addicted2cocoa]

oxidatice metabolism captures the most energy from a fuel source (fat or glucose) but takes time and needs oxygen. Glycolytic pathways are faster, and don't need oxygen but don't produce as much energy. In rowing, oxidative energy systems are most used. Working at higher intensities, our muscles need to recuit more fibres that will be fast twitch fibres. These fibres mostly use gylcolytic energy pathways, but when recruited for endurance activites, they will adapt to become more oxidative.