In 30 minutes of row time, at 10/16 resistance

I've overcome the back pain and am becoming truly monstrous. I sprinted the last 5 minutes at like 52 strokes per minute. I sounded like a human freight train.

My shoulders are becoming boulders and I can make my chest dance. I've had friends comment on how they can see my biceps across the room. I am becoming one of antifas greatest super soldiers. My pronouns will soon be he/himbo

All it took was getting a rowing machine and using it for like 1-2 hours a day (doing stuff is hard I have to take a lot of breaks to smoke weed u_u) almost every day between December and now while explicitly ignoring advice to not do that. Tbh you should probably alternate rowing and running, I'm built different, sweaty

I should probably exercise less tbh it's hard to keep my weight ~170 without a lot of extra protein but my brain broke and I'm addicted to the row zone

  • BarryBarrington [any]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Ex-athlete here. 42 spm is way way too high. Just a few tips for anyone who wants to try rowing machines. Technique is important and difficult to get right, try to look up some diagrams online but in general:

    • Start in the forwards position, arms straight, legs bent, shoulders down (lats engaged), back straight (sat up tall but leaning slightly forwards)
    • Drive with the legs. Do not bend your elbows, but keep the lats engaged (imagine hanging off a ledge, force should be going through your fingers into your lats without using biceps)
    • With your legs about half way down you can rock back slightly, keep the back straight but sat up tall and leaning back slightly.
    • With your legs about 3/4 to completely down you can use your arms to pull the last little bit into the bottom of your ribs.

    For the machine, the Concept2 is basically the only one worth using. DO NOT set the resistance to maximum. Set it about half way. On a concept2 you can select "options" and "display drag factor" on the screen, row for 10 seconds and it should display a number. Drag factor should be around 120. (130 if you're heavy, 110 if you're light).

    If you do this correctly, it will be completely impossible to reach 50 strokes per min (unless you are doing some advanced techniques like a half slide wind). For a 30min row I would recommend 18-22 strokes per min. For a 500m sprint maybe 32-36 strokes per min. For 2km I would recommend 26-30 spm. You can increase these as your technique improves.

    And if you don't believe you can row fast at low stroke rates, this guy got close to a world record 30min row at 20 strokes per min: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n91DaqAk9k

    • GorbinOutOverHere [comrade/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      42 spm is way way too high.

      Excuse me le reddit sir I said 52, that's fifty and a two. I became a torrent of locomotive force bound in human flesh and sinew

      And the LAST TIME i posted you ROWING NERDS told me I was setting the resistance too high and would hurt myself. Guess what, I changed nothing except for how fit I'm getting and how quickly I can row 😎😎😎 I was doing ~1000 strokes in that same time frame, now I'm up 25% more strokin'!

      "If you row correctly it's impossible to..."

      Idk dawg impossible for people who aren't me apparently :shrug-outta-hecks:

      For the machine, the Concept2 is basically the only one worth using

      This is nerd shit. Pardon the hostility but anybody reading this who just wants to get fit, ignore this. It's NERD SHIT.

      You don't need some perfect fucking simulacrum of The Rowing Experience like you're training for some rower nerd regatta. You just need a machine that's good enough to work out on and comfortable and not gonna fall apart.

      You don't need to spend $1000+ fucking dollars on this.

      I bought a $200 rowing machine and I'm getting swole as fucking hell. I bulked the fuck up through alcoholism and this rower is allowing me to turn all that into muscle country and you can too!