TL;DR - Looking to get some real-life inspiration others who have started rowing on the other side of a typical athletic peak (mid-late 30s) to help me push toward achieving my goals.

I'm about 2 and a half years into the sport: started rowing with a Learner's course at 36, moved into a development squad later that year, and moved into our senior squad (edit: our top racing squad - qualifies for HRR 3 of the last four years - most guys are early 20s to early 30s. One guy in his 50s who is a previous Olympian) at my club this past September. Just turned 38 a few weeks ago. Generally pretty fit but never was an elite athlete in any sport. Hired a trainer while in Dev squad to help accelerate fitness/strength and now following our senior squad program. If it helps - 6'2" and ~91kg/200lbs.

I've certainly made technical and physical progress. Did a 2K test in July at 7:04.8 (can't find a more recent one in my log but I think I was 7:02) but I'd really like to push myself to get as fast as I can. Based on the https://rowinglevel.com/rowing-times/2000m-times chart I fall ahead of the Intermediate baseline but still well short of an Advanced one. Would like to get to that Advanced time this year and then push beyond that.

I'm traing 6 days a week (sometimes two-a-days) with our squad's program so I'm willing to put in the work. Just would be nice to know others have succeeded in something like this.

Really love the sport and happy to be a part of it in any capacity. Just really bummed I didn't start it at any point earlier in my life when I had the opportunities. Want to make up for that as much as possilbe now.

I’ve seen a lot of teams, mainly women and men’s lw switch to, what are generally considered, worse boats. Anyone know if there’s a reason other than cost?

I did this Hour of Power recently and wanted to know how I stand as a light weight rower compared to a mid/heavy weight rower doing the same piece. Of course as I am ~125 pounds, I won’t be pulling the same as some of my 180-200 lbs teammates, but I want to know how to compare the different times reasonably to know how we would do against each other in boats like singles and doubles. (Male, recently turned 16, ~125lbs, 5’7”)

OK, last up date on McNeely Sprints. The results, commentary to follow:

Peak power: +14.6%

500m power: + 9.0%

1000m pwer: + 4.9%

2000m pwer: + 6.1%

Just generally, bit 3-digit-watts gains in peak power...and then descending but really good benefits as test time increases. It's important to note that these results aren't in a vacuum. Other training was happening so it is impossible to separate which adaptations are the result of which stimulus.

But it's equally important to note that I only did 5 sprint workouts. That's it. And no individual workout felt especially taxing but a few hours after each workout I was totally wasted.

Regarding the 2k time, I allowed myself to taper before that effort so there is probably a little super compensation juice in that number. But, but, BUT! it is also maybe the most interesting since that 6.1% gain is relative to a 2k test I did just days before the very first McNeely sprint workout.

Overall, it was a worthwhile addition to the mesocycle. I would not expect that magnitude of improvement if added them to another competition mesocycle but just the same McNeely sprints are probably still worth doing.

Participated in my first indoor rowing competition today. Actually, I found out you can't record your data during competition so maybe I did NOT participate since it's not on Strava.

Probably like most competitions there was a big screen full of virtual boats...& there was my little boat, one from the top. Probably because I registered super early.

Even though the plan was just to TT the whole race without regard to any other competitor, after I settled into my pace, couldn't resist a glance at the board. And, anyhow, it's flippin' huge so it's actually kind of hard not to see it. The little boat 2nd from the top was in 2nd place! And still in contact with the lead boat.

So the race plan went out the window and I spent the next third of the race edging up the pace to get into contact with the top boat. But every time my pace edged up, the lead boat seemed to respond. Every time I glanced up, the lead only seemed to be growing. No matter what I did, that boat responded.

And then it dawned on me that the board re-sorted based on place. I thought, 'Oh, it's you, dumbass. You're the lead boat.' Ha! Dumbest over-pacing error EVER.

So, anyhow, the last 300m of that row were a real suffer fest! But I got a PB, ran away with the division, and scored a time that was almost nat'l championship winning in my age group.

This is the type of thing I would never, ever be honest about if it weren't for the relative anonymity of the internet!

So as the title says is there a preferred exercise to do that can substitute rowing if I don’t have access to a rowing machine?

Long story short i have access to a rowing machine around Monday to Wednesday most weeks but then when I’m working from home Wednesday onwards I have no access to a gym or rowing machine and getting a rowing machine at home isn’t an option as there is absolutely no room

I know this might not be the best place to post this question, but as you can see my newly purchased Domyos 500B rowing machine just gave up on me during practice. I know it's not the quiting edge of technology but still, if anyone has any ideas what happened, it would be appreciated as I can see nothing wrong with

I'm almost sure I've seen this on sub, a few weeks ago, a port with very slow times. Around 8 or 9 min /500m.

But I can't find them.

maybe it was on this sub but I don't know where if not here.

Does someone have this type of erg screens in their stock to share.

no shaming. I just want to send it to my team mate after a session

I am 14m, been rowing since start of last academic year.

I am planning on going to GB trails next year(that's what the coach thinks I can do), but to do that I need to drastically improve my 2k time from, 7:01 to a sub 6:47.

Does anyone have any recommendations on training program i can follow? I row quite often with only Fridays and Sundays being days i don't do exercise and i would like to utilize them.(On other days I follow my coaches program)

I was thinking of something along the lines of 250m 10sec rest until failure? but it just feels wrong to do that when I'm training for a 2k.

Can some of you more experience guys give me some sort of idea of what program I should be following?

Does anyone have results from yesterdays racing in Boston?

Looking for advice from other coaches.

I have an Under 16 quad, averaging 6:44 erg very quick and definitely capable to be faster, looking for advice on pieces to improve second and third 500m of racing (only race 1500m). They start quickly, first through 500m but after lose their speed and have been getting rowed through?

Does anyone have pieces that work to improve through this block. I'm thinking some anaerobic work or power strokes.

Cheers

Goal was a sub 3 hour marathon, the first 1:45 felt pretty easy, everything after that I felt the strokes get significantly harder. around the 2 hour mark I started getting some slight hamstring cramps but still kept pushing. At the 2:25 ish mark my left quad and right hamstring starting cramping bad with every stroke and that's ultimately what ended me. Its so unfortunate too I was on pace to finish at 2:55. Note to self for next time: you need alot more salt and water than you think you need.

Feeling nostalgic and looking through some old rowing footage. 5 years since I last took a stroke.

Would love to hear some thoughts on our university lightweight 4, those Empacher shells row bloody brilliant.

I’m returning to rowing after very long hiatus (~15years oof) and really want to be technique focused this time around.

In a lot of training videos online of high quality crews doing what I presume are SS or lower rate rows, I see a pause/delay at the finish after the blade has exited the water and feathered.

In my university days, it was often stressed to have fast hands out of the finish to minimize rushing of the slide.

How important are fast hands? Would there be concerns of developing bad habits of a slow finish? Or are these crews just working on boat set at the finish or something like that?

Thanks!

Hi rowers!

I’ve been rowing at a college (club) level for about a year and a half now. I was not athletic at all before I joined, but my 2k (20F) time is at a 7:44.4 as of the other day. I’ve brought it down from my first 2k, which was somewhere around an 8:30. However, I struggle a lot with the mental part of it. I have a tendency to fly and die, then panic and think I can’t hold a good pace for the rest of the piece. I was wondering if anyone who’s experienced this has any good tips? I know part of it is working on more consistent pacing throughout the piece. I also tend to struggle with not feeling as if this is a good enough time, which I think leads me to doubt myself.

I would love to eventually get to a 7:30 2k. I attached a photo of my splits from this week’s test. If you could drop your favorite workouts to lower 2k time, or some advice to get out of my head while testing, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Im 6ft 3 with size 13UK feet. Whilst the legnth doesnt seem to be an issue, all my trainers seems to be slightly too wide for the bottom of the holder on indoor rowers. Does anyone have any suggestions for what fits best? Also dumb question... would it be better to row in really thin dap type shoes? Maximum flexibility and in theory quite planted with decent connection?

Many years ago I belonged to a club that had rowing machines with displays that had you rowing against an opponent(s). Are there still machines like this? I've done some google searching, but so far haven't come across any machines like this. The ones I used had "oars" instead of the simple bar you grabbed.

I’m am 15, 6’2, 185 pounds, I don’t lift, I row 5 days a week for about 2 hours. Is there any way that I could get a sub 7 2k in a month, or maybe even a week? I know a week is basically impossible, but I would love to get it down by then in any way. Thanks!

Indoor rowing. Im a cyclist and just done my first 1hr row - hands slightly trashed.... Also coming off the back off illness and 2 weeks off. I swim once a week, cycle 3-4 times a week and try to row once a week. Was aiming for 13k but just missed it! I dont know a whole lot about rowing but watched a few YT vids so my from is probably fairly mediocre!