Damper Setting Explained in 2 Minutes?!

Damper setting may be one of the most confusing parts of the rowing machine. We get lots of questions around, what damper setting should I use, how do I know what damper setting is right, etc. Use this as a beginners guide to explaining damper setting and build your rowing knowledge from here.

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[MernFern]

A 10 is almost like running on sand and a 1 is like running down a steep hill…. The damper is a tough one to explain… :)! Great job, Shane!

[liverleef]

Extremely helpful. My goal is to improve my cardiovascular fitness, aerobic capacity and all that. I sometimes have knee pain from rowing too hard trying to get that heart rate up to where I want it. Sounds like I should try dropping that damper setting way down

[pallekjrlaursen]

@Trenckyherbs: With a higher damper setting, the flywheel looses speed quicker, and that makes it easier for you to connect at the catch when sprinting/rowing at a high cadence. So when sprinting, a higher damper setting makes you more efficient.

[denisea.]

This was a great explanation, thank you! I’m glad it took you longer than 2 minutes, lol. I always just kept it at 5 since I didn’t understand the difference, and 10 felt too hard and 1 felt like cheating 😅. Now I think I can use this info, if I want to do sprints, I will probably be more successful if I turn it down to 1. Unless I just think I understood this but didn’t really.

[Brockthedog]

I just bought a waterrower. No damper setting to worry about. Seems to be more about how hard you drive with the legs. Do most people just seem to over time just set your damper on the concept2 and forget about it? I filled my tank to the recommended high water mark and doubt I will ever mess with it again. Of course, more difficult to do with a water tank model. And I love this site btw! ❤❤

[JoseFernandez-slek]

2:00 Vs. 4:38? Maybe you need...to adjust your damper setting (lol). When I first got my Concept 2, I set the damper at 5. I had no idea what it was nor did I test the differences between the settings. I just figured I was average and therefore the damper setting should be somewhere in the middle. 15+ years later, it is still at 5.

[jonathanmiller]

Shane it’s Jon from back in the day! I just picked us up a concept 2 for Christmas. Got more videos to watch!

[ryanivan]

Thank you! I understand that this subject has more content than a black hole, but giving hacks like myself a place to start understanding definitely helps

[gregprobyn]

Mate, love your sense of humour.
Love your coaching more though!

[probitionate]

A quick question for you. I have been attempting to set a time mark for a particular distance. I normally row at a damper setting of 4. I tried the distance at 2, and hated it. This morning, I did the distance at 6...and knocked almost 25 seconds off my PB. What does this mean? How should I interpret the result? (I know; TWO questions. LOL)

[Vexarax]

I can’t find any type of setting on the rower I just started using?? I was on it for 30 mins and felt nothing, despite going very hard. It’s like sitting in a chair almost - rowing through air. I don’t know how to fix this 😭

[Trenckyherbs]

For 500m sprints, I get 1:28 on 8 damper vs 1:33 on 5 damper, with the same effort. I don't know why but 500m sprints don't go well with my normal damper settings. I use ~130 drag factor (~5-6 damper) for all other distances.

[matthewfrancis]

What about the drag factor in relation to damper setting?

[ronalddavis]

I want to do both some day longer rowing and some days short sets with more power behind it thanks.

[princeholder]

Can you build muscle on the 10 damper setting?

[probitionate]

So today I began my damper experiment. Normally, I do a 5, 000m workout at setting 3, at around a 25, 26/min stroke-rate. Today I tried it at 5. Result? I really didn't like it. Didn't come close to my regular time, and while I tried for an increased stroke-rate of 30-ish, I wasn't able to 'comfortably' maintain it, and my meters/stroke was far less than usual. Next time, I'm going to put the damper at 7.

[offthefront]

Ok here we go in less than 2 minutes. The damper setting changes the drag factor. There we go done.

[highlanderthegreat]

so the higher the damper setting the more effort you have to put in to pull... the lower the damper the easier it is to pull, , , is that about

[julikenn]

Would it not be simpler to row at max power for 20 secs at different damper settings and see which got highest wattage? That workout is going to KNACKER me!

[jmiogo]

Why couldn’t you put friction into an equation?