Damper and Drag Factor Rowing Machine Workout

Today we're bringing you a workout that will hopefully bring you your ultimate drag factor to work with! Now for the math:

5 sets of 6 rounds of 20 seconds on/10 seconds off (5 rounds of 3 min)
Round 1: Row at your body weight in pounds, in watts
Round 2: Add 20% of your body weight
Rounds 3 through 5: Add that same number to each of these rounds
Round 6: Full out sprint (bananas, start sprinting with about 3 seconds left in the rest)

Each of these rounds you will hold the following damper settings, in the following order: 4, 8, 2, 6, and 10.

This should be programmed as intervals -- time -- 20 seconds on -- 10 seconds rest. Once you're done with the rounds, give yourself 6 minutes of rest.

Once you're done, go to your memory function and analyze that data!

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[pokrec]

Looks like higher damper setting allows to keep the same power at the lower SPM, but at higher pushing force. Since power = force * velocity - higher velocity denotes lower force at the same wattage. Higher resistance denotes lower SPM for the same force.
Ergometer measures directly watts (power), so we can get the same power at different SPM. It is like the derailleur in the bike - we can go uphill on lower speed, so, to keep the same velocity (the same power output in this case) we have to spin quickly, but when we turn on a higher speed, we can pedal slower, but we must put more force on the pedals.
Each of us has his/her own favorite settings in bike derailleurs when going uphill the same slope. So it is the same with ergometer. Damper is the derailleur. Lower gears are for those who are quicker than stronger, higher speeds are for those, who are stronger than quicker. Power output will be the same.

[pacerhythmandtiming.]

First of all a huge Thank You for these fantastically informative videos.
What I didn't understand from this video is what is the purpose of the first five intervals (at each damper setting), if we are only using the full sprint wattage reading. Couldn't we pull the same information out of just doing 20 second full sprints at each damper setting?

[MrHollick]

I'm going to have to watch this again with my abacus!

[roekarolfdevries]

Thx for the educational vids.
Love the C2 and your vids. Keep up the good stuff

[JanThorCrow]

Awesome beta on learning how to best set up the rower for me. Yesterday doing intervals :20/:25r, my feet felt like they were welded to the rower. First time for that solid of a connection to my rower. Thanks for your help.

[edinborogh]

i have to give it a try... can we have more Skierg videos please? and as always - awesome video, thanks ever so much! super informative and useful.

[FiveMusic]

There is a place where weight makes this impossible unless you are a skilled athlete. If you’re a new rower coming in at 250# or more, leave this one alone unless EMS is standing by. At 226 pounds and 61 years old, this is a mega-tough feat one time though, much less five! I’ll be sticking to Shane’s interval workouts. I only thought those were hard!

[rardude]

Two questions:
1) Before the final segment, you say to ramp up. Are we to ramp up before each of the 20s segments (i.e. be @ 240w on the first pull of the second 20s or build to 240w during the 20s segment)?
2) On the 6m rest, is that "easy rowing rest" or "get off the machine and rest"?

Thanks, -randy

[slach]

Hi Shane, I've been following many of your workouts and hope to sign up for The Crew program. For the above workout do I do each 3 min set (5 times) then take 6 mins rest? I would assume that we reprogram the rower for each one of the 5 sets? Thanks again for the great videos!

[henslecd]

What does it mean if the 6th line doesn't have the highest wattage? Should I use the highest watts or watts on the 6th line?

[mikaeljansson]

Interesting, thanks!
86 kg (190 lbs), 176 cm (5'10)

Damper / Drag Factor / Wattage
4 / 87 / 491
8 / 128 / 561
2 / 71 / 417
6 / 106 / 492
10 / 145 / 590


Now.... what to do with these numbers? :-) It's very hard for me to do any meaningful work on 4x4 (90% of MHR) at DF>120 because my legs give up too early, even though I definitely generate most power at the highest damper setting.

[Inquire]

What was the "starting place" for the drag factor after your analysis 10:32? You wrote the number down, never said it.

[MillsyJ]

Interesting video - thanks. Does this just not give the best drag factor setting for a 20 second sprint? Will optimal drag factors for longer pieces not be very different than this?

[GamerDemonz]

Best hand position at the release? I see people do different hand positions at the release where they slightly move their hands up and move their hands out to the side a little bit, and the other is the elbows are closer to the body and they go back in straighter

[Hudson]

What stroke rate should be used for this workout?

[lauralawrence]

random question...where did you get that shirt. any good websites for rowing apparel?

[holdenpartain]

I had my fellow coaches do this workout a couple days ago to test and possibly have our box do this w/o. We had a couple hiccups. First, I screwed up and had them row at damper settings in this order: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. Second hiccup: instead of using the monitor to record watts, I had them record their highest wattage that they could hold in the sprint section on a chalkboard. They made the same spreadsheet and each person got about the same results: the damper setting of 10 achieved the highest wattage rowed. What I was expecting was that there would be some differing results and not everyone would row their best at a 10. In fact, many of the coaches are most comfortable with about a 6. With those 2 hiccups, are the results in any way accurate? Or should we just scrap it and try again?

[joelmartinez]

question for ya, I row a lot only on the erg. I used to crossfit but due to time constraints i have most of that stuff at home but i've found rowing to be very enjoyable. Turn on some music and row for a long time. I'm not very fast but i can last a while. I've just been doing the medium length workout from the concept 2 website. Anyway i saw a video from you guys about keeping your heels connected and not letting them come up. Well i've started doing that just recently and now the rower hurts more, i go slower, and I can't last as long as when i just rowed however i felt like. I definitely feel more of my legs working but I am wondering should I just train myself to be better this way? or keep rowing however i want to even if its techincally wrong? also, is it possible that my concept 2 is calibrated different than all the ones at the local crossfit gym? a 2:00 500m pace is kind of my baseline for reasonable but not hard effort on my rower, but 1:50 is what i get at the gym doing the same pull. It could be adrenaline or something i suppose but i row a lot and i know what my stroke feels like and different speeds and damper settings.

[andrews]

Wow- I'm definitely doing something WRONG! Been watching the videos and rowing on my own machine for months and cannot get near those watts. I'm 6' 4" and a pretty good / long time cyclist,

[petehoffman]

Did this and was kind of shocked that my best setting was a damper setting of "8" which was a drag factor of 174. Isn't that a really high drag factor?!?

Also, would there be any benefit to retesting this at damper settings of 3-7-1-5-9?