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May 2020
4:34pm, 4 May 2020
36,193 posts
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Nellers
To my way of thinking (if you could call it thinking) I'd say the idea of the stroke ladders/sequences is to make you take the best stroke you can (ie. without sacrificing form to get the strongest drive and most length and cleanest recovery on every single stroke, thereby getting the best speed possible at each rate).
So that's a bit vague because who has a coach sitting watching them to tell them when they leaned a bit too far back or when their shins went past vertical or whatever, but to me the idea is to get the form right and build the strength/force within each and every stroke.
By dropping the rate you can make it more deliberate. By repeating the sequence or the session you make it a muscle memory. Then when you want to pull a higher rate your stroke holds up and you go faster with less wasted effort and a lower stroke rate.
I would say that it takes time though. The very first time I tried a stroke sequence session I strained my ribcage or the muscles round it so badly that I was out of rowing for 3 or 4 weeks! I do tend to throw myself at these things and worry about the consequences later.
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May 2020
4:44pm, 4 May 2020
674 posts
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Muttley
Aye. I don't think I've ever erged at 16 spm so that will be a novelty!
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May 2020
4:46pm, 4 May 2020
36,194 posts
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Nellers
Pulling 16spm and holding a split of 2:16 is a pretty difficult thing to do for a sustained piece, I can tell you Muttley. For a start it takes some practice to hold the rate, then when you have to start thinking about managing the pace purely by how hard you're driving...…...
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May 2020
6:29pm, 4 May 2020
153 posts
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Craggy
Great post Nellers. I agree, it's all about trying to transfer that long powerful r18 stroke in to higher rates. A great example is to row say 3k at rate 18 and then go straight into 2 minutes at 2k pace at TT rate (probably 30+), you'll be amazed how smooth and powerful your stroke feels thanks to the short term muscle memory, hence when I was doing TT's at the end of last year I would do a r18 warm up for that reason.
Steady 6k today followed by another go at the 1 min challenge... 315m which is a 4m improvement on 3 days ago, will go again in a few days.
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May 2020
7:12pm, 4 May 2020
675 posts
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Muttley
Well, when I'm on the erg I'm usually watching three things: spm, hr, and pace. Unfortunately I seem able to only keep two under control at any time while the other goes to ratshit. As soon as I get that one back on track one of the others has gone awol ... and so it goes on ...
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May 2020
7:44pm, 4 May 2020
154 posts
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Craggy
Haha I struggle to juggle all three as well Muttley, so I tend not to pay much attention to HR and just use it for analysis afterwards.
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May 2020
9:26am, 5 May 2020
377 posts
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Rog T
Curious as to what drag factor people are rowing at? I've not moved my damper setting from 4 (based on the C2 website recommendation of 3-5 for most rowers) since i started. I've now checked the drag factor and it is around 105 which it seems may be a little low. I'm going to adjust it to 115 for my 7500m today and see what difference it makes.
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May 2020
9:51am, 5 May 2020
36,196 posts
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Nellers
Usually around 130 Rog. That's because I've been unsuccessfully trying to get to race at the British Indoor Championships the last couple of years and they have the men's races at around that drag factor.
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May 2020
1:25pm, 5 May 2020
378 posts
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Rog T
Thanks Nellers.
I set up today for 115 but the logbook shows it as 113 - definitely felt different. Heavier I think and it did seem to slow my stroke rate down (25 rather than the 26 on my last similar piece). Think I'll do a couple of weeks at this and then consider bumping it up some more. Don't think I'll ever try to compete but if 130 is the competition standard then I might as well head for that.
In other news, my seat pad has been dispatched 😀 hope it arrives before next session on Thursday 🤞
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May 2020
4:28pm, 5 May 2020
1,067 posts
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sinj999
I am currently using around 125 DF.
I don't pay too much attention to being spot on each time.
I will use a slightly higher DF for short sprint work, and lower if I am feeling lazy and not bothered over times.
I still don't fully understand DF and how it doesn't compare to resistance. The conversations in the facebook groups make me not really want to understand it either 
I am sure there is some interesting reading around it that I must look up.
Not much rowing here. Feeling it a bit in the lower back after too much gardening. Damn this good weather and working from home.
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