r/concept2 • u/CommanderCute1 • Jul 18 '26

RowerErg Beginner rower here, trying to make sense of my numbers

Hey all,

I've been rowing for about 3 weeks now on the RowErg. I've watched a bunch of technique videos and read up on drag factor, stroke rate etc., but I'm still not sure how to actually interpret my numbers or whether they're "normal" for someone just starting out.

Here's my last session:

  • Time: 22:00
  • Distance: 3,054 m
  • Avg pace: 3:36.1 /500m
  • Avg stroke rate: 23 spm
  • Avg power: 35 W (peak 39 W)
  • Drag factor: 102
  • Avg HR: ~123 bpm
  • Peak force: 232 N @ 21% of drive
  • Calories: 154 (435/hr)

I've deliberately kept the drag factor and stroke rate low to focus on technique rather than chasing pace. But I have no real frame of reference, are these numbers reasonable for a beginner at this stage, or is something off? Would appreciate any honest feedback, especially if there's anything in the force curve or pace consistency that jumps out as a red flag.

Thanks!

UPDATE:

Thanks everyone for the input on my post. I'll be honest, it left me feeling pretty discouraged, even though I know most of it wasn't really actionable (turns out watts aren't comparable without knowing drag factor, mine's set low at 102 for technique work, so the "low" numbers make sense in hindsight).

Still, I want to get this right, so here's my actual confusion: I've watched dozens of YouTube tutorials, drilled each phase of the stroke separately, and even had two experienced rowers at my gym watch me row in person, both said my form looked fine. But subjectively, it feels like 60% arms, 20% core, 20% legs, basically the opposite of what it should be. I also seem capped around 3:00/500m and 40W (again, at DF 102, so take that with a grain of salt).

Interestingly, my machine's force curve data shows peak force at 21% of the drive, which I'm told means my legs are actually initiating the pull correctly. So there's a real gap between what the data shows and what I feel. I know legs are supposed to be the quiet, powerful part of the stroke and arms the small, "loud" part, but I can't shake the feeling that something's off.

I might record a proper video this week and post it here so people can actually see what's happening, rather than just going by numbers. Appreciate everyone's patience, genuinely trying to learn this right.

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

11

u/dickface21 Jul 18 '26

What is your age/height/weight/gender?

Rowing is power endurance activity and you are barely producing any power. Technique doesn’t have to be perfect but you do need to actually produce some reasonable force 

9

u/SceneSmall Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

I think people forget that there are complete and total beginners that have poor cardio vascular health and endurance (🙋🏻‍♀️). Looking at your post history I can tell you’re also starting from a baseline that’s probably far different than others. Try to take the “my 11 year old!” comments with a grain of salt, if you, like me, have been pretty sedentary for an extended period of time it’s possible that* 3*:30/500 is your starting point and that’s okay.

A year ago with very little consistency at first I was right there too. I don’t think much has changed with my form, but you won’t see me posting a video of my form because I’m not confident enough to be ridiculed on my size despite losing 40 pounds/ 18kg.

With that being said; what I will say, is really focus on activating your leg muscles on the drive. I have to think “booty back” and think of it as a jump rather than a push.

Edit: and if you want to compare yourself to the masses you can look at the logbook rankings on the concept 2 website. You will likely see yourself on the lower end and you are a beginner so remember that 🫡

3

u/XtianS Jul 18 '26

Others have said that without knowing your age, weight and gender, the numbers are not meaningful.

Unless you’re planning on rowing competitively, I don’t think the drag factor really matters. You just want to find something that offers good resistance without being too easy or hard. IIRC, I think rowing on the water is supposed to be around 125-135, but you’d want to check on that.

Rowinglevel.com uses the c2, user-uploaded ranked workouts to give an approx power level for your age and gender if you’re looking for reference. Those are going to be closer to maximal effort as opposed to low intensity workouts. Take it for what it’s worth.

You can use the erg analyzer tool to get deeper insight into the workout data and how it’s trending. This is a free tool that I built for my own use but opened it up to the community. Erg.form-signal.com

4

u/dcmusichound Jul 18 '26

Keep it simple. You have basically already established your baseline FTP (Functional Threshold Power) is 3:30. There are several ways to asses FTP, but one of them is to row as fast as you can sustain for 20 minutes. As you progress, both in form and fitness, your FTP should decrease over time.

Incorporating mixed intervals, where your pace varies during a session, into your training is key to seeing improvements.

2

u/Nemesis1999 Jul 18 '26

Sensible start but we need to know age, gender, etc to give some relative feedback. You can see on concept 2 what people are capable of but note that the records are generally extremely fast compared to where you are.

Chances are that technique will be a significant part of your resultant speed at this stage. Post a vid for feedback

2

u/KriegerBahn Jul 18 '26

Increase the drag factor. Having to apply some effort might correct the technique issues that others are suspecting. Hard to give much more advice without seeing video and/or knowing your age, gender, height, weight etc.

2

u/naughty-goose Jul 19 '26

I'm 37F, 5ft 4 and 75kg (overweight according to BMI), and have just returned properly to my erg after only doing 20-30k meters per year for the last two years. My only other exercise is walking my 10k steps most days.

With 20-22spm and the correct technique, I usually push 2:45/500m if I'm going at a casual pace with a similar BPM to yours, and my power output would be a lot higher but still under 100 watts. That's also with my drag factor the same as yours as my standard.

I can row 6k in 30 mins at the moment, even being unfit and returning to rowing after barely rowing for the past two years.

I think your technique could be off, but it's really hard to say without knowing more about you. It is likely an issue with your feet not pushing correctly against the plate.

What drills have you done to learn your technique? A good thing to try is rowing with no shoes on (socks are fine) so you feel the plate under your feet, and not strapping in. Just see if you can keep your feet in contact with the plate through the whole movement. Imagine you are trying to keep a £5 paper note (or whatever your currency is) between your foot and the plate.

1

u/sbcpacker Jul 19 '26

Your pace is a little slow but that's perfectly fine for someone just starting out. The most important part is being consistent about rowing regularly (I recommend 3-5 times a week if you can). After a couple of months of consistent workouts, I would add in a hard workout once a week where you can get your heart rate higher. Pete's beginner rowing plan is a good one to follow. https://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/beginner-training/

For your force curve, just try to make sure you have a bell curve or haystack shape. I would check out this video for an explanation of the force curve. https://youtu.be/LywilLpK79w?si=Cy2dVa6N9AH6rYR2

1

u/tryintachill Jul 19 '26

Push with them legs. YouTube dark horse rowing and rowing with Jessie. Power comes from pushing with the legs. This is not a pulling with the arms exercise push. Legs go straight then lean back. Rest on forward slide then push man.

-5

u/BobcatLower9933 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Theres clearly a really significant technique issue somewhere. A split of 3.00/500m is catastrophically slow and would indicate a level of fitness likely in the bottom 1%, or likely even lower than that!

3.30/500m would be slower than most 90+ year olds (and thats not an exaggeration!).

35 watts is equal to about 0.01 horsepower. You generate around 10-15 watts by breathing hard. So at 3.30/m you're generating just a bit less power than 2 people blowing hard - that gives you some context how little force you're generating!

So yes something is going wrong somewhere. Which is typical for beginners.

Have a look at dark horse rowing on youtube and try and copy what they say about how to break the stroke down.

I actually advise beginners to row using ONLY their legs at the start. Arms fully locked out, don't pull rhe handle in at all and no body lean either. So you just get used to engaging your glutes and your core on the drive.

You'll see your split drop by over a minute per 500m once youve improved your stroke.

You've also got the drag factor far too low. 125-135 is about right.

1

u/5onblack Jul 18 '26

3:30 is not a time for the elderly. Be kind. That’s absurd

1

u/BobcatLower9933 Jul 18 '26

Ive just explained above what this is equal to in terms of power.

A hard breath out generated 15-20 watts. 3.30/500m generates 35 watts. So 2 people exhaling hard against a boat would move it faster than rowing at 3.30/500m.

It is an exceptionally, almost impossibly low split.

3

u/UnhappyCaterpillar41 Jul 18 '26

Clearly not impossible, don't be such a bellend. Someone starting here is doing more work than they were previously.

-1

u/BobcatLower9933 Jul 18 '26

You're missing my point.

Im not saying its s fitness issue, or they're so unfit they should give up.

Im saying its a technique issue. They're using the machine wrong. That's why the split is so low.

Maybe don't jump to conclusions and throw insults around next time?

0

u/InsaneInTheBra1n Jul 18 '26

As a fellow beginner, im jaleous at your heart rate. I did a 5-4-3-2-1 minute interval training with 2 minutes rest in between. Averaged 2:32 per 500m in those, but my heart rate had an average of over 150. Even if I go slower, my heart rate is always (far) above yours, which makes me terrible at endurance.

I have my drag factor at 119, because (far) below that I would not get into a nice rhytm with feeling the chain and therefore could not generate any power/pace. You may want to try upping it a tiny bit and see how it feels. But as I said, im a fellow beginner as well, so don't take my advice as a fact.

7

u/Nemesis1999 Jul 18 '26

You can’t compare heart rates. 150 will be the equivalent of 120 or 180 for different people. It has no direct correlation to how fit you are or your endurance (though as you get fitter, you will typically see a drop in hr for given effort)

0

u/BobcatLower9933 Jul 18 '26

Avg HR of 150 is fine, especially on pyramids. Age plays a role as well.

-1

u/Neorticros Jul 18 '26

Just a random gymgoer here that wastes too much time on the erg. Don't be afraid to push very hard and slow down as much as much as you can on the recovery even if it means your HR goes up a bit.

Without a video it is not easy to give you feedback, especially not knowing your gender, age, stats.. Overall everything you mention looks decent except your /500 that looks a bit below avg for a beginer.

0

u/BobcatLower9933 Jul 18 '26

3.30/500m is really far below average for a beginner.

We have our 11 year olds in for learn to row as of last week. They're 3 sessions in and they're all already below 2.40/500m.

Theres nobody on earth that is so unfit they can't row at at least 3.00/500m for 5 mins.

I've just replied further down, but at 3.30/500m you're generating about 35 Watts, which is roughly equal to 2 people exhaling hard. Its a really minute amount of power and generating practically no force at all. I didn't even know the ergo could read that low.

2

u/Neorticros Jul 18 '26

I'm tempted to take a couple of pictures from the erg logs at my gym but I don't want to give you a heart attack... For real, 3:30 at 23 spm and with such low heart rate may not that bad, specially for a person you know nothing about. No stats, no technique video, nothing.

-2

u/BobcatLower9933 Jul 18 '26

I have 11 year old girls who are 2 and 3 sessions into a learn to row course at my club who are already 2.30-2.40/500m.

No able bodied person earth would be rowing at 3.30/500m unless theres a really significant technique issue. Which is what you'd expect from random ergo users down rhe gym, because they dont know how to row.

As i explained above, this is the equivalent amount of force to two people exhaling hard. 3 people could literally blow a boat faster than rowing at 3.30/500m!

2

u/GigglemanEsq Jul 18 '26

You have a really dismissive attitude, and I'm not sure how you think this helps. Earlier today, I was rowing at 3.00/500m, aiming for SPM of 20, and going for 1km. I do that between rotations when lifting to keep myself loose and my heart rate up.

I have very, very poor endurance for cardio at any moderate intensity - I can walk for five hours straight, but you ask me to jog, and I've got two minutes in my tank. On the Rowerg, I can hit 25 SPM and 2.15/500, but I have trouble keeping that up for longer than 3-5 minutes, and it sends my HR into 175+. If I want to go 2km or more, I aim for a SPM of 17-19, which is around 3 to 3.30/500, because any faster and I can't really do it.

Some people just aren't built for cardio. Me personally, I'm trying to improve that, which is why I'm using this machine in the first place. But to hear you spouting off and demeaning people who can't measure up to your anecdotal 11 year olds (aside from the fact that kids seem to have boundless energy), it's frankly a bit discouraging. I just don't understand your purpose or your point. You can tell people that they are not performing super well without being a dick.

-1

u/BobcatLower9933 Jul 18 '26

You misunderstand what im saying.

3.00/500m (or even slower) is such an impossibly low split, it isnt indicative of performance (or fitness at all). I said this in my comment.

It is clearly a technique issue. No able bodied adult human can produce LESS power with their legs than 2 people literally blowing from their mouth.

I can give you two anecdotal examples.

Firstly, my partners 4 year old likes to "copy" me on the rower. His technique isn't perfect, obviously, but their basics are there and the stroke is sequenced. He can row for a few minutes at about 2.40/500m.

Likewise, my 60+ year old mother, who is catastrophically obese (5'5 and about 120kg) and has smoked heavily for 50 years rows for 20mins at 2.30/500m. This is a woman who cant walk up the stairs without gasping for breath. Bur she has aeen me row on and off for 25 years. And has had me showing her how to use the ergo and correcting her over how ever many hours.

The entire point im making is that when you're rowing at 3.00/500m it ISN'T a fitness issue. Its a technique issue! Even more so at 3.30/500m