Indoor Rowing N E W S L E T T E R =========================== 28-Jan-2000 ========================= _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. Fastest British Time Ever 2. Tel's Tales #1 3. World Indoor Rowing Championship 4. "Fastest" Indoor Rower 5. Tel's Tales #2 6. North of England Indoor Rowing Championship 7. 100, 000 Metre 8. The Big One 9. Tel's Tales #3 10. Sheffield Indoor Rowing Championship 11. Concept Ranking _________________________________________________________________ ================================================================= FASTEST BRITISH TIME EVER ================================================================= The fastest British time ever over 2,000 metres just got faster. Matthew Pinsent, who alongside Steve Redgrave, James Cracknell and Ed Coode makes up Britain's world champion coxless four, broke the Men's Open record just before Christmas during Olympic team testing. Matthew, who is rated by his coach Jurgen Grobler as the finest oarsman in the world, covered the 2,000 metre distance in 5:42.6. As competition for a seat in the British coxless four increases with pressure from Tim Foster and Greg Searle, who held the record before Pinsent with 5:44.1, don't be too surprised if you see the record being lowered even further. Further details on Pinsent's row can be found at our interactive world rankings where he currently heads the pile: . ================================================================= TELS TALES #1 ================================================================= If you've got any questions you'd like three times Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill to answer then send your questions to webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk D Jolly said: "I find it very hard to keep the stroke rate down below 25 strokes per minute (spm) as recommended in some of the training programmes. I tend to row with the setting on No 6, which I find most beneficial. Should I change the setting to No 10 in order to keep the stroke rate lower? I would also be interested to know if most of the competitors in the British Championships (LWT) row with the setting on No 10." Terry O'Neill: The fact that you can't get your stroke rate down below 25 spm in itself is not a problem. The stroke rates in the training guide are an indication and not cast in stone. People that are not very big or strong can supplement this with a higher cadence. However there are some exercises you can try to help get your stroke rate down. 1. Make sure you are getting the full length stroke which means at the front stop your shins are vertical and your chest is touching your thighs and on the finish you are sitting back with your shoulders ahead of your seat forming an angle of 11 o'clock. 2. If you are happy with your length then an exercise you can do is a series of single power strokes where on each stroke you reduce the split time for 500m. The object is to pull as hard as you can and get your split time down as low as you can and because you are pulling single strokes the rate will be around 18 spm. 3. Take a note of your lowest split and using the conversion table on page 69 of the training guide, convert the split time to watts. Take 85% of the power in watts and find the nearest 500m split and row on this split for as long as you can at rate 22 spm. For example if your best split is 1.30 this equates to 475 watts. 85% of 475 is 403 and the nearest split is 1.36. So at rate 22 spm pulling hard keep the split at 1.36 until you can't hold it any longer. A this point reduce the split to 75% which in this example would be 356 and the nearest split is1.41 and hold this as long as you can again holding the rate at 22. Finally when you can hold this split no longer drop to 65% which is 308 and the nearest split is 1.47 hold this for as long as you can at rate 22 spm. 4. What you are learning through this exercise routine is how to use your power to control your rating. In terms of competitors at the British Championship, most competitors tend to row with the damper setting on three or four. The damper setting is NOT an indicator of fitness or workout intensity, it simply changes the speed of the Drive, not unlike changing gear on a bicycle. Workout intensity is determined solely by your own effort. The harder you row, the faster the flywheel spins and the more resistance you will feel. For a given amount of effort a high damper setting will result in a lower stroke rate than for a lower damper setting. ================================================================= WORLD INDOOR ROWING CHAMPIONSHIP ================================================================= February: Leap Years, Valentines' Day and the World Indoor Rowing Championship. On February 20th Boston will again play host to the Worlds, otherwise known as the CRASH-B Sprints, as nearly 2,000 people fight it out in 38 categories. The British Team who will be attempting to match last year's record total of five gold medals has now been finalised with over sixty people going, including such notable indoor rowing names as Noel Frost, Herbert Leah and Peter Fields. For the complete list of British competitors, along with athlete profiles, championship records and the like, go to . ================================================================= "FASTEST" INDOOR ROWER ================================================================= Last newsletter saw us attempt to be clever in proclaiming David Coulthard the "fastest" indoor rower in the world. This linguistic sleight-of-hand rapidly backfired on us. Firstly, no doubt stung by our claims, a certain M. Schumacher appeared in Germany's version of The Sun, Das Bild, using a Concept 2 to get in shape for the forthcoming Grand Prix season (see for pictures) Secondly, as reader Henry Gillett points out, even this would probably be untrue as we must have some jet pilots somewhere who train on the Indoor Rower. This newsletter hereby launches a competition to find the Fastest Indoor Rower in The World, with all entries more than welcome at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk . ================================================================= TEL's TALES #2 ================================================================= John Power: "I am 6ft, 12 1/2st, 40 years old. I run and concept row regularly and would consider myself reasonably fit (p.b.t's rower 2000 <8min 5000 <21min). I would like to use the concept for muscle/weight gain and whereas I assume this will entail sprints at high settings I can find no guide to base this sort of exercise on. Also I have a heart monitor and find that if I stay within the heart rate recommendations for my age I do not feel as if I have had a good work out. Perhaps you could advise?" Terry O'Neill: To be honest the Indoor Rower is not the most efficient way to increase muscle mass. To increase muscle mass you need to train in the region of 85-90% of your maximum muscle strength. The Indoor Rower develops power and endurance and, by varying the training, you can bias towards the power end or the endurance end. If you check out the Concept 2 Training Guide [http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/training_prog.htm] you'll find some exercises to develop power in the section on training for a marathon. In order to better deal with the question of muscle and weight gain, we are in the process of developing the "Concept 2 DYNO". This provides dynamic strength training on the leg press, bench press and bench pull all on the one machine that is no bigger than a rower. It works on the same principle as the rower in that the resistance is air but it has a wide load range of up to 1000lbs. A few months on this machine and you'll have muscles on your muscles. The DYNO will be released at the end of February. As far as the heart rate training is concerned the figures in the guide are ballpark and will err on the safe side. You can determine your own max. heart rate on the machine by simply thoroughly warming up and then row 45sec. absolutely flat out pulling as hard as you can. You may find your heart rate will continue to rise after you actually finish the 45sec. but the highest you will see will be near enough your max. ================================================================= NORTH OF ENGLAND INDOOR ROWING CHAMPIONSHIP ================================================================= Over 400 people will be pitching up in Littleborough from around the UK to compete in the third North of England Indoor Rowing Championship. The event, organised by Matt Rostron of Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club, has grown dramatically since he first introduced the event to the club as a safeguard against the temperamental Pennine weather. According to Matt, "It is now a serious date in the diary of many rowing and indoor rowing enthusiasts every year, with many using the regional competition to prepare for the World Championship". ================================================================= 100,000 METRE WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT ================================================================= A ten man team from Royce's Gym and Fitness Centre will be attempting to break the 100,000 metre world record at the North of England Indoor Rowing Championship. The team, captained by the owner of Royce's Gym, the eponymous Royce Banks, aim to beat the time of four hours 44 minutes and 32 seconds, set by the Steve Redgrave led Leander Club during last year's national Red Nose Row fundraising project. The Wigan challengers range in age from 22 to 47, and in size from 5'8 and 12 stone to 6'7 and 18 stone. They include amongst their number Graeme West the former Wigan Rugby League Coach. The team are planning to operate on a 200 metre burst strategy and need to be hitting splits of 1:25.3 on average to break the 1999 record. "All the men are very fit and strong and I honestly believe that we are capable of beating the record. We finished second in the Concept Ranking for the event last year and we've got a new improved team with a tremendous amount of talent. I believe if anyone can do it then we can," said Royce. "It will be a real achievement if we set a new record, not least because the likes of James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent were part of the team which did it last time." ================================================================= THE BIG ONE ================================================================= For those attracted by the idea of doing a 100,000 metre row, just a reminder about 'The Big One' taking place on Sunday 19th March at Millfield School in Street, Somerset. Described by the organiser Neil Rhodes as " the very unofficial 100,000 metre Team Championship", the competition will consist of 60 teams of ten. Those interested can contact Neil Rhodes on neil.rhodes@classicfm.net . For those people who do enter, or who find themselves in the Somerset area in March, we'll be selling off the machines used after the event at a knockdown price of £660 + VAT (£775.50 inc. VAT). Just e-mail sales@concept2.co.uk to book your machine. ================================================================= TEL'S TALES #3 ================================================================= Mike Crowe asked: "Should one's feet lift off the plate during the rowing action? I'm strapped in and if I don't lift my heels off the plate, I won't go forward far enough for the catch." Terry O'Neill: You don't say what model machine you are on. The model B has a fixed wooden foot plate whereas a model C has a plastic flexifoot that allows the heels to rise but remain in the heel trap. But whatever, the heels do rise at the beginning of the stroke. In fact you use this to time the drive. As you feel the heels rise, the weight moves up to the balls of the feet and at this point the pressure on the feet is acting as a brake. When you reach the end of your forward travel you build the pressure on the footplate to change direction and drive the flywheel round. ================================================================= SHEFFIELD INDOOR ROWING CHAMPIONSHIP ================================================================= Sunday 23rd January saw the Sheffield Indoor Rowing Championship take place at Sheffield Hallam University. According to organiser Danny Porter, although circumstances meant the turn- out was lower than hoped for, the event as a whole went well and planning has already started on next year's competition. The full results can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/local.htm. ================================================================= AND FINALLY ================================================================= Just a quick reminder that the closing date for entries for this year's Concept Ranking is February 11th, so if you've not entered, time to start improving those PBs. You might even have time to knock out a marathon as age categories are recognised for this for the first time this year. _______________________________ S U B S C R I P T I O N I N F O If you think you've received this e-mail by mistake or if you want to stop getting it, reply to this e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the header where relevant. If you've had more than one copy reply with "Multiple" in the header. To change your address, e-mail webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________F E E D B A C K Like what you read? Dislike what you read? Then tell us. If you'd like to see anything in here then make sure you drop us a line at webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk Concept 2 Tel: (0115) 945 5522 E-mail: info@concept2.co.uk Web: www.concept2.co.uk Printed from: www.concept2.co.uk/news/newsletter_archive.php