Do you get shin pain when you row or afterward?

It's possible that you are overusing your feet and shin muscles while you are rowing.

There are some things you can do off the machine, but you also want to pay attention to what you are doing on the machine.

In this video I show some things you might be doing while rowing to contribute to these symptoms and a drill to help stop them.

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Do you ever feel like you aren't really pushing with your feet when you row?

Give this a shot! Try rowing strapless. Checkout the video to see what I mean and why it can be helpful!

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YES!

​Definitely, you need a good posture when rowing, And the advisable posture for rowing is being straight and tall. Keeping the back not rounding at the beginning part and not going to far at the end.

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Video below...
​If you see the numbers on top of your screen, in the upper right corner is “Strokes Per Minute” ("s/m" or "spm").

Why is that important?

It’s essentially how many strokes I’m doing back and forth in a minute. So if it's a higher number like 30 or 40, it means I'm going really really quick back and forth, that's like going 20 mph. If I'm going like 24, 20, 18- I'm going slower back and forth. I'm not getting as many repetitions in that minute and that's like 2 mph. It's the SPEED component.

The other numbers on the top next to that, you can see TIME- that's how long I rowed for. The big number in the middle is kind of a key number. That is how much power, how much force I have in that drive on my legs to really be able to move a boat or move the rowing machine. That and the s/m, those two work really good together.

Under that, the 75 meters,  that's how far I went. 6,504 m is if I kept pulling like that, like I was doing, in 30 minutes I would get 6,504 meters. These other numbers, you can pretty much ignore them unless you're like, "Hey, I wanna row for 2,000 meters, I wanna row for a certain amount of distance."

But the big number in the middle, you could kind of think of it like weightlifting; or somebody who's pushing weight over their head.
Are they pushing 10 lbs, are they pushing 20 lbs, are they doing 100 lbs, what are they lifting over their head? 
That number in the middle is how much am I pushing, how much am I pressing with my legs,  it kind of translates that way.
The only difference is it's telling us that information in TIME, so time instead of lbs.
So instead of thinking "Hey I'm lifting 100 lbs ( or whatever kgs)"
It's a TIME measurement instead (per 500 meters).

In a lower time like 1:59 or 1:30, it is going to be a person lifting 100 lbs versus a 2:30 is a person lifting 50 lbs. You can think of it that way.
How much am I pushing with my legs to really be able to transfer that, move the boat and how much force am I getting with my legs to move it or move that flywheel.
And that's essentially what that number is measuring.

Now, the strokes per minute( s/m)   the one on the top-right,that's the SPEED.
How fast was I going? I got 24 strokes in a minute if I kept at that speed. 
Not necessarily the time measurement of how much am I pushing or pulling.

Depending on what screen you have, what machine you have, those numbers might be in different places. 
They might look slightly different, even if you press UNITS on the Concept 2, look up between watts, calories. You're getting different inputs and you're getting it in different ways.

I tend to stick with the screen that I showed you because it gives me a lot of information and usually people are talking about it in that SPLIT 
That big number in the middle, that's how they call it - it's a SPLIT per 500 meters 
So that's your SPLIT or your PACE 
We're usually looking at that number and the strokes per minute 
The rest, "hey, how long did I row, how far did I row?" Those matter too, but the rest,most rowers don't really look at it in the watts or the calories. 

Now if we're doing Cross Fit workouts sometimes it's like "Hey, row for 20 cal."  or and that's when you switch it.

The strokes per minute (s/m) does not impact your SPLIT time and the key is learning that you can control the strokes per minute to be able to push more.

However, some people do say that if they're going faster in the strokes per minute, they're going really fast back and forth, they find that they can get 1:30, they'll get a lower SPLIT and lower is better- more power, more weight. 
But for longer rows, it's not sustainable.
If they're rowing 500 meters, you'll find that people are just going really really fast because they’re gaining momentum and with that momentum, they’re able to push more. 
But in reality, it's not actually impacting it, so it's figuring out " Hey, do I want to just do 500m and sprint it out and then maybe get a lower time or am I trying to do this for 2000m in which case I probably don't want to sprint cause I'm gonna be dead after 500m." 
It doesn't really (impact ) in the long run, but sometimes you can get that momentum for a really, really short distance to be able to have more power, more push.

I hope that helps a little bit, those are the numbers on your Concept 2 screen.

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Ever wonder what the thing is on the side of the rowing machine and what the numbers mean?

I have seen post after post on Facebook groups of people asking what setting to use. And what annoys me is that the first response is always...look at the buffer setting...the damper doesn't matter. Well, what the heck is a buffer setting? I am trying to figure out what the thing on the side is...(damper setting). What annoys me about it is that as a healthcare professional, I am used to explaining things really simply for people. Not only that, but to be completely honest, I don't have an amazing vocabulary. Granted, I know what these two words mean, but most people don't. It's like learning a new language....

One day someone was trying to teach me some words in Spanish. They tried to teach me, "who", "what", "when", "where", "why", "the bathroom", and some others...well, you know what I walked away with?

"Que, el bano"...which translates into..."what, the bathroom". If you teach people too much at once, sometimes we get confused. So rowing is a new language. Slide, damper, buffer, catch, drive, recovery, SPM, split, etc... Why do people assume that when someone asks a question, they want a more complicated answer? Sometimes we need to learn the basics, get an understanding, and then learn the more complicated version of it.

So, since I tend to explain movement patterns, and body mechanics, and injuries really simply to patients, I think I am pretty good at explaining things to those trying to learn. So, I put together a video explaining the damper setting. It can be complicated, or we can start simple. So here is the simple... hope it helps!

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Do you have thicker thighs?

I DO!!

So, instead of hurting myself by compensating with my form, learn how to still row well, so that you don't get injured. Here's my tricks for rowing as an "obese" woman with thicker thighs!

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Ever wonder where you should put your feet on the rowing machine?

Or how about should you push through your heels, toes, etc?

This post takes care of those questions.

Gives the optimal positioning for where to push through your feet when rowing. Even gives some info if you walk duck footed and what you can do for that.

If you are more curious about how to setup the machine so your feet are in a good position, check out this video here. 

Once you know the good setup position, watch this video below to know where to push through your legs and feet when rowing. 

This is a great question that I got the other day. I actually went looking to see if anyone else was addressing this issue, and only found one post on it. So...I decided I would make a video with the pros and cons of some typical shoe types I see people rowing in.

I made this video, and within hours, had someone post a picture of their bloody scraped up heel/ankle from rowing in hiking boots. It's funny, because I didn't even think to mention hiking boots in my video, so I will address that here....not a great idea.

Hiking boots don't allow for a lot of movement, they are designed to keep your foot and ankle stiff so when you are walking on uneven surfaces, you can last longer. However, on a rowing machine, you want to have motion. So your heel will be trying to create motion at the foot and ankle, and the hiking boot will try and limit it, hence unhappy feet at the end of it.

Check out the video for other shoe tips and what is ideal to wear on the rowing machine and why.

Make the rowing machine help you!

There are certain things on the Concept2 Rowing Machine that you can adjust. Do you know what they are?

Check out this video to find out what you can change and a brief intro into what the optimal settings and adjustments are.

Check out my other videos to see more in depth into certain areas.