Restricted rate rowing

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Stan
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Restricted rate rowing

Post by Stan »

Yesterday I made my first attempt to restrict my stroke rate. I found it difficult and my legs really felt it (although that may have been due to the unrestricted 6k I had just done).
I finally hit on the trick of pulling, counting to 4 and then pulling again - this gave me a consistent stroke rate of 16, likewise counting to 2 gave me a consistent rate of 20.
My splits for r16 were 2:15 (2x1000m) and for r20 were 2:10 (1x1000m). This is a lot slower than my normal unrestricted rate (28 spm). Does everyone else get this degree of performance drop or is it just that I am not used to it and need to train this way more?
I have no doubts as to the eventual benefits of this training method but I would be interested to hear other peoples experience of this.
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PSims
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Post by PSims »

Pretty much the same Stan.
It hurts - also worked my abs a lot more as I was trying to pull much harder to sustain the splits.
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johnglynn
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Re: Restricted rate rowing

Post by johnglynn »

Stan wrote: Does everyone else get this degree of performance drop or is it just that I am not used to it and need to train this way more?
My drop off going down to 16SPM on a 10K is between +4 and +7 secs pace (my current ELM time is around +4.5 secs).

I think I was going at +9 secs pace on my first 16SPM try. And gained about 1 second pace on each of the next 3 attempts.

I row my unrestricted 10K's at about 25SPM normally so the stroke rate reduction would be less for me then your normal 28SPM.

I'm also on the strong side. My short distances times are much better then my longer distance ones, compared to other people.
So I'm guessing my strength reduces my drop off quite a lot also, as I think that rowing this way demands more from your muscles then your cardio system, compared to rowing unrestricted.
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webberg
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Low SPm

Post by webberg »

Like John, my normal SPM is lower than average (around 24) and as such the drop off on a restricted row is less than it might otherwise be.

Not being on the strong side the biggest challenge is to maintain technique. I am aware that in order to get a decent(ish) reseult, each stroke has to be as perfect as possible. In the early stages a fast leg snap, still hands and straight back on the catch seem easy enough. Maintaining the concentration required however is a challenge.

I find therefore that the mental side of this type of workout is as much of an issue as the physical. Switch off for a couple of minutes and the splits go rocketing.
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