Do any Free Spirits row on slides (or on a dynamic erg)

[mardix]

If you value your back and you have the space for them (big footprint!), you should buy the slides.

Great reply, thanks Greg.

I'm not sure that I value my back, or at least, if I was to give it a value, it would be on a K-Mart blue light special (sorry, not sure that joke translates outside the U.S. or even in the U.S. post 1980).

Very cool. Thanks. This alone may be worth the cost of joining this group.

[mardix]

Some feedback after 4 hours on slides…

Slides are not that "sprinty", compared to the Dynamic, but definitely more "sprinty" than the stationary erg is. On the stationary I can't row with high SPM's (everything higher than 25-26 is horrible for me). On my one day intermezzo with the Dynamic 38-45 SPM was no problem at all - it even aroused me to high SPM's. The first few strokes on Slides are way more difficult, than on Dynamic - it's very easy to "bounce". But after these first few strokes it's very nice. On stationery erg - well, there I have made most meters - my curve looks best. On dynamic it was by far not that good, but better than on Slides. On Slides I have to be very careful, otherwise I get some sort of lower back pain. The Slides itself do not run that smooth, it's a big difference to the Dynamic - on the other hand, a fresh Modell D needs some million meters too, to be "run in". It's very handy that it's possible to take the Slides aways within 1-2' - that makes this combo very versatile.

Great summary, thank you Boris. This is most helpful.

[gregsmith01748]

Here's an interesting (at least to me) comparison.

On Saturday, I did a 10K on a static erg which was my season best. It was a pretty hard row from beginning to end. I managed an avg pace 1:53.0 at r24.

Here is the pace and HR for the row.


Yesterday, I did a very light 10K just to keep going with March Madness. Then this morning, I found myself without enough time for a long and slow steady state session, so I thought I might do another hard-ish 10K, but this time on slides. I started with the intent of rowing at about 200 watts (2:00), but as I got going in the first 1000, I found myself in a groove at r25 and 220W (1:56), so I went with it. My heart rate took a bit longer to increase than on Saturday, but I ended up spending even longer in AN than on Saturday.



The conclusion that I draw from this is that I am still a bit less efficient for this type of threshold workout on slides than on a static erg, in this case about 20 watts lower power for about the same HR response. I think this means that I still have some defects in my stroke that I need to fix.

[sander]

Interesting. I am afraid the conclusion is right.

[dr3do]

On Slides I have to be very careful, otherwise I get some sort of lower back pain.

As I'm back on slides again, I now have no "lower back issues" any more. Reason was quite simple, but not nice to admit… not a proper technique at catch; I was "pulling and opening" too early, instead of "really pushing" with legs from very very beginning on.

I had to change/adapt/optimize my sequence timing (legs>trunk>arm) by a certain amount, as I find erging on slides very different compared to erging on static. Power curve now looks much better (=smoother), but very different compared to power curve on static. On static I had more a combination of DDR/Adam style, on slides it's looks mainly like Rosenberg style. My HR "baseline" is still a tad higher than on static and I can't maintain good/proper (at least for my current understanding) technique for more than about 1h45m, maybe 2h; I'm then mentally exhausted. Standing start from standing position (at catch position) is still very difficult, it takes up 6 strokes till I'm into flow, but rolling start and changing SPM is very easy and comfy.

I definitely like erging on slides more than erging on static. For me it feels more "natural" (without this "skidding around the body").

So far from me.