Concept2 Forum

Hello,
Brand New here, unfamiliar with forums in general. I have a question. I am 59 years old. I row 10K Meters in just under 45 minutes. My heart rate during this workout is about 135 bpm. I have my damper set at 8. Is that correct?

10k in say 44 minutes is Pace 2:12 and 150W which at HR 135 means you're doing well.

Check the Drag Factor, via the PM. It's best set at 130 or lower, according to your age/strength. If the fan is clean, level 3 is the usual damper setting.

What Drag actually lets us do is use a combination of pull speed and force that best suits us as to production of Power, which is Force x Speed by definition.

If we can't move the load, Power is zero. If the load is zero, there is no Power. So we use a handle Force/Speed level somewhere in between.

Controls you can use to qualify your efforts are Watts/kg bodyweight and Work per stroke, which is Watts/Rating. Needless to say, the higher the better.

Johnny B wrote: ↑

February 11th, 2025, 6:52 pm

Hello,
Brand New here, unfamiliar with forums in general. I have a question. I am 59 years old. I row 10K Meters in just under 45 minutes. My heart rate during this workout is about 135 bpm. I have my damper set at 8. Is that correct?

THat's a lot better than most newbies who wouldn't manage 10k in a stretch let alone at a decent pace. But beyond that need to know weight, height and any sports / fitness background. As said above unless your machine is very dirty, setting on 8 suits few people for anything longer than 500M. The machine adjusts the pace so there is no benefit of different settings so it is about finding what works for you.

As others have said those are pretty good numbers for a new rower. Just a quick note on heart rate monitoring. If using a wrist based monitor the results are likely to low. As an example I cruised along at about 140 bpm today for a 10k as measured by my chest belt. Wrist based monitor never exceeded 111. Apologies if this isn’t applicable to you. Welcome to the forum.

A note on wrist-worn fitness trackers: I find that I get my most reliable readings when I clean my wrist and the back of my tracker with a wet paper towel just before I exercise. I make sure I wear my watch a full two fingers above my wrist bone.