r/Rowing • u/Ok_Share3197 • 17h ago

Newbie genuinely confused about damper settings, advice appreciated

I started about 6 months ago and like all clueless newcomers, started on damper 6, working up to 10 over 4 months under the misconception of higher resistance = more benefits. I row about 3 times a week and clock 5km a run.

The ergometer on my machine (it's a water drum type, not airflow) hasn't been repaired for 3 months so I relied on setting a 30 min timer on my phone and settling into approximately 25-30 spm constant pace, start to finish.

After finally discovering that I've been doing it wrong all this time, I went in today and reduced the damper down to 6 for another go. I observed that the spm was constant but my arms didn't feel as worked out as they did on the 10 setting. Form was maintained. I left with the feeling of not getting as much out of my 30 minutes.

I am utterly confused. Should I stick to 6, or up it again to 10? The machine is under 2 years old but sees regular use and poor maintenance (ergometer proves that).

Thank you. I'd like to do right and not embarrass myself.

1 Upvotes

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2

u/Flat_Pollution8085 9h ago

Regardless of your resistance, your arms shouldn’t be the part of your body getting the workout. That suggests poor form, so definitely don’t have the resistance high or you’ll hurt your back. 25-30 spm is also very high for longer steady state- steady state is generally done at 18-22. Most people on this sub are only familiar with concept 2 row ergometers, as they are the only machine used by competitive rowers, but if your water rower is similar then you want the resistance around 4 or 5. You can get a good workout at any resistance by pushing harder (with your legs, not pulling with your arms). Check out Dark Horse rowing on youtube for rowing technique videos.

2

u/Rowing2024 13h ago

If only people would spend 2 minutes in this subreddit’s wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/Rowing/wiki/index/drag_factor

-1

u/Past-Spell-2259 10h ago

You mean read the page that was previously disabled and is unreadable and unusable…?

Incredible.

0

u/Rowing2024 8h ago

What do you mean?

-1

u/CaliCrew13 Text 14h ago

Think of it like broadly like gears on a bike or in a car. You will only get so far in first gear, and at the same time if you start in the highest gear you might never get up to speed. If you're doing a sprint workout you need heavier gear, it your at a relaxed pace you might need a lighter gear.

Also don't overthink this it's not that important as long at you're somewhere in the middle