A couple of things:

Eh. I’ve had plenty of dudes run screaming from me based on my intellect/job/demanding personality. I’ve also dated guys that found those traits really attractive. It’s almost as if men are all unique beings with their own likes and desires...

I am aware of all of these things. Which is the reason for which I have a subscription to local spring water which I cart home in glass bottles.

Her heart may be in the right place, but the logistics trouble me. 50 rooms isn’t a lot. And in Detroit, so only the people who can afford to own a car and drive from Flint to Detroit will be able to take advantage of this.

WE’RE ON A MISSHINN FROM GAD

Beautiful that so many are reaching out to help; but, really, this onus should not be on public citizens. This is the reason we pay taxes; and the reason that the Republicans’ small government chorus does not and cannot work. We need government agency; and for exactly this.

Gooood, good. Your next step is to find an adult learn-to-row club and truly unlock the reason why men and women dress up in unitards and brave the elements...mostly just splashes of cold water here and there but still.

Lots of other rowers have chimed in, so I’ll try not to reiterate too much but a few notes as a collegiate rower and coxswain (the guy who yells at you in the boat):

There’s an important detail here I should have mentioned in my other post - every machine is different (mostly due to wear/tear, cleanliness, and age). A 5 on one machine may not be the same drag as another machine. For most people this won’t matter much, but if you want to get precise you definitely want to use the…

Keep your back straight and your shoulders back.

7 am? You lucky SOB, we were on the water by 5, after a jog to the boathouse and erg warmups.

That damper is wayyyyyy to high. If you want as “hard” a workout, try to get the same splits (time per 500 meter) with a much lower stroke rate (say 18 strokes/min@ 1:51). Alternatively if you want to do sprints, put damper at 4 and crank up the rate (30-35). That damper will just lead to major back problems and it…

Eh, don’t be, all of us ex-rowers are just bitter seeing people do high resistance/high rate workouts while not realizing that their 500 split is terrible, probably because we had to learn it all painfully at 7am in cold weather.

Most rowers are incredible athletes, but entirely horribly coordinated. I was one of the few kids on my team that was decent at another sport. Rowers are the kids that when you throw your car keys at them, the keys hit them in the face. They just happen to be 6'4'’ 200lbs with 6% body fat. They figured out legs down,…

Former Elete and D1 Rower here a couple of thoughts:

You should try it then.

FYI - the resistance is actually the damper setting and should probably be set between a 1 - 4. To figure out where you should be, you’ll need to determine your drag factor (which can be found in the settings of a Concept2), which should be about 120 - 140 for males/90 - 115 for females.

As a competitive oarsman, bravo for getting on the machine that most non-rowers never give a passing thought. I will say, the gent who pointed out that you were erging at a 7 was on to something. Most folks who just sit on the erg for a few minutes figure a higher number is better, which is not true. Somewhere between…

Three really important pieces of advice for people getting on a rowing machine:

The rowing machine is far and away my favorite exercise in the gym. Oddly, it’s always available. I guess it’s because it’s too hard to play on your phone while “working out”.