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April 19, 2021

Adjusting the Damper

Everyone knows the slidey-thing on the side of the rower. It sits somewhere between 1 and 10.10 must be super hard and I don’t want that. And 1 must be super easy. Soooooo let’s go with 5? Works for me.There is a better solution!What is the Damper?The damper is a way to adjust the rowing machine to simulate a person in a boat.When a heavier person is sitting in a boat, the boat sits lower in the water. The deeper the boat drops below the surface, the more contact there is between the boat and the water.More boat underwater = more friction. More friction means the boat is harder to move.A higher damper simulates a heavier person sitting in a boat in the water, and a lower damper setting simulates a smaller person on a boat in the water.That’s only half of the equation though.The C2 rower and monitor makes some assumptions about the person on a rower.In their speed algorithm, they also assume that a heavier person has a lot more weight to throw around therefore can pull harder. Remember that everything you’ve learned so far is an estimate. But the monitor thinks this:Heavier Person Pulls Harder (and Slower)Lighter Person Pulls Weaker (and Faster)So what should you row on?We want an optimal amount of resistance.There is a really cool tool on the Rower that lets you find your personal Damper Setting and it’s built right into the monitor.Enter the Drag Factor. To access the drag factor, click on the Menu Button → More Options → Display Drag FactorThen you just start rowing at a pace that you like to row. This is important. Settle in to a realistic pace (strokes per minute) that you would use in a rower. What should happen is a number will pop up between 100 and 200. This is the drag factor. What we want you to do is settle on a drag factor between 120 and 145. To manipulate this factor, move the damper and row again. The most important thing to pay attention to on your end is that you need to row the same pace, the same way, as consistently as possible.If you bring the damper up to 10, the drag factor should rise up really high, towards the 200s.If you bring the damper down to 1, the drag factor should drop to the low 100s and maybe even into the double digits.If you like to row with a higher stroke per minute (above 32) OR you are a shorter lighter person, your drag factor should be closer to 120.If you like to row with a lower stroke per minute (32 or below) OR you are a taller heavier person, your drag factor should be closer to 145.The last step is to try it out. Complete 5 rowing workouts with the same drag factor setting before trying a different drag factor.Either that or complete a 500m test, a 1000m test, and a 2000m test at 3 different drag factor settings to see which one gives you the best time!Anth

 

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