- If rowing a faster 500
is on your target goal list, this is your workout.
Today's workout is going
to specifically put you in a similar time range
to what 500 meters would be
to give you more practice
with stroke rate control, following along
with me to get confident putting force and power
into this machine, over the distance
and time that is going to be necessary
to improve your 500 meters.
If this is your first time here, welcome to Dark Horse
where we build better humans through rowing
so that you can live the life you wanna live.
Let's cut to the chase on today's workout.
It's going to be one minute and 30 seconds,
with a one minute and 30 second rest.
Three times through.
This is going to be at a stroke rate 20, 24, and 28.
The objective being that higher stroke rate
is what you would actually use
if you were testing a 500 meter piece.
Then, after you finished that nine minutes,
if you are serious about improving your 500 meter,
you would repeat at least one more time,
if not, two more times so that you would end up
with six or nine one minute and 30 second intervals.
And now for the question that the PDP army loves
to ask, what's my drag factor?
We're gonna check it out here, currently my damper
is going to be set at a low four.
Right about the low four.
On my machine, that's a drag factor of 115.
The reason I'm using that is because I want to be able
to produce speed through the drive,
not get stuck
on a really heavy damper setting slash drag factor.
You choose what you want to do,
but that's what I'm gonna use.
For those of you new
to rowing workouts, lets go through the setup quickly.
First and foremost, getting your feet adjusted,
you're gonna set the foot stretcher such that the strap
runs across the widest part of your foot,
whatever machine you're using.
Next, you're gonna sit forward
on the seat.
Not so much that you're feel like you're falling off,
but definitely not at the back.
So scoot your butt forward.
Next, you're gonna take that handle, hands nice and wide
on the handle, thumbs underneath,
and a relaxed grip.
Not in the palms!
If the handle is touching your palms,
you know you're gripping too tight.
So that's gonna be our setup position.
So get the hands set, get the butt in place,
and get the feet set.
Now for actually setting up your monitor, I'm going
to put the detailed instructions
in the description below.
But for basic purposes, it's going
to be select workout, new workout, intervals,
intervals time, one minute and 30 seconds of work,
one minute and 30 seconds of rest.
That will repeat now for every time that you need
to do it.
And PDP army, make sure that you guys stick around
for each interval because at the end
of each interval, I'm gonna give you a tip leading
into the next interval,
so that you can improve each time
and go into it with some firepower
of what you want to be focusing on
so that you can get better through this workout,
not just do another workout.
Okay, machines are set.
I'm ready to go.
Get your handle in your hands.
And let's kick this thing off.
Minute 30 starting at stroke rate 20.
Again, make sure that you tune in
at the end of this interval.
And at the end of each one, I'm gonna give you tips
for the following interval.
Sitting ready, three, two, one, lets Dark Horse.
(rap music)
♪ Tell 'em run it up ♪
♪ I wake up ♪
♪ Yeah, I wake up, flex, thumb down that, check ♪
So you're just settling in right now
at the 20.
Learning how to force into every stroke
instead of letting the rake spin out of control.
Try to be strong,
through each drive,
letting the legs do the pushing.
♪ No sleep no rest ♪
♪ Might crash might wreck ♪
♪ But first I stretch ♪
♪ Tell 'em run it up ♪
♪ Nine out of 10 roll through my ends I'm by my lonely ♪
♪ Turned to a savage now my baby wants the old me ♪
♪ I love my fans don't need no friends I got my homies ♪
♪ Thought I could trust you I found out you tried to Zoe me ♪
♪ I'm number one up on that court I'm Nick Mcgrady ♪
♪ The first one in the last one out can't call me crazy ♪
♪ Put in my hours send my invoice and they pay me ♪
♪ I need six rings just like M.J. and Tom Brady ♪
♪ I wake up flex ♪
♪ Thumb down that check ♪
♪ No drip this wet ♪
♪ Tell 'em run it up ♪
♪ No sleep no rest ♪
♪ Might crash might wreck ♪
♪ But first I stretch ♪
♪ Tell 'em run it up ♪
♪ I wake up flex ♪
♪ Thumb down that check ♪
♪ No drip this wet ♪
♪ Tell 'em run it up ♪
♪ No sleep no rest ♪
♪ Might crash might wreck ♪
♪ But first I stretch ♪
♪ Tell 'em run it up ♪
♪ Y'all gon' make me take that trip way out to Europe ♪
♪ I call up Niger he will come through in a hurry ♪
All right, that's your first interval down.
Keep rowing.
Spin, don't let your legs stop.
You keep going.
So, what I want you thinking about,
that last piece, that first 500,
you should be thinking about power delivery.
The reason being, you're trying to prime the pump
so that your body gets comfortable pushing hard.
Because that's where your force comes from.
These jiggly guys right here.
That's what drives force in the machine.
And when I say speed, or when you want
to think going faster,
that comes from speed, you're ability
to push into the machine.
Not speed of the system, not stroke rate.
Stroke rate is icing on the cake,
to help power delivery, or help force production.
So this second piece, now,
you're going into a store grade 24.
It's gonna be bumped up a little bit,
which means you need to be faster through the drive.
And I want you to think acceleration.
What I'm gonna be thinking about,
is a smooth catch.
Not jamming on it, but trying to finesse the catch,
and then accelerate all the way through the drive,
finding the balance between stroke rate
and power delivery.
10 seconds to go.
Stroke rate 24.
Follow along with me here.
Check back in, in the next interval.
And we're gonna give you the final tip
going into that final minute and a half.
Two, one, here we go!
Light catches, accelerate.
("The Beat (LaLa)")
That'll bring the stroke rate up.
There we go.
Light and quick.
Think accelerate all the way through the drive.
Stay light at the catch, then accelerate.
Nice work.
Felt my heart rate climbing there.
I don't know about you.
Okay, keep going, light rowing as I talk to you.
Just move well.
Move with good intention.
This is the time to practice mechanics.
Okay, you keep going.
So, what I want you thinking about on this final piece,
that last one was about finding the balance
between force delivery and acceleration.
When we take this final stroke rate up to a 28,
you need to think,
fast through the drive,
and lighter by creating more speed through the drive
and creating a higher stroke rate.
Things are gonna start feeling lighter on the handle
because we keep the fly wheel spinning longer.
When you slow the stroke rate down,
the fly wheel has more time to slow down,
and therefore when you go to take your stroke,
it feels much heavier.
With a high stroke rate,
the flywheel stays spinning,
and we have to connect with it,
which means that I have to control my recovery,
and be fast and snappy at the catch
to catch up to the speed of the flywheel.
I hope that makes sense.
10 seconds to go.
Quick speed at the catch, staying light
through the recovery, light and fast through the drive.
Here we go.
Two, one, 28.
("Diver")
Right on it.
Not muscling it, just finessing it.
Finesse the machine, don't smash it.
Halfway.
Smooth on the recovery.
Whoo!
There we go.
That was a 28.
Keep spinning,
'cause we got a minute and a half for us left.
So, take this, if you truly want a better 500,
you need to repeat this at least once,
if not, twice.
Essentially you're putting yourself at doing six,
or nine 500 meter pieces.
The reason it's a minute and a half,
is that, it's a good range of time to work towards
for a 500 meter.
Doesn't matter if that's what you actually are,
don't judge yourself based off
of if you're close to that or not.
Minute and a half is just a good,
range time to get you focused on the capacity
to achieve a 500 meter.
So, what did we learn?
Number one is you're warming up into it.
That first 500 is going to be forced delivery.
Number two is gonna be blending,
force and acceleration,
and number three,
we work hard to stay focused on acceleration
staying light and quick.
Those three things are going to help you improve
with that 500 meter,
and that's your target, as you want to improve
a 500 meter distance.
Workouts like this are great
for helping you improve your capacity and get better
towards your goals on the rower.
But you also need technique.
So check out this playlist on how
to improve your technique,
and subscribe so you get alerted when we come out
with new videos.