- Can I or should I use a rowing
machine if I have back injury?
Should I buy my own machine or should I
just plan on using the one that's at the gym?
What are split and stroke rate?
And how do I use the machine, and especially,
how do I know if I'm even doing it right?
These are really common questions
for a beginner who's a little bit worried
about getting involved with a machine,
wondering if it's the right decision for them to make.
In fact, I get a lot of those questions in the comments,
and so I wanted to make sure that we just
address them right here, right now.
First time here, welcome to Dark Horse,
where we build better humans through rowing
so that you can do great things with your life.
Probably the number one question that comes up
in our comments quite a bit is,
can I row with a previous existing back injury?
The answer is yes, and I'm actually living proof of that.
I had a really bad back injury in 2012, ironically,
thanks to a chiropractor who was performing malpractice,
not because of the training (chuckles)
that I was doing, which was unfortunate,
but a good lesson learned that I can relay to you guys.
Yes, it's absolutely possible if you've had a previous
back injury to row for a number of reasons.
One, it actually strengthens your erectors,
the muscles that run the side of your spine
and are helpful for stabilizing that spine,
and your entire posterior chain, which is really important,
because that's quite weak in a lot of people.
So it's great for that purpose, provided that you
have cleared it with your physician
and your therapist if you do have a previous back injury
and they've said, "Yeah, go for it."
If that's the case, rowing is fantastic for that
because using good mechanics,
you actually end up with better posture
than when you started because it's necessary
for the whole body to work together to connect,
so that you can create a good stroke,
and therefore you end up turning on parts of your body
like your backside, the back, your butt, your hamstrings,
that all work together to stabilize you
and make you stronger, so yes, the answer is,
you can absolutely row if you've had a previous
back injury as long as you're cleared
by your physician or your therapist.
The next question you might have is,
should I buy a machine myself,
'cause they are relatively expensive,
or should I just find a gym that has one,
or maybe my gym does have one, should I just use that?
The answer really depends.
I would say that if you do have a gym
where they have quality rowing machines
and you enjoy going to that gym, it's a place you're used to
and you make it to regularly, absolutely.
Just use those, don't buy your own.
There's no need to add more stuff to your own house.
Use the ones that are there because (chuckles)
they're almost always available
since a lot of other people aren't using them.
If you're more of a lone worker-outer and you enjoy
being at home in your garage, your basement,
or you have a busy life and so it's important
that you get your workouts at home,
absolutely consider picking up a machine for your house.
There are two things I would ask you to consider.
Number one, always check the used listings
in whatever your area is, see if somebody is selling
a used model of whatever you want.
That's always the first place I would look
because you can often find a really good discount
on some of these machines that are generally not
in any kind of bad way, that person just let it sit too long
and they (chuckles) stopped using it and you can benefit
from being able to buy secondhand.
That's where I would always look first.
Second, if you're buying it new,
make sure that you just buy a reputable brand,
something like WaterRower, Concept 2, or RP3.
Any of those machines are gonna give you
a pretty good resale value because let's say
a year down the road you decide,
"It's not my thing, I didn't use it as much as I thought,"
you can often resell them without really losing any money
because they're such high-quality machines.
You'll end up retaining a lot of that value,
you can sell it, and it's really,
like you basically paid just a small deposit
to hold it for a while if you resell it.
What is stroke rate, what is split?
I hear people talking about these things
but I don't understand what they are and it kinda
worries me (chuckles) that I don't know what they are.
Let's just clear it up, make it super simple.
There are two variables that you really wanna understand
when you're getting to know the rowing stroke.
The first is stroke rate.
That's how many strokes per minute you are taking.
It's essentially your cadence.
Think of it as RPMs on a bike.
It's just your ability to control your ratio, okay?
A general range is 16 to 34, somewhere in there,
you're gonna find your sweet spot
depending on what the workout should be.
Below that, you're very slow,
above that, you're movin' probably too fast for your needs.
So that's stroke rate, simple.
Split is simply your measure of speed,
how fast are you going?
It's measured in per 500 meters.
How long would it take you to go 500 meters at this
given output, with how hard you're pushing right now?
The lower the number, the faster you're going.
A minute 15 is faster than two minutes and 30 seconds.
Your goal is to, the better you get, lower that split
so that you understand how fast do I move,
and how fast can I move depending on the workout?
What about how to actually execute a good rowing stroke
and then how are you supposed to even know
if you're doing it right? (people chattering)
That's a great question.
Allow me to try and unpack the magnitude of that
in a very short period of time.
Okay, to take a good stroke, there are four important
positions that you really need to understand
to grasp how this whole thing works together.
Once you get them, you'll be great, you'll be good to go.
We have the catch, the drive, the release, and the recovery.
The catch, that's the drive,
this is the release, and then the recovery.
Each serves a very specific purpose.
Learn them, love them,
you'll get the stroke down in no time.
Number one, the catch, this is the front of the stroke.
It's the most important part of the stroke.
To get this right, you wanna make sure
you have a nice neutral back, back is flat,
hips behind the shoulders,
knees tracking underneath the arms, arms straight,
and then you need a tension into the lat.
Here's what I want you to do,
take your thumbs, place them in your sides,
like you're digging into your sides and go,
ha, ha, ha, ha! (men chanting)
You should feel your sides push out
on your thumbs, ha! (men yelling)
That push-out, ha, ha, is the tension
that you need right before you take the stroke.
So every time you're gonna think, ha!
That takes you into the drive,
where you're gonna start by pushing with the legs.
Once the legs are about to finish,
then you're gonna swing the hips open,
11 to one, that's where your body swings,
and then finally, bring the arms into the body.
That's the drive, that takes you to the release.
Pretty self-explanatory, we're releasing the handle,
but you're gonna do that with the arms only.
So you finish the stroke, arms release by themselves.
Once those arms are away,
you are going to then close the hips.
Notice this part is really critical.
You have to get the arms and then
the hips over before the knees bend.
If the knees bend first before either of those things happen
you're gonna end up in a lot of trouble
and it creates a lot of up and downstream problems.
(people chattering)
From here, you'll let the knees bend and glide,
relax, relax, relax back to the front
and then take your next stroke.
The rowing stroke is a push movement, push, don't pull.
That's why you are the PDP Army, push, don't pull.
Get the body and arms over
and then relax into your next stroke.
Nail that, you've nailed a good rowing stroke.
And how do you even know if you're taking a good stroke?
I have two main recommendations, number one,
you can position yourself parallel to a mirror,
if you can get a horizontal mirror
that runs the length of the machine,
and you can sit there and just watch yourself.
You'll be able to get a decent understanding
of if you're doing it right.
The second, and this is much easier now,
the mirror used to be the only solution.
Now the easiest solution is,
put up your camera and record yourself from the side,
and then watch it, preferably in slo-mo.
(people chattering in slo-mo)
And you'll be able to see a lot of things happening
that you may not have been able to feel before.
And to get more out of your machine,
make sure you subscribe and follow along,
become part of the PDP Army so that you can get alerted
when we come out with new videos,
and check out this playlist on the basics of the movement.