‘Go hard, or go home’ they tell you. So as soon as you jump on a rowing machine, you stick it up to the top damper setting.
The harder you push, the better the workout, right? But if you’ve ever done a 10,000m row at setting ’10’, you are probably well aware this is a painful and demoralising experience.
Imagine trying to heave a fridge up to the top of a skyscraper with an old rope and you get the picture. But ‘go hard, or go home’, right?
Well tough guy, you might just have been doing it wrong all this time.
Whether you’re into CrossFit, rowing, or you just jump on an ergometer for a cardio blast, this blindingly obvious tip from Andrea Ager might just improve your workout.
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For short sprints, crank the damper up all the way – but for longer workouts, turn it down.
Why didn’t we think of this before?
Ager’s coach puts it into weightlifting terms – you go as heavy as you can for your one-rep max, but would you try and bash out 100 reps at the same weight?
Nope. Rowing is apparently no different. You will fatigue quicker, recover slower and have more chance of injury through bad form using damper setting 10 to try a half-marathon row.
Experts say you should probably use the top damper only on 150m sprints or less. For distances over 500m damper settings 5 to 7 are optimal.
It’s trial and error – blast out distance intervals on different damper settings and see which one gives you the best time.
