The Concept 2 is the best rowing machine available and can be found in nearly every gym around the world. It is used by people looking for some light exercise and rowers around the world to train for their sport, even at the highest Olympic level.


Benefits of the Concept 2 rowing machine

Rowing strengthens upper and lower body with a smooth powerful motion. The movement is impact free and uses nearly all muscle groups, hence teaches co-ordination and elevates the heart rate more easily than other activities. Training on the Concept 2 rowing machine is great to lose weight, gain fitness and build muscle. The machines last forever and do not break unless they are treated really badly, you are more likely to break than the machine. The low impact form of exercise enable recovery from injury and self determination of the intensity of training you want to acheive; individuals can train on these machine whether they are retired mothers who want some gentle exercise or muscle-bound freaks who are going to the Olympics.

The machines themselves are pretty simple (but getting less so with each model), being a fly wheel atached to a chain which you pull upon to set the fly wheel in motion. You can change the resistance by changing the amount of air the flywheel can suck in (also know as drag). All the machines need as mantainence is a wiped down of the sweat which will develop if you use them well (either sweat from loosing weight or gaining fitness). The batteies in the monitor last from 6 months to years depending on how much you use it. They take up quite a bit of room when they are in use (approx 2' by 6') but when not in use they can be stacked vertically in 1' by 1'.

The monitors are a bit more complicated but you can get used to them quite quickly. The most common number to look at is the time it takes for u to travel 500m (the split), so the lower the number the faster you are going. Alternatively you can look at wattage to give you a better idea of exactly the amount of effort you are putting into each stroke. Improving technique on the rowing machine will enable you to apply more power. One thing that is given a lot of focus is the 'rate', or the numebr of srokes per minute (spm) you take and the aim is to keep this low and the power high (or split low) as this is how the best raining is achieved. To acheive the lowest split (highest wattage associated with most power) will occur when both the rate is high and the power in each stroke is high.


Racing on the Concept 2 rowing machine

Training on the Concept 2 rowing machine is a good approximation of the rowing stroke and improving the power output on the Concept 2 rowing machine, generally related to increased rowing boat speed.

The reverse is also true (rowers are fast on rowing machines) and hence the world record time to complete 2000m (the competitive distance in olympic rowing) are held currently by Sophie Balmary (French rowing team, 6 minute 28.4 seconds) and Matthias Siejkowski (German rowing team, 5minutes 37 seconds). A full ranking of people competing in Conept 2 indoor rowing championship can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk. There is an entire sport of indoor rowing which is gaining in popularit with 1000's of people competing at the bristish indoor rowing championship, where there is a category for everyone (different age groups, male, female, light or heavy weight)

I use a Concept 2 rowing machine (model D) almost every day as part of my training and despite not being my favourite type fo exercise, they are definately a fantastic way to get fit. I also do test on these machines over 2000m as described above and over a set time (30minutes). I tend to most of my sessions for fitness, but normally do long session (60mins+) making a 1:50 per 500m "split" however this took years to achieve.


Drawbacks

The major drawback of using the rowing machine is the repetition of the movement (create sore hands/bum), as it can result in boredom and hence not spending enough time on the rowing machine; this can be fought against by training with another person or playing music.

The cost of the Concept 2 rowing machine is rather large (£1115 for the latest model) and a second hand version is definately a better deal, seeing as these machines last for ages and the only reason you woudl want a new one is for the extra features (see http://www.concept2.co.uk/rower/buy.php).

Personally I would not buy a rowing machine for my own use, instead I would rather join a gym and use their equipment. As much as I think these are great exercise machines, I believe an indivual would rapidly get bored of using this machine and hence it would end up being a very expensive addition to the garage. But used in the right way, you can lose a lot of weight.

I alos find these machine quite uncomfortable to sit on for long periods, I now exercise is not meant to be easy, but getting a numb bum when trying to train makes it even less fun. I find towels helps the siuation, although i don't know why they don't make the seat mroe padded.

If these machine do breakdown, which is very rare, it normally is simple to sort although certain problems can be a big hassle. You can actually get people to doa service job on them (row doctor, NK or various other local companies) which come and check them over. The normal problems are either running out of batteries, which is pretty simple to change (back of monitor) or more troblesome damage to the cable which links the monitor to the fan (due to bad handling and pulling monitor forward rather than pushing backwards when in storage) when u will probably need to get it service. The slide sometimes gets dirty, with a mixture fo wheel marks, dust and grim and this makes sliding up and down it less easy; this can be eaily sorted by a wipe with a damp cloth.