Not sure how this fits with all the rowing experts,
I’m just steadily building up to 30 minutes,up to now had been managing 2:18 ish per 500m, not bad as was on heavy legs after hour cycling yesterday.
Excellent work.
I really miss being able to use my rowing machine, but hopefully it won’t be long before my shoulder is healed enough for me to be able to get back to some gentle steady state rowing.
In terms of stroke rate, I think it depends quite a bit on build and form. I just checked on my Concept logbook, and my 30mins best workout is at 24 spm. For me this is just about slow enough to be truly aerobic, but I find going slower than this makes it harder to keep to a decent pace.
A great work out, once aerobically fit, is to do 30mins at 20spm (max), and try and get the pace per 500m as low as possible. This forces you to use real leg power in every stroke, and maximise the length of your recovery motion. I’m short, and don’t have loads of power in my legs (think skinny chicken legs rather than Chris Hoy bulging thighs), so I used to find it depressing to watch clips of proper rowers who could easily belt out 1:50-1:55/500s in a session like this, when I would be blowing chunks trying to keep the pace below 2:05.