Concept2, Inc.

So it's really just the rows got to happen because it's rowing and it's online CrossFit.

The Concept2 bike is one of the longest levers that we can pull to improve leg endurance in the sport through Zone 2.

And then Phase 3, I believe, is non-mandatory Echo bike.

There are rumors of that being pulled into the sport more and more.

So long story short, we picked indoor rowing.

And at the time there was no Hydro, there was no Peloton Rower, there was no Argata, like there was Concept2 and that was it pretty much.

And so it was very niche.

And we built a B2C app around indoor rowing that was really a way for us to kind of dog food our technology.

Okay, so arms straight.

forwards tilt, push your feet solidly into the foot plates and when you keep that forwards tilt and arms straight you are effectively loading up tension through your back and arms and because your magnet or water wheel or flywheel on the Concept2 because it turns and it gives to your power then that power that you're loading through your back and arms goes into the machine makes it turn and then unravels the chain or the cord whatever you have to send you to the back of the machine okay so this is how you get power into the machine I feel you know this already but it's the straight arms and the forward tilt part so you load as you push your legs and power starts to generate but when you have that good posture sitting up on your sit bones and you have switched on your core at the leg drive and by that I mean the same as if you went slight cough or went at the front or I like to say make a snake noise so into the front then that power from your legs travels up into your core, your trunk.

Your back is loaded up with it as it's flowing into the machine.

And so you can release your backswing.

You can keep on rowing at whatever intensity you want.

Yeah, so it's a 17 minute video where I basically you don't see me build it or you do but it's in like a thousand times speed.

But I test it and I talk about how as a rowing machine kind of compared to this the Merak R26 is not a rowing machine it's a machine where you move backwards and forwards but it's not a rowing machine however there is a certain subset of people out there who will benefit from a machine like that okay watch the video if you want to hear like full context for what I'm talking about here anyway so it's 17 minutes long and I test it I then I tested like a general row um general row I then test it on a 100 meter like how fast can I cover 100 meters just to see what the data is like and as being on a Concept2 my 100 meter time is about 17 seconds, the fact that it was 31 seconds on the Merak makes me think the data isn't quite accurate.

Anyway, and then I'll just talk about it, give my review, who it's for, who it's not for.

Less chatting from me and we'll get rowing.

So go to drag factor, resistance, whatever you have in your machine, because you don't have to do this on a Concept2.

You can do it on any rowing machine you wish.

And set it so you feel nicely connected to the stroke, but not so heavy that you're like, You have to tug and heave against it.

But as a rowing machine to try and help your rowing, try and improve this, it gets like a two out of 10 score.

But for someone who needs a safe way to move and that they are comfortable because they're sitting down, then actually that Merak R26 does have a place in the market.

I wouldn't put Margaret and Jim anywhere near a Concept2 as their kind of first introduction to rowing.

Possibly if they used the Merak, the R26, for a few months and got their bodies kind of moving a bit more in the rowing motion, then possibly then I'd be like, hey, give the Concept 2 a go.

Not necessarily the kind of sports that you might kill yourself doing like jumping out of airplanes but sports that develop real athleticism.

Peter Dreisegacher founded a company called Concept2.

He now owns a lake in Morrisville, Vermont, and he is the pioneer for carbon fiber epoxy rowing equipment.

He's also been very smart about creating community, and one of the things that makes a product successful is if surrounding that product is a story and community.

Well, it turns out anybody who rows gets up at 5 in the morning, works really hard, knows how to experience pain and consequently it's a preformed community.

You can go almost anywhere in the world and if you row you could send a letter ahead a couple of weeks and they would invite you to come on their Sunday row and they'd have a banquet for you when you got back to shore.

The other manifestation of this is competitions with Concept2 ergometers are held all over the world.

Stats are kept, records are distributed, awards are made.

I just need to, just to get there.

Because what I do is I look at the Concept2's timer.

So that's 12.

And the first few strokes are always a little bit weird on the Concept2 timer where like it loses time.

So hopefully this is us.

21, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

And so it means that it's quite heavy.

Certainly a heavier feeling than if I was rowing at 20, 24 strokes a minute where it doesn't get the chance to slow down.

This is where sometimes, actually, the chat that I have at the beginning when it comes to setting up the machine, and I'm talking about don't set it too high, I think there is a danger where certainly for new rowers, I think you can set it too low where you then don't feel connected.

Because the whole point is that you want to get that feeling of hanging off the handle I was talking in yesterday's about how you brace against the handle with the the pads on your fingers that's the point and so if it's too light and you don't feel like you're bracing against the handle and you are literally just rowing through air you're maybe not going to get the workout but this kind of goes for non Concept2 machines because on a Concept2 My lever hasn't changed at all.

Okay, I've been at six the whole time, which gives me a drag factor of about 140 on my machine.

And I was rowing at two, what, 15 pace before? And I had like a nice solid brace against the handle.

So what you're looking for is that baby bear setting.

In fact, let's get into, because I don't think I've ever said this on video properly before, but let's get to stretching.

And I'll explain my, how I describe drag factor for those that are on a Concept2 and are a little bit like, huh? So I've loosened the straps off, flicked my toes against the straps, legs are down at the back of the machine.

I'm sitting at the back of the machine, legs are down.