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Bought a Concept2 rower today.

Ive been eying these rowers for a while. I use them at my gym all the time and they not only give me a great workout they seem like the are very well made. So today I pulled the trigger on one on amazon. It cost me about $900.00 but I figure if I take care of it should last a very long time.

If you think about it, a gym industrial quality treadmill or elliptical are probably 3 times what a concept 2 costs...so essentially its a bargain(also the resale value on these rowers is excellent).

Anyone else own a concept2 or use one regularly?
 
Ive been eying these rowers for a while. I use them at my gym all the time and they not only give me a great workout they seem like the are very well made. So today I pulled the trigger on one on amazon. It cost me about $900.00 but I figure if I take care of it should last a very long time.

If you think about it, a gym industrial quality treadmill or elliptical are probably 3 times what a concept 2 costs...so essentially its a bargain(also the resale value on these rowers is excellent).

Anyone else own a concept2 or use one regularly?

Every time I go to the gym I do my warm-up on one of these things. I would say it's the best full body work-out you can do on any cardio machine. Really taxing too, I usually just do 500m moderately hard, so 2 min sessions on it, a 30 min session on one of those would leave me gasping for air and lying in a pool of my own sweat with a high probability of drowning... excellent.

Great buy, just make sure you place it on somewhere where the sweat won't come in contact with carpet, marble or hardwood floors. If you do place it somewhere with that kind of flooring put some mats underneath the machine to keep the sweat from soaking in to the flooring. If you are going to use it for longer sessions, TV or radio is always good to distract you from the effort your putting in to the workout.
 
Thanks for the suggestion on getting a mat. I plan on use it on carpeting and didn't really think about it.
 
I would love one of those, congratulations. It should definately be worth the investment. I've learned my lesson buying the cheap stuff.
 
Rowers are excellent workouts - take up a bit more room than I'd like, but they will really kick your tail. That's a good price. Hmmmm.....

I'm no expert, but it seems the combination of the Aerobic and the 'explosive' really make them effective.
 
I was on my college rowing team and we used those things all the time.

My advice to you is to take some time and learn how to row properly. Most people at the gym row like crap, and virtually every non-rower I ever see using the machine is not getting as much out of it as they should. Check the Concept2 website:

http://www.concept2.com/us/training/gettingstarted.asp

http://www.concept2.com/us/training/technique.asp

http://concept2.co.uk/training/technique_video

(The University of Wisconsin has a great rowing program, by the way. Maybe you can bribe a coach to teach you. :lol:)
 
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I just ordered one a week ago - hasn't arrived yet. Being a tall guy, I had to order the extra long rail. I am sure it will be awesome. I loved rowing machines when I used to go to the gym.
 
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I was on my college rowing team and we used those things all the time.

My advice to you is to take some time and learn how to row properly. Most people at the gym row like crap, and virtually every non-rower I ever see using the machine is not getting as much out of it as they should. Check the Concept2 website:

http://www.concept2.com/us/training/gettingstarted.asp

http://www.concept2.com/us/training/technique.asp

http://concept2.co.uk/training/technique_video

(The University of Wisconsin has a great rowing program, by the way. Maybe you can bribe a coach to teach you. :lol:)

Thank you for this post, I use the rowing machine occasionally, but I've always known my form was lousy, this should help! Thanks!
 
Love'em, use at gym faithfully. If I we're ever to quit the gym, that would be the only piece of equipment I'd buy.
Congrats.
 
The rower arrived in the mail 4 days ago. Super easy to assemble...took about 15 min. Put about 15k on it(wanted to do more) and so far so good. Only thing that's a little disappointing is that the fan is pretty loud. Im used to rowing in a large open gym setting with music and other machines going drowning out the fan noise. My rower is in a small enclosed room so I have to turn the music or tv up pretty loud. Not a huge deal though.
 
I have mine for a couple of months and am enjoying it. Anyone doing the Concept 2 Holiday Challenge (row 100 km between Nov. 24 and Dec 24)? It should keep the pounds off.
 
I read about rowing machines recently (WaterRower) and since I am a regular at the gym I decided to see if they had one. Sure enough, they have a whole line of Concept2 Model Ds lined up against the wall. Watched some videos on proper technique / assembly / damper setting / drag factor / etc. and tried one out. Great workout! A few days later amazon prime delivered it (C2 Model D) to my door. Eight philips screws later (with included full size screw driver) it was set up and I use it almost every day.

I even tried out the C2 SkiERG, and I now mix it up when I go to the sauna at the gym.

A bonus - my wife has been getting on it and doing several short sets almost every day. I don't store it anymore, but leave it down for her to use. She just dropped below the type 2 diabetes A1C threshold (6.5) due to cutting a lot of carbs (watching me switch to LCHF / Atkins last March 2018), so this will definitely help.

I started out cooking my own food, and now she tailors dishes to be low carb (she made her famous oxtail soup yesterday).

 
I love these machines, elegantly designed for a near-perfect full body workout. I use the newish one at the gym after completing the weight machines cycle. In my own experience the Concept 2 has also helped increase my flexibility.
 
A delight to see Google pointing to comments on the Concept2 here on BnB, not where I would have expected. Just bought myself a birthday present of a RowErg, in hopes of promoting many birthdays ahead. It's doing a remarkable job of kicking my tuchus in the few weeks I have had it.

I would think most of the BnB crowd would probably prefer the aesthetics of a WaterRower but I guess the C2 has the efficiency of a good slant DE.

Happy that my purchase price of a C2 in 2022 is the same as it was in 2012. Inflation hasn't taken over everything.
 
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Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
We're about to order one in the next couple of weeks... and we did all the research too... lots of fancier looking rowing machines out there... but none as reliable from the looks of it.
 
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My advice to you is to take some time and learn how to row properly.
C2 is a good way to get an awesome workout, but everyone please heed the above advice. Bad technique can lead to injury, especially low back problems, and especially past age 40. I read that something like 30% of all rowers end up with back pain -- and from what I've seen at the gym maybe 70% of rowers are using incorrect technique.

The C2 is not like an elliptical machine where you can just zone out and get absorbed in your phone; you have to concentrate on every stroke. This is both good and bad. Bad if you prefer to be distracted while exercising, good if you appreciate the mindfulness required.

Once past the early beginner stage anyone wanting a great program can try this:

 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
We've had ours now for 11 days.... 11 rows accomplished. We looked around YouTube, like everyone else. We sort of ended up liking this guy: Training Tall https://www.youtube.com/c/TrainingTall

He shows you, in easy to understand terms, how to row properly, ect.... and gives clear instructions on use of the PM5, etc. There are so many but we found him easier to listen to that many of the others.
 
We've had ours now for 11 days.... 11 rows accomplished. We looked around YouTube, like everyone else. We sort of ended up liking this guy: Training Tall https://www.youtube.com/c/TrainingTall

He shows you, in easy to understand terms, how to row properly, ect.... and gives clear instructions on use of the PM5, etc. There are so many but we found him easier to listen to that many of the others.
I've seen some of his YT stuff and I really like it. And holy moly, he generates some power! With max effort, I struggle to hit a per 500m pace of under 2 minutes -- TT rolls along at workout pace well under 2m/500.

Another good source for technique and row along video on YT is Dark Horse Rowing.
 
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