This one from Shane Farmer (Dark Horse Rowing) is a really a standard 10 min beginners’ row that I will likely go back to again and again. First of all, it has warm-up and cool-down on top of a 10 min row, something that isn't always the case in Darkhorse workouts. So this is a big plus. And these warmups are all done on the rower. So big plus here.
Dark Horse Rowing (21 min) Complete Beginner Rowing Workout! ALL-IN-ONE Sweat!
But the best thing about this workout is that it features both extremes (obviously for a beginner) of rowing very very slowly (16 SR) to really cognitively embed a good technique, and rowing very fast (26 SR) which allows you to explore your technique in a fast rowing context. There are slightly slower stroke rate intervals at 24 SR, which also ensure you can focus on techniques while getting up to a higher stroke rate.
An additional feature for many of his videos seem to be the detailed instructions of how to set up the Erg2, the little computer on top of the rower. It’s not the most user friendly, so these walk-throughs to set these up allow you to understand how best to use it with your rowing workouts.
So all good and big plus for me.
And it doesn't stop there, in this workout he tells his very delightful story about cool-downs and sneezing. What sneezing has to do with cool-downs, well you just have to work through this session to find out.
He does have a nice way to talk to the audience, kind of like the Adriene of the rowing world, with some delightful humour sprinkled through and encouragement as well, with 'you got this' and 'thanks for being here with me'. These gracious and funny conversational monologues make you feel like you are having a dialogue with him and they make all the difference.
Happy rowing.
