3
BE PREPARED
Firstly ensure you are adequately prepared and in suitable physical condition. If in any doubt at all about this, please seek
appropriate medical advice prior to attempting any exercise. Other aspects of being prepared are that you are wide awake and
not under the influence of alcohol or mood-affecting drugs, that you are well hydrated and that you have allowed reasonable
time to digest your last meal. Always get properly warmed-up prior to serious exercise. If you don’t already have your own
practised warm-up and stretching routine, talk to a coach or personal trainer on how to avoid niggling injuries arising from
suddenly overstressing an unprepared body.
Check that you are suitably clothed. Rowing requires some small specific clothing requirements beyond those of other sports.
You will be working out while on a sliding seat, and loose items of clothing, including draw strings, allowed to dangle below waist
level can catch in the seat tracks and wheels, damaging clothing and equipment and possibly causing injury. Rowing requires
free movement of the hands close to the front of the body. Bulky or baggy tops can inhibit this, and the tips of fingers or thumbs
can get caught up in them, again with possible injury resulting. T-shirt and shorts is the simplest and best attire, and if you’re
well warmed-up you’ll not want to wear anything heavier.
And while on fingers and thumbs, long nails can be the cause of very nasty self-inflicted injuries to knees and thighs, so keep
nails well trimmed. Rings can also cause problems. Rings on adjacent fingers, or more than one ring on the same finger, have a
tendency to chafe against one another. In doing so, they momentarily trap the skin between them, and this accelerates the
formation of painful blisters. Some prefer to wear light gloves to protect the hands and excellent rowing gloves are inexpensive
and readily available by mail order. For information and pricing, please contact [email protected].
Finally footwear. The Fluid Rower’s footplate is designed to be most comfortable with light running shoes.
GETTING ONTO THE MACHINE
You could just leap on and tug, but getting comfortable, working on good posture, and rehearsing the correct body movements
will pay dividends. Firstly just sit down on the seat of the machine, and make sure your weight is well centred and evenly
distributed, your head high and your back straight. From long experience of coaching beginner rowers I have observed that a
small minority of people have a tendency to drop one shoulder and lean to one side when seated and these folk are invariably
unaware they are doing so. If you have a coach (or just some other friendly assistant) they should stand behind your back to
check your body is upright and shoulders level, but if you are alone, use visual cues by sighting along the machine. Another
option is to place a mirror in front of you to ensure you are sitting correctly.
Next the feet. What is the correct position for the feet? Are the heels together or apart? Are the feet parallel or do they splay out
at the toes? There is no correct answer. We are all different. But in general terms, if the feet are too wide apart, then the start of
the stroke (known as the “catch”) will be awkward and lack strength, and if the feet are too close together, then we have a
serious culinary issue for the guys, known as “crushed nuts syndrome”, when the legs straighten. How to know what’s best for
you? Easy. Do something you already know how to do. Step off the machine and simply stand upright with your weight evenly
distributed between both feet. Stand nice and tall, as tall as you can go (but avoid the extreme of a stiff military “standing to
attention” position and then look down at your feet. They will be at pretty much the correct spacing and angle for you.
Fluid Rower is the only rowing ergometer that allows a wide range of foot positions, and on it you can try and replicate your
standing posture. Don’t tug the foot straps over tight. They are there to stop you falling over backwards at the end of the stroke,
so have them comfortably secured above the balls of your feet.
REHERSING THE BODY MOVEMENTS
Just as a theatre director will get an actor to rehearse the required body movements long before the curtain ever goes up on
opening night, so we will rehearse the correct body movements before we begin to do serious work on the rower.
Summary of Contents for Fluid Rower FDR-02
Page 1: ...Model FDR 02 Fluid Rower Owners Manual...
Page 2: ...1...
Page 9: ...8 Computer functions...
