And again the emphasis was on the the start of the drive off the stretcher—specifically, on improving timing and speeding up leg drive. It was an interval workout, 5 x 10 mins, and for each interval I used a different damper setting working my way up from 1 to 5. My preference is for a damper setting at 3 & 4; however my best split time was attained when the damper was set at 5.

Although damper settings definitely affected my how fast I was able to attain peak force in the drive off the stretcher, they seemed to matter less than finding my strong point, and then rowing from it. So once again the overriding goal became not to start driving off the stretcher until I had found my strong point.

DRAG FACTOR

Drag factor is a numerical value for the rate at which the flywheel is decelerating. This number changes with the volume of air that passes through the flywheel housing. Since higher damper settings allow more air into the flywheel housing, the flywheel decelerates more quickly, resulting in a higher drag factor value.

DAMPER SETTING

Many people confuse damper setting with intensity level or resistance. Instead, the intensity of your workout is controlled by how much you use your legs, back and arms to move the handle—in other words, how hard you pull. This is true regardless of where the damper lever is set: the harder you pull, the more resistance you will feel. Because our indoor rowers use wind resistance (which is generated by the spinning flywheel), the faster you get the wheel spinning, the more resistance there will be.

Think about rowing on the water. Regardless of whether you are rowing in a sleek racing shell, or in a big, slow row boat, you will need to increase your intensity and apply more force to make either boat go faster. The difference is in how it feels to make the different boats go fast. Making a sleek boat go fast requires you to apply your force more quickly. Making the slow boat go fast also requires more force, but the speed at which you apply the force will be slower over the course of the rowing stroke.

At a damper setting of 1–4, the indoor rower feels like a sleek racing shell; at the higher numbers, the indoor rower feels like a slow row boat. Regardless of the setting, you will need to increase your effort to increase your intensity.
WHAT IS THE MAGIC NUMBER FOR DRAG

The answer is there is no magic number. It’s different for everyone. Where you set your drag factor will depend on your own size, weight and conditioning level, as well as the size boat you row.