You are standing in front of a machine you have never used, and the next five minutes decide whether there is a second session. Almost nothing on a rower is complicated: a seat on a rail, two footrests, a lever beside the flywheel, a screen on a post. The trouble is that the four adjustments interact, and beginners make them in the wrong order — usually by sitting down and trying to pull. So look at the machine before you get on it. That minute is the setup.
Hold on to one idea before you start: the settings are inputs and the screen is a report. Nothing you adjust on a rower decides how hard your session is. You do, by how hard you pull.
The context
The first session is not a test of your fitness. It is a test of whether the machine fits you, and the two things people most often get wrong are the two easiest to check: the strap across the foot, and the seat.
The third thing worth naming is the one that hurts. The instinct on an unfamiliar machine is to make it harder — turn the lever up, row faster, go longer. The manufacturer's guidance on the myths around the damper is that the intensity of the workout is set by how hard you pull, not by the rate you row at [5] Concept2 2013, and that a damper setting of 10 is more like a slow heavy rowboat, more about strength than fitness [5] Concept2 2013. Nothing about a first session calls for that.
The core idea
The damper lever and the drag factor are two different things, and most beginners read them as one.
The lever beside the flywheel housing sets how much air the flywheel pushes against. That is the input, and you set it. The drag factor is the output: the monitor measures how much the flywheel slows down between strokes and turns that into a number describing the air resistance the machine is actually creating [4] Concept2 2024. It then uses that drag factor to work out how much work you are doing, so your effort is calculated correctly whichever way the lever is set [4] Concept2 2024.
Turning the lever up does not make the session harder; it makes the same effort look different and the stroke feel heavier than it needs to. The lever changes the character of the machine, and your effort sets the intensity. Concept2 recommends starting on a damper setting of 3 to 5 [5] Concept2 2013, and the British Rowing plan asks for four or below [8] British Rowing 2018. Set it once, before you start, and leave it alone.
The how-to
Where it stands. Put the machine on a level floor, leave the flywheel end clear, and leave yourself room at the rail end to get on and off. If it rocks, it will rock most at the catch, the one point in the stroke where you do not want it moving.
The monitor. It sits on a post and should sit at your eye level from the catch, not at the height it came out of the box. The British Rowing beginner plan says it plainly: make sure the monitor is at eye level [8] British Rowing 2018. A screen you have to crane your neck at is a screen you stop reading.
The cord or chain. The handle runs back to the flywheel on a chain or a cord, depending on the machine. Pull it a few times before you get on: it should move freely, with the cord or chain seated and nothing catching.
Footrests and straps. Each foot goes into a footrest at the front of the rail, heel into the heel cup, and the strap holds the foot down. The strap belongs across the widest part of your foot — the ball of the foot, just above the toes — and not up on the instep. Concept2's foot-positioning guidance says the strap should cross the ball, or widest part, of the foot [2] Concept2 2024, and its comfort guidance says the same: position your heel in the footstretcher so the strap crosses the ball of your foot [3] Concept2 2024. On the instep the strap presses on a tendon and the foot slides, which is how a beginner ends up with a blister on the arch of the foot.
The footrest plate moves up and down, and where you set it depends on your shin length, not your shoe size: bigger feet and longer shins want the plate lower, and the goal is that your knees sit below your hands as you pull straight through [2] Concept2 2024. Too high and the plate limits your reach at the catch; too low and you compress past the point you should, bringing your shins beyond vertical [2] Concept2 2024.
If your feet go numb, treat it as a setup problem before a circulation problem. The commonest cause is the plate set too low, so your hamstrings press into the seat and the pressure cuts off circulation [3] Concept2 2024. The other cause is too much padding, and the answer to that is less padding rather than more [3] Concept2 2024. Start with the strap over the widest part of the foot and a plate set so your shins are near vertical at the front.
The hands. The strap's job on this machine is to hold your foot down, and the handle is for your hands: flat wrists, relaxed grip, shoulders low [1] Concept2 2024. If you were taught to take your hands over the strap, the machine's guidance puts the strap across the foot [2] Concept2 2024 and the handle in your hands. Hands blister before they callus, so build the rowing time up gradually rather than row hard on day one [3] Concept2 2024. Gloves are a reasonable answer if your skin objects [3] Concept2 2024.
Seat height. The seat runs on the rail and stops where you set it, so set it before you start, by the catch rather than by how far you can stretch. The reference point is the manufacturer's description of the catch: arms straight, shoulders in front of the hips, shins vertical, heels lifting if needed [1] Concept2 2024. The seat is right when, with your heel in the cup, your shins are near vertical at the front and your knee is slightly bent. Too low and you cannot get the shins vertical without rounding your back; too high and you pull your knees into your chest. Make sure the seat sits correctly on the rail, with the depression at the rear for your tailbone [3] Concept2 2024.
Your first strokes. Nothing on day one is about distance. The British Rowing plan opens with the smallest sensible session: one minute of rowing at low intensity, one minute of rest, repeated five times [8] British Rowing 2018. Before every session, five minutes of movement to warm up; afterwards, five minutes of easy rowing to cool down and stretch [8] British Rowing 2018.
The only number worth watching is the stroke rate, and it should be a low one: British Rowing's guidance for beginners is 18 to 24 while the technique is still being learned, with consistency valued over speed [8] British Rowing 2018. Concept2's own bands put technique at 18 to 22 strokes a minute, steady state at 24 to 28, and intervals and racing at 30 to 36 [6] Concept2 2017. Day one is the first band. If you cannot hold the rate and still finish each stroke with a controlled recovery, you are going too fast.
How hard should the minute feel? Use the talk test. Hold a conversation and you are where you want to be; short sentences mean you have stepped up a level; gasping means you have gone too far [8] British Rowing 2018. The talk test is a practical cross-check rather than a measurement — comfortable speech is likely possible when intensity is below the ventilatory or lactate threshold, and not likely above it [11] Reed 2014 — and for a beginner it needs no equipment and no numbers.
The monitor, and what to ignore. Pace is the time to row 500 metres, and the smaller the number the faster you are going [7] Concept2 2021. Watts is your power output and the workout average; the calorie reading is an estimate [7] Concept2 2021. On day one, watch two of them: the stroke rate and the split. British Rowing's advice is to keep the split consistent, because that consistency is what improves [8] British Rowing 2018. Ignore the rest — not because they are wrong, but because a number you cannot yet interpret makes you row worse.
The mistakes that actually hurt people
Going long on your first outing. The risk that matters on a rower is your back. A scoping review of the rowing low-back-pain literature found the significant risk factors to be a history of back pain and prolonged ergometer use [10] Athy 2023. Prolonged is the operative word: the answer is not to stop but to keep the first session short, which the plan already does [8] British Rowing 2018.
Ignoring numbness. Numb feet or a numb backside are information, and the cause is nearly always the setup — a footrest plate set too low, or too much padding [3] Concept2 2024 — not your circulation. Change the setup.
Treating the damper as an intensity dial. This is the one that produces a hard first session, and then three days of soreness. The lever changes the feel of the machine, not the intensity of your workout [5] Concept2 2013.
Rowing too fast to get the technique right. A beginner at 30 strokes a minute is not training hard, they are training a sloppy stroke. British Rowing's beginner rate bands are deliberately low [8] British Rowing 2018, and Concept2 calls travelling up and down the rail without power spinning your wheels [5] Concept2 2013.
Skipping the warm-up. Five minutes before and five minutes after is the plan's own baseline [8] British Rowing 2018.
The trade-offs
Two honest limits are worth naming.
The first is scope. This is general guidance about a standard air or magnetic rower and a healthy adult, and a training plan is not medical advice. The British Rowing plan opens by saying to consult a doctor before starting any exercise programme [8] British Rowing 2018, and the ACSM's current pre-participation screening turns on three things: your current activity level, any signs or symptoms and known cardiovascular, metabolic or renal disease, and the intensity you intend to work at [12] Riebe 2015. If you have a current or recent injury, or you are unsure, ask a clinician.
The second is that the setup matters less than the research suggests. A study that modified a rower to vary the foot-stretcher position found the changes were limited to the ankle and the hip, that the rowers largely compensated for them, and that they were generally smaller than the differences stroke rate produces [9] Engström 2023. So set the footrest once and stop fiddling. A beginner who spends the first session adjusting the machine is not rowing.
What to do tomorrow
Ten minutes, on your own, before anything else.
- Put the machine on a level floor, set the monitor to eye level, and set the damper to 4.
- Put your feet in with the strap across the widest part of your foot, set the plate so your shins are near vertical at the front, and set the seat so your knee is slightly bent.
- Row five minutes of easy movement to warm up.
- Row one minute at low intensity. Rest one minute. Do that five times.
- Cool down with five minutes of easy rowing, then stretch.
Write down two things afterwards: the stroke rate you settled on, and whether the strap and the seat felt right. Those are worth more than any split, and they are what you change before session two.
The machine is not the hard part. A strap across the widest part of your foot, a seat that leaves your shins near vertical, a lever at 4, a monitor at eye level — then five one-minute rows, and stop. The screen is a report. You are the input.
Key points
- The damper lever is an input; the drag factor is what the monitor measures back.
- Set the foot strap across the widest part of the foot, not on the instep.
- A first session is short: five one-minute rows with a minute of rest between them.
- On day one, watch the stroke rate and the 500 m split. Ignore watts and calories.
- The seat is right when your shins are near vertical at the catch and your knee is slightly bent.
- Feet going numb is a setup problem: the footrest plate is too low, or there is too much padding.
Sources and further reading
- Concept2 — Rowing Technique. Living page, first archive capture 2024— The catch has arms straight, shoulders in front of the hips and shins vertical, and the recovery reverses the drive.
- Concept2 — Find Your Optimal Foot Position on the RowErg. 2024— The footstrap should cross the ball, or widest part, of the foot; longer shins and bigger feet want the plate lower.
- Concept2 — Getting Comfortable on the RowErg. Living page, first archive capture 2024— Hands, feet and butt are the three contact points; feet set too low cut off circulation, and too much padding causes numbness.
- Concept2 — Damper Setting. Living page, first archive capture 2024— The lever sets airflow into the flywheel; the monitor measures flywheel deceleration as the drag factor and uses it to work out your effort.
- Concept2 — Debunking the Myths: Damper Setting, Stroke Rate and Intensity. 2013— A damper setting of 3 to 5 is likely to give the best workout; intensity is how hard you pull, not how high the rate.
- Concept2 — Rowing Stroke Rate Explained. 2017— Rate bands: 18 to 22 spm for technique, 24 to 28 for steady state, 30 to 36 for intervals and racing.
- Concept2 — PM5 101. 2021— The monitor reports pace as time per 500 m, power in watts, an estimated calorie burn and stroke rate.
- British Rowing — Go Row Indoor: Beginner Training Plan. 2018— Monitor at eye level, strap across the ball of the foot, damper four or below; week one is 1 min low-intensity row, 1 min rest, five times.
- Engström I et al. The effect of foot-stretcher position and stroke rate on ergometer rowing kinematics. PLoS One 2023— Eleven rowers at 22, 26 and 32 spm: foot-stretcher changes were confined to the ankle and hip and smaller than the rate differences.
- Athy V et al. Peer-Reviewed Literature on Low Back Pain in Rowing: A Scoping Review…. Int J Sports Phys Ther 2023— A scoping review of 78 studies: back pain history and prolonged ergometer use were the significant risk factors for low back pain in rowers.
- Reed JL, Pipe AL. The talk test: a useful tool for prescribing and monitoring…. Curr Opin Cardiol 2014;29(5):475-480— Comfortable speech is likely possible when intensity is below the ventilatory or lactate threshold, and not likely above it.
- Riebe D et al. Updating ACSM's Recommendations for Exercise Preparticipation Health Screening. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2015— Screening turns on three factors: current activity level, signs or symptoms and known disease, and the intended exercise intensity.