I exhale on the drive, inhale on the recovery - I think this does limit the maximum rate I can go because I end up not getting enough oxygen. Unfortunately this seems to have been set in stone from being drilled into me from other exercises (weights for example). Today I did try to follow your advice but it was tough syncing everything up. I think that if this is the way to go, I will need to dedicate a few days of slower sessions to re-train my breathing. I suppose the optimal strategy would to be able to decouple breathing rate from stroke rate entirely? That way you could breath as fast or as slow as you need to, regardless of stroke.
@@BarryTGash agree that decoupling is often the best approach. Especially for harder pieces, you don't want to think about your breathing and want it to feel as natural as possible. I.e. do what feels best for you so you can focus on dropping your split rather than when to inhale/exhale.
Had a lot of trouble with slower stroke rates. Much more comfortable at 25-30 as that matches my breath rate. I think the problem was worrying too much about my pace and that made me stressed about underperforming and left me in a panicked state of breathing. I found that ignoring the pace and rowing at a 99 drag allowed me to actually concentrate on breathing and just to feel the metronome of it. In a 20 minute row I'll occasionally go hard for a minute just to be able to slow it down again. Hopefully it will become second nature and I'll be able to start going harder with my drive. Thanks for the help!
I found your channel when I bought a used Concept 2 Model E rower about 8 months ago and I was looking at how to clean and maintain it. you had a few videos showing how you do this and it was very helpful. thanks for that. i've been following your channel since then, but i mainly watch youtube on my flatscreen TV and not sure how to make comments on it since i'm 65, but I'll learn some day. I saw this breathing video and you hit my issues right on the head with this cause I feel that is what is holding me back from doing better workouts. then you sent me (us) down the Wim Hof worm (rabbit) hole and I do believe that is something I need to learn more about. I've always said Yoga is one of the best workouts and if i had taller ceilings I'd probably still own a VERSACLIMBER, but i do like the rower and I have to say you have been a great teacher and it looks like you are in great shape too. keep up the great work(outs) and teaching and I'll keep checking in on you regularly. thanks
Have you ever done a video about nutrition? I was wondering about it the other day as I had some toast, almond butter and banana a few hours before rowing and I felt like an olympic athlete on my concept 2 haha
This is very helpful, Shane. I was just talking to my wife about breathing and the difficulty I'm having getting a rhythm (she's a runner/cyclist) and this video popped up a bit later. You were listening, huh? :-) I'm going to give the power breathing a go to see if that'll help in doing some conditioning. The 2-breaths per stroke is about where I'm at, but just a little erratic. I've had some minor respiratory issues growing up and in my adulthood (asthma-like), so I'm hoping this will help me in my new addiction called rowing~!! Thanks much~!!
Thanks for this Shane, I knew you'd be the guy to ask. I was doing a 5k time trial last week and I was all over the place with the breathing when under stress. This will be so much help in future!
Great tip. I do well at a higher SR, but never could find a comfortable breathing pace for a slow SR. Interestingly enough, my heart rate was higher doing a SR of 20, than a SR of 24. I attributed it to the fact that I was breathing harder at 24, than 20, therefor giving my body more oxygen. It was easy for me to take 1 breathe per stroke at 20, but when I up the pace, I found I would give 2 breaths per stroke. I never really thought about slowing down my pace of 2 breathes while at a slower SR. Interesting.
Great instruction. I definitely learned to keep it natural. I try not to think about it too much. So far in practice, good breathing makes for better catch, better catch gives me greater watts.
Great video ! Question about the powerbreathing tho : a cycle is 2’ fast breathing + hold exhale + hold inhale. Correct ? How many cycles do you recommend? How often per day/week ? Thx for the video
Breath control is such a tough nut to crack. For me, two per stroke is too many and one per stroke not enough, so my comfort zone has basically been "just breathe / don't worry about it". I'll give it a go again trying to nail down a repeatable rhythm. Hyperventilating for 2 minutes, though, and then hold as long as possible? - giving me Hawaii flashbacks to free-diving and underwater hockey days.. Ahh, Good times.
Another helpful video but I am still a bit confused with breathing as you suggest and bracing at the catch and “inflating the tire”. I think another commenter below is also asking about this. I watched one of your older videos about inflection with the arms at the catch to increase connection and to engage the lats. It would be great to see all of this in slow motion as you take the stroke and demonstrate your breathing at the same time ( do you inflect your arms at the catch or the release ?? - do the arms stay inflected or relax during the recovery ??) . I am confused as I think you say to take a breath in at the catch and exhale through the drive and the same with the recovery. But in other videos you talk about breathing out at the catch to inflate the tire. It seems in the video about the arm inflection that you are breathing out while doing that ?? I don’t want to overthink each of these steps and make it more complicated than it needs to be but I am a little confused on how to match breathing with engaging the lats and bracing at the catch. A demonstration of all this together would be great !
I just watched a great video on breating. It's called " How breathing correctly can change your life with James Nestor- the Will John podcast." Talks about how breathing thru your nose builds endurance and hels you work out more efficiently. Great video.
In one of your stretching videos you call for 10 second inhale and 12 second exhale: I take a different approach in stretching is four second in hold for six seconds and exhale for seven seconds. In rowing I use the old tried and proven breath by inhale during rest and exhale during exertion. So exhale on the pull and inhale on the return. All your suggestions are great but one breath per stroke has served me well in rowing for over thirty years and at 88 I still am doing it in through the nose and out through the mouth natural breathing. Natural breathing ? It is the way a baby breaths the tummy rises on the inhale and the tummy comes in on exhale pushing all the air out. Unless you breath like a baby or an opera singer the will be shallow.
Check out the Oxygen Advantage book by Patrick McKeown. also the Bohr effect ( the CO2 in your blood helps break the O2/hemoglobin bond. ) describes the roll of CO2 in the release of O2 from your blood to go into your muscles and organs. It's very complex and you are right the slower and deeper your breathing is the better. Most of the info out there doesn't address the issues the rower has rolling back and forth. Its hard on your diaphram and abdominal organs to breathe in at the catch TRy nose breathing into your lower belly on the drive hold that breath and exhale through your mouth as you roll up to the catch. That's one breath per stroke. It's more efficient for your lungs and a lot less work.
Thank you, Shane! Shane, this question is incredibly off-topic :)... I get callouses like crazy. Is this typical or is if indicative of gripping the handle incorrectly?? Thank You :)!
Practice holding the handle in your fingers instead of in your palms - it should be a relatively loose 'grip', where your thumb just barely wraps around the handle and touches your fingertips
