I'm 63 and recently had a proper VO2 max test on a Concept2 rower. Result was 47.6 ml/kg/min, which is pretty solid for my age and roughly where I expected to be.

I became an on-call firefighter in April this year, so I've been through the required fitness tests and have also had a much more practical test of my fitness. Some wildfire jobs this summer involved long shifts in heat and PPE, hauling and dragging hose over steep, rough ground. By the time I did the VO2 test, I already had a pretty good idea that I was reasonably fit.

The interesting comparison for me is my previous lab VO2 test in 2023. I got 26.5, classified as poor for my age, despite thinking I was reasonably fit then as well. I was about 240 lb versus 209 lb now, and I'm clearly fitter today, so there's been a real improvement.

But it isn't a clean comparison. The 2023 test was on a bike. I'm not a cyclist and I remember my thighs being the limiting factor. This one was on a rower, which I know well. I'm certainly not an elite rower, but I row regularly and had three top-100 Concept2 results in my 60–65 age group last year. I've also done enough horrible 2Ks to have a pretty good idea of how hard I can actually push myself on one.

My training is pretty straightforward: Apple Fitness+ rowing with Josh Crosby about three times a week, strength twice a week and lots of walking. More recently I've added a weekly Norwegian 4x4, walking/jogging on a treadmill because that's closer to what I actually do as a firefighter — moving under load and stress.

One takeaway for me is to do a VO2 max test on equipment you know, if you have the choice. When you're being asked to go all the way to your limit, knowing the movement and knowing what you can tolerate makes a difference.

The rowing protocol also had an aspect I hadn't appreciated. As each stage gets harder, you have to produce the extra power yourself. Nobody turns up the machine and forces the increased workload on you. Just when you really want to back off, you have to consciously row harder and hit the next target. It's an interesting mental challenge on top of the physical one.

The other surprise was the difference between the fitness estimates and the lab result. Apple Health currently has my Cardio Fitness at 34.7, although that comes from outdoor walk/run/hike data rather than this rowing test or my Fitness+ rowing.

I also recorded the actual test on my Apple Watch with Athlytic, with the watch and the lab using the same Polar H10 chest strap for heart rate. Athlytic estimated my VO2 max at 58.6 for that workout. The lab, measuring my respiratory gases at the same time, got 47.6.

So Apple currently shows me at 34.7, the lab measured 47.6, and Athlytic estimated 58.6 during the test. I expected consumer estimates to differ from a lab measurement, but I was surprised by just how wide the spread was.

Those were the bits I found most interesting from finally doing a VO2 max test on a rower.

Hi everyone!

We're a group of college students conducting customer research for our entrepreneurship course, and we're interested in learning how rowing teams manage communication between coxswains, rowers, and coaches during on-water practices, especially in regards to communication equipment. We have a couple of brief questions, and would greatly appreciate it if you have the time to leave a response!

1. What does communication during practices usually look like for your team?
2. Have you experienced any communication issues during practices (equipment related or otherwise)? If so, how do these issues usually affect your practices?
3. If a communication problem occurs, how does your team usually handle them? 
4. Where do you find the most breakdowns in communication occur during on-water practices (equipment related or otherwise)?
5. What communication equipment does your team currently use during on-water practices, and have you found any major limitations with it?

Thank you for taking the time to share any of your real experiences and challenges you’ve faced, as well as any additional feedback! 

Thanks in advance!

Novice parent here. I built a free app so our families can find their kids' results on race day

My kid started rowing this year. At the first regatta I spent most of the day scrolling CrewTimer looking for our boats, and I still couldn't work out what "EXH" meant or when the next race was. So I built CrewDash, a small web app that shows a club only its own boats and results.

It pulls CrewTimer's public results for your club. On race day it lists your crews in start order with a countdown, and phones can get a push alert when results come in. There's also a Rowing 101 page for new families like mine. Everything sits behind a club password, since most of the rowers are minors.

It's free and open source, and it runs on Netlify's free tier. A volunteer can set it up in an evening.

**Demo** (made-up club): https://crewdash-demo.netlify.app (the password is on the login page)
**Code:** https://github.com/mattohara42/CrewDash

I'd love feedback, especially from coaches and other new parents.

Rowed in 3 races at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta. The Eight and the Double photos on Row2k are pretty good - ordered those. But holy cow the two pictures of me in the single are terrible and it must been a bad moment to snap pictures because there is no way I made it down the river as fast as I did looking like such a poor technique sculler! 5 years ago there were two good pictures of me in the 1x, and nothing good the next 4 years.

Is Georgetown lightweight men doable with a 94 gpa and a 6:50 2k at 135 lbs?

Upper and Lower Boats: Lower boat events for juniors and collegiate rowers may be held depending upon the number of entries. No upper boat rower may participate in the lower boat event. To enter the lower boat event, the team must row at least 50% of its fastest boats in the upper event (i.e. if a club has six 8+ entries, at least three must be in the upper boat event; if a team has an odd number of boats, the greater number of entries must be in the upper event.). A club or school’s fastest boats must be entered in the upper boat event.

wtf is this rule?

Hi, title really explains it but Ill ad some additional info. My boat from last spring was the best ive ever had --best placement at nats, won regionals, and overall just an amazing boat with amazing people and everything. Half the boat graduated my club and the other 3 moved up to varsity, as I was the youngest in my boat.

I miss my boat so much. This fall and summer has been nothing compared to last fall and honestly it's affecting my rowing a bit. Not in a huge way but I lost some motivation since I have none of the boys that I spent my whole year with last year. I get sad thinking about all the memories we made and I wish that I could go back. They made my fall, winter, and spring seasons 25-26.

Is this normal?

What teams from the NCAA/IRA might be going to Henley next summer? NCAA crews are no longer bound to every four years but some teams may continue to follow that guideline anyways due to budget constraints...

Rumored to be going next summer (ongoing): Radcliffe OW, Syracuse W, Northeastern W...

Teams that went in 2023 (4 years ago): Penn W, Texas W, Northeastern W, Stanford W, Georgetown W, Radcliffe LW & OW, Washington M, Syracuse M, Cornell M, Harvard LM & HM, Princeton LM & HM, Colgate M,

Finished up the million on a marathon. Super happy. RIP my hands and butt.

im new to crew, i first did crew last spring, when I was originally a rower.

Now in fall where theres like no one im not a coxswain and i just realized after head of the schuylkill, I have been coxing so wrong.

Apparently you are supposed to keep talking and never stop, to get the rowers adrenaline moving.

My dumb ass thought you needed to give the rowers time to breathe so they can enter flow state and stuff

maybe thats why our boat got 51/52, im thinking i did something really really wrong and it was my fault.

it doesnt help that i realized i used my cox box wrong and it hasnt been showing the split.

just wanted to rant but now i know how to cox now in practice. ill start doing this new strategy when practice starts again tomorrow

Anyone who has had any of the surgeries or experience in the sport and knows the motion would love the input thanks!

I've been a competitive masters rower for a few years and am about to get a THR. Any other rowers been through this? Did you have to modify your stroke after? How? Did you get back to competing?

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Alright guys some of you may remember from last week I bought me a concept2 model D for $100 bucks. That was about a week ago and I’ve used it every day since.

My BMI is 39 and I’m super out of shape but I’m committed and I’m ready to lose weight and get in better shape.

I’ve tried a few 5,10,15 min sessions and left feeling like I needed more so today I tried a 30 min session at 20 spm and I was able to do it. I’m sure it’s not good numbers and I know this is a real deal rowing group but I’m posting to stay motivated and learn all I can. Hope to keep improving. Plan to do this routine every other day from now until it’s too easy. My heart rate during this session was around 136bpm.

Hindsight analysis: looking at our splits from Speakmon and wondering what others might have done differently.

Mixed 8+ going 4.2 km. We held 2:10–2:12 at 28–29 for the first 3k, then brought the rate up to 30–31 and went 2:02–2:03 over the last 700 m.

Our finish makes me wonder if there was more to give earlier. And if we did, where it would have paid off.

The report has a replay of the row: https://wakerowing.com/report?share=ZqMsquW5tmGGeNZ3C15JaK6i

Disclosure: I built the app. GPS for the track, stroke rate comes from the phone's accelerometer, so it’s probably +/-1.

In the last week I was fighting off illness until I got really sick for pretty much a full day and the next. It’s now a couple days later and I’m feeling relatively normal with my rhr pretty much back to normal, how much low cardio can I reasonably do and at what heart rate to not regress my health?

i heard like john is only 5'9 and 150lbs, like is this accurate?

Anyone know of the more generous schools when it comes to college scholarships for rowing. I’m a heavy weight rower btw. Seems like all the info online is a mess, just trying to get a sense of things.

Started rowing on the concept 2 about 3 weeks ago, am still trying to work on my form. 2nd pic, I didn't take a picture of the pace🙃...any tips to improve on the timings and what kind of training should I do?

Male/24yrs old/86kg/183cm/6ft

Hi, I just got a rowing machine, and about 5 minutes into rowing, I start to get a pain/numbness in my right knee. I'm thinking it may be the angle of my foot pedal when I'm in the drive phase. It feels like most of the pressure is on the balls of my feet, and so when I'm in the finish phase and my back is at 1 o'clock, I can feel the strain behind my right knee. So, I was wondering if most of the pressure were on the heels of my feet, if that would reduce the strain I'm feeling in my right knee? Any helpful suggestions or comments are much appreciated! Thanks for reading.