2000m Row

The 2000m row is a distance piece on a rowing machine. It builds conditioning and muscular endurance, with most of the power coming from your legs and the pull coming from your back and arms.

Set the foot straps so they sit across the ball of each foot. Sit tall on the seat, bend your knees, and slide forward until your shins are roughly vertical. Grab the handle with both hands, palms down, arms straight, back flat, and shoulders slightly in front of your hips.

Start each stroke by pressing hard through your whole foot. Once your legs are almost straight, lean your torso back slightly, then pull the handle to the bottom of your ribs. Reverse the order on the way forward: reach your arms out, hinge forward at the hips, then bend your knees and slide up to the start. Think legs-body-arms on the drive and arms-body-legs on the recovery.

Breathe out as you drive and in as you recover. Keep your midsection tight so your low back does not round or take over. To make it easier, shorten the distance or slow your pace; to make it harder, hold a faster steady split for the full 2000m.

Fault: You bend your arms and pull with them before your legs finish pushing. Fix: Keep your arms straight until your legs are nearly extended, then add the lean and arm pull.

Fault: You round your back and jerk the handle with your spine. Fix: Brace your core, sit tall, and push with your legs instead of pulling with your low back.

Fault: You fly out fast for the first few hundred meters and then fade. Fix: Pick a split you can hold and settle into it from the start; use the legs-body-arms rhythm to stay efficient.