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Purpose: The Concept II model C (IIC) rowing ergometer was replaced by the Concept II model D (IID), but the design modifications of the updated ergometer might alter resistance characteristics and rowing technique, thereby potentially influencing ergometer test results. This study evaluated the physiological response to rowing on the IIC and IID ergometers during a submaximal progressive incremental test and maximal-performance time trial. Methods: Eight national-level rowers completed submaximal and maximal tests on the IIC and IID ergometers separated by 48 to 72 h. Physiological responses and calculated blood lactate thresholds (LT1 and LT2) were compared between ergometer models (IIC vs IID) using standardized drag-factor settings. Results: Power output, oxygen consumption, rowing economy (mL O2 · min-1 · W-1), heart rate, blood lactate concentration, stroke rate, and rating of perceived exertion all displayed similar responses regardless of ergometer model. Calculated physiological values equivalent to LT1 and LT2 were also similar between models, except for blood lactate concentration at LT1, which displayed a small but statistically significant difference (P = .02) of 0.2 mmol/L. Conclusions: The physiological response when rowing on IIC and IID ergometers is nearly identical, and testing can therefore be carried out on either ergometer and the results directly compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an image processing approach capable of estimating the pose of athletes exercising on indoor rowing machines in video sequences. The proposed algorithm finds and tracks the wrist, elbow, shoulder, ankle, knee, hip and head, and the line of the back also. Our contribution is twofold. The first contribution is a new background subtraction method, which can reliably separate the silhouette of athletes under some assumptions related to the videos. Furthermore, the paper introduces - as the second contribution - a skeleton fitting method to find the joints of the athletes based on the results of the background subtraction. This algorithm is based on anthropometric data and special movement patterns. The overall solution works on a real time setting in the test environment. Comparing the results, it is shown that our method surpasses the most accurate state-of-the-art general pose estimation solution for indoor rowing specific videos based on two commonly used metrics, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: During rowing, foot positioning on the foot stretcher is critical to optimise muscle force transmission and boat propulsion. Following the beneficial effects of textured insoles on gait and balance, this study aims at investigating whether passive stimulation of foot mechanoreceptors induced by these insoles may contribute to improving foot loading pattern and symmetry during indoor rowing. Methods: Eleven elite rowers were assessed during controlled training on a standard rowing machine while wearing control, low-density or high-density textured insoles. Plantar pressure and knee and trunk kinematics were measured; performance data were recorded from the machine. Insole effect on kinematic parameters, peak and average values of foot force, contact area and position of centre of pressure was assessed with ANOVA and Bonferroni correction for pair-wise comparisons. Results: A main effect was observed for force and contact area, with the high-density insoles providing greatest values (P<0.035). No interaction was observed between side and insole (P>0.190), even though symmetry was higher with high-density insoles. Kinematics (P = 0.800) and rowing performance were not affected by insole type; a consistent though not statistically significant increase in mean travelled distance was observed for denser insoles (P>0.21). Conclusion: The high-density textured insoles affected foot loading distribution during indoor rowing. Rowers applied greater foot force and over a greater foot stretcher area with the high-density than the low-density and control insoles. These findings and the methodology applied may be relevant for the understanding and monitoring of rowing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is grounded in a comparison of the cultural identifications that accompany Sambas Malays’ participation in rowing competitions ‘at home’ and ‘away’. Sambas Malays are Indonesian citizens from the regency of Sambas, who ethnically identify as Malay. There, rowing competitions provide the sociocultural infrastructure for developing local and translocal cultural identifications. Two related, yet distinguishable, cultural identifications are evident, each associated with a specific rowing infrastructure. When contests occur ‘at home’, rowing is steeped in local Sambas Malay culture and heritage. However, contests ‘away’, in areas loosely identified as ‘Malay’, generate identifications with a regionally based Malay culture and consociality. Utilizing a non-positivistic conceptualization of ‘border’, this paper considers the intersection of culture, politics, economy, geography and mobility in everyday bordering practices producing two overlapping cultural identifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training equipment used by professional sportsmen has a great impact on their sport performance. Most universal exercisers may help only to improve the general physical condition due to the specific kinematics and peculiar resistance generated by their loading units. Training of effective techniques and learning of psychomotor skills are possible only when exercisers conform to the movements and resistance typical for particular sports kinematically and dynamically. Methodology of developing a magnetorheological resistive exercise device for generating the desired law of passive resistance force and its application in a lever-type rowing machine are described in the paper. The structural parameters of a controllable hydraulic cylinder type device were found by means of the computational fluid dynamics simulation performed by ANSYS CFX software. Parameters describing the magnetorheological fluid as non-Newtonian were determined by combining numerical and experimental research of the resistance force generated by the original magnetorheological damper. A structural scheme of the device control system was developed and the variation of the strength of magnetic field that affects the magnetorheological fluid circulating in the device was determined, ensuring a variation of the resistance force on the oar handle adequate for the resistance that occurs during a real boat rowing stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feedback systems used in elite sport mainly provide visual information. Another approach displays information audibly via sonification to create coherency between action and reaction. This article describes the use of sonification as acoustic feedback (AF) in on-water rowing training with elite athletes. On the theoretical basis of an ecological dynamics approach, the audio-motor relationship was elucidated for understanding expertise and skill acquisition in sport. Results gained from athlete surveys between 2009 and 2013 were presented to determine if AF reflects specific sections within the rowing-motion comprehensible for the athletes and if the information is provided in a way that is useful for technique training. The final aim was to provide criteria and recommendations for the development of sonification-based applications within a moving context for sports and rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate muscle function and basal physical fitness in relation to muscle balance pattern using rowing machines. Twenty four subjects participated in this study, using three different rowing machines. Rowing exercises were performed for twenty-five times a set, four sets a day, 3 days a week, for 8 weeks. Biodex system 3(Biodex Medical Systems Co., New York, USA) was used to measure joint torques in the elbow, shoulder, lumbar and knee of subjects, for analyzing muscle function. The evaluation of basal physical fitness included body composition, muscle strength, muscle endurance, muscle reaction, agility, flexibility and explosive power. Before the experiment, significant differences of joint torques in the elbow, shoulder, lumbar and knee were present between subjects in the group. After the rowing exercise, significant improvement in every joint was witnessed. All aspects of basic fitness increased significantly, and the most improvement was observed in muscle strength from the joint torque results. As shown in the following results, every joint it was evident to have improved by more than 30% with the use of dependent load deviation type over the previously used water load method. This means that it is more effective for enhancing muscle strength and endurance to keep the muscle balance using dependent load deviation. The human body maintains motor coordination of muscle contraction during exercise. The muscle balances in the upper-lower and left-right arms could assist with effective activation of motor coordination. In this paper, an exercise method using dependent load deviation was demonstrated to be more efficient for improving muscle imbalance and strengthening muscles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of this study was to show the expected results for cases of single and opposed rows of jets from alternating large and small round holes. Previous publications demonstrated that the NASA empirical model gave results that were an excellent representation of mean experimental scalar results and that the model could confidently be used to investigate configurations for which results have not been published in the open literature. Calculations for cases of opposed rows of jets that would overpenetrate slightly in an inline configuration showed that better mixing was attained when one row was shifted to make a staggered configuration so that a small hole was opposite from a larger one. However the result was no better than for an optimum inline configuration with all the holes of the same size. Staggering the rows does not make much difference in an optimum inline configuration. For all cases investigated, the dimensionless variance of the mixture fraction decreased significantly with increasing downstream distance, but, at a given downstream location, the variation between cases was small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examined the association between stroke rate and gross efficiency (egross), and the use of negative power output during stroke cycle (Pnegative) as determinant of internal power losses. Seventeen female rowers were the participants of the study, who rowed three randomized trials in a modified rowing ergometer at different stroke levels. Power output, egross, and average stroke length during rowing cycle were assessed. Results showed that there is no relationship between egross and stroke rate, and that Pnegative is not a viable determinant of internal power loss.

Indoor rowing machines and training facilities for rowing are developed to simulate movements performed during the on-water rowing aiming to get results as close as possible to real rowing. The paper presents the novel indoor rowing machine equipped with loading measuring devices and software for training parameters recording and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Movement sonification is efficient in supporting motor perception and motor control. When perceiving, assessing and reproducing sport movements' audiovisual information enhances the perfomance compared with visual information. Previous fMRI-research has shown that activation of multisensory integration sites in the CNS can be enhanced by convergent audiovisual input (V5/MT) (Scheef et al., in review). Adjacent research indicated that enhanced multisensory activation correlates with enhanced behavioral performance. We were interested in potential long-term effects of audiovisual information in sports and compared the learning of a rowing technique under visual with audiovisual condition (audiovisual stimuli had been convergent). Method: Novices should learn a rowing technique demonstrated by a junior word champion on the rowing machine. Performance of the visually treated sample (video instruction/feedback, n = 8) was compared with the audiovisually treated sample (video + sonification, n = 8). Subjects had been parallelized by initial performance, age and power skills. Technical performance (pre, 6 trainings, retention) is measured via 4 sensorsystems (grip force, footrest force, grip pull-out, sliding seat position) and computed by using dynamic time warping algorithms. Results: Data evaluation is still in progress. First trends of benefits of audiovisual information have become evident. Discussion: This is the first study using movement sonification on motor learning in sports. Kínematic and dynamic motion data had been transformed in real time to multichannel continuous auditory information. If audiovisual information is turning out to be more effective, there will be a broad spectrum of applications on learning closed skills in sports and relearning in motor rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]