Indoor rower

Chabrias, an Athenian admiral of the 4th century BC, introduced the first rowing machines as supplemental military training devices.

"To train inexperienced oarsmen, Chabrias built wooden rowing frames onshore where beginners could learn technique and timing before they went onboard ship.

[4][5] In the 1970s, the Gjessing-Nilson ergometer from Norway used a friction brake mechanism with industrial strapping applied over the broad rim of the flywheel.

[7] In 1981, Peter and Richard Dreissigacker, and Jonathan Williams, filed for U.S. patent protection, as joint inventors of a "Stationary Rowing Unit".

The first commercial embodiment of the Concept2 "rowing ergometer" was the Model A, a fixed-frame sliding-seat design using a bicycle wheel with fins attached for air resistance.

In 1986, The Model B introduced a solid cast flywheel and the first digital performance monitor, which proved revolutionary.

[4][9] In 1995, Casper Rekers, a Dutch engineer, was granted a U.S. patent for a (US 5382210A) "Dynamically Balanced Rowing Simulator".

The slides can be connected in rows or columns so that rowers are forced to move together on the ergometer, similarly to the way they would match up their rhythm in a boat.

[17] Indoor rowers usually also display estimates of rowing boat speed and energy used by the athlete.

[18] Indoor rowing primarily works the cardiovascular systems with typical workouts consisting of steady pieces of 20–40 minutes.

The standard measurement of speed on an ergometer is generally known as the "split", or the amount of time in minutes and seconds required to travel 500 metres (1,600 ft) at the current pace.

[22] Rowing on an ergometer requires four basic phases to complete one stroke; the catch, the drive, the finish and the recovery.

At each stage of the stroke, the back should remain in a neutral, flat position, pivoting at the hips to avoid injury.

The shoulders are slightly behind the pelvis, and the arms are in full contraction with the elbows bent and hands against the chest below the nipples.

[23][26] The first indoor rowing competition was held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in February 1982 with participation of 96 on-water rowers who called themselves the "Charles River Association of Sculling Has-Beens", hence the acronym, "CRASH-B".