First Try With Indoor Rowing And A GoPro Was A Flop
Since my first attempt to use a GoPro camera for the purpose of making a helpful recording of the display screens during an indoor rowing session was a flop, I have no screenshots of today’s video recording attempt with a GoPro, to display here. But … for consolation, I searched on YouTube using the search terms “concept 2 gopro” and found a couple of videos other guys had made with GoPros while they were using their Concept 2 rowing machines. Like one of the commenters to this particular video remarked, “Interesting but why?” I would say “Curious. What was the point?” Perhaps he was just experimenting with different camera angles while trying out his brand new rowing machine. He is the first person I’ve ever seen to wear gloves while using a rowing machine. You can view his curious video at this link: GoPro – Concept 2 Rowing Video
Today’s indoor rowing session was limited to 30 minutes. But the time involved was quite a bit longer than a half hour, because I tried to use a GoPro camera to record the session. It is the earliest/oldest model of GoPro that I could find, for the sake of getting the cheapest one. So the time above and beyond the 30 minutes for today’s rowing session was spent with learning how to use it, trying it a little bit and then setting it up. Also, I typed a “script,” of what to day at the beginning of the recording.
Another result of my search on YouTube with the terms “concept 2 gopro” was this video. This one is even more curious than the first one, in my opinion. It is extremely boring, because you can’t see the monitor screen for progress, pace, strokes per minute, heart rate… so it would be impossible to “row along with” in that regard. The guy who made it said that he had just bought the rowing machine. He rowed 5000 meters at an easy pace. If he rowed it at a harder pace, he would get his lovely wooden floor all sweaty. I don’t recommend this video as something to watch for inspiration but if you want to watch a boring indoor rowing video, you can find it at this link: 5000m Row – Concept 2 Indoor Rower . If you watch it, don’t imitate his rowing form, because as someone who commented on the video said, he needs some improvement in rowing form. The author of this video replied to that comment and said that his rowing form has improved since he made this video.
I have a hunch that the GoPro video I was trying to make wouldn’t have been very usable for the intended purpose.
My intended purpose in making a video recording of an indoor rowing session is so that anyone else who has access to the internet and does indoor rowing – might find it useful as something to “row along with” during one or more of their rowing sessions.
For such a video to be useful to row along with, I think it needs to clearly show the screen for the rowing session. If they can see the screen and what was happening moment by moment, then someone else who watches the video can set up their rowing session for a relevant (though not necessarily same) time or distance and they can “row along,” in a fashion similar to what people find helpful for inspiration when they row online with other people.
The most interesting video that came up in my search today is a short one called Fat Man Rowing. The above screenshot shows his brand new, still-in-the-box Concept 2 rowing machine. You can see part of his wife’s hands on top of the box.
So what I did was: set up the GoPro video camera on a tripod and position it as near as possible to the two monitors that I watch while rowing. One of the monitors displays RowPro 5 for the Mac and the other monitor is a small TV connected to an Apple TV which is usually used for displaying YouTube videos.
This is a screenshot of the “Fat Man” before he tries out his rowing machine for the first time. His video, Fat Man Rowing, was the most enjoyable of the three videos mentioned.
Before the 30 minute rowing session was finished, the GoPro camera quit recording. At least- it lost its connection to my iPhone. It looked like the battery died. I guess you get what you pay for, and if you want a GoPro camera that will record for 30 minutes or more, maybe you need one of the later, more expensive ones. But I will try it again, because its also possible that the battery just needs to be conditioned. If its a lithium battery, they need to be fully charged and then discharged three times, to be conditioned enough to last an optimal amount of time.
Here’s the stuff on the rowing I did today:
Finish screen for today’s 30 minutesReport for today’s 30 minutesRowPro graphs for today’s 30 minutesConcept 2 online logbook chart for today’s 30 minutes
