The Concept 2 Slide was invented a couple of years ago to add an extra on-water dimension to rowing. Two Slides can be used to float one machine, while extra Slides can be added to connect the Rowers in a crew formation. Since their launch, Slides have started to become an established feature in the rowing market. Last year saw a demonstration fours race take place between four schools at the PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship, while the annual Nottingham Universities Boat Race took place on them after the River Trent became flooded. Over the past couple of weeks we've received a number of letters asking what benefit there is to the individual of the Slides. After a bit of hunting down and cajoling, we've got Terry O'Neill to write the following piece…The Slides introduce an additional skill element similar to that encountered in the boat. The propulsive force available to move the boat is the difference between the negative force on the foot stretcher and the positive force applied to the rowing pin via the handle. To change direction at the beginning of the stroke, the rower has to create an impulse on the foot stretcher that is opposed to the forward momentum of the boat. This negative impulse can slow the boat down if timed incorrectly but will have no effect on the flywheel of the rowing machine. By starting the leg drive before the oar is connected to the water the boat will slow down, as there is no positive force to counter this reaction. Newton's third law states that 'every action has an equal and opposite reaction'. On the recovery, the movement of the rower towards the stern causes a positive reaction on the boat speed. It will, however, have no effect on the flywheel of the static machine. When the rowing machine is placed on Slides, if the legs are driven down in an inappropriate way, then the machine will move forward and crash into the end of the carriage. If the sliding is controlled and the timing of the catch is correct, then the rower will remain static in the centre of the Slide whilst the machine moves underneath. The benefits of the slides are apparent to oarsmen but what good are they to people who only row on the Indoor Rower?If you place the Indoor Rower onto a highly polished floor then it will move forward in a similar way to a machine on slides if the timing of the beginning of the stroke is incorrect. On other types of flooring the reason the machine does not move is that the friction of the machine feet on the floor surface is too great for the machine to move – not because these negative forces are not there. Any force that acts on moving the machine is not acting on the flywheel. The monitor only measures the force applied to the flywheel and therefore these negative forces are wasted energy.Directing all the potential available through improving your skill is far quicker and easier than developing extra strength and fitness as a means to improve your time. Training on the Slides can improve the timing of the catch and slide control and see your split time come down on the static machine for no greater effort. See http://www.therowingcompany.com/v4/c2slide.htm for further details on the Slides plus video footage of them in action.