Tony Watts: Any clues as to the theory behind what position to put the footrest in? At present I'm rowing with 4 holes showing as this enables me to get a strong leg drive and prevents my shins going beyond vertical in the beginning/catch position. However, this also makes it harder for me to completely straighten my legs in the finish position. When ever I set the Damper to give a Drag Factor much over 150 I struggle badly, get instant Lactic build up and my training times drop off sharply. Should I train above this on some sessions and try to adapt to it or just train at whatever Drag Factor gives the best times? Also, what's a decent amount to expect to knock off my 2,000m time in a year? So far this year my PB's dropped from 7:02 to 6:52 and long term I want to get it below 6:30. I expect to be able to do 4-6 times per week following the Indoor Rowing Training Guide. Go on stick your neck out!Terry O'Neill: The adjustable footrest has three functions: to accommodate rowers with different size feet; different ratios of shin to thigh bone length; and finally lack of flexibility in the hamstring that would prevent rocking the shoulders over ahead of the hips.In a rowing boat, the heel is normally in the range of 16-18 cm below the seat with the waterline coming half way between. This gives the resultant leg drive along the waterline, which is important to an oarsman. On the rowing machine there is no waterline so there is more flexibility in where you can set the height of the footrest. From a mechanical point of view, the closer to horizontal the leg drive then the more efficient it is and this would be where the ball of the foot is level with the lowest part of the seat.As far as the drag factor is concerned, what you have to realise is that rowing is a question of power. Speed is a component of power, so if you can pull a full length stroke in 0.7 seconds at a drag factor of 150, this represents a certain power output. If you increase the drag factor and maintain the speed then you are generating more power, but if you increase the drag and it takes you 0.9 seconds to pull a stroke, then you could be developing less power. Every person has what is known as muscle threshold. This is the speed at which the muscle can contract. To achieve your best performance you would need to row at your muscle threshold and the only way to find this is by trial and error with the damper setting. [NOTE: To display the Drag Factor, to display the drag factor press READY and REST together and then row a few strokes. For more information about how the damper setting works, checkout the Indoor Rower FAQ on http://www.therowingcompany.com/v4/product.htm]As to the benefits of training at different damper level settings, there is a rationale here. By increasing the drag factor you could improve your basic strength, which you could then convert to more power. A relatively small improvement in strength could produce a significant improvement in power, but don't forget that speed also has to fit into the equation. Therefore, you could incorporate into your programme sessions where you increase the drag above your optimum for strength gains, then drop it below optimum for speed gains, then place at the optimum for specific power training. You could try this twice a week with short interval training, moving the damper between intervals. Try 9 x 1 minute pieces at (level 10, level 1, level 5) x 3 and see how it goes.As to predicting your time, this is difficult because the effort required to reduce your 2,000 metres is not linear: as your time goes down it requires even more effort to reduce it further. But, sticking my neck right out, I reckon that if you train four times a week your time will go down from last year but you will not get it down to 6:30. If you do the full programme of 6 times a week then you might.