RP3 has long since been the leading provider of an indoor rowing machine that authentically simulates on-water rowing. The choice of numerous champions, the RP3 is tried and tested by some of the world’s leading athletes and programmes, including Oliver Zeidler, the Dutch national team, St Paul’s School in London and many more.
Over the past few months, they have been developing the next leap in rowing innovation – the RP3 Advanced Portal. This is a development from their original Portal, providing rowers with a more in depth analysis, comparisons and overviews of their respective workouts. After a session on the RP3, the workout is automatically added to your account when logged in using the RP3 App (app), and added to a list of workouts on top of the dashboard page of the RP3 Portal.
Developed by RP3 and in collaboration with MoveLab studio and Stef Broenink – a two-time Olympic silver medallist and long-time user of the RP3 – the Advanced Portal is designed for accessibility and, above all, democratising data. “We worked with MoveLab Studio to create a lot of the RP3 software and also the portal,” explained Jan Lammers, CEO of RP3. “They provide many solutions within indoor fitness and were instrumental in putting this together.”
Put simply, the Advanced Portal allows users to directly compare workouts with overlay graphs and side-by-side statistics. The Advanced Portal provides two types of reports; the first enables in-depth workout analysis cut by distance or percentage of a session (known as segments), whereas the second is designed for larger datasets to track trends over a longer period. The latter is especially helpful for coaches, who can now track individual metrics across a broad data set.
From a crew perspective, the portal allows users to aggregate data on a single platform and also enables session planning tools. Live data streaming is also available for coaches, so athletes can train remotely and coaches can track in real time.
Just from these features, it is clear that the RP3 portal takes the community forward into a new era of data for the sport. “We want to enable on-water rowing,” said Lammers. “Our focus at RP3 is to drive better performance on the water and we want to build products that are helpful and supportive to that market.”
“If you step back, we already have a unique proposition with the RP3 compared to other machines, in that we measure four pulses, whereas other machines only do one per turn of the flywheel,” said Broenink. “We have all of this data and now are in a position to empower our users with better usage and application of the data via the portal.”
Having competed on the world stage for many years, there are not many better qualified to comment on the power of data than Broenink. The Dutchman concedes he ‘likes data’ but his role at RP3 is focused on ensuring that, by virtue of technology and software, the next generation of athletes are enabled to achieve their goals. “When I was at the top level, I was actually encouraged to let go of my split, especially during longer, steady-state sessions,” he commented. “What the portal can give users is the ability to deep-dive on specific aspects of their session in very precise detail. Perhaps, I am doing a 2km test and with 750m to go, I can see my stroke shortened up for two or three strokes. It’s super useful to reconstruct what happened visually and mentally and bring about improvements for next time.”
To use the portal, you only need an iOS or Android device. You then download the RP3 application and plug it into your machine. All your workouts will automatically sync through the portal (once you are logged in!). Alternatively, you can scan the QR code that pops up after the session. Accessibility and ease of use are at the forefront of the new interface.
In developing one of the world’s foremost indoor rowing machines, RP3 are now focused on bringing together a complete solution for ergo users. The Advanced Portal will enable coaches and athletes alike to draw better conclusions from training, inform selection and load decisions and generate faster and more cohesive crews.
“The best way to access the portal is simply to start using it,” said Broenink. “We’re open to feedback because we want this to be an additive function for the broader rowing community. We have also developed data capture and tracking devices within the boat. Our mission is to become the one-stop shop for data and its proliferation in rowing.”
The basic Portal, which you have probably used before, is still free. However, the features in the Advanced Portal start at £3.95 per month for the individual plan and will soon include a one-month free trial.
For crews, pricing is as follows:
Double – £8.95/month (4 users)
Four or Quad – £19.95/month (7 users)
Eight or Squad – £29.95/month (12 users)
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