RowCraft: Structured Rowing Workouts for the Concept2

I bought a Concept2 Model D during COVID like half the fitness world. For the first few months, I did what most people do: sat down, rowed until I was tired, and got off. No plan. No progression. No idea if I was actually getting better.

Then I got serious. I started researching training methodology and hit a wall. Cyclists have TrainerRoad, Zwift, and years of structured FTP-based training culture. Runners have Garmin Coach, Nike Run Club, and an entire industry built around pace zones and race-specific programs. The rowing equivalent? A PDF of the Pete Plan and a subreddit.

The Concept2 PM5 measures watts, stroke rate, split times, and heart rate. It has Bluetooth. It’s accurate enough for Olympic-level training. The software ecosystem around it doesn’t match.

That’s why I built RowCraft.

What RowCraft does

RowCraft is a structured workout app for the Concept2 PM5. You connect your phone to the rower via Bluetooth, pick a workout, and row. The app shows your target pace, power zone, stroke rate, and real-time performance metrics as you go.

The key idea is FTP-based power zone training, the same approach that cycling has used for years. Your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) is the highest average watts you can sustain for about 20 minutes. Once you know your FTP, every workout can be expressed as a percentage of it. Zone 1 (recovery) might be 55% of FTP. Zone 4 (threshold) is 95%. Zone 5 (VO2max) pushes above 106%.

This removes guesswork. Instead of “row at a moderate pace,” the workout says “row at 78% FTP for 8 minutes at 24 strokes per minute.” You either hit the target or you don’t. The ambiguity is gone.

FTP-based training translates to rowing even better than I expected. The approach is well-established in cycling for a reason. It’s objective, progressive, and adaptable. Rowing is well suited for it because the Concept2’s power measurement is more consistent than most cycling power meters.

The workout library

There are 168+ workouts across ten categories:

• Tests and benchmarks: 2K, 5K, 6K, and FTP tests with proper warm-up and cool-down protocols
• Pete Plan: The most popular free rowing program, structured as a six-week block with proper zone targets
• Wolverine Plan: A high-volume program from the University of Michigan rowing team
• British Rowing: Adapted from British Rowing’s training level system
• Zone-based sessions: Recovery, aerobic base, tempo, threshold, and VO2max workouts
• Workouts of the day: Varied sessions for when you want something different

Every workout specifies duration or distance, target zone with exact FTP percentage, stroke rate, rest periods, and coaching cues. The coaching cues were important to me. During a hard interval, the app tells you things like “settle into your rhythm, strong drive phase” or “last 500 meters, leave nothing.” Small thing, but it makes a difference when you’re deep in a VO2max piece and your brain is looking for any excuse to stop.

The Bluetooth challenge

Connecting to the PM5 over Bluetooth was one of the more interesting technical problems. The PM5 uses Bluetooth Low Energy and broadcasts real-time data through characteristic notifications: watts, pace, stroke rate, distance, and heart rate.

One quirk I discovered: you should never read from the PM5’s characteristics directly. When you do, it returns junk data. The correct approach is to subscribe to notifications and let the monitor push data to you. This isn’t documented anywhere obvious. I found it through trial and error.

The app is built in Flutter. Workouts and history work fully offline, so there’s no dependency on a network connection during a session.

Why it’s free

The rowing community is small and passionate. Paywalling structured workouts felt wrong. Cycling has a massive market that supports premium training apps. Rowing doesn’t. There are maybe a few million active rowers worldwide, and a fraction of those own a Concept2. Charging a monthly subscription would limit adoption to the point where the app couldn’t build the community it needs to improve through feedback. I built something I wanted, other rowers use it, and the feedback makes it better.

Current state

The web version at rowcraft.app lets you browse the full workout library and build custom workouts. The Bluetooth features are mobile-only, and the app is currently Android-only. On the health data side, I’m building Plexo to tie sleep, recovery, and nutrition together with training load.