The Steady State Podcast, hosted by Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan, released a conversation with Shane Farmer on 9 October 2026. It runs past the hour mark.
Shane founded Dark Horse Rowing in 2015, when he started posting indoor rowing instructional videos to YouTube. He spent several years as a Concept2 Master Instructor, teaching others how to teach indoor rowing, and these days he rows with San Diego Rowing Club. The show notes make the point that if you've looked online for erg technique, workouts or training advice in the past decade, there's a good chance you've come across him.
What's in it
Going by the episode's own timestamps, it covers:
- what steady state actually is (51:20)
- peak power, programming zones and performance (53:25)
- embracing the suck to learn where your red line is (55:40)
- the best 20-minute workout (49:43)
- how indoor rowing coaching has changed, and how Dark Horse began (from 31:10)
- the Head of the Charles (1:02:32)
The notes also sum up his advice for people who are curious about rowing:
“Indoor rowing can be a ‘gateway’ to on water rowing, but shouldn’t be the focus.”
Why it matters
Steady state is the work that builds the engine, and it's easy to skip when every session feels like a chance to prove something. Shaun's rule of thumb, from his reel on zone 2:
“70 or 80% of your training needs to be at that lower heart rate, the type of heart rate where you can still kind of talk while you're exercising.”
And from his reel on getting through ergs:
“Not every erg session needs to be a full send max.”
So if every erg you do turns into a test, the steady state and red line parts of this episode are the place to start. Then pair them with Shaun's 2k erg warm-up, the hardest erg workout from the Kiwi eight and his take on zone 2 rowing.
Sources: Shane Farmer: The Humble Dark Horse (Steady State Podcast, 9 October 2026)
