Iron Heads Vs Erg Heads

[[old] GeorgeD]

Who can resist a challenge, well generally not me. One of the things about training at a gym is that as an erger I am very much in a minority of 'one' . Anyway one of the Staff came up to me this morning (this is one I have some time for) and said he was setting a 4 week challenge for some of his clients and part of it was to see how far they could row in 60 secs. Would I mind having a go to put a time up on the board for people to compare with (no one wanted to be first).<br><br>So after my training row I blasted out a distance and then he had a go and we got to talking about the whole power versus fitness thing.<br><br>Now I know there are some ergers who lift some weights and some lifters who do a bit of erging and then some like DA who are just 'out there', but I was wondering that for normal people who predominantly do one or the other, at what distance do you think the ergers techniques and possibly aerobic fitness would gain the upper hand over the 'gorrilla' power of the serious muscle head <br><br>(ps All terms are ones of endearment and not meant to offend )

[[old] PaulS]

Once you've gone past about 30 seconds the 'gorilla' is going to have some tough going, unless of course the 'gorilla' has some kind of rowing technique. <br><br>Muscleheads have to get special consideration, especially if they are not familiar with the Erg at all. Though they probably do similar motions, leg press, squats, cleans, cable rows, coordinating them effectively into one motion repeatedly is difficult enough to be considered a skill of its own.<br><br>Hmmm, you should have listed your distance for 60 seconds, as it will be a source of wonder now that you brought it up. (and that of the instructor)<br><br>My Guess: ~370M (based on your 500M time.)<br><br>Rob Wadell: 435M (Most meters reported for 60sec, that I'm aware of.)<br><br>Cheers,<br>Paul Smith

[[old] GeorgeD]

<!--QuoteBegin-PaulS+Jun 10 2004, 09:17 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'><span class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></span> (PaulS @ Jun 10 2004, 09:17 AM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--> My Guess: ~370M (based on your 500M time.)<br> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><br> Good guess .... distance was 371m but reckon with a bit more commitment would be 380+ maybe Didn't bring it up because didn't want the subject to go that way.<br><br>2nd relevant point you were spot on about was that my friend the instructor, a large instructor, was on my pace till about the 30sec mark and then fell behind to row 349m

[[old] Dickie]

As a former Musclehead, I would have to agree with Paul although I think 30 seconds is being generous. I loose it at 20 to 25 seconds.

[[old] eurofoot13]

well, it would all depend upon the type of training you had been doing. had you been traingin the anaerobic alactic system (ATP+CP reserves) yo umight be able to last longer then those 30 seconds. Had you instead trained like most ergers do, the lactic system, you would last a shorter amount of time before the dropoff, but it would be less sharp than the first guy. <br><br>This is due to the way your body fuels its muscle. the body first uses its ATP reserves - worth about 10 sec. of maximal effort. Then the CP reserves are used. Creatine Phosphate (CP) replentishes the ADP in your muscles and turns it back into ATP (cell fuel). CP power ususally lasts for about 15-25 seconds- getting your your rough 30 seconds. <br><br>After these 30 seconds, Lactate will quickly accumulate in the cell, as the body will break up glucose and turn it into ATP + Lactic acid. If an athlete hasn't accustomed his body to flushing lactic acid out of the muscle, a quick, decisive drop in power output. However, once the lactic system is trained, the moment of critical acidosis is delayed to give you more time at peak power.

[[old] GeorgeD]

All sounds good Euro but I prefer the theory that ergers are just generally tougher and have bigger ****s

[[old] Rocket Roy]

That's true George