Drag Setting Vs. Calories Burned

[[old] ufcpa]

I'm relatively new to rowing- started on new Model D in mid-November. I'm spending 45-50 minutes daily on the machine and am very happy with the results- lost about 20 pounds since I started (changed my diet too). <br><br>A couple of questions have come to mind, and I haven't been able to find an answer in the company literature or through the archives of this forum. First, does the PM consider drag level/resistance in calculating my calories burned? I pull at a rate of around 27-28 SPM, burn 660 calories in 11K meters at the highest resistance. Second question- My time for the above is approx. 48 minutes, which seems pretty high relative to my distance and the times of those active in this forum. Am I making an accurate comparison if I have my resistance set at a high level? Put a different way, if I set the resistance level at a lower level and went "faster", would my time for a given distance improve? I'll experiment, but appreciate your thoughts on this.

[[old] Almostflipped]

1) Drag has no impact on calories burned. All it does is change the resistance which will in effect change the power you put into the handle which yes will ultimately change your splits.....but not directly. Also note that calories burned is standardized for a 170lb individual. If you are not 170lbs you need to contact C2 to get a conversion formula.<br><br>2) Drag setting does not directly effect the splits. Different people are more or less effective at different resistance settings. This is a product of technique, strength, training, and to some degree genetics. As such you can compare times across all drag settings. And yes you probably should experiment some to see which drag setting you are most effective at, it will be something of an individual thing. Personally I set it low (100-105) for SS as its easier on the ribs and back and have just adapted to the resistance level.<br><br>As for your time compared to others, don't worry about it now. Just keep plugging away and making progress and as your technique gets smoother and you get fitter the times will come.

[[old] J.D.]

Having a very high drag setting will probably not give you your best performance. Most beginners will simply move thru the drive more slowly in resulting in the same power output (during the actual drive). Assuming you are going at the same stroke rate as you would with a lighter drag, longer drive time means a shorter recovery time between strokes possibly leading to quicker fatigue. <br><br>If you are actually pulling harder at the high drag setting you may run into muscular fatigue before you have properly challenged your aerobic system.<br><br>When I am training primarily for big boats I use a lighter setting because they move faster so it is important that I can be powerful at a quick movement speed. A single is slower (like a high drag) so I might increase the erg drag slightly if that is my focus.

[[old] Chrissy]

Olaf Tufte nearly almost uses resistance level of 10 for training, and when it comes to a race or test he says its benfitted him quite alot. I am also finding benefits from this type of training, as i think it is improving my strength as i can pulll thehandle through quicker, and lower splits are therefore, for me, easier to maintain for longer<br>Chris