Returning to erging after 15 years

[Viktor Chebrikov]

In 1999, age 41, when fit and a lightweight my best time for 5,000m was 19:18.1 / 225 watts / 1:55.9 pace

This week I managed only 153 watts for 20 minutes, which equates to 21:58 for 5,000m / 2:11.8 pace average 24 spm.

Although I have put on weight I do cycle and can do 240 to 250 watts over 20 minutes, as measured by Wattbikes.


When rowing this week I found my arms ached but the real limiter was breathing. I am only 5' 7" with short arms and legs, stocky with 44" chest and overweight at 13st 9lbs / 87 kilos. When I was fit I was 73 kilos / 11st 7lbs.

Looking at videos etc it would seem my style is reasonable, obviously my stroke is short. I just get puffed out really easily rowing.

My target is to match my previous time and lose the fat. What I don't understand is how I can produce 240 to 250 watts cycling but only 153 watts rowing, both puff me out the same so my heart and lungs must be doing a similar amount of work. I understand rowing is less efficient and power is only measured at the flywheel so power used on the slide and recovery is not included but can't understand why my rowing power is 90 odd watts down on my cycling power. Even my 225 watts from when I was fitter and younger is some 20 watts down on my present cycling power.

Any comments welcome, thanks.

[hjs]

Your upperbody is imply untrained. A cyclist is good at cyling, not st running, swimming or rowing, your heart and lungs are fi enough, but your rowing muscle are not. Training is specific, you get good at what you do.
Weight is mostly diet, kick the junk out...

[Bob S.]

On the erg, you pay a penalty for that extra weight, since the work of moving it back forth is not measured by the monitor. It would also mean more work doing climbs on a bicycle. But it would not matter much on stationary cycling machine.

Bob s.

[Viktor Chebrikov]

On the erg, you pay a penalty for that extra weight, since the work of moving it back forth is not measured by the monitor. It would also mean more work doing climbs on a bicycle. But it would not matter much on stationary cycling machine.

Bob s.

Thanks, I'm of the opinion that cycling is one of the worst sports for all round fitness. I tried running for the first time in many years and I really struggled. Cycling fitness does not seem to transfer. But when I played squash, ran and rowed I was able to cycle pretty well from the off.

[AnimalNige]

I agree.

Rowing makes you a better cyclist, but cycling doesn't make you a better (indoor) rower.

Spells I've had incorporating erg training coincided with winning races somehow!

The demand on the heart is huge. Almost all major muscle groups are involved in rowing, demanding an enormous volume of oxygenated blood. A good cyclist can studiedly relax unused parts of his body, and allow the leg driver muscle groups to consume the vast proportion of O2.

[Marc1t]

I agree.

Rowing makes you a better cyclist, but cycling doesn't make you a better (indoor) rower.

Spells I've had incorporating erg training coincided with winning races somehow!

The demand on the heart is huge. Almost all major muscle groups are involved in rowing, demanding an enormous volume of oxygenated blood. A good cyclist can studiedly relax unused parts of his body, and allow the leg driver muscle groups to consume the vast proportion of O2.

Sorry but I would disagree with this. I have been a racing cyclist for over 30 years & competed at national level in road races & time trials. I have only had a C2 for a couple of weeks but already I'm well under 40 minutes for a 10,000m something I doubt very much I as a 50 year old l/w would achieve without my cycling background I do agree its not what a pure trained rower can achieve there are muscles that are used in rowing that are not in cycling & vice verser which need training, I doubt a rower could do a 53 minute 40k as I have done. but my heart rate data both in rowing & cycling tells no lies I can hold my LT @180bpm in both sports for well over an hour the demand on the heart is the same it is the volume of 02 saturated blood that the different muscles are demanding which is the limiting factor in each sport.

[AnimalNige]

Yes, you have years of fitness.

But I don't think a trained rower would take up cycling to improve his performance. Maybe as a recovery exercise.

But a trained cyclist would have the base attributes to perform at a reasonable level straight onto the erg. But progressing from there would improve their cycling.

[Marc1t]

Yes, you have years of fitness.

But I don't think a trained rower would take up cycling to improve his performance. Maybe as a recovery exercise.

But a trained cyclist would have the base attributes to perform at a reasonable level straight onto the erg. But progressing from there would improve their cycling.

TBH I don't know any cyclists that use rowing to "improve" there cycling performance, personally I use the C2 to train when another day on the bike would lead to overtraining (i.e. "as a recovery exercise") so I guess its similar in both sports. Though I am competitive, & also interested in it, & work to improve my own times o the erg.
so I do take your point.
As for whether rowing actually does improve cycling performance, The jury is still out! I would be interested to hear any comments on this point. Of course any additional exercise would definitely help, but what about supplementing training?

[Cyclingman1]

Re: cycling vs. rowing.

As a person with 40+ yrs cycling, I can say that my cycling definitely helped me go from 7:12 to 6:40.7 for 2K in the first 100 days of using a C2 at age 66. I'm not sure what the equivalent of 6:40.7 for 2K is in cycling, but I'm pretty sure that rowing would not translate all that well for cycling.

[AnimalNige]

In the early 2000s I worked close to a gym where I rode every morning. A 17 mile ride every morning. I used to do 30 mins erg each weekday. Worked up to a PB of 1:49.8 for 30 minutes.

During that period I had my best ever results in bike races. Won many British open time trials. Did OK in road races (I was in my 40s then having only started in my 30s)

I'm positive that it has a huge beneficial effect which is why I just bought one. I want to win opens in my 50s. I think I can do it. Most testers just don't train HARD!

[Viktor Chebrikov]

Re: cycling vs. rowing.

As a person with 40+ yrs cycling, I can say that my cycling definitely helped me go from 7:12 to 6:40.7 for 2K in the first 100 days of using a C2 at age 66. I'm not sure what the equivalent of 6:40.7 for 2K is in cycling, but I'm pretty sure that rowing would not translate all that well for cycling.

Those are impressive times, what sort of power could you put out for say 20 min cycling?

[Cyclingman1]

Those are impressive times, what sort of power could you put out for say 20 min cycling?

On a relatively flat course, out and back, I generally could do 26 mph for 10 miles. Wasted about 10-15 secs to slow down, turn around, and speed up. Not sure about the wattage, but I would think perhaps mid-300 Watts.

The closest in time for rowing is my 6K in 21:18 or wattage of 290. My 2K best is 348 watts.

I'm not sure about the specific relevance, but cycling does not have the rest periods that rowing has. At 25 SPM, one pulls for maybe .9 secs and rests for 1.5 secs on recovery. True, in cycling each leg rests part of a cycle, but there is not the very limited application of power found in rowing in every stroke. I do think that is part of the reason that rowing does not translate well to cycling.

[jvincent]

My two cents on the subject.

Both erging and cycling are great ways to build cardiovascular capacity, which is needed in both, so going from one to the other you will certainly have a good starting point.

Where it starts to diverge is that there is a certain degree of muscle specificity for each activity that is not shared so if you were primarly a cyclist you would probably do better there and vice-versa if you were primarily an erger. Over time if you equally cross train the two events it might even out.