Concept2 Forum

Hi all,

Brand new to the forum and to an erg.

I am a 37 y/o M, 5'10", 74kg. My trainer estimates ~12-14% body fat.

Long ago, I was a competitive runner (sprinter) but knee injuries led me to pursue other means to stay fit. Most recently I have been exclusively weight training two times a week for 3 years. Healthy diet and I consider myself very healthy and decently in-shape for my age.

Hopped on an erg for the first time today and managed a 10,000m in 46m:48s. A few additional stats I grabbed from my erg:

Average (Max)
Watt: 128 (174)
SPM: 25 (28)
500m: 2:20 (2:06)
Drive Length: 100 (119)

Is anyone able to provide any assessment or guidance on these initial numbers, or perhaps provide targets that I can shoot for next time I sit down on an erg? I am thinking to incorporate this into my workout routine 2x a week, to complement the weight training I'm doing.

Thanks in advance,

stevensd88 wrote: ↑

January 29th, 2025, 2:54 pm

...and I consider myself very healthy and decently in-shape for my age.

Hopping on an erg and straight off doing 10k confirms your assumption - not many could do that. On the other hand, 37 is still prime time in Erg years and, looking at the records, its even dubious to claim much age allowance in your 40s.

Numbers wise there's a big gap between your avg and Max numbers on this outing - no surprise for a first go, that should even itself out as you get used to what's possible. Its very tempting to try harder at the start of a piece which feels easy until its not and then its all horribly painful. Much more efficient to go for even pace throughout and some even like what's called negative splitting which is to start slower than your target but get faster (every say 1k in a 10k) - finishing faster than target.

At 74Kg you are the ideal weight for the Lightweight category. If you want a target, suggest you try for around 148w avg - up from your 128 but much lower the your 174 max - its also 2w/kg that some use as a metric for "good". That's 2:13 pace.

I'm slightly worried that you're getting ahead of yourself, but hopefully you've seen all the videos explaining the stroke and its sequencing and the dos and donts? If your' stroke is solid and you can churn out 10ks the future looks bright. You may want to mix it up a bit though so it doesn't become a grind - but we all like different stuff. As you'll know from your running...twice a week is enough to keep you going, but 3x or more will be required to sustain improvement after the newbie gains have been realised.

Best of luck with it.

stevensd88 wrote: ↑

January 29th, 2025, 2:54 pm

Hopped on an erg for the first time today and managed a 10,000m in 46m:48s. A few additional stats I grabbed from my erg:

Average (Max)
Watt: 128 (174)
SPM: 25 (28)
500m: 2:20 (2:06)
Drive Length: 100 (119)

I agree that a 10k first outing is impressive. This is especially so as you are an ex sprinter who was previously training primarily strength and so I would expect that you have a higher than average proportion of fast twitch fibres that would make you better suited to shorter distances.

If you did indeed just jump on and do this then you may well benefit significantly from the many videos a commentary on technique as improving technique will allow you to go faster with minimal extra effort. In particular a 1M average stroke is shorter than I would expect (despite short legs at a similar height my stroke is at or a little below 1.30). This may indicate that you are not transferring all of the force from your legs to the handle.

It is not recommended to go for a best on every session. 25SpM is reasonable for an all out 10k, but for training sessions is a little high. You will find that using a slower stroke rate will make it easier to maintain a consistent strong stroke recovering during a leisurely slide up towards the flywheel for the next effort.

We are all different, not least in terms of how hard we push ourselves, so I think it is far too early to know what pace you are capable of even in the short term. Now you know that you can manage 128 Watts, I would suggest on your next test you can start at that pace. In the second half speed up a little if you feel you can and finish strongly to establish a new best. Alternatively set off a little slower and try and row 12k next time.

Look forward to reading about your progress.

Thank you both for your guidance. OP back for an update.

I hit the erg again today for another 10k, targeting a few of the metrics you guys suggested. Namely: 2:13 target pace and extending my drive length.

Results below (my attempt from a few days ago relisted, just for the sake of comparison)

What I will say was that attempt #1, on a scale of 1-10 measuring how physically strenuous, was for me a 4
Today on attempt #2 with those changes and using that same scale, I would say it was an 8. I was getting gassed toward the end though I still thought I finished stronger than I started.

[Attempt #1] 29-Jan
10,000m in 46:48
Average (Max)
Watt: 128 (174)
SPM: 25 (28)
500m: 2:20 (2:06)
Drive Length: 100 (119)

[Attempt #2] 31-Jan
10,000m in 44:23
Average (Max)
Watt: 149 (214)
SPM: 24 (29)
500m: 2:13 (1:57)
Drive Length: 116 (135)

My (novice) commentary:

• I'm stoked to have dropped 2+ minutes, but it was considerably harder.

• I am thrilled to have hit the watt and 500m pace targets you guys provided

• I was only able to drop my SPM slightly. Should I be aiming to bring that down even further? When I did dip to around 22, I started losing the 500m pace.

• Watched videos on drive and really increased the reliance on my legs, so I'm again stoked to see this increase

Thanks for the support, folks. Feeling good (and tired) but grateful for your guidance.

stevensd88 wrote: ↑

January 31st, 2025, 3:39 pm

Thank you both for your guidance. OP back for an update.

I hit the erg again today for another 10k, targeting a few of the metrics you guys suggested. Namely: 2:13 target pace and extending my drive length.

Results below (my attempt from a few days ago relisted, just for the sake of comparison)

What I will say was that attempt #1, on a scale of 1-10 measuring how physically strenuous, was for me a 4
Today on attempt #2 with those changes and using that same scale, I would say it was an 8. I was getting gassed toward the end though I still thought I finished stronger than I started.

[Attempt #1] 29-Jan
10,000m in 46:48
Average (Max)
Watt: 128 (174)
SPM: 25 (28)
500m: 2:20 (2:06)
Drive Length: 100 (119)

[Attempt #2] 31-Jan
10,000m in 44:23
Average (Max)
Watt: 149 (214)
SPM: 24 (29)
500m: 2:13 (1:57)
Drive Length: 116 (135)

My (novice) commentary:

• I'm stoked to have dropped 2+ minutes, but it was considerably harder.

• I am thrilled to have hit the watt and 500m pace targets you guys provided

• I was only able to drop my SPM slightly. Should I be aiming to bring that down even further? When I did dip to around 22, I started losing the 500m pace.

• Watched videos on drive and really increased the reliance on my legs, so I'm again stoked to see this increase

Thanks for the support, folks. Feeling good (and tired) but grateful for your guidance.

That's a significant increase in pace, well done. Imo, you need to try to be patient on this. You've dropped to r24 from r25 and increased the pace, when you'd probably be better to drop the stroke rate and also the pace. There will be quite a notable difference in power for just one spm, so I'm not surprised you were gassed.

If you want to lower it to r22, you need to accept a temporary drop in pace until you adapt and then you'll slowly be able to increase the pace. You'll really struggle to address both at the same time, so don't let your ego dictate the decisions.

That's a huge improvement so no surprise RPE went up to 8. Clearly you could go faster still at 10....but I'd suggest that's really not the point at this stage. You say you've made some adjustments to your stroke that worked for you. Assuming this is getting closer to the "classic" form you need to practice and ingrain this movement - worth checking yourself by taking a video of yourself and comparing to the ones you've watched - very easy to think you're doing something that's not quite right in reality.

At only two outings/week, making them all tough is fine if that fits in with recovery from your other training - but do keep an eye out that you are giving your body time to make the adaptations.

I'm not quite clear of the context for your Avg (Max) numbers. Are you deliberately getting faster or slower through the piece? Is it just random what score appears for each stroke? Are you going steady for a bit and then hitting the gas for a few strokes? Is it just a sprint at the end? On a distance like 10k, most of us, most of the time, would expect a very much more even pace/watts so much less difference between avg/max.

Keep it going....