Drag Factor

Talk about the ski ergometer and training tool from Concept2
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Luke
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Drag Factor

Post by Luke » December 30th, 2009, 10:37 pm

Does anybody else think that a higher drag factor would help to get a faster time on the SkiErg? I checked the Drag Factor on PM and found on top setting it was 147. When I am rowing I like it to be 175 except for long pieces. I'm wondering if you can cut some of the cover to increase drag. I am new to the ski erg so maybe I'm jumping the gun.

Luke

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johnlvs2run
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Re: Drag Factor

Post by johnlvs2run » December 31st, 2009, 1:24 am

Luke wrote:Does anybody else think that a higher drag factor would help to get a faster time on the SkiErg? I checked the Drag Factor on PM and found on top setting it was 147. When I am rowing I like it to be 175 except for long pieces. I'm wondering if you can cut some of the cover to increase drag. I am new to the ski erg so maybe I'm jumping the gun.

Luke
Yes, removing the cover increases the resistance.

If you have a modelD, you can remove the mesh from the center, and the drag factor will go to 360. The reading goes to 300 then starts over at 45 (same as 300).

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?p= ... esh#104665

But this should not make any difference to the time, as the PM is a power monitor.
bikeerg 75 5'8" 155# - 18.5 - 51.9 - 568 - 1:52.7 - 8:03.8 - 20:13.1 - 14620 - 40:58.7 - 28855 - 1:23:48.0
rowerg 56-58 5'8.5" 143# - 1:39.6 - 3:35.6 - 7:24.0 - 18:57.4 - 22:49.9 - 7793 - 38:44.7 - 1:22:48.9 - 2:58:46.2

joshc
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Re: Drag Factor

Post by joshc » March 18th, 2010, 11:08 am

Hi Luke,

I have experience with both rowing, and most recently with the Skierg as I ski competitively and I am quite involved with it as a Concept2 employee.

i can tell you that the strokes per minute have a direct impact on on my Skierg performances. I like to "ski" around 40 SPM on distance pieces and when doing 500m-1000m pieces I am around 60 SPM. When usinng the rower I rearely go above 30SPM. Also, on distance pieces I like a damper setting of 4-6 and 7-10 for the sprint pieces. As a skier, I find that the highest drag offers me and most skiers i know using the skierg enough resistance.

Hope this helps!

Josh

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c2scott
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Re: Drag Factor

Post by c2scott » May 23rd, 2010, 6:39 pm

The monitor has always calculated DragFactor with more precision than was displayed; in the older PM3 and PM4 firmware this was a direct holdover from the PM2, PM2+. Somewhere around PM3 version 105 or 308+ or PM4 version 25 or 310+ the firmware was "fixed" to properly display the drag factor. The "rollover" from 300 to 45 no longer happens.

Strictly speaking in older firmware the display of 300 can also indicate an inability to compute drag factor. If newer firmware cannot compute the drag factor it will display a 996, 997, 998, or 999. If multiple consecutive failures happen, then you will get a 50, 51, 52, 53, or 54 error, which is another topic.... Suffice to say don't try to get the drag factor too low; and don't have too high stroke rates at the beginning of the piece or the beginning of each interval. If the 50-54 errors are bothersome, update to the latest firmware.

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