How to Record Workout Data

MattCope · Post by **MattCope** » January 29th, 2016, 7:02 am

I'm new to rowing and have not found answers to questions i have on the concept2 website.

I only row at a public gym and DO NOT own my own concept2 rowing machine. the equipement at the gym are fitted with PM4

what is the best way to record my workout and training data?
there is a card slot and ethernet port...
can i buy a card and plug it into my laptop? dosn't look like an SD card size, do i need to buy a separate card reader?
can i plug my laptop directly into the ethernet port?
what software do i need to be able to read the data and present it in accurate form... ie charts to show strokes per min over workout time, or my force curve over workout?

i've signed up to http://log.concept2.com/log.... how can i get my data into this without having to type everything? is there a phone app?

is there a better solution for training on the concept2 and recording my workouts?

can i record my workouts on a phone app, or at least view and analyse my workouts on a phone app?

Is the concept2 PM4 capable of recording such minute dat from an individual workout, whereby i can see every individual stroke?

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » January 29th, 2016, 7:32 am

It's an I2C card, so you need a USB card reader for it.
Software to read it is here: http://www.concept2.com/service/softwar ... t2-utility

If you take a laptop and a USB printer cable into your gym you can plug that in to the PM4 (as long as the gym management don't disapprove).

The data on your logcard isn't stroke by stroke, it's summary data on each split. Exactly what you see if you look at the workout from the PM4 menu.
Main menu --> More Options --> Memory (no LogCard) or Main menu --> More Options --> LogCard --> List by Date (with a LogCard inserted)

With the Ergdata App and a suitable cable you can connect that to the PM4.

jag · Post by **jag** » January 29th, 2016, 12:30 pm

I'm confused by your answer. What is an I2C card? Is it proprietary to Concept2 or available elsewhere? And the link to a card reader on the c2 site is broken (http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/a ... ard-reader). Is this also proprietary?

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » January 29th, 2016, 12:40 pm

I2C is a bus protocol developed by Philips. There's a few commercial users of I2C but it's not a common format for smartcards, it's just a little bit old (fifteen year old technology) and has been superseded in the big wide world by SDCard, USB sticks, NFC phones and RFID cards. The Concept2 card has a whole 32768 bytes of data on it.

There are two easily available readers. The Athena III which is now unsupported by the manufacturer and the OmniKey 3121 (which works OK on Windows). The other card reader is the PM3 or PM4. For PM5 Concept2 have stopped using I2C smartcards and now use a regular USB stick.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Omnikey-Cardm ... 1985097618
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Omnikey-3121- ... 1677110296
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OK-Omnikey-Ca ... 1536690010

Don't spend more than a tenner ($10 or £10 depending which side of the pond your on) on it.

thecrashton · Post by **thecrashton** » January 29th, 2016, 3:54 pm

Laptop + RowPro (get the free trial to make sure you like it). You'll never look back! What Citroen said, just take the laptop to the gym, plug into PM4, open up RowPro, have at er.

fredmallrich · Post by **fredmallrich** » January 29th, 2016, 8:32 pm

Hi, I'd like to record the strenght values of each stroke. Is there a software to collect this data?
We can see on PM4 the strenght curve, but not the values.

For exemple: I'd like to know in witch moment of the drive length, was the peak force.

Carl Watts · Post by **Carl Watts** » January 29th, 2016, 9:45 pm

Get a book and write it down from the top line of the results in the PM4.

You also want the likes of a Garmin Ant+ chest strap, then you have wireless heartrate with the PM4 in the results as well.

Realistically its all you need to see if your making progress. Sure you can get a LogCard and then you need a reader but if your meticulous at writing it down then thats going to be very useful information to look back on.

I would rather spend the money on the chest strap than the Logcard/reader.

Over 5 years of rowing has shown me I don't need tons of data to show progress and I certainly don't need stroke by stroke analysis, its total overkill unless your planning to row at Rio this year.

Essentially you need accurate values for the following..... time - distance - pace - average spm and average heartrate data.

MattCope · Post by **MattCope** » January 31st, 2016, 10:34 am

thanks for all your response, that's all great help

i think i'll investigate using the ErgData app....

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... data&hl=en

Just need to get me the correct cable & cradle etc, but it dosnt appear that that will break the bank. will check phone compatibility first though, as suggested.

sticky · Post by **sticky** » February 1st, 2016, 9:08 am

The new update to the logbook website actually makes inputting your row after each session via a mobile phone quite practical. The site is responsive, so it's very easy to enter your distance and time. I've been doing this for a few weeks (I have my own rower, but only with the PM2+), and it's worked without fail.

MattCope · Post by **MattCope** » February 4th, 2016, 9:55 am

righty, the cable and docker turned up... very smartly.
purchased here...
http://www.concept2.co.uk/service/software/ergdata

i've tried connecting the android phone to all 3 and have got varying errors from all...
the phone appeared to connect ok and recoginsed the rower... it was ready to start recording.
the first machine gave me an error of 121-46
the second machine error 121-112
and the third machine was 121-1
i think that both the 2nd and 3rd machines have flat batteries and possibly need replacement, so i am unable to read the product information.
there were no cards in any of the PM4s
the first machine has firmware 308 and hardware 245

it appears that the firmware may need updating as well, as documented here...
http://www.concept2.co.uk/service/softw ... quirements

will raise another ticket to check the errors as i can't see these listed here...
http://www.concept2.co.uk/service/monit ... rror-codes

anyone got any other suggestions?

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » February 4th, 2016, 10:11 am

Run the Concept2 Utility on your Laptop or Mac to get the firmware updates installed.
http://www.concept2.com/service/softwar ... t2-utility

It needs the USB-A to USB-B cable for PM3/PM4 updates, or with recent PM5s you can use the USB stick to carry the firmware from your Laptop to your PM5.

Most of the error codes are NOT published by Concept2. (I've been asking for that for ten years, but it's never appeared.)

MattCope · Post by **MattCope** » February 5th, 2016, 5:30 am

thanks for the link, citroen
i've got great communication with the guys that run the gym, and so hopefully between us we'll get this sorted.
although, and perhaps more importantly, it's still not gunna enable me to row a sub 7.
more power... less tech

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