Ergometer Technique

[[old] daveojeda]

<!--QuoteBegin-NavigationHazard+Jul 14 2005, 02:36 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(NavigationHazard @ Jul 14 2005, 02:36 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-daveojeda+Jul 12 2005, 01:43 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(daveojeda @ Jul 12 2005, 01:43 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Manda+Jul 12 2005, 07:32 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Manda @ Jul 12 2005, 07:32 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->No, it's not "hard" to stop over-compressing. You just need to work at it. As someone above said, use a mirror. Or a coach. You might "feel" like you've shortened your drive - but does the readout confirm it? What you also need to in conjunction, is learn to "let the boat run" at the end of the drive (it works for erg flywheels too). When you rush back up the slide and start the catch too quickly, you will actually brake all the momentum you've just gained.  IT WILL SLOW YOU DOWN.<br /><br />As per, most things to do with rowing are actually counter-intuitive.  <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Could you explain further about letting the ERG run?? I am very interested to here how sowing the recovery will be benificial to your overall time. I thought a more powerful drive and a quick stroke rate were the key to better times. As a newbie this is something that needs clarification.<br /><br />All help is appreciated!! <br /><br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Your momentum has to change at the catch (and at the finish) such that you reverse direction. Leaving aside recoil effects, the faster than necessary that you come up the slide, the more momentum you have to brake so you can push off the other way. I don't think rushing the slide is as bad on an erg as it is in a boat. But it's still creating extra work.<br /><br />When people talk about letting the erg run, they're applying an analogy from OTW rowing. OTW, the shell's momentum under you will tend to return your seat to the catch position at roughly the same pace as boat speed. On an erg, the stretch you put on the bungee cord during the drive will pull the handle back in (and you along with it) in an analgous fashion during the recovery. <br /> </td></tr></table><br />First of all thanks for the help! Given what you said by using my natural motion forward and the stretch of the bungee cord this will give me the proper return rate to the catch? Anymore than this would be expending more energy that would have to be stopped at the catch for the next drive. <br /><br />Given this is a correct assumption on my part, would a faster stroke rate be a result of a faster and more powerful drive giving me more body momentum on the following return and more stretch on the bungee cord to aid me as well?<br /><br />

[[old] PaulS]

<!--QuoteBegin-daveojeda+Jul 14 2005, 01:33 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(daveojeda @ Jul 14 2005, 01:33 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->First of all thanks for the help! Given what you said by using my natural motion forward and the stretch of the bungee cord this will give me the proper return rate to the catch? Anymore than this would be expending more energy that would have to be stopped at the catch for the next drive.  <br /><br />Given this is a correct assumption on my part, would a faster stroke rate be a result of a faster and more powerful drive giving me more body momentum on the following return and more stretch on the bungee cord to aid me as well? <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Getting to a higher rate (and doing it well) is a bit more complicated than strapping up and using the straps to pull yourself forward. The body must come to a complete stop at the finish by balancing the momentum and force generated during the drive against the resistance of the flywheel. Then the handle is moved away, without pause, followed by the body (by pivoting at the hips, very similar to the motion we all do when standing up from a chair) which is "The Move" that carries us all the way to full compression.<br /><br />The tendency to be overly aggressive is common, but have patience and keep it smooth.<br /><br />For most training paces you will be able to feel the handle being pulled by the bungee, and that is a very uniform force, not something that your "pulling harder or farther" is going to change.<br /><br />Learning to recover the body properly is no easy task, we are familiar with the motion as mentioned above, but we don't get up out of chairs 100's of time in succession during the day, so the right muscles will fatigue quickly and need to adapt just like any other. A common instruction I would give to my rowers would be "Lead out of bow with the sternum." and this seems to prompt them into a better posture. The common error wold be to "lead out of the bow with the shoulders" which collapses the trunk and is poor posture.<br /><br />S10PS <br />

[[old] NavigationHazard]

I'd put it this way: in general the faster your drive is, the faster your recovery <i>can</i> be. And the faster the two of them together are, the faster your stroke rating must be. <br /><br />Depending on how far/fast they're going on the erg and also on personal preference, different people use quite a wide range of drive/recovery ratios.<br /><br />I think the closer you get to 1:1 the closer you'll be to all-out erging. As John Rupp no doubt would tell you, top OTW rowers and some top ergers will <i>race</i> at, say, 38-40 spm and pretty close to 1:1 drive/recovery ratios. That is, they try to come up the slide at approximately the same speed at which they drive back on it. <br /><br />But as Mel Harbour no doubt would say in retort, they don't do the bulk of their training this way. Neither does everyone necessarily race that way. People typically slow down the drive and/or the recovery in conjunction with lower stroke ratings, and not always in proportion to each other. <br /><br />I personally find that I tend to do low-rating, low-intensity distance pieces (say 60' r20) at a drive/recovery ratio of maybe 1:2.8 or so. If I'm doing low-rating, high-power work (say 2k' r20 intervals at 10k pace) the ratio tends to drop to 1:2.4 or lower. If I'm doing something at very high spm and fast pace (say 500m intervals @ r40+), the ratio that feels 'right' for me will be well under 1:2 and maybe even approaching 1:1. <br /><br />Some people recommend trying to stick to roughly the same drive/recovery ratio no matter what you're doing. The great virtue of this approach is that the basic relationship of the stroke components never changes. Others (e.g. me) do it differently. I don't claim to be an expert, but my advice is to experiment and settle on a stroke that seems to feel right for you. What PaulS says about smooth stroking is dead right.