Biomechanics of Erging

Biomechanics of Rowing Erging is what I have been focusing on for the past few weeks due to how much time I have spent on the infamous indoor rower.

I have picked a few of the national-team members brains about tips to increase speed on the erg, both with and without sliders. This is my summary:

Without sliders the 'normal' erg needs utilizes straight power developed from the deep-compression at the catch all the way through to the finish. In my opinion, the finish on a normal erg needs to be dramatically magnified or over-emphasized to force the flywheel to spin at at higher rate going into the next stroke. This prevents the flywheel from slowing down as much on the recovery back to the catch and in turn less power is needed to pick the flighwheel's speed up (See picture below). The way I see it, the force applied at the start and end of the stroke compared to the recovery will give the power reading (watts or speed/500m). The true effort in erging without sliders is to develop force against the flywheel but also the ability to change direction (momentum) of your body-weight between the drive phase and recovery phase, which isn't used in on-water rowing nearly as much.

Pilfered from facebook (D O'F photo)

With Sliders

Sliders are the rolling rails on metal frames that are placed under the erg and it moves back and forth underneath the athlete. With use of these gems, the light-weight erg (27lbs) will slide back and forth underneath the athlete. The ability to keep the stroke-rate much higher will contribute to preventing the flywheel from slowing down, as I mentioned previously. I find during a standard 2000m piece, I will be 4-5 beats higher decreasing the power needed each stroke. I have heard it explained before as "tapping it along" - once the preferred speed is reached it is easily maintain with less perceived effort.

 Even though I have only done a half dozen workouts and a few erg tests on sliders, I prefer them.  In my mind, erging with sliders is more like on-water rowing and that is the main reason for training indoors. Also, I feel there is a decreased chance of injury using sliders.



Video by KW
More Biomechanics of Rowing at British Journal of Sports Medicine