You’ve probably noticed that the ‘Erg” crops up in a lot of our articles. You may have also realised that we have a rather difficult relationship with this essential piece of rowing machinery. You might say it’s pretty much as necessary to rowing as a boat is. Steve, one of our novice rowers who has recently become acquainted with the erg, explains the love-hate relationship between a rower and the erg…and how it creates well-defined muscles. The Boys
If you’ve ever been to a gym, or watched a home shopping channel, chances are that you’ve seen an erg. It’s basically a rowing machine, but it’s a lot more than that to us.
The relationship between a rower and his erg is like a marriage: it’s frequently turbulent, often painful and sometimes incomprehensible. But one thing is for sure; a rower is nothing without it.
Like any relationship, there was of course a first date. Ergometers, more commonly referred to as ergs, have been around in rowing since the 1800s, but they can be traced back to an Athenian general called Chabrias in the 4th century BCE who devised a similar machine as part of military training for the ancient Greek navy’s oarsmen. Ergs as we know them now have been around since roughly the 1970s; the first being the Gjessing-Nilson ergometer from Norway.
The erg primarily works the cardiovascular system, but it also works other muscles anaerobically, which is why rowing is sometimes referred to as a strength-endurance sport.
Ergs are vital for rowers across the globe because they are an extremely accurate measure of power and fitness; vital attributes when it comes to race day. And, now that rowers are more astute at incorporating technology into training, they have the potential to achieve the higher levels of fitness needed in competitive sport. The erg is an essential tool in the development of that sport competition fitness. As technology advances, not just with the erg, but also in sport science’s understanding of the human body, rowers learn how to maximise their productivity in each erg session. This does not mean a rower needs to go all guns blazing each time; a range of aerobic workouts and interval training is an ideal regime.
One amazing thing about the erg is the effect that it has on muscular development. The erg works all aspects of a rower’s body, whether it is their legs, which are the main driving force behind the rowing stroke, or the core abdominal muscles, which provide stability and balance during a race. It also develops the back and arms, which allow rowers to explode through the end of the rowing stroke. As a result, it is vital for rowers to dedicate themselves to muscular toning and development, in order to get the most out of the stroke.
As you can see from this description of the effects of the erg on your muscles, the rowers in our calendar have to develop well-toned and muscular bodies to compete in races, not just for photo shoots. That’s an all year round pursuit of perfection that includes chilly early morning training sessions and strenuous erg workouts; but we’re delighted you can enjoy the results month by month.
So if the erg is so important, why do rowers dread it?
The simple answer to this only requires one word: pain. A 2k erg test is excruciatingly painful because it requires rowers to pull as hard as they can for 6-7 minutes. As any rower will tell you, after just two minutes, you can feel the lactate—also called lactic acid– in your legs burning like an unendurable torture method. And you still have four minutes to go.
Despite this, rowers know that they are nothing without the erg. Like an old married couple, the rower will always complain about the erg, but they’d be stupid to file for a divorce.
You can see rowers on ergs in our very earliest calendar, which is still available for download along with lots of other great pictures in our digital archive. You can check out all our downloads here: http://www.warwickrowers.org/product-category/films-downloads/