Why Erging ISN'T Strength Training
Archive from 1/16/23
This is a lightly edited re-run from spring 2020. I wrote this in the context of gym closures, but it seems annually relevant here in the US winter and may need to become a standard feature.
“We don’t strength train, we just use the erg.”
Usually, rowers and coaches making this statement follow a sort of “plan” of sets of 10 strokes at max drag or damper setting. I haven’t heard someone say they do sets of 6, 8, or 12 strokes, and certainly never 9 or 11!
This approach makes two main misguided assumptions. First, that the sole goal of strength training is increasing strength of the rowing muscles to improve erging/rowing performance. Second, that high damper or low rate erging is an effective way to do this without unintentional consequence.
To the first: Good strength training is about far more than just increasing the bilateral strength of the rowing muscles of the quads, glutes, spinal erectors, lats, and arms. This is ONE benefit of strength training, yes, but far from the only benefit. An approach that only or primarily uses the erg as strength training “replacement” misses out on the benefits of developing non-rowing muscles and movements for greater performance and reduced risk of injury.
Erging dominantly trains concentric muscle action. Watch my short video on muscle actions and tempo control for more on this. Erging and rowing miss eccentric muscle actions occurring as muscles lengthen while producing or absorbing force, so this is a major opportunity for strength training using bodyweight and free-weight exercises.
To the second: I’m concerned about two main downsides of high load erging and rowing, which includes high damper (increased resistance) and low rate (lower momentum means greater force required).
The first is risk of injury. High per-stroke load is a risk factor for low back pain and rib stress injury, especially when technique is not closely monitored and volume is not decreased to accommodate the increase in intensity.
The second related concern is technical changes, as rowers (especially those training on their own) often alter technique to handle the increased per-stroke load. We know from research on erging that these changes include: more gradual force application on the drive, later breaking peak force point, increased torso movement, and delayed release position on the drive. These changes may improve performance in high load conditions, but are generally bad changes when we go back to rowing on water and at normal drag, especially if the athletes are rowing high-speed eights with early drive emphasis. These changes also increase torso force, minimizing lower body contributions and putting more stress and strain on the spine and rib cage, and again increasing risk of low back pain and rib stress injury.
Using high load training in limited doses under controlled conditions managed for athlete load tolerance and technique can absolutely benefit rowing and erging performance. However, this is still just a form of erging/rowing training. It is not strength training.
Strength training develops:
The rowing muscles AND the non-rowing muscles
Unilaterally AND bilaterally
Frontal plane (side-to-side), transverse plane (rotational/anti-rotational) movement, AND sagittal plane (flexion-extension) movement
Eccentric AND concentric muscle actions
Strength training exists to improve physical characteristics for rowing performance, fill the gaps in a rower’s physical development, AND reduce risk of injury. With 30 minutes and space to move your body, you can get in a full-body, minimal equipment strength training session that achieves all of this.
For how, see this month’s earlier resource collection and start at your appropriate level.
