Okay so I’m sure the majority of you have no clue what “erging” even is. However, if you’re an ex-rower like myself, you’re all too familiar with the word.

ERG

An indoor rower, or rowing machine, is a machine used to simulate the action of watercraft rowing for the purpose of exercise or training for rowing. Indoor Rowing has become established as a sport in its own right. The term also refers to a participant in this sport.
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So as I was browsing around www.motocross.com I noticed a Concept2 ad (main supplier of rowing machines, that brand I always used in college), and I was like… what?? Ha ha, why in the hell would a rowing machine advertisement be on a motocross website? So, I clicked onto it and read about how motocross riders are discovering the erg as a great source of training.

Concept2 even posted a list of some riders’ 500 meter splits (again, this is information that only rowers will understand, I’m sure..) and hey, I used to be able to beat almost all of them!! Muah ah ahh..
Example of a 500m split:

Travis Pastrana: 500m 1:28.6

Customized erg with dirt bike handlebars

I’ll try to explain a 500m split for those non-rowers…

So, 500m obviously means 500 meters. It’s a common distance to measure in rowing because the main race is 2000 meters, so it’s kind of like knowing your quarter mile speed if you’re into racing cars. Even when talking about how fast I pull a 2k (a 2000 meter ‘race’ on the erg), I will normally tell is by 5oom splits. It’s also often described by the final time. I might say “yeah I pull a 1:53 on a 2k,” and most rowers will automatically know that’s somewhere around a 7:35 or so, in overall time. All it means was that my 500m average time was 1:53. This means that it took Travis Pastrana 1:28.6 seconds to pull 500 meters on a rowing machine. I’m not going to lie.. for a male rower that is NOT that great.. haha.. but for a person that never rows and it skinny like him, it’s pretty good I guess. I mean, I have been out of the game for about two years now so, who knows what I could do at this point.

I actually don’t even remember my best 500m, but I remember my best 1000m was 1:42. Now that’s DOUBLE a 500m, so it would obviously be better than that. But like I said I can’t remember so.. whatever.

I guess I buy into it (the whole.. using erging as a good training tool for motocross). But when you’ve been on an erg as many times as I have and done what I have done on them… you will most likely avoid any unnecessary time on them. Wait.. most likely? Haha, I can’t even imagine what it would take to get me to train for something OTHER than rowing on an erg machine.

PJ Larsen erging it up in Anaheim!

But then again, I’m sure these athletes have never been on a rowing machine before, so it’s a new and different way for them to train. The thing with an erg is it’s as hard as you make it. It’s hard to compare it to other machines though because the erg is a cardio AND muscle workout, and it literally works every major muscle group; legs, shoulders, back and abs. But you could use it for a low cardio workout, or you could use it for a really intense workout. So.. ugh.. as much as I hate to admit it, I guess the erg is probably an over all great machine. I just have more bad memories than good from it so, I’m a little apprehensive about climbing back on one.

I do think it’s interested that motocross athletes are starting to use it as a source of training though, because.. well.. I find most things about motocross interesting!

Check out http://www.concept2.com/us/communities/motor_sports/default.asp for the full article on how motocross riders are starting to use rowing machines for training.

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