Using Erg Data to Fine-Tune Your Training

Would you like to hone your indoor rowing training to target the specific areas where you need it most?

There’s a powerful source of international training data available on the Internet. Since 1999, rowers all over the world have been entering their personal best times for a variety of race distances on Concept2 rowers into a database called the Online World Ranking. The tests range from a 500-meter sprint to the 42-kilometer marathon, and the age groups range from under 18 to over 80. Men, women, lightweights, and heavyweights have all been submitting their times. There are now thousands of data points collected here. The database is easy to access, free, and searchable, so it’s easy to pull out just the data that you want.

OK, great. But why should you care about someone else’s rowing results? How can other people’s data help you to become faster and fitter?

There are a number of ways that you can use this data to improve your own fitness, from setting goals to monitoring progress to analyzing strengths and weaknesses.