Video Of The Week: Approaching the Ergo with British Rowing

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning training on the ergo (Screen capture)

This week's featured video comes to us from the ergo dungeon at Caversham, and takes a look at what the machine means to the rowers and coaches on the British national team.

"I have always big respect," says head coach Jürgen Grobler. "With the machine, you can't lie. It measures every single stroke, you can't back off for one stroke—it's always very, very tough. They hate the machine," he says with a wry smile.



"It rewards persistence, and it rewards people who don't give up, and don't give in," says 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, and British Rowing Indoor champion, Moe Sbihi. And yes, he does know his way around the machine.



It's a subject we've discussed at length here on RR, and one that is at the heart of rowing's growth as a sport as it becomes ever more connected to the gym and fitness world, in part due to its heavy usage in the CrossFit training regimen. While many rowers talk in negative terms about the erg, there's no denying its utility for assessment and cross-training. In the words of Paul Thompson: "The ergo—whew—really valuable tool."

We couldn't agree more.

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-RR

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