‘Big ergs don’t float,’ or do they?

You can train, practise, and perfect your stroke on the erg, but this does not mean that it will be transferred onto the water.

That is the traditional narrative behind the heavily-used term ‘big ergs don’t float.’ But, this is over-simplified.

Of course, for many great rowers who begin their journey on an erg at a local gym or at an indoor rowing club, it is a completely different ball game when you take the leap and put yourself in a boat. Most non-rowers will use the erg in the gym as part of a cardio workout they might be doing, yet still know nothing about rowing. They will continue to call the blades paddles and perform a kayaking or canoeing motion when demonstrating what rowing is in a game of charades. Yet, they could still be pulling exceptional splits on the erg because they are powerful and strong.

If you look up on YouTube the 100m or 500m erg world record, you’ll find that these were not performed by Olympians or World Champion rowers, but rather random weightlifters who have never touched a blade handle in their life. This is because they have the strength, the weight and the power behind the handle, so it doesn’t matter what their technique looks like. However, put these people in a boat, and they will sink.

As such, the term ‘big ergs don’t float’ is thrown around a lot in the rowing world, especially among junior athletes. Junior rowers have had less experience to master the rowing stroke, and the disparity between big ergs and smaller ergs on the water can be seen more frequently. Take a junior who is not so good on the erg, lighter, more robust, more technically-equipped, and they will beat the big erg every time. Even if you take a big erg, coach them to master the stroke and put them against a lighter, leaner rower, they would probably still lose.

But what if rowing was learned in the reverse order? Learn to row first, learn to erg second. If that happened, would the big erg become big on the water also?

As the years progress and both types of athlete advance through the ranks from junior to senior rowing, the disparity on the water between the bigger erg versus the smaller erg will be reduced. This is more distinct still with elite athletes, who have bridged the gap between big ergs and small ergs on the water by training and mastering the stroke to the most precise degree.

Earlier in a rower’s career, the disparity of erg-water scores could be down to a power-to-weight ratio problem where the heavier a person is, the more weight they will have to heave with each stroke, thus slowing them down. However, if the majority of their weight is muscle power, that should cancel out the weight they carry, in which case their weight would not cost them any time.

Take Oliver Zeidler for example. He won the Rowing Indoor World Championships in 2023 in the
2000m event with a time of 5:37.03, and claimed gold at the World Rowing Championships just
seven months later with a time of 6:38.08.

Not only does this show that big ergs can float, but also that the power-weight ratio method proves effective on the water if the weight is pure muscle.

To get a better sense of the truth behind ‘big ergs don’t float’, I spoke with Katherine George. Katherine stormed many BRICs with her big ergs, coming in second and first in 2018 and 2019 respectively. During her gap year, she rowed for Leander, and currently attends and rows for Princeton University.

Katherine found her familiarity with the term more prominent in her junior years, but it disappeared when she moved to Leander, received top level coaching, and trained on the water every day. As
Katherine puts it, “it’s hard to progress on the water if you don’t train on it”.

There are also many other commitments surrounding a junior athlete’s school day, which make it harder for them to get out on the water, especially in the winter as the days grow shorter.

“If you already have the ability on the erg, then all you need is the skill on the water.”

Katherine and I also discussed the distinction in methods of recruiting young athletes into university programs. A lot of teams typically base their recruiting on a 2k erg score; a gamble that many coaches take. “This doesn’t necessarily mean an athlete is quick on the water, but I suppose most athletes come onto the teams as projects for the coaches” Katherine comments. “The erg and water go hand in hand. If you put it down on the erg and you’re effective, then you will fly.”

Without a ‘big erg’, being considered for national team selection is out of the question. The big erg has the potential, which can be turned into productivity and eventually performance with time and a lot of
practice on the water. Given time, the big erg will eventually chase down the technically gifted ‘smaller ergs’ and start floating.

“The erg and water go hand in hand. If you put it down on the erg and you’re effective, then you will fly.”

So, big ergs do float. Not immediately, but sooner or later they do. It just takes persistence, practice and perfection.

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Devonne Piccaver

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