As parents, we hear lots about the "ergs" and "erg time,” but we may not always know exactly what is going on at practices. During our winter practices, “erg-talk" will be very important. Erg can be used as a noun, short for ergometer, or as a verb, to train on an ergometer.

The rowing ergometer, or “erg" is a machine meant to simulate the sport of rowing. The seat moves along a slide, and the handle, which simulates the oar, attaches to the fly-wheel by a chain.

• The drive is the portion of the stroke where the rower pushes off the foot stretcher, thereby pulling the oar through the water.

• The finish is the point when the rower has the legs fully extended, and the arms tucked below the ribs.

• The recovery is the portion of the stroke when the rower's seat is moving forward on the slide to the catch.

• Slide control is the rower's command of speed at which he/she moves the seat along the slide during the recovery.

• The catch is the ready position, where the rower is at the most forward position on the slide.

There should be a 1 to 3 ratio between the drive and the recovery: rowers drive quickly, then recover to the catch more slowly. Rushing the slide is moving the seat too rapidly during recovery.

A piece is a unit of training, i.e. “we will be doing two 1000 meter pieces on the erg today." This could also be a given time, as in “we will do three 5 - minute pieces..

The stroke rate is the strokes per minute. Generally, in practice this is in the low to mid 20’s and increases to 28 - 32 for a race. This varies between boys and girls, and also between novice and varsity rowers.

The split time is the projected time to row 500 meters. This is somewhere between 1:40 and 2:20 depending on whether the rower is a boy or girl and whether it is a practice or race situation.