The chap who pulled the LW record is a member of the Danish Nat'l team squad. I'd bet if you asked him he'd give up his erg performance in a day to do better on the water. Might be wrong.
And the HW world was held by the big German who couldn't move a boat. . . but before that it was held by Rob Waddell and only a second or so slower, who I think most anyone would say knew how to row pretty well.
Yes, indoor rowing has become by and large it's own sport. I'd think, though, that the very best talent still gravitates towards the boat- and I bet that if the best rowers in the world decided to JUST row the erg, and trained exclusivly for it, the current records would go down pretty quick. I might be wrong, but that's my 2 cents.
Regarding technique-- yes, it's bad ROWING technique, but it's still technique. And I'd argue there's still a lot of potential power loss in the kinetic chain, much more so then in cycling.
Sam
PS- regarding weight. . .75 kilos is not that far of 72.5, max FISA weight. . . though you need some light dudes to help average you. If you're pulling the erg in February and don't have to be at weight till the first World Cup in June, not so bad.
And the HW world was held by the big German who couldn't move a boat. . . but before that it was held by Rob Waddell and only a second or so slower, who I think most anyone would say knew how to row pretty well.
Yes, indoor rowing has become by and large it's own sport. I'd think, though, that the very best talent still gravitates towards the boat- and I bet that if the best rowers in the world decided to JUST row the erg, and trained exclusivly for it, the current records would go down pretty quick. I might be wrong, but that's my 2 cents.
Regarding technique-- yes, it's bad ROWING technique, but it's still technique. And I'd argue there's still a lot of potential power loss in the kinetic chain, much more so then in cycling.
Sam
PS- regarding weight. . .75 kilos is not that far of 72.5, max FISA weight. . . though you need some light dudes to help average you. If you're pulling the erg in February and don't have to be at weight till the first World Cup in June, not so bad.