Power percentages

In many rower workout plans, training intensity is expressed in stroke rate. Similar to cycling, where the power delivered is independent of the gear in which it is done, for the RowingCoach.app a choice has been made to use a power percentage (see table below). This approach is only suited for experienced rowers, because they can easily row seven strokes all-out. 



This power percentage is expressed in the split time. The basis for this time, is the 110%, reached at the end of 7 strokes all-out (end-split). The very big advantage of this approach is that  the 110% can be determined at any time in a non-invasive manner. Comparison with over 100 Dutch profile tests, shows that this approach gives a deviation of less than 10% in 87% of the cases and less than 5% in 64%. This means that this method is expected to be more accurate - and therefore more useful - than the traditional tempo method.

A explicit choice was made for a linear scale of 2.5 seconds per step of 5%. Caution is advised for rowers who are not yet technically proficient enough to convert their full available power into speed. In that case the rowed split should not be valued at 110% but at 100% or 95%.