So smart trainers in ERG mode, what's it all about.
Well today let's dive into it and have a look.
First of all the definition of the word ERG is shortened from ergo, and the direct translation
from Greek is the word work.
So you can consider this work mode.
Indoor rowing machines have been known as ergometers for a long time.
And with the invention of smart trainers, they've adapted that word and shortened it
down to erg mode for certain modes that our trainers can be in.
So what exactly is erg mode?
Erg mode is one of the three or four different modes that the smart trainer can be put into
to do your workouts.
The other modes being basic or level mode which turns your smart trainer into a I guess
effectively an exercise bike with different settings and you have one to ten.
Quite simple mode.
Sim mode which takes into account your weight, your height, CDA, bike type, cross winds,
and different things like that.
Depending on the software you're using We're very familiar with sim mode with free riding
on zwift.
And then we have erg mode, what this video is about today.
Erg mode will lock in a prescribed wattage and hold that resistance regardless of your
cadence and regardless of the gearing your in.
So for example setting it to 300 watts you have to do 300 watts, there's no choice you
have to do the prescribed wattage that erg mode will hold you to.
So what that means is if you set erg mode to 300 watts, it will clamp you at 300 watts
regardless of being 70 rpm 110 rpm 130 rpm in the saddle out of the saddle, you have
to do 300 watts.
You have to hold the wheel and hold that effort at 300 watts.
It can be tough.
So that's the most simplified version of what erg mode is but you add software on top of
this it automatically change that resistance for those zones for you and you've got a really
really good workout application.
A key feature of this software is to base those workouts based on percentages of FTP
not just raw numbers, so not just 300 watts because 300 watts for me is different than
300 watts for you and everybody else.
So instead of based on your FTP or percentage of which means you and I can both get the
same workout at different raw power numbers and still get the same training effect.
Erg mode is a little bit like motor pacing where somebody has the accelerator and you
dont get to choose the intensity, you just have to hold the wheel and keep up.
If they twist the throttle and go harder, you've got to go harder.
If they back it off a little bit and slow down you get to slow down as well.
You do not have control of the speed.
You just have to hold the wheel.
However the difference between motor pacing outdoors, and erg mode indoors if you drop
the wheel of that motorbike outdoors you can soft pedal you can pull over have a bit of
a rest, and call it a day or get back into it once the motorbike pulls over.
Erg mode is a little different.
Erg mode is a little evil when it comes to this.
If you back off a little bit it will clamp those watts harder.
There's no dropping the wheel it will make you do those watts.
And I'll introduce you now to what's called The Spiral of Death.
What's actually happening is the trainer itself will have to change it's resistance applied
based on your pedal stroke.
So humans aren't smooth.
We're a little erratic.
So within erg mode even though it's set to 300 watts it will be 310, 290, 300, 310, 280,
350, it will just oscillate a little bit.
Different trainers do it differently, Well different trainers are a little smoother than
others.
And the smoother the pedal stroke the better it is.
But if you drop off, if you drop down to 280, then 270 and your pedal stroke goes to 250
you can see what's going to happen.
It will clamp a little harder and try and raise well it keeps the trainer's wattage
at 300 it doesn't keep your wattage there, it's up to you to keep your wattage there.
If you can't...
spiral of death.
Different smart trainers handle the transition changes a little differently.
Some faster than others so for short efforts between 5 and 15 seconds you can get a lot
of lag time there both transition to the power you need to be and back down.
So for shorter sprint efforts I don't reccomend erg mode.
For anything about 20 seconds or above it can be useful.
So why do I like erg mode?
Well it adds really good structure to a training session, you can see exactly what's coming
up, where you've been, and how hard you have to go.
If you're having a good day, it's great to fight every one of those intervals and hit
that target power.
It can be quite motivating, once you're ticking those boxes off and getting to the end it's
a good day.
And for step tests it's brilliant it sets the wattage for you, you just pedal until
you enter the spiral of death and you can get the calculations from there about what
your FTP is.
Now why do I hate erg mode?
Well it's artificial.
It doesn't replicate anything in the real world.
there is no where outside that will force you to hold a certain wattage.
Well maybe on someone's wheel up a hill.
Or as I said before, the motor pacing session, but with those you can always call it quits
and back off.
With erg mode if you can't hit your numbers on a day it can be really demotivating.
And hitting that spiral of death half way through a session can be a horrible day.
To escape the spiral of death on a bad day, some software does have a bit of a toggle
where you can up or down your FTP or the intensity for each erg effort.
If you're not having a good one you can pull it down to 90 percent.
Or if you're having a good day, you can really hit those targets you're super motivated,
you can actually bump that up to about 110 percent and depending on the trainer that
you're on and how smooth your pedal stroke is, I guess that comes down to pure fatigue
levels as well, you can really cook yourself at FTP or just over FTP for prolong effort
on erg mode.
What's actually happening there is it will oscillate above and below and above and below,
trying to hold those watts.
Those little above spikes though they really tax the system.
And the little bits below they're not enough to recover the system.
So you may even find it difficult to hold FTP for 10 minutes in erg mode.
So that's all about erg mode and what it is, let's jump on the bike and see it in action.
A demonstration of erg mode on the bike.
What I'm using is the Wahoo fitness app on the iPad to control the Wahoo kickr.
You can see the different modes I've currently got now so level mode, resistance mode, erg
mode is what we're after tonight.
So I've used 300 watts as my example so far.
Let's go to 300 watts on erg mode.
Hear the resistance kick in.It took a few seconds there, now I'm at 300 watts.
So my cadence at the moment is sitting on 80, If I bring that up to 100, I'm still doing 300 watts
If I bring that cadence down, it takes a few seconds, I'm still doing 300 watts.
As you can see regardless of the cadence I'm doing It makes me do 300 watts.
So the most artificial or unatural thing with erg mode is, when you back off just a little
bit, like that, it gets harder straight away.
And to get back on it you've got to push through.
So there's no rest there's no let up.
That's the first thing you have to understand about erg mode is that it's not natural for
when you back off that things get so much harder.
Or if you were to keep increasing your cadence and increasing your cadence and increasing
your cadence, it won't stop until you level out and the system comes up the the prescribed
wattage.
So here I can effectively spin out.
But it isn't until I stabalize the cadence that it's able to match those watts and hold
me at 300.
Erg mode likes stability of cadence So once it's up to a certain cadence level, then it
can adjust and set those watts to what we told there 300.
If you continue to increase your cadence it will keep chasing you a little bit behind,
like a dog after a ball.
And you can go to 160 rpm you can get there, but it's until you stop increasing that cadence
that's when it locks in and levels in.
So should you change gears using erg mode?
Well you typically dont need to, there's a whole other video that I'll do on that though.
For now sticking to 53 probably 17 or 18 on the back, that should do you just right for
most of your sessions.
So the spiral of death, let me show you that in two different scenarios.
So back up to 300.
Ok the first scenario of spiral of death is the lack of concentration.
If you just happen to look behind or go for a grab of your drink and need to get back
up to...
I'm done.
It stops It wanted to keep me at 300 and I wasn't pedaling.
So that's concentration of the mind and watching that candence as well.
So it will disengage erg mode for a few seconds and then I'm back up to speed.
The next one of spiral of death mode is the ramp adjustment where you just cant match
it.
So it goes to a prescribed wattage that you just can't hold.
Let me show you that, we'll go to 600 watts, I can hold 600 watts or a few seconds, but
that there is a spiral of death.
It happened very very quickly.
I can hold 600 on a good day for over a minute. Then? Not even a few seconds.
I didn't attack the gear change correctly.
Let me show you how to ride erg mode both into up transition and down transition.
Since every trainer is a little bit different this is the kickr 2.
I'll show you how I ride those transition changes.
We'll go from 300 to 600 and we have to attack that steep change.
So 300 into 600 we have to attack it.
We have to attack that 600.
Ok it's stabalized, and we're on.
We're on 600.
As long as you attack that start and let's say I can't hold it, and we're on spiral of
death.
You have to attack that watt change even over power the machine over speed it a little bit
it will then calm down and set you on that 600 watts.
The next example of erg mode that I'll give to save you hitting the spiral of death, Is
riding a high wattage transitioning into a lower wattage and not hitting the spiral of
death.
What you have to do is ride it out.
Just let the system do the change don't need to attack it, and the number one thing you
can't do is back off the pedals.
At the end of a hard interval the first thing you want to do is five four three two aah,
and have a rest.
You can't do that.
You need to five four three two you keep riding and wait for the system to do the change.
So on the uptake of a transition power you've got to attack it, on the down take of the
power, you have to ride it out, so attack and ride it out.
Let me show you the ride it out part.
So we'll go up to 500 watts.
So I attack that 500 watts so I could sustain that so we're sitting on 500.
We'll go down to 200 watts.
And there I just kept pushing through And waited for the system to come down.
Instant change down the ride through that down change.
What happens if you don't ride through the down change - And you back off the pedals too much?
Let's have a look at that.
So back to 500 I attack into 500. Five four three two one, Oh we're done 200 watts.
Ok I pedal easy, and spiral of death.
I've got to ride through that transition change down.
Ok that's it for the practical session tonight.
Let's wrap this video up.
So there we have it ergo mode explained and demonstrated today here on the bike.
Some people love it.
Some people hate it.
I'm on the fence.
I'm learning to love it with the recent training efforts I've been doing.
So I suspect I'll be using it a lot more.
It is optional in workout mode as well.
You can toggle it on or toggle it off if you find it easier and especially for those shorter
efforts where ergo mode just might not kick in quick enough for you.
Ok we'll leave it there for today.
Thanks for watching.
Your subscriptions, likes, and comments always appreciated.
We'll see you soon.
That there is the spiral of death.
It happened very very quickly.