Reddit reviews The Biomechanics of Rowing

I (male, 82 kg, UK) was coached to erg at a drag factor of 130, so that's what I do for both endurance and sprints. That's in the range recommended by Concept2:

> Adults

> - Male heavyweight (over 75 kg) - 125-140

> - Male lightweight (under 75 kg) - 120-135

> - Female heavyweight (over 61.5 kg) - 120-130

> - Female lightweight (under 61.5 kg) - 115-125

Now, The Complete Guide to Indoor Rowing makes a compelling argument that for prolonged erging, lower drag factors can reduce injury without compromising training value. Rowing Australia heeds that advice and recommends the following instead:

> Adults

> - Male heavyweight (over 75 kg) - 115

> - Male lightweight (under 75 kg) - 105

> - Female heavyweight (over 61.5 kg) - 105

> - Female lightweight (under 61.5 kg) - 95

The other way to think about this is that the drag factor is intended to mimic the type of boat you row in. Valery Kleshnev has worked that out for all the various boat classes (accounting for work done by other rowers in the boat and sweep/sculling blades contributing to a lighter or heavier feel to the boat, and, frankly, a number of other metrics that I don't understand yet). Then, according to that link above, the appropriate drag factors would be:

> - 1x - 127

> - 2x - 103

> - 4x - 84

> - 2- - 127

> - 4- - 100

> - 8+ - 86

... which I'd be happy to follow, but, whoof, good luck trying to convince my coach to let me erg at df=86 ;).