Row Pro, LiveRowing and the erg-situation in (German) Gyms

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Claudius
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Row Pro, LiveRowing and the erg-situation in (German) Gyms

Post by Claudius »

Hello everybody, i wanted to share my experience with connecting additional software to ergos in a gym. So i have my own ergo, why using one in a gym? After work i regulary visit a gym not only for erging, but cause of a tight time schedule it is the best opportunity to use it. At home using row pro, in gym it is more difficult, you have to put the notebook anywhere (in most cases on the floor) and connecting it, and you have to carry all the stuff with you, or leaving it while working in the car. I guess row pro is well known, so i do not go on this in detail, it is a execellent software for home users. Another new option is the software liverowing. It works with a iPhone. Now comes the tricky part and the main reason why i am telly you all this: connecting the software in a ordinary (german) gym. I recently switched to antother gym cause of the desolated erg situation. They had two c2 model d with a pm3. Built in 2003 or 2004, still with the first firmware. And with really not a good maintenance at all- you only have to blink to the shaft to see all this mud, the cage of the windwhell- full of dust. After 3 strokes there were no more resistance at all, strange drag factor, the pm3 spew out crazy numbers.At home I tried several times to establish a connection IPhone to pm4 with normal adapters, but as c2 is telling you on their Homepage this is not possible, so for a cabled connection (as required for pm3 and4) you´ll need the I connection cable from c2. Nevertheless, for this tech-experiments i bought a new iphone 4s...so this 40€ for the cable were another investment to give the tech-experience a chance. But back in the gym I realised that the Iphone couldnt connect to the pm3- cause of the more than 10 years old firmware. I didnt ask for permission to update the pm3, just do it with the c2utility. So you can say i should also clean up the windwheel, but i think its a different think to update the pm3 versus taking a scredriver, opening the machine and clean it...therefore should be a gym mechanic in his responsibility - whom i of course informed about the condition of the ergs. He told me: everything all right,the erg is ok, nobody complains, you´re the only one (a split of 1:20 pulling with one arm) YES the machine works fine... .
Cause of this "erg-situation" i switched to another gym: two new Model e with a pm5- but also connection problems, cause again the firmware was to old to support ergdata, and so liveRowing. Same procedure as done before: updating the machine (I dindnt ask) After doing that a connection to ergdata was via cable and wireless possible, not to the liverowing app. Meanwhile i brought my notebook within the gym and rowed offline, cause of my tight time schedule i couldnt do a online row... Last week there was a liverowing update, so yesterday i established a connection and tried the may ctc (with my custom rest periods :fsgrin: ) Everything went fine and quick, no more connection problems, programming the machine- so in this case the app. But after the first interval the app do not made the programmed rest period, just switched to the 223m, after the 223m i had only 23s instead of my preferred rest time. After one km and a pulse >160 i canceled this first attempt. If RowPro allowed a rest less than 20s i had tried this with rowpro, but so my choice was to give liveRowing after the update a 2nd chance, which looks in the beginning good (no connection problems, quick programming the app).
But if to many tech problems hinder you to train, perhaps sometimes it is better without additional tech applications.

I am a little bit of a tech freak- my bike always had to have a speedo, since i am 5 years old...

I do like both rowing apps: row pro: using it at home, on a big tv screen with a 7.2 Hifi Device and the upcoming liverowing, with a super session report via email, featured workouts: e.g. the c2ctc, fitness matters...

Now my conclusion to all this:

If you want to have this additional apps to your erg in the gym:

1. The owner of the gym should update the firmware of the ergs - otherwise a connection will not be possible (and of course the regular maintenance)
2. There is still a demand of evolving the apps:
a) for row pro there should be a android/iphone app to mount easily your phone to the pm, or at least a cradle for
10´tablets, so i could mount my win10 tablet to the pm, other solutions with many ankles and a long fixing time are for a gym inappropriate - everything should go easy and quick - the big think on row pro is the really live online training - if some gym users join: there would be more possibilities for a live training - so it is also a market here
b) liveRowing is a app for gym condition,now it works almost fine, but leave me behind on my own custom made ctc, some bugs should be erase...
3. the most important think for people like me with a tight time schedule: it should go easy, quick and working accurate: it have to be a helper and a thing which make fun...it shouldnt prevent or disturbing you from training

thats it


So i wanna also know the erg Situation in UK, US , France or so on...i guess Germanys gyms are very behind.... :shock: :cry:


i do apologize for my bad english
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“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
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CamiCrew
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Re: Row Pro, LiveRowing and the erg-situation in (German) Gy

Post by CamiCrew »

Hi Claudius. Interesting writeup, thank you.

I imagine I would face similar challenges at the gyms near me in the US, were I to try rigging extra software there. The ergs get less attention than the treadmills and bikes although the Crossfit trend has gained them more use.

I have enough tech challenges in my home. Something a bit different for each of the software packages / apps / hr belt I have been trying. I would not say any of them are 100% stable. RowPro was 98% before I got the PM5. My ErgData is a beta, so, some instability expected. Even the hr belt acts up, I think if someone messages my phone with wireless on.

Good luck. You're not alone! :fsbgrin:
-barbara

F Hwt 53 yrs 5'10"
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Claudius
Friend of the Free Spirits web site 2019
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Posts: 530
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2016 12:36 pm
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Location: Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany

Re: Row Pro, LiveRowing and the erg-situation in (German) Gyms

Post by Claudius »

Thanks for your answer, so this is not only a german problem in the gyms, i switched to a usb stick, but this option do not store the splits in the c2 log as the i phone with ergdata do...
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“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
(J.R.R.T.)
lcantey
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Re: Row Pro, LiveRowing and the erg-situation in (German) Gyms

Post by lcantey »

Claudius wrote:Thanks for your answer, so this is not only a german problem in the gyms, i switched to a usb stick, but this option do not store the splits in the c2 log as the i phone with ergdata do...
The version 7 beta utility is supposed to upload splits. Check the PM software page.
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