Drag Factor Calculator
The damper lever on the flywheel is not a drag factor, and two ergos sitting on damper 5 rarely read the same number. This tool works out where your drag should sit for your weight, your experience and what you are training for, so you stop guessing from the lever.
What drag factor should I use on a Concept2 erg?
Openweight adults racing 2k mostly sit at drag 130-140, the closest ergo match to a heavyweight boat. Lightweights and most women row better at 110-120, matching the hull weight they actually race. Juniors and new rowers should start around 100-115 while technique settles. Cranking the drag to 200 loads different muscles rather than building fitness, and the damper lever alone tells you nothing - read the true figure in the PM5 menu before any test piece.
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Recommended drag factor
Why this number
Drag factor primer
| Profile | Drag range | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Lightweight / women openweight | 110-120 | Mirrors a lighter hull. National lightweight 2k testing generally sits in the 110-120 band. |
| Heavyweight openweight | 130-140 | The heavyweight hull band. Rowing Australia senior men usually run 2k tests at 130-140. |
| Distance / endurance | 110-130 | Long steady work: 5k, 10k, Head of the Yarra prep. Lower drag keeps the rating sustainable. |
| Sprint / max power | 130-140 | 500m blasts, 10-stroke tests, 1-minute pieces. A small bump in drag helps peak wattage. |
| Juniors / beginners | 100-115 | Rhythm, posture and connection first; resistance later, once the movement is grooved. |
Drag factor myths
Myth: Higher drag = harder training = better results
Not so. Extra drag shifts which muscles do the work - more force per stroke, fewer strokes per minute - but adds nothing aerobic. Coaches around Australian club sheds set squads at 130-140 because it matches hull feel, not because it is tougher. Living at drag 200 mostly buys you a sore lower back.
Myth: Damper level 10 = drag 200
The lever and the number are different things. Damper 1-10 just sets how much air the flywheel cage swallows; actual drag also depends on dust in the cage, altitude and humidity. One ergo on damper 10 might read 175, the next 220. Open Display Drag Factor on the PM5 and move the lever until the reading lands on your target.
Myth: Drag factor changes your watts at a given split
Watts and split are locked together by the Concept2 formula, watts = 2.80 / (split/500)^3, no matter where the drag sits. Pull 1:50 and the maths does not care where the lever sits: a 1:50 split is about 263 watts at drag 110 or 140 alike. Drag alters feel, natural rating and which muscles fade first - never the maths of the split.
Myth: Boat-class drag factor matches the boat feel exactly
Only loosely. Concept2's boat-class guides (a single around drag 100-110, an eight around 130-140) are ballpark figures, and no flywheel truly behaves like moving water. Treat the boat-class number as a first guess to refine, not a rule to obey.
How drag factor works
What drag factor measures
Drag factor describes how fast the flywheel sheds speed once the drive finishes. The PM5 works it out on every stroke and shows a rolling average in its menu. When drag is high the wheel dies quickly between strokes, so each catch has to work harder to wind it back up. The Concept2 ergometer reads this directly from the wheel, whatever the lever says.
How to set drag factor
On the PM5 go Menu, then More Options, then Display Drag Factor, and take a handful of strokes so the monitor has something to read. Slide the damper lever until the figure lands where you want it, then check again after warming up - dust on the flywheel means the same lever spot drifts over time, so confirm before every test.
Boat-class equivalents
By Concept2's rough guide, singles and lightweight hulls line up near drag 100-110, pairs and fours near 115-125, and the eight at 130-140 - a launch point rather than gospel. With your drag settled, take your goal pace to the training pace calculator for zone targets, then let the erg pace calculator turn splits into watts and a projected 2k.
Rate is the other half of the drag conversation, and the stroke rate glossary entry covers why. To sanity-check output at your chosen setting, push a split through the watts to split converter, and trial the setting properly on a session out of the erg workout library.
Frequently asked questions
Is drag factor 130 the same on every Concept2 erg?
Yes. Drag factor measures flywheel deceleration on an absolute scale, so it reads the same on every Concept2 ever shipped. Drag 130 on a new ergo at a Brisbane club loads you exactly like drag 130 on an old Model D in a Perth gym. What moves between machines is the lever position needed to get there - older, dustier wheels want a higher damper number.
Should beginners train at drag 200?
They should not. New rowers belong at drag 100-115 until the catch, posture and leg sequence are grooved. High drag over poor technique is the classic recipe for a novice back injury, and the arm-snatching habit it builds takes seasons to undo. Technique first, resistance later.
What drag factor do Rowing Australia athletes use?
Senior men in the Rowing Australia squad generally run 2k tests between drag 130 and 140; the women and lightweights sit at 110-120. The figures show up repeatedly in national-team programs and Concept2 athlete profiles, and they reflect boat feel for the event class rather than any special elite number.
Does drag factor affect calorie burn?
Only at the margins. Calories on the PM5 come from watts alone, via kcal/hr = (watts * 4) + 300, and watts at a given split never change with drag. Hold the same split and the calorie readout is identical. Where drag creeps in is through the rating and stroke length you naturally adopt, which nudge your average watts across a session.
How often should I check drag factor?
Before every test piece at minimum. Dust builds on the flywheel week by week and quietly shifts what each lever position delivers, so the number you set last month may not be the number you get today. Vacuum the cage every couple of months. For ordinary steady state, one check at the start of the session is plenty.
What is the difference between damper lever and drag factor?
The lever (1-10) is the input: it decides how much air the flywheel cage takes in. Drag factor is the output: the measured rate the wheel slows at, shaped by lever position, dust, altitude and humidity. Prescribe training loads by drag factor, and treat the lever as merely the way you get there.
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Dial the drag in once. Then train on real numbers.
Row HQ records drag factor, split, rating and watts against every athlete for every ergo piece, so coaches can finally see whether the squad trains where the program says it should.