ErgData Brings the WOD Right to Your PM5

The Concept2 Workout of the Day (WOD) has been running for nearly 15 years. We started off providing three RowErg WODs (short, medium, long) that were only available on our website. Ten years ago, we added the ability to get the WODs delivered daily to your email, which proved to be really popular. Next, we added three separate WODs for the SkiErg, and then another three separate WODs for the BikeErg. Because of the way the system worked, it also meant that we often had an additional, different WOD again on social media. That’s a lot of WODs!

With the new release of our free app ErgData, we were able to add in a number of features and upgrades that users have been asking for, one of which is the ability to automatically set up the Workout of the Day. With the latest release, you now see the Workout of the Day right in the app, and you can program your Performance Monitor with a single tap. This is especially helpful for more complex workouts such as intervals, which can take time to set up if you’re doing it yourself on the PM5. Now that ErgData makes it easier than ever to do the WOD, we’ve been seeing the number of people doing it increase steadily.

We’ve also added a daily honorboard for the WOD on the Concept2 Online Logbook. Everyone who completes the workout can choose to be listed on the honorboard. The results can be sorted in a number of categories, including age, gender, country and performance. See how many others in the Concept2 community did the WOD, how they performed and how your results compare! To make these updates possible, we have simplified our WOD offering to a single workout, rather than a choice of three different durations per machine. Every WOD is suitable for all three Concept2 ergs and ErgData will automatically double the meters where appropriate when it sets up the workout for a BikeErg. Another advantage of going to a single WOD is that it’s now much easier to tie the WOD in with things like online challenges, or to provide a better balance of workouts throughout the course of the week. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions: 

What if the WOD looks too hard for me? Every WOD can be done as hard or as easily as you wish. Think of it as a workout structure, designed to make your workout interesting whether you do it at max effort or very easily. 

Why are some of the WODs so short? Shorter WODs are generally designed to be done at higher intensity. A short, hard workout can be even more effective than a long easy one in terms of training benefit. But if you want to get in more meters, you can always do a good long warm-up, and a long cool-down after the WOD. 

What happened to the button presses on the daily email? As part of the transition to the new WOD, these were temporarily removed. They will, however, be added back to the email and the website going forward.