Concept2 erg sessions, on record

Journal · 2026-09-15 · R. Klug · All notes

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A Concept2 is the rare piece of training equipment bought once and used for decades — RowErg, SkiErg or BikeErg, the PM5 monitor measures the machine side of every stroke with the same seriousness: watts, pace, stroke rate, honest to the flywheel. The other half of the session happens in your chest. Rowers already wear a strap for that. ampulse records both halves on one timeline, on your iPhone, as raw data you own.

Two instruments, one session file

• The PM5, over Bluetooth. ampulse connects to the monitor directly and records power and pace through the session — steady pieces and intervals alike.
• The strap, beat by beat. A chest strap that sends RR intervals — Polar H10, Bluetooth-capable Garmin HRM, CooSpo, Wahoo — contributes live heart rate and the complete interval sequence, with a quality receipt: the share of valid beats is stored with the result. More on raw RR recording.
• One timeline. Effort and response line up in a single session file: what the flywheel demanded, and what your heart did at 220 watts — this week against the same watts last month.

Why the pairing pays off

The erg is the most repeatable training environment there is: same machine, same movement, no wind, no traffic lights. That repeatability is what makes physiological comparison meaningful — heart rate at a fixed wattage, drift across a long steady piece, how the same 2k warm-up reads in an easy week versus a loaded one. The PM5 keeps the dose comparable — same machine, same calibrated flywheel; the strap records the response; together they turn repeatability into evidence.

Nights complete the picture. With a Polar Loop on the wrist, the mornings between sessions carry their own record — heart rate and HRV across the night, window by window — in the same app, against your own baseline.

Ask your assistant about the erg record

Because everything is stored as files, the record is readable by more than the app. Link a folder under Settings → Connect Your AI, install the ampulse connector in Claude Desktop, and Claude can read your erg sessions and nights over a local, read-only MCP server — season comparisons at fixed wattage, drift across long pieces, the next training week handed back as an interval scheme for the PM5. How planning on the record works.

Files, not screenshots

Sessions export as FIT (with the raw RR included), CSV, and Kubios-compatible RR files, and upload to Strava when you connect it. That keeps the erg record portable: your log book of choice, intervals.icu, a spreadsheet of season bests, your own scripts. The files live on your phone first — the same buy-once logic as the machine: the record is yours, and it stays complete.

Setup in practice

• Set up the workout on the PM5 as usual and connect it in ampulse — ampulse records the power and pace the monitor broadcasts through the piece.
• Wet the strap’s electrodes before long pieces; the valid-beat percentage on screen confirms the contact is good before you commit to a hard 30 minutes.
• Supported straps and equipment are listed on the support page.