Know Your Numbers. Know Your Gears.
Are Your Erg Numbers Improving? Here’s What to Look For.
When it comes to strength training, most people know their numbers.
They know roughly what they can squat, deadlift, press, or carry.
But when it comes to conditioning, many people simply jump on an erg and start pulling.
The problem is that if you don’t know your numbers, it’s difficult to measure progress.
At UPC Club, we use colours to help members understand where their current fitness sits and what they might aim for next.
These aren’t sprint efforts or 500m personal bests.
They’re examples of the paces we commonly see members holding during workouts as their fitness improves over time.
White
Comfortable conversation pace.
You’re building your aerobic base, learning how to pace yourself, and developing consistency.
Everyone starts somewhere.
Yellow
2:20-2:30/500m
At this level, members have built a solid fitness foundation.
Workouts feel more manageable, recovery improves, and holding a steady pace becomes much easier.
Green
2:10-2:20/500m
This is where conditioning starts to become a real strength.
Members can maintain a strong pace across most workouts without constantly needing to slow down or recover.
Blue
2:00-2:10/500m Very good fitness.
At this level, athletes can consistently produce quality output across a wide range of workouts while still recovering well enough to keep moving.
Black
Sub 2:00/500m Excellent conditioning.
This isn’t about hitting a sub 2:00 split for a few seconds.
It’s about being able to hold sub 2:00 pace across many workouts and conditioning pieces.
As workouts get longer, pace may naturally drift slightly slower, but athletes at this level consistently demonstrate a powerful engine and excellent work capacity.
Fitness Leaves Clues
One of the easiest ways to see your progress is by looking at your average pace over time.
Maybe when you first joined UPC Club, you were spending most workouts around 2:30 pace.
A few months later, you’re closer to 2:20.
Then 2:15 becomes normal.
Then one day you realise you’re spending most workouts around 2:05.
That’s fitness.
Not because you’re trying harder, but because your body has become more efficient.
Not Every Workout Is The Same
It’s important to understand that different workouts require different outputs.
A long endurance session such as:
3-5 Rounds of:
2km Bike Erg
1km Ski Erg
1km Row Erg
will require a different pace than:
10 x 1 Minute Ski Erg Efforts
or
30 Seconds On, 30 Seconds Off for 10 Minutes
The best athletes don’t have one pace.
They have gears.
They know what they can sustain for an hour, for twenty minutes, for five minutes, and for a one-minute effort.
A Final Thought
Remember, erg numbers don’t tell the whole story.
A taller, heavier individual may naturally produce faster splits than a smaller, lighter athlete. Factors such as bodyweight, height, strength, and experience can all influence the numbers you see on the screen.
That’s why comparison isn’t always helpful.
The more important question is:
Can you hold that pace consistently?
Almost anyone can sprint for 20 seconds.
Fitness is often revealed by what happens after the first minute, the fifth minute, or halfway through a workout.
It’s also important to understand that endurance, power, and sprint capacity are different qualities.
The pace you can hold during a long conditioning piece will be very different from the pace you can maintain during a short interval session or an all-out sprint effort.
The best athletes understand their different gears.
They know their recovery pace, their workout pace, and their sprint pace.
At UPC Club, we encourage members to learn their numbers, understand their fitness level, and recognise when they’re improving.
Don’t just look at the screen.
Ask yourself:
Can I hold this pace?
Can I recover and repeat this pace?
Can I perform at different intensities?
Are my numbers improving over time?
Know your numbers.
Know your gears.
And you’ll have a much better understanding of your fitness than simply chasing the fastest split on the monitor.
Want to Train This Way?
If you’re reading this and you’re not currently part of the UPC Club, this is exactly how we approach training.
Not just doing workouts.
But understanding why you’re doing them.
Find out more about joining the UPC Club:
Train online:
https://www.up-coaching.com/upc-club-online
Train in Sunderland: