Room for Improvement

The erg room—a place that often gets a bad rap.

Sometimes it’s old, utilitarian, awkwardly configured, too cold, or too hot. Even the shiny new ones tend to be associated more with pain and boredom than anything else. But as the coach, you have the ability, and the obligation, to create the best possible environment.

Unlike being out on the water, where we’re at the mercy of weather, traffic, and logistics, or on race day, when the machine keeps spinning no matter what we do, the erg room is one of the few spaces where coaches have real control. We control the layout, the sound, the tone, the communication norms, and the energy. Built with vision and intention, the erg room can become a training laboratory with a clear purpose and an environment that encourages high performance, consistency, camaraderie, and even joy.

As winter training ramps up, consider this your reminder to look around with a fresh set of eyes. Make sure you and your athletes are spending your time in a space that actually sets you up for spring success.

A few things to keep in mind:

Sight: What are your rowers looking at while they’re erging? Could you reconfigure the room occasionally? What messages do you want them absorbing every day?

There’s a real benefit to changing the layout of the ergs occasionally. It prevents stagnation and reduces the likelihood that athletes become irrationally attached to one machine or corner of the room. Let them face a different wall, or even each other.

Also think about what you want on the walls. When I was at Boston University, the top of the men’s team’s marker board read, “Will it make the boat go faster?” It became the first thing everyone saw when they walked across the boathouse floor and the last thing the team looked at during meetings. It was a simple, powerful way to keep the focus on what truly matters, especially when being back out on the water could feel very far away.

Sound: Is there music on when athletes arrive? How loud is it during training? When do you turn it down, or off, to get quality coaching done?

I found that having some quiet but upbeat music playing as the team walked in made a small but meaningful difference in their mood during winter mornings. And it didn’t have to be my responsibility. Delegating “music duty” to the right athlete can be an easy early win. And they probably don’t want to listen to your playlists anyway.

Also, consider whose voice dominates the room. It shouldn’t always be that of the head coach. Be deliberate about letting assistants run practice. Let coxswains lead warm-ups or coach steady-state sessions, and make sure it’s not just the most experienced or loudest ones doing the talking. Every so often, turn off the music entirely and spend a session focused purely on technical work.

Feel: It’s easy to think the tone of the erg room is out of our control. The team shows up zapped during mid-terms week or unfocused before a long weekend holiday. But coaches can wrest back more control than we think. Your attitude is contagious. All eyes are on you. Show up with enthusiasm and focus. And if you’re dragging, too? Fake it. More often than not, you’ll begin to feel better as you get going. Just like the athletes.

If you want the team to quiet down and pay attention, help them do it. At BU, I built a habit of starting most erg sessions with two minutes of silent focus. No structure, no instruction. Everyone just had to be quiet and not move. It shifted the entire room from scattered to engaged. Eventually, crews began requesting a two-minute reset on the water during tough practices and even during pre-race warm-ups.

And don’t forget to have some fun: String up twinkly lights. Let athletes hang photos—fun ones and fierce ones. Celebrate the goofy moments. Winter is long; the erg room doesn’t have to feel like punishment. A little levity goes a long way.

At the end of the day, the erg room is just four walls and a set of machines. It’s what you and your team create inside it that matters. With intention and a little creativity, it can become a space where athletes feel supported, motivated, and part of something meaningful. Make this winter one they look back on as a turning point, not something they just survived.

Madeline Davis Tully competed as a lightweight rower at Princeton and on the U-23 national team before coaching at Stanford, Ohio State, Boston University, and the U-23 national team. Now a leadership and executive coach, she is the founder of the Women’s Coaching Conference.

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