Trying out an experiment in Oxford-style debating on Tildes.

General rules:

• Top-level comments should explicitly state pro or con. Take a position and defend it. If you want to "on the one hand...on the other hand..." do it in replies to the top-level comments.
• Link to sources. This is where we can actually do better than an in-person Oxford debate.
• Keep it civil. Seriously. I've picked a bit of a softball topic for this first round, so it shouldn't be too hard, but if this works well we should be able to expand it to more controversial topics.
• Don't feel obligated to argue the position you personally believe in. Making a strong argument for a position you don't necessarily believe strongly is excellent practice in critical thinking. If you're undecided, flip a coin, and argue the Pro side for heads and the Con side for tails.

For the initial topic I wanted to find something just polarizing enough to make a good debate, but also a bit off-the-beaten path from most internet arguments:

Resolved: hosting the Olympic Games or World Cup is a net benefit for the host country

Yesterday I went to my first ever (recreational) rowing training. I’ve trained gymnastics before and sailed quite a bit.

It’s a 100+ year old club and the gym is pretty small, but the equipment is quite modern.

To keep the story short (there were quite some notable and funny events, but nothing to do with training itself), after I did some quick stretching and warming up, a friendly chap (could be a young trainer) helped me with the ergo and briefly tried to explain to me what all the numbers say.

So I spent most of my first training (probably 40-60' in total) on an ergo (Concept2 Dynamic, I think). Most of the time I had the setting on 3-4, but then lowered it to 2.

When I checked how many Watts I produced (per stroke, I suspect), I averaged at about 60 W and peaked at 200 W – which is comparable to 14-year old girls who train there regularly. The trainer(?) chuckled and told me that this is to be expected and that I obviously have more strength, but they simply have a much more efficient stroke technique, which I am yet to learn in the first place.

So, are there any rowers present who would be willing to share some of their wisdom?