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Rowing Strength Training Program Priorities

What are the key elements in a good rowing strength training program? In this article, we’ll cover five priorities for each major area of exercise selection, strength training performance, and annual training program design. These priorities are where we see the greatest benefits in rowing strength training and changes that we make when I work with coaches and rowers of all ages, types, and levels.

Key Points: In exercise selection, all rowers should be doing some form of squat, hinge, upper body pull, upper body push, and specific minor exercises for the hip, shoulder, and core. These exercises train for specific performance elements of rowing, and also fill gaps in physical development from only rowing and erging. When strength training, rowers should use good technique, tempo control of the lowering and lifting phases of each rep and exercise, as much range of motion as they can effectively control (with a few exceptions), and achieve the appropriate strain targets for each set and exercise. Only after these four factors is the load (weight) of the exercise important for progression. The rowing strength training program design factors that I’ve found most important are knowing when and how to individualize training, having an off-season building phase for general physical development, planning a transition phase to prepare for in-season training, a maintenance plan for the in-season or race prep, and making time to rejuvenate following the final race.

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How to Start Strength Training for Rowing

I’ve worked with many coaches and rowers of all ages, types, and levels who are ready to start strength training for rowing, but just don’t know exactly when to start, what to do, and how to progress from there. In this article, we’ll cut through the mass of information and get right to action with a simple system to start strength training for rowing, including free example beginner strength training sessions.

Key Points: When you’re ready to start strength training for rowing, the initial goals are introducing different and possibly new ways of moving the body, practicing the technique of basic strength training exercises, and beginning to build a foundation of coordination and muscular strength. Rowers starting strength training should avoid using high loads or high reps due to technique breakdown, instead focusing efforts on more moderate outputs in the 8-15-rep range with an emphasis on good technique and a controlled lifting tempo. The 30-30-for-30 circuit training system offers a simple way to achieve all of these goals in a 30-minute strength training session appropriate for rowers of all ages, types, and competitive levels starting or restarting strength training.

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bodyweight row for rowers cover picture

Why I Love the Bodyweight Row for Rowers

Do you use the bodyweight row in your strength training? In this article, I will detail why the bodyweight row is such a great exercise, and how we can modify and program the bodyweight row for rowers to keep it challenging and engaging for off-season and in-season strength training.

Key Points: The bodyweight row is an effective exercise to strengthen the muscles of the back, shoulders, and arms for improved rowing performance. Unlike other popular horizontal pulling exercises, the bodyweight row reduces injury risk to the low back and ribs. The bodyweight row also requires very little specialized equipment, so just about anyone can do some variation of the bodyweight row in any training environment. Use different variations of handle height, grip, stance, equipment, and set-and-rep schemes to keep the bodyweight row challenging and engaging for rowers of all ages and levels.

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Scheduling Strength Training with Rowing

Rowers and coaches want to know a few things about scheduling strength training with rowing. How do we make different types of training work together to maximize performance and long-term adaptation to training? How do we minimize interference between the two and reduce risk of injury? In this article, we’ll discuss scheduling strength training with rowing at the seasonal, weekly, and daily levels.

Key Points: At the annual or seasonal level, we will use a periodization system to focus on specific elements of training at different times in the training year. At the weekly level, we decide to combine or separate our high intensity stressors using a consolidated or distributed model. At the daily level, for rowers who train twice in a single day, can we separate the sessions by at least six hours? If not, use strategies to minimize interference and fatigue spillover between types of training. If you prefer audio/video, I presented on this topic at the 2020 USRowing Convention, and you can watch the 15-minute clip with similar information to this article at the link below.

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Rowing LTAD: Long-Term Athlete Development

Long-term athlete development (LTAD) describes the habitual development of general athletic qualities to improve health, fitness, sport performance, reduce risk of injury, and improve confidence and competence in the physical domain. Rowing LTAD begins with general LTAD and gradually progresses through stages of development to improve rowing performance over many years, not just weeks, months, and seasons.

Key Points: Rowing LTAD means building capacity for long-term improvement in rowing, as well as other athletic skills for well-rounded, holistic development. Rather than focusing on short-term performance improvement, an LTAD view can still improve performance, plus reduce risk of injury, increase engagement in sport training, and help athletes be physically active for life. LTAD practices look different at different chronological ages, stages of development, and for athletes with different motivations. I presented on strength training for rowing LTAD at a USRowing event, and you can watch the replay at the link below.

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The Nordic Hamstring Curl Exercise for Rowers

The Nordic hamstring curl is a popular exercise in the strength training for other sports, but has not reached widespread use in rowing. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know to begin using the Nordic hamstring curl in your strength training for rowing.

Key Points: The Nordic hamstring curl (NHC) is an exercise with good application for rowers, training the glutes and back muscles for hip stability and taking the hamstrings through a underdeveloped movement of eccentric knee flexion. The NHC requires minimal equipment, so rowers and coaches can incorporate it into training just about anywhere. It is a challenging exercise that all rowers may not be ready for right away, so use variations in range-of-motion, tempo, and set-and-rep scheme to gradually progress up to full training.

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nordic hamstring curl for rowers, an exercise for posterior chain strengthening requiring minimal external load or equipment
Illustration from Bahr and Mæhlum (2002), “Scandinavian Textbook of Sports Medicine”

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Muscle Soreness and Rowing

Muscle soreness is an issue of both reverence and avoidance in rowers. Pain-chasing rowers love muscle soreness and don’t feel like they got a good workout without it. Others hate it and do everything they can to avoid it out of a desire to maximize immediate performance or not make rowing any harder or more painful than it already is. Rowing coaches often both want strength coaches to “test” rowers and “train their grit” with challenging and painful workouts, but can also get mad when athletes are sore for rowing or don’t perform well immediately after intense strength training. Whether you love it or hate it, this article is about muscle soreness and rowing: what it means, what it is NOT, how it affects rowers, and how we can reduce and avoid it.

Key Points: Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the kind of low-grade muscular stiffness or tightness that people feel in the 24-72 hours following exercise. DOMS tends to happen more with strength training than with rowing, due to the greater movement diversity of strength training, higher force muscular work in strength training, and eccentric muscle actions. DOMS doesn’t mean much beyond your muscles saying, “Hi, that was new.” Whether you are sore or not sore is no real indication as to whether your training is working or not working. Rowing research indicates that muscle soreness itself has little negative effect on rowing performance at or slower than 2km pace. The best way to reduce DOMS is to avoid getting so much DOMS in the first place by gradually introducing yourself or athletes to new, unfamiliar training stimuli.

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All About Rowing Power Testing

In this article, you’ll learn all about rowing power testing: why power tests offer important information, basic testing principles, rowing power testing protocols, and how to collect, analyze and use this information in your training. We will discuss important physiology knowledge for power testing, best practices for erg testing, the different protocols of counting strokes or seconds, apps that you can use to collect power testing data, and how often to test peak power to inform your training.

Key Points: Rowing power testing tells us if the rower is improving in maximum power output (duh), the effect of strength training on rowing performance, and offers a way to estimate race pace. My favorite power tests are the 7-stroke max or 10-second test to stay within the phosphagen energy system, responsible for producing very high outputs over short durations. Whichever power test you choose, testing protocols need to be standardized and kept consistent in order to accurately reflect results as changes from training. Use full slide, good technique, recorded drag factor, similar motivation and testing environment, and same rest between individual attempts.

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rowing physical therapists are a valuable resource for rowers experiencing injury

Rowing Physical Therapists for Rowing Injuries

No one wants injuries. There are many things that rowers and coaches can do better to reduce risks, but we can never fully prevent injuries, so it’s important to have a plan in place for when one occurs. This article covers my general approach to rowing injuries, how rowers and coaches can work with rowing physical therapists for best results, and my go-to list of all-star rowing physical therapists for resources and appointments (virtual and in-person).

DISCLAIMER: While we are discussing injuries and the medical field very generally in this article, nothing ahead constitutes individual medical advice or specific information on injuries or other health problems. The whole point of this article is the value of consulting appropriate medical professionals when confronted with medical or health-related problems. I will discuss my approach to rowing injuries at a general level, and encourage you to apply the information as you personally choose to based on your knowledge, comfort level, and available medical resources, doing so in a way that does not render me personally responsible for your actions.

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strength training for sculling

Strength Training for Sculling

Strength training for sculling necessitates an understanding of what makes sculling different from sweep rowing and erging, knowledge of the different types of scullers, and management of the different physiological demands between different boat classes and racing priorities. In this article, I will cover some relevant research for scullers, identify a few adjustments that I make specifically for scullers versus other rowers, and discuss how plans change for scullers of different types and priorities.

I also presented on this topic via the Craftsbury Sculling Center Free Weekly Webinar series on August 12th, 2020. This webinar is available for free linked at the end of this article.

Key Points: Strength training for sculling is mostly the same in the lower body as those who erg or sweep row. However, the action around the rib cage and shoulders is very different between the three modalities, and top athletes in each discipline will have specific strengths and techniques to achieve maximum performance. Exercise variations of the squat, hinge, and pulling categories train the relevant muscles for stroke power and performance. We can also use strength training to teach and reinforce specific muscular skills for sculling performance. Finally, we use other exercises to develop muscles and movements neglected by rowing alone, including upper body pushing, lateral, rotational, and shoulder external rotation exercises.

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