From Olympian to Games athlete and back again: everyone should row. [Photo credit: Adrian Stone]

Rowing uses almost every muscle in the body, burns more calories a minute than any other gym-based movement and, when you train it correctly, can develop strength, power, and endurance all at once. In my opinion, no training regime for any sport is complete without it.

But finding great speed and mastering the movement requires correct and deliberate practice. Better practice leads to greater improvements, which lead to a deeper obsession with the movement, and so the cycle continues. One of the biggest challenges is knowing how to use rowing to make your training most effective.

Here are a few steps to successfully introduce rowing into your training regime.

1. Invest in a Proper Coach

Rowing looks easy when you observe an expert, but don’t assume the journey to get there has been straightforward. The key to going fast in rowing is mastering the basics. The rowing stroke should be predominantly leg-driven and rhythmical.

If your arms are sorer than your legs after a workout, invest in a coach that knows what they’re doing. If you feel like you’re moving around a lot but not going anywhere fast, ditto.

2. Break Up High Volume with Varied Movement

Pavel Tsatsouline famously states that “to press a lot, you must press a lot.” He means to be good at strict press, you must train it frequently with volume.

The same applies to rowing. Rowing requires volume, and the mileage can get boring and monotonous. A great way to break up the boredom is to combine your mileage with low-skilled movements that can function as active recovery.

For example:

• 10 x 500m with 30 air squats in between, not for time, and focusing on perfect squat form.

This is a great way to keep moving between rowing intervals, give your mind a rest from the rowing movement, and allow your heart rate to gradually come back down as you focus on just moving well.

A word of warning: Do not fall in to the trap of embarking on an ambitious volume-based programme for a few weeks, then failing due to boredom.

3. Control Your Intensity

In any rowing workout, it’s useful to predict roughly what the intensity will feel like. The safest strategy is to always to start steady and leave a bit in the tank to sprint towards the end. You can always add in effort, but you can’t take it back.

An objective way to ensure you don’t overcook it is to look at two numbers: your rate and speed.

Rate is simply how many strokes you’re taking in a minute. This number should almost never be under 18 spm (strokes per minute) or over 32 spm, unless you are doing serious volume or sprinting.

In a workout with multiple movements, you should have an idea of what rate gives you the most efficient return of speed. If you don’t, seek out a rowing training programme to help you find this.

Speed is usually displayed as time per 500m, otherwise known as your split. The faster you go, the lower your split. You should have a ballpark idea of what speed you’re capable of producing as a max effort for 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20mins. You can then use these numbers to scale appropriately for workouts of similar duration with other movements.

For instance, if your 5min max-effort split is 1:50/500m, do not start a 20min AMRAP of rowing, burpees, and wallballs at a 1:30 split. Yes, this is obvious, but when the adrenaline flows, our animal instincts take over and it’s important to think correctly under pressure.

4. Challenge the Movement

CrossFit, fitness racing, and WODs prescribe rowing in a number of different contexts. It’s important to understand how including other movements will affect your rowing technique. I always say most athletes won’t win a workout with their rowing abilities, but they can certainly lose one. If your rowing tekkers goes out the window after a set of heavy deadlifts, you’ll be left for dust.

It’s therefore important to have sufficient volume under your belt so your technique is robust enough to deal with intense movements being thrown in. It’s also vital you know how these movements affect your rowing stroke, so pull them into your training repertoire from time to time.

For example:

5 x 2min rounds with 3min rest between:

• 15 Deadlifts at 100/70kg (M/F), Max meters rowing*
• 15 Box jumps at 30”/24”, Max meters rowing*
• 15 Chest-to-bar pullups, Max meters rowing*
• 15 Handstand Push-Ups, Max meters rowing*
• 15 Toes-to-bar, Max meters rowing*.

*rate capped at 32 spm.

5. Enjoy the Process

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will ninja rowing. Fall in love with the improvement in your movement, the greater understanding of your numbers, and the progression in your rowing journey. I tell my athletes they have between now and the rest of their lives to become the best they can be at rowing, so enjoy the journey and don’t chase the early numbers.

But start the process now.

Want to dominate your next erg workout? Take your rowing to the next level:

4 Principles to Master the Rowing Machine

The post The Right Way to Add Rowing to Your Training Regime appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Rowing is my expertise, and my vision is to inspire every athlete to master it. (Photo: RowingWOD)

CrossFit has sparked an obsession with movement and movement-based sports like gymnastics, weightlifting, and rowing. And it’s about time. With modern populations suffering from inactivity and lifestyle disease, movement is more valuable than ever. Rowing is my movement expertise, and my vision is to inspire and empower every athlete to master it. I believe every human is an athlete, and every athlete should row.

4 Principles to Master the Rowing Machine

Rowing is a time-efficient workout that uses almost every muscle in your body. It’s the best way to build your aerobic capacity for CrossFit, fitness, and life. Rowing transfers well into anything that demands extension of the knees, hips, and elbows, meaning it makes you better at pretty much any sport. Rowing is something we’ve been doing for thousands of years to cross rivers, lakes, and oceans. It has the capability to deliver potent metabolic stimulus and profound meditative movement for hours.

Rowing is awesome. But to make it accessible, we need to cut the complexity, simplify the language, and tap into our innate abilities to learn the movement.

In my coaching, I do this by focusing on four main principles.

1. Find Your Own Rhythm

A rower of any ability has a natural rhythm regardless of technical errors or sub-optimal movement, so the first thing I ask of any athlete is simply to row. I tell the athlete to remember that whatever corrections and technical changes we make, they must be filtered into their own unique rhythm. Rhythm is the most important driver of performance in rowing.

When it’s at its strongest, the boat and the machine are moving most efficiently. From our circadian rhythms to our oscillating heartbeats, rhythm is an important aspect of human survival and performance. Our bodies thrive on rhythm. It can be used as a focus to block out pain, or tapped into as a meditative way to get through miles. So if my athletes learn nothing else, they learn that rowing is rhythm.

2. Practice Continuous Movement

Whether in the boat or on the machine, your handle should always be moving to recycle your momentum and strengthen your rhythm.

The complexity that surrounds the rowing stroke leaves athletes with the idea that the stroke is made up of two parts: the drive, and the recovery. This isn’t true. The drive and the recovery are two terms used to describe major components of the rowing stroke, but the entire movement is continuous. If you watch an elite rower, you shouldn’t be able to tell where one stroke ends and another begins.

3. Celebrate Your Success

When you can’t hit your desired pace or start to deviate from your race plan, the rowing machine lets you know instantly. One of the biggest mistakes we make is to frame that instant feedback negatively. Athletes tend to look at things as ‘half-empty’ on the rowing machine. We notice when our speed dies or when we don’t hit the target rate, but when we’re on rate, on rhythm, and on our correct pace, we take it for granted. If a 2k is completed in 6:56, the instinct is to focus on the fact it wasn’t quite sub-6:55.

Don’t forget to have fun in your training. (Photo: RowingWOD)

Whether in rowing, sport, or life, focussing on the things we do have only leads to greater achievement. Ambition is a great asset for long-term improvement, but it has the potential to suffocate short-term success. So celebrate the small wins, get on a roll, and enjoy every success on your rowing journey.

4. Play the Long Game

I still get out and row on a regular basis with a group of Olympians based in London. The group comprises of athletes from the 1980 to the 2012 Olympics and I assure you, this group of merry men are experts in a boat. But even we are still learning and striving to master the craft of the rowing stroke. Rowing crews at the top of their game can win the Olympic final yet still find half a dozen things to improve for their next outing or race.

The perfect rowing stroke is a near-unattainable goal and in my experience, the closer you get, the farther away it seems. Your rowing journey should be focussed on the progress you’ve made and not how close you are to rowing perfectly. You have between now and the rest of your life to row better, move better, and get fitter. Enjoy your rowing journey and play the long game.

It’s the Journey, Not the Destination

I’ve been fortunate to achieve many things I’ve set out to in life. Standing on the World Championship podium, being selected into the Great Britain Olympic Team, and graduating medical school are some of the big goals I’ve achieved. But what’s struck me most is that the destination was never as enjoyable as the journey. Rowing is easy to learn, but difficult to master, and mastering movement is a journey that should be enjoyed every step of the way.

If you master the rowing movement, the performances will follow. Use the four coaching principles here and you’ll see improvements quicker than you ever thought possible. I’ve had many athletes come through my RowingWOD camps and seminars who have smashed new personal bests a matter of days after our time together, the most recent of which being Sam Briggs breaking her previous 500m world record. Now it’s your turn.

Believe in yourself, start small, and take your first steps to mastering the rowing machine today.

What’s so great about rowing?

The post 4 Principles to Master the Rowing Machine appeared first on Breaking Muscle.