Training for Rowing #16375

It's not only rowers who can benefit from the strength, speed, and power building methods in this manual. See how rowing can give you an edge in your chosen sport.

Rowing continues to grow in popularity worldwide, both as a sport in its own right and as a means for serious athletes from other disciplines to build strength, speed and power. That’s because it appeals to increasing numbers of athletes of all ages, from high school through college and university to Master level. And it’s doing very well in the gender participation stakes – women are strongly represented at all levels.


Nowadays you don’t have to live anywhere near water in order to row. You don't even have to step outdoors! The rise in sophistication of indoor rowing machines has seen a surge in indoor rowing – not just for those wanting to build fitness in gyms and sports centres, but at competitive level too. The 2004 UK Indoor Rowing Championships had over 3000 competitors fighting it out for medals over the 1-day event – making rowing the largest indoor sport in the UK.

Today some of the most competitive rowers in the sport, right up to Olympic level, conduct much of their training indoors, on Concept 2 rowing machines and other similar equipment. Moreover, increasing numbers of athletes from other sports have come to recognise the value of integrating rowing into their year-round training and conditioning regime – boosting their all-round strength, aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels.

This timely guide for serious athletes is a distillation of the very latest sports science research into rowing, reflecting the practical knowledge and years of experience of such rowing experts as:

- Dr Richard Godfrey – Senior Research Lecturer at Brunel University, who spent 12 years working as a chief physiologist for the British Olympic Association
- Terry O’Neill – the ex-British and international rowing coach, who now works for Concept 2 developing and promoting indoor rowing training
- Greg Whyte FACSM – Director of Science and Research at the English Institute of Sport
- Eddie Fletcher MSc – a sport and exercise physiologist and coach specialising in endurance events and indoor rowing. Eddie is the author of several specialised texts on rowing: The Suunto Indoor Rowing Training Guide, The POWERbreathe Guide for Indoor Rowers and The Marathon Indoor Rowing Guide.

In this 77-page specialist workbook our team of expert authors dissect the major current debates in training for rowing, analyses the very latest scientific findings – then spells out in plain English their significance for the serious athlete.

Every page of this brand new report draws on the latest evidence-based thinking in sports science research – new findings that probably won’t percolate through to the general sporting press for many, many months, if they make it at all. It’s a rare opportunity to assess the latest sports training and conditioning thinking for yourself, and decide how best to integrate it into your training for rowing.


Chapter by chapter, here is what you’ll find in our ground-breaking new rowing guide:

Rowing Physiology: Life at the top – how are elite rowers tested and monitored?

Rowing Training - Power to the people – maximising your 2,000m rowing performance

Injury Prevention - How thoracic spine flexibility can keep injuries at bay

Pain Management - Pain and gain – how rowers can manage and overcome pain

Rowing for Masters – Masters rowing – don’t fear the reaper!

Carbohydrate Nutrition - Carbohydrate drinks – is fructose the new key to enhanced endurance performance?

What the Scientists Say – Recipe for the perfect rower

What the Scientists Say - Power output and lean body mass – how do rowers compare with others

What the Scientists Say - New methods of monitoring elite rowers

What the Scientists Say - Why fluid is the key for pre-competition lightweight rowers

You’ll get the answers to all these questions and more:

- Which lab test is the best predictor of maximal aerobic power in elite rowers – as well as the percentage of maximal aerobic power that can be sustained?
- What is the best methodology for assessing body composition – and why is this test particularly important for lightweight rowers?
- What are the various forms of training that are required to meet the changing demands of a 2000m rower at the beginning, middle and closing sections of the race?
- Coaches: how can you rectify any anaerobic and/or aerobic weaknesses in your rowing team through an individualised approach to training sessions?
- What flexibility exercises should every rower – and coach – include in their year-round training regimes to minimise the likelihood of injury?
- What is the most effective way to boost aerobic capacity in masters rowers?
- What body make-up is required for the perfect rower – and how can coaches use these insights in choosing team members?

The advent of rowing ergometers has facilitated training, by providing a controllable and repeatable tool in the assessment of rowing performance. So arguably no group of elite athletes in modern sport is more closely, and effectively, monitored than elite rowers. What are the lessons we can learn from top sports scientists and rowing coaches about how the rest of us can improve our rowing performance?

In Training for Rowing , we review some recent sports science findings into the relative importance of the various criteria that influence rowing performance, not just for heavyweight (or open weight, as they are now more commonly referred to) rowers, but for lightweight men and women rowers too.

The discussion kicks off with a description of the power demands of rowing, before discussing the impact of weight and gender effects on performance. Then we outline the different protocols for lab and field-testing elite rowers, describe the equipment used, and explain the best monitoring strategies for rowers in the field.

From this discussion you’ll learn the most important predictors for rowing performance, how best to test for these in the lab and outdoors, and how to apply this information to your own year-round training and conditioning programmes – or those of your team


Training for Strength & Endurance – how to maximise your 2000m performance?

Let’s be honest. As sports go, rowing is not high on skill. The reason for this is that it is a ‘closed skill sport’, which means the rower only has to learn one simple sequence of movements in order to master the technique. That said, while the rowing sequence is relatively simple, repeating it 34-40 times per minute for 6 or more minutes in a 2,000m race challenges every aspect of an individual’s strength and endurance. It’s very, very hard work…

So in Training for Rowing we pay close attention to the unique set of demands that rowing puts on an athlete’s levels of strength and endurance. After all, successful 2,000m rowers need an organised approach to their training if they are to succeed…

Our discussion kicks off with an explanation of the physiological and energy demands of 2,000m rowing. Then we outline a training band system, one that can be tailored to train specific energy systems. Finally, we discuss in detail a 4-stage testing procedure that can be used by rowers and coaches alike to design an appropriate training program.

You’ll learn how best to train for the different strength and endurance requirements at the beginning, middle and closing stages of a 2000m race. And you’ll find out how to adapt the general training concept of periodization to meet the specific demands of your sport.

Injury Prevention - are you doing everything you can to ensure year-round performance?

Rowing can be the most demanding of sport: crawling out of bed at 4am for a two-hour session on a cold winter morning, putting in a full day’s work, then returning to the fray in the afternoon for a hard session in the gym. When you put in that much hard work and make so many sacrifices, injury can be devastating – especially when it could have been avoided by doing some simple flexibility work.

So in Training for Rowing we turn our attention to the thorny issue of sports injury – and what you can do to minimise your chances of having to put up with an enforced layoff. After all, there’s nothing worse that putting in several months pre-season and early-season work, only to be forced out of the boat with only days or weeks to go to your primary racing objective of the season.

To start with we need to recognise the root of the problem. Rowing consists of repeating the same cycle of body movements with a large output of force. It is for this reason that rowers suffer mostly from overuse injuries – usually of the spine. However, when dealing with such injuries, many aspects of the athlete must be considered and addressed.

So in our discussion on injury prevention we first identify the most common sports injuries in rowers. Then we explore the reasons why such injuries are so common – and what pre-emptive steps rowers and coaches can take to minimise their occurrence. In two case studies dealing with recent sport injury we explain how the injuries occurred, and what the successful course of treatment was.

Pain Management Strategies - is there really 'no pain without gain' in rowing?

Whether you’re an Olympic rower or a weekend enthusiast, you can expect pain to be part-and-parcel of your sporting experience. For rowing is one of the most intensive sports there is.

That said, you can only be successful as a rower when you’re able to correctly distinguish between the pain you should expect to feel, and the pain which signals a potential problem. Not all pain should be regarded or treated equally.

So in Training for Rowing we explore the issue of pain management strategies, offering practical advice about when it is appropriate to perform in the presence of pain, when you should consult a professional, and how to best approach pain in a sporting environment.

You learn the most popular theories of the mechanisms of pain, including the role of the nervous system in pain generation. Then we explain several strategies for assessing how to react to pain for minimal disruption to training – including the six “do’s and don’ts” of pain and performance that coaches and athletes alike should bear in mind when training and competing for peak performance.

Master Rowers - how you can scale new performance heights

While older rowers can’t completely escape the effects of age-related performance decline, the right kind of training can enable them to perform at the highest level.

So in Training for Rowing we devote considerable space to the specifics of training and conditioning at Masters level, recognising the increasing numbers of people, both men and women, who are participating in the sport at this level.

First we explain the biological and physiological facts of age-related performance – then we tackle head-on the issue of what you can do about it. We discuss the physiological and physical requirements for successful masters rowing, differentiating between the specific gender-related demands of men and women. Finally, we explain how you can use marathon rowing training programs to enhance rowing performance in older rowers.

Recognising the many demands outside of sport that Masters rowers experience, all our recommendations are very specific, and illustrated through with practical, real-life examples.

Sports nutrition for rowers – how to get the drop on other competitors

Real advances in sports nutrition are comparatively rare – notwithstanding numerous claims to the contrary by the industry’s various marketing departments. That said, genuine breakthroughs in our knowledge about best nutrition do happen from time to time. And one such development surfaced quite recently.

It seems that recent sports science research into carbohydrate absorption and utilisation could herald a new breed of carbohydrate drink – one which promises genuinely enhanced endurance performance.

So in Training for Rowing we present the findings of this recent research – and suggest possible strategies for coaches and athletes alike who want to capitalise on this important new information.

First we explain the importance of consuming carbohydrate during endurance events, and the background to modern carbohydrate drink formulation. Then we present recent research on the potential benefits of mixed carbohydrate drinks made using this new formulation, and make recommendations for endurance athletes.

Rowing physiology - what body make-up is required to be the perfect rower

It’s a fact sad, but true. Champion rowers are born as well as made. No matter how hard you train, ultimately your competitive abilities will be helped (or hindered) by your ‘anthropometric characteristics’ – for example your limb lengths and girth, height etc.).

But exactly what makes the perfect rower? That’s the question that Australian scientists have been trying to answer in a newly published study we feature in Training for Rowing: how to boost your performance.

Read it and you’ll find out how best to shortlist your charges for future sporting success.

Pre-Competition Nutrition for Lightweight Rowers – the key to race day success

Unlike their heavyweight counterparts, lightweight rowers have to ‘make their weight’ in a pre-competition weigh-in, which often means undertaking short-term weight loss prior to the weigh-in and then replacing this lost weight with fluids, carbohydrates or other foods and drinks just before the race itself. But what’s the most effective nutritional strategy for this period?

Australian researchers have spent some time examining different ‘recovery’ strategies in 2,000m rowers to try and find answers to this question. They looked at 12 competitive rowers completing four 2,000m ergometer trials, each separated by a 48-hour rest period. For the first trial, the rowers were not asked to reduce their weight, but for the second trial, they had to reduce body mass by 5.2% and then achieve this same body mass prior to the 3rd and 4th trials.

In Training for Rowing we present the results of this recent research – including what the scientists discovered was the “number one priority” for rowers seeking to make weight following weigh-in.