Category Archives: Skill

Rest Day 7/6/14: 15min of Skill Work – What Skills are you working on?

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Rest Day:RR Hollow Rock1

15min of Skill Work

I hope you’re all enjoying the weekend with family and friends.  Take 15 minutes out of your rest day to practice some skills.  Better yet, try to teach a friend the skills you’re working on.  If you can describe and demonstrate a skill through teaching someone else, you’ll reinforce yourRR Hollow Rock2understanding and ability with that skill.  Try to pick one skill you’ve mastered and one skill you’re working on and alternate back and forth between the two.  If you crush double unders, but can’t hold a handstand, do 15 double unders and then 5 attempts at a handstand.

Have some fun and get excited for another solid week of training!

Post your skill work to comments.

Rest Day 6/29/14: What did you learn in June? Handstand Challenge!

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Rest Day:CFRowing Trainer Course

What did you learn in June?

It’s finally summer and June is already over.  What did you learn?  Did you learn how to suspend from the handle, maintain a consistent split, or vary your ratio?  Did you learn more about your Olympic Lifts?  How hard did you push toward your goals?  What are you looking forward to learning in July and how will you attack your goals differently?  If you had any great revelations or fun stories please share!

Handstand Challenge!First Row

Take 15 minutes today to practice free-standing hand stands.  Who can hold a handstand for more than 5 seconds?  Challenge a friend and have some fun!

Last, but not least… If you’re looking to learn more about rowing and how to do it on the water with a team, then the Renegade Rowing Team is for you!  Tryouts will be held July 17th at Community Rowing starting at 5:30am.  Please sign up here.  The team will train for 6 weeks.  Practices will be held at Community Rowing Boathouse from 5:30-7am on Tuesday and Thursday mornings starting July 22nd.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Rowing WOD 6/20/14: “The Skill of Rowing” – 500m Row, 20 Double Unders… – Post Time and Avg Splits

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Rowing WOD:

Thoughts on Bladework? Come learn all about it on the Renegade Rowing Team!

Thoughts on Bladework? Come learn all about it on the Renegade Rowing Team!

“The Skill of Rowing”

Complete for Time…

500m Row @1k Split*

20 Double Unders

300m Row @1k Split*

30 Double Unders

200m Row @1k Split*

50 Double Unders

*Pick a split you plan to hold.  Afterwards do 2 burpees for every decimal you’re off.  Doesn’t matter if you’re high or low.  If you choose a 2:00.0 split and row 1:59.5 avg. then you would do 10 burpees.

Today’s Rowing WOD is all about working the skill of Rowing and Double Unders.  To often I see athletes sit on the erg and go all out without a game plan.  Many times, due to improper form or focus, their effort doesn’t make a difference on how fast they’re rowing.

Today you should pick a split for each rowing piece and commit to holding your form and focus to execute that split exactly.  Ideally I’d like you to hold your 1k split, because we’re testing the 1k next Saturday, but if you’re coming to the end of a tough week pick a split you can execute flawlessly with good form.

After the workout, look back at the memory and check the average splits for each piece.  Do a couple of burpees for each decimal that you were off, even if you went faster.  The goal should be to gain full control over your effort on the erg and know exactly what you put in effort-wise is what you get back.  Setup the monitor as your clock for the workout by choosing intervals variable with undefined rest.

Post your time, goal splits, and average splits to comments.  Have a great weekend!!!

Rowing WOD 4/21/14: “Earth Worm” – 2x14min varying rates – Post Distance

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Rowing WOD:

Renegade Rowing Workshop - You game?

Renegade Rowing Workshop – You game?

“Earth Worm”

2 x 14min w/ 4min Rest as follows …

  • 2min @20 s/m
  • 2min @24
  • 2min @22
  • 2min @26
  • 2min @24
  • 2min @28
  • 2min @26

Today’s Rowing WOD is an opportunity to work on your rhythm and ratio.  Focus on controlling your recovery to hit the prescribed stroke rating.  If you need to work on adding a gathering point as we talked about yesterday be sure not to stop.  Make it a slower, rhythmic, controlled motion as you come forward toward the catch.  Also, try to keep the pressure up.  Every time the rating goes up your split should go down.  If done properly you should finish pulling consistently faster splits every stroke then you did at the beginning of the piece.

Post your total distance to comments and share your thoughts on varying the stroke rating.

Rest Day 4/20/14: Where should we gather during the stroke? – Share

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Gather just before sliding forward.

Where should we gather during the stroke?

When performing cleans or snatches in a wod with moderate weight it is possible to touch and go.  In order to touch and go there is a gathering point just above the knee when returning the weight to the floor where athletes lock in their posture and prepare their body for the next repetition.  When rowing on the water many coaches talk about body preparation by half slide to be ready for the catch.  This usually involves thinking about or feeling a gathering point as the bodies swing forward out of the finish so that everyone in the boat can get together and time the catch correctly.  When rowing by yourself on the erg it is possible to slow yourself down on the recovery and gather yourself and your body preparation as you start to slide forward toward the next catch.

Take 5 minutes today to row nice and slow and see where you tend to gather yourself.  Too often competitors or athletes in the gym gather at the finish and dump their weight to the floor.  Instead think about the finish as a continuous movement and put a gathering point just after you swing the body forward and begin your slide.  This will save energy, improve your sequencing, and make everything much smoother.