I’m always curious to hear what everyone has to work with. If you have a quick second please fill out the poll below. Someday I dream of opening a boathouse that has enough room for a legitimate gym where rowers can get all of the strength and conditioning they need and other athletes can give rowing a shot in their off-season. If you know of one please let me know!
Checkout members of the Renegade Rowing Club working on their connection and speed with rowing and olympic lifting last week!
The Humbling Pistol
Rowing WOD 12/6/13:
“Sculler X”
5 Rounds For Time:
10 Pistols (5 each leg)
10 Inch Worm Push Ups
10 Kettle Bell Swings (2/1.5 Pood)
10 Calories on the Erg
Walk the hands out
When rowing on the water balance and single leg strength come into play much more than rowing indoors on the erg. Exercises like the pistol (single leg squat) really help develop the sense of balance and power needed to move a boat. Think about making a big turn in a sculling shell mid race, like any of the turns in the Head of the Charles. A sculler must be able to balance (a.k.a. set) the boat and transfer force to the water. Those that do this well maintain boat speed around turns and can walk through opponents. If you can’t do a pistol yet substitute goblet squats.
Keep a firm core
The inch worm is a great stabilizing exercise if you try to keep the hips and torso quiet. Then when you add the push up, connection of the feet and hands come into play. Keep that core firm and ensure everything touches and leaves the ground at the same time. Last but not least there is the kettle bell swing. Really focus on driving through the heels and activating the glutes and hamstrings while keeping a solid core.
Full depth push up!
Now hold up! What about all of the athletes out there that are using rowing as a cross training tool? You’re in luck. If you can piece together good efficient movement in the first three exercises then you should be able to crush the row for calories at the end of each round.
Your goal should be consistent, efficient strokes. For those that have been working on suspension and have tried a drill like the strap drill, you’ll want to fully suspend throughout each stroke in order to get done in as few strokes as possible. If you suspend well and can maintain a nice ratio then the rowing part of this workout will become active rest and allow you to breathe. Don’t get me wrong, 10 calories is not much and you should be pushing the pace, but work on suspension and make the rowing as effortless as possible so you can crush the rest of this Rowing WOD.
Post your time and the fewest number of strokes it took to complete 10 calories!
Olympic Lifting and Rowing?
What do you think about using Olympic Lifting in training to be a Rower or using Rowing to be a better Olympic Lifter? Both require speed and power and incorporate similar movement patterns. However, in rowing you sit down and are in contact with three surfaces. In Olympic Lifting you are only in contact with two. In Olympic lifting the goal is to transfer forces vertically and in rowing the goal is to transfer forces horizontally. Where do you see the most benefit in training with both? Are there downfalls?
One skill, concept, and idea that I keep coming back to is Connection. Coaching people in the gym and on the water allows me to see many different movement patterns and levels of ability. Athletes that grasp this idea of connection from one joint to another and one external object to another are able to learn faster, create more power, and transfer skills to other movements. Learning to connect the hips to the hands as you initiate a movement or connect your feet to your hands at the catch, both in rowing and snatching, is invaluable. Once this skill is perfected the possibilities are endless.
Yesterday morning I introduced the snatch to the BC Men’s Crew Team. While we only worked with PVC pipes to begin with and 45# bars in the workout, the importance of generating speed through the middle of the drive and being turned on at the catch became apparent. Those that had explosive hip extension from rowing and knew how to create speed on the oar through the middle of the drive in the boat had a lot more success transferring that skill to the barbell.
Using the Clean and the Snatch to generate speed on the drive through good connection is a lot of fun. Rowers become athletes and are empowered to push harder by learning new movements and finding power they never knew they had. It’s also a lot of fun seeing olympic lifters and other athletes learn to row because it helps them to find more connection and speed in their lifts.
Post your thoughts to comments! Any experience transferring skills from one sport to another?
Rowing WOD 12/4/13:
For Time …
500m Row, 5 Medicine Ball Cleans (20/14 lb)
400m Row, 10 Med Ball Cleans
300m Row, 15 Med Ball Cleans
200m Row, 20 Med Ball Cleans
100m Row, 25 Med Ball Cleans
The ability to work at high intensity depends largely on mechanics and consistency. If your rowing is smooth and efficient you should be able to push this Rowing WOD and hold sub-2k pace for every piece. A good goal might be to hold your 2k split for every piece or negative split so that each piece is one split second faster. Same goes for the medicine ball cleans. If you can focus on using the legs and hips to move the ball, then your arms will remain loose and fluid providing a greater efficiency of movement. This will allow you to push the pace and go unbroken for every round. Try to only pause for brief breaks in between exercises if you have to. If you don’t have a medicine ball to clean than you could modify with a loaded back pack or just make the movement a Dumbbell Clean. No matter what focus on good overall movement and ensure you have the mechanics and consistency dialed in during your warmup.
Post your time to comments!
Rowing WOD 11/29/13:
Competitors crushing the 2k at the Third Race of the Renegade Rowing League!
4:00 Row – Max Distance (2k Pace)
1min Rest
Tabata Air Squats – Max Reps
1min Rest
4:00 Row – Max Distance (2k Pace)
Today is an opportunity to work off all the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes you crushed yesterday. Pick a goal, ideally somewhere around your 2k split, that you’re going to hold every stroke while you row. If you can focus on consistent pressure and count the number of consecutive strokes you row at that goal split, the 4:00 will be over before you know it. During the Tabata Air Squats be sure to get full depth and full extension, hip crease below the knee and butt squeezed at the top. If you short yourself the quads will get blown up and your knees will be aggravated tomorrow. Fight for perfect form and do as many air squats as possible every interval. Count the total number of reps completed over all 8 intervals. Last but not least, try to maintain form and pressure on the second erg piece. As your legs come back to life, try to bring the split back to where it was in the first piece.
The Renegade Rowing League is coming December 21st! Have fun and get after it!
Post your total distance for each piece and you total air squats to comments.
Renegade Rowing 