Tag Archives: balance life

Happy Holidays from Renegade Rowing! RRP 12-18-17

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I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend full of holiday parties and 2k’s! Have a great remainder of the holiday season with Christmas and New Year’s coming up.  Stay safe, stay warm, and get in some solid workouts with friends.  The next post won’t be until after the New Year since I’ll be traveling, but use next week to try something new, go for a long run or ski, or just take time to recover and stretch.  Hit it hard this week and I’ll see you in the New Year!

Weekly Training Plan:

RRP 12-18-17

Weekly Challenge:

Spend 4min in a Passive Squat each day working on a 4-count Box Breath while you do it.

RR Social WOD:

Hike Harvard Stadium @6:30am on Thursday 

Strength and Conditioning WOD 12/18/17:

6 Rounds For Time …

10 Push Ups

250m Row (@2k Pace)

10 Pull Ups

:30 Rest After Each Round

It’s Christmas Week, but we can still fit in some solid work.  We’ve got a few more solid days left in 2017, so let’s make the most of them!  Today’s Rowing WOD is a chance to commit to your new 2k split from last Saturday and work on digging deep when the going gets tough.  Every round is an opportunity to fight for that split, just like in the third 500m of a 2k.  Focus on good form with the push ups and pull ups to strengthen our shoulders in different planes and promote good connection through the core.  Attack each round like it’s your last and rely on that 30 seconds of rest to reset and do it all again.  A good goal is to go sub 20 minutes.

Have fun and do good work!

Post your time and splits to comments.

Breath, It’s all about breath! RRP 12-4-17

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Check out the Renegade Rowing Training Plan for this week below.  It’s going to be a solid week, so be sure to hydrate and sleep well.  Have your meals and pre/post workout snacks ready to go!  You will need them!

 

Weekly Training Plan:

RRP 12-4-17

Weekly Challenge:

Spend 5min working on Breathing Practice (4-count box breathing) in different configurations.

RR Social WOD:

Hike Harvard Stadium @6am on Thursday 

Monday’s Rowing WOD will be a good burner to  get your lungs going and allow you to really focus on a solid core.  The double unders and kettle bell snatches are technical and require a higher focus on skill and efficiency.  For the double unders try to keep your wrists loose and get into a good flow that you can maintain.  A good goal would be to go unbroken for a minute.  With the one arm kettle bell snatch focus on driving through the heels and getting good hip extension to move the weight.  A bonus for the KB Snatch is that it requires you to keep a stable core and not allow your torso to rotate.  Any movement that involves an anti rotation component and stabilizing of the core is good for rowing.  Every time we reach out to the rigger in sweep rowing there is both a compression and rotation on our spines, which can lead to disc injuries over time.  By strengthening the core and resisting rotation we can prevent those injuries from happening. So keep that chest up and don’t let the shoulder drop too much through the bottom!  Here is a good link from Rogue Fitness on the Kettle Bell Snatch: http://youtu.be/6l2Iu26oWW8

Post your total score and thoughts to comments!

Let the games begin and Happy Thanksgiving! – RRP 11-20-17

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Weekly Challenge:

Spend 2min in the bottom of a squat each day … tell us how it goes!

Weekly Training Plan:

RRP 11-20-17

Renegade Rowing Training Plan Template

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year.  It’s a day of hanging out with family and friends while enjoying good food and football.  Many people do Turkey Trots or get up and walk the beach together before digging into a bountiful feast.  Hopefully you’ve got something planned.  If you don’t, try the Gobble Gauntlet below with your friends.  Get outside and be active before relaxing for the rest of the day. My family and I will be doing a 5-mile Pie Run!

During the holidays you may be traveling or away from an erg, so be sure to stay active and get creative with your workouts.  If all else fails make sure to complete the weekly challenge.  I totally forgot about it last week, so we’re doing the same challenge again.  Let’s do this!

Post Results and training notes to comments!

Happy Thanksgiving!

“The Gobble Gauntlet”RR Gobble Gauntlet

800m Run

50 Sit Ups

800m Run

40 Air Squats

800m Run

30 Burpees

800m Run

20 Push Ups

800m Run

10 Split Squat Jumps

The Renegade Rowing Project – Back at it!

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The Renegade Rowing Project

Back at it w/ Coach Pat

It’s been a couple of years since you’ve regularly heard from me on the blog.  I’ve been busy sharing the sport of rowing with the world at Community Rowing Inc.  While I will still be forging ahead as a Rowing Ambassador at CRI, I wanted to get myself and others motivated to keep training and improving.  That’s where the Renegade Rowing Project comes in.  I will be doing my best to post every Sunday night with a new plan for the week and a weekly challenge.  If you’d like to join the Renegade Rowing Project all you have to do is jump on in and join the fun.  Be sure to post your results and experience to comments or share them on social media.  We’ll be doing the same using @RenegadeRowing and the tags #RenegadeRowingProject #RowStrong.  I look forward to getting after it with you!

Weekly Challenge:

Spend 2min in the bottom of a squat each day … tell us how it goes!

Weekly Training Plan:

RRP 11-13-17

Renegade Rowing Training Plan Template

Why Row?

Rowing is the utmost definition of Sport in modern society. Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com give two definitions of sport. One, Sport is an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. Two, Sport is a source of diversion and recreation engaged in for pleasure. Whether you’re a middle school rower just learning to scull or an Olympic hopeful trying out for the national team, Rowing provides challenge, competition, and fun.

Rowing trumps all because it offers the best of sport. It tests our skill and athleticism as individuals and as part of a team. Rowing requires an unwavering calm and trust that pushing yourself to wit’s end without seeing where you’re going will develop personal satisfaction and boat speed. It takes balance, grace, and power. Rowing is saying goodbye to the chaos of life by shoving off the dock and taking time for yourself and your team to focus on a common goal.

A Quick Note

Our plan will be combining the best of many worlds, rowing, fitness, strength, nutrition, mobility, flexibility, and recovery. The goal of this post is to outline all the tools available in our plan. This post will introduce certain principles and ideas that will be important to know when following our plan. If it’s not possible to include all of the details for a certain part of our plan here, then those details will be covered in separate posts. If you only read this post you should have a strong idea of how our plan will run. Just know that everything we do has a purpose and your coaches are happy to explain any part of the plan you may be curious about.

Where Do We Go From Here?

As you can tell our plan is different. It challenges the standard long slow distance model of training by combining more high intensity interval training through strength and conditioning and rowing. The best way to get a handle on our plan is to see it in action. The following attachments outline the Renegade Rowing Training Plan Template and give examples for the work we will be doing day in and day out. The best advice we can give you is to keep an open mind, be ready to learn and work hard, and be ready to be part of something. Take a look at the charts, calculations, and diagrams, but most of all get in the gym, get in the boat, and give it everything you’ve got. This is our plan and we’ll know best how to improve and progress toward our goals by the work we do together. We take pride in being different. We are specialized generalists who are experts in both fitness and rowing. Our plan develops firsthand athletes that know how to compete, work hard, and row fast based on personal experience. We will be strong and row fast for life.

If you’re curious or have questions about anything please ask!

 

Don’t Row Bad! 3 ways to look hotter and last longer in …

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Row Better, Be Awesome!Who doesn’t want to look hotter and last longer in all that they do?  If your rowing is bad and you think rowing sucks, you have an opportunity to live a stronger, fitter, and more vital life.  Don’t Row Bad.

Instead of telling you all the awesome reasons to row, this post will try to give you the pitfalls of rowing in hopes that you can avoid them, make rowing suck less, and have more fun with one of the fastest growing sports in the country.

When rowing pops up in the open, in next months programming, or at your next competition, follow these three tips to not Row Bad.

Don't: Have Bad Posture

Don’t: Have Bad Posture

#1 – Everyone Wants to Be Taller …

Posture is the key to vitality and the number one thing you will probably lose when you first start to row.  Let’s face it, it’s hard to sit all day in an office or in a car and then be expected to sit tall and row strong in the gym.  However, if you can focus on one thing that will make you more attractive, more efficient, and more productive it would be holding better posture.  Before picking apart any other part of your rowing stroke, take 5 minutes to focus on posture.

Be Taller: Have Good Posture

Be Taller: Have Good Posture

Try This: Row for 5 minutes and pause every 5 strokes to check your posture.  Can you enter and exit the pause with perfect posture?  Can you hold good posture all the way through the next 5 strokes?  Imagine your significant other or future significant other is about to walk into the room, how tall do you want to be when they see you for the first time?

#2 – Use the Bigger Guns …

Don't: Use the Arms before the Legs

Don’t: Use the Arms before the Legs

Most of us like to show off our guns at the beach, but they tend to get in the way when we row.  Our Bigger Guns, the legs, can create more power and move the boat further per stroke if initiated first.  Our legs have bigger muscles and more muscle fibers to use than our arms.  They are better suited for the heavier part of the stroke, the front end.  When the fan is moving the slowest at the front end of the stroke, focus on pushing with the legs rather than pulling with the arms.  Remember, at the front end of the stroke, when the arms bend, the power ends.  Do more! Use the Bigger Guns first!

At the Front End: Push Legs First

At the Front End: Push Legs First

Try This: Start at the front end and take 3 strokes using the legs only, then take 3 full strokes.  Repeat this sequence for 3 minutes.  Can you push the legs down without changing your body angle or breaking your elbows in the first 3 legs only strokes?  Can you blend the leg drive into the 3 full strokes without being robotic or breaking the elbows early?

#3 – Get Over Yourself and Don’t Fall Off …

Don't: Fall off your sit bones or pull w/ toes on the foot straps

Don’t: Fall off your sit bones or pull w/ toes on the foot straps

No one likes a big-headed know it all with an ego.  No one wants to fall of their seat.  Good things to remember when you finish the stroke.  If you were to let go of the handle at the end of the stroke would you fall backward off the seat?  If so you probably aren’t sitting in a good position.  Stay on top of your sit bones when you finish the stroke, don’t fall off them!  Also, if you don’t get over your seat/hips/sit bones before sliding forward you will end up doing more work than necessary and wasting energy.  Finish the stroke, sit tall, get your shoulders stacked over your hips, then relax and enjoy sliding forward.  Don’t pull yourself forward with your toes/foot straps.  Relax your legs!

Sit Tall, Be On Sit Bones, Keep Bottom of Foot Connected to Footboard

Sit Tall, Be On Sit Bones, Keep Bottom of Foot Connected to Footboard

Try This: Row with your feet on top of the foot straps for 5 minutes. Can you keep your feet connected to the footboards through the finish?  Can you stay on your sit bones and get over your seat before letting it slide forward?  How smooth can you be?  Show everyone you know what you’re doing, but be smooth.  No need for an ego.

If you practice these three tips one at a time over the next week as part of your warm up, you will look hotter and last longer in anything you set your mind to, especially rowing.

For even more pro tips and ways to increase vitality through rowing, sign your gym’s rowing team up for the Charles River Rowing League 2016.

If you don’t have a team let me know and I’ll help you set one up!