Today’s Rowing WOD will give athletes a chance to focus on a couple of technique fixes as well as gaining confidence to keep their head in the game every stroke for 15 minutes. Pick a goal split you want to hold for each stroke rating and see how consistent you can be each time you’re at that rating. Try to be a little more consistent and push a little bit farther each piece. A good goal is to bring your split down by 3-5 seconds every time the rating shifts up. When the rating shifts back down your goal should be to hold the same split you were holding on the last stroke rating. Focus on smooth rhythm, vary the pressure of your drive and the length of your recovery to shift ratings, and breathe.
How’s it going Renegades? Today we’re taking a look at Shadi mid race. This is a video review that I put together to help her and you develop your stroke and find new areas to improve upon. I’ll be posting regular video reviews about once a week, usually on Thursdays. If you’d like feedback on your stroke or would like to see me talk about a certain area of the stroke, please let me know in the comments. If you’d like to be featured in the weekly Video Review please send me a 5 stroke video via email to pat@renegaderowing.com.
Today’s topic relates to how you sit on the erg. Are you sitting on the back of the seat or the front of the seat? Are you balanced on the back of your tail bones or the front? How does your point of contact with the seat affect your posture and positioning throughout the stroke? These are things to think about and an area where you can make a quick change to see big gains. Let us know what you think and if you have any questions.
Also, if you’d like to join in the fun in person, the Renegade Rowing Team will be rowing on the water starting in June on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6:45pm to 8:15pm. Everyone is welcome, just let me know via email – pat@renegaderowing.com, and I can get you the details on how to get started and join the group.
RRT Prepping for their epic end of term Renegade Rowing WOD last year.
Renegade Rowing Team
The Renegade Rowing Team is an opportunity to take your training to the next level and have some fun with other athletes outside of the gym. The Renegade Rowing Team will practice two nights a week from 6:45pm − 8:15pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting in June. Practices are held at Community Rowing’s Harry Parker Boathouse in Brighton, MA. Our goal is to learn to scull in quads on the water and become competitive enough to race this Fall. Each member of the RenegadeRowing Team will be expected to set goals both as individuals and as a team. Joining the Renegade Rowing Team is an opportunity to improve your training as well as everyone else’s. Learn to row and race with your friends!
I hope you all had an awesome weekend. Get pumped because it looks like the warm weather is here to stay and Summer is right around the corner. Don’t forget to take a look below at the training plan for the week. Let us know if you have any questions.
Today is all about teamwork. Use today’s S&C WOD as an opportunity to work hard together and build confidence in one another.
Competition is a big part of rowing and sports, especially when there are teams or communities involved. While the thrill of intrinsic motivation should be what drives us, we should not forget about the power of the opponent or the teammate in competition. We can push ourselves as individuals, but the opportunity to push ourselves against others will only make us better.
For today’s Rowing WOD put together teams of two and compete. You and your partner can switch whenever you want. What will be your strategy? (If you have to do this on your own then accumulate 2k by rowing 500m intervals and performing double unders for the amount of time it took you to row the 500m. The Undefined Rest function on the C2 Erg is great for this!)
Post your time and max double unders to comments. Team Names Encouraged!
I’ve always loved sports, especially when it comes to learning and competing at new sports that I don’t get to play often. Whenever we learn something new it’s far to easy to try to learn a couple of basics and then go full speed. Whether it’s golf, tennis, running, olympic lifting, rowing, or any other sport. The thrill of competition and grace in motion that sports played at full speed creates is amazing. Full speed competition elicits that feeling of joy and excitement that we all live for. However, a couple of problems usually arise at one point or another in our performance at full speed, especially if we take it up to full speed to quickly.
1. We lose form and things get sloppy. Basically the wheels come off.
2. We need more speed to out perform our competition, but it’s just not there.
Drew’s new Catch Positioning
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve experienced this situation with many of the athletes I coach, both on the water rowing and in the gym training. We’re always fighting for more intensity and boat speed, but too often something falls apart and our true potential is never reached.
Personally, I’ve experienced a similar situation while learning the piano. I currently take lessons once a week and have worked up to playing 4 songs and almost all of the scales, but my progress tends to stumble when I go to fast. It seems easy when I play a scale or a song slowly, so why not pick up the speed and just figure out how to not make mistakes playing faster? Well because it just gets sloppy and I never really learn what I’m doing wrong or better yet, what I can be doing better.
After being turned on to two great blog posts on slow motion practice, one from the music world and one from the golf world, I decided to share this idea with the rowing and strength training world that I hope you all partake in.
First, read through the above two blog posts and think about how slow is super slow. To often we think we’re going slow, but we could be going slower. Then, go out and practice super slow motion movements in your warmup. Be mindful, find the points where your focus lapses or you make a mistake, figure out how you can be more efficient, smoother, and more consistent. If you can take at least 20 minutes to practice this I guarantee you will find more boat speed, achieve more power, and perform at a higher level.
Here is Drew performing the Reverse Pic Drill in a single. Think about how many hours of slow motion practice, balance, and boat feel it has taken for him to get to this point. Look at where he slows things down to find better balance, feel, and connection to the boat and water. For him to make this better and go faster at full speed, he will probably need to practice this even slower. Now it’s your turn, get on an erg, setup a barbell, or get in a boat and master your movement skills with super slow motion. It’s harder than you think.
Renegade Rowing 