Tag Archives: health

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!

 

Be a Self Coach: Rowing Warm-Up with the Concept2 Power Curve

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Using the Concept2 Performance Monitor to gain rowing feedback and coach yourself is a great use of warm up time before jumping into class.  This article will give you the ideal power curve, common faults you might see, and a couple of challenges to try in a 5 minute warmup pre-class or training session.  Here’s a quick video on the power curve to get things started.  Check it out and then read through the rest of the article for tips and challenges to try.

1. The Ideal Power Curve

Ideal Power CurveSet the monitor to display the power curve (or force curve) during your next warmup to really dial in body awareness and technique.  The ideal curve is a smooth inverted parabola with the peak located in the center of the curve.  If you can make this happen then your technique has a nice smooth transition of force being applied to the handle from the legs, hips, and arms.  Everything from your head to your toes is working together in a nice smooth sequence that results in an efficient application of power.

2. Common Faults

Self Coach Power CurveIf you ever see a double peak or a curve that looks like the profile of the Green Mountains in Vermont there is something missing or room for improvement in your technique.  The power curve represents your rowing technique graphically and that is why it can be used to self coach.  If you were to divide the graph into three sections along the horizontal, the curve at each of those sections would represent how you’re legs, body, and arms are being used to produce force.  If the valley of a double peak curve is in the middle, then you know there is something lacking or missing from how your body/hips are being used through the middle of the drive.  Try to focus on making the curve smoother, eliminating chatter/inefficiency, while emphasizing the swing of your body through the middle.  Can you keep the force/pressure on the handle constant through the middle of the stroke?

3. 5 Minute Warm-Up Challenge

Set the monitor to display the power curve (or force curve) during your next warmup and try the following challenges during each consecutive minute.  Can you create an ideal power curve during each stroke no matter what the challenge?  See the video above for what this warm-up  should look like.

  1. 1min – Legs Only Rowing (Consistent Body Angle/Arms Straight)
  2. 1min – Legs and Body Rowing (Arms Straight)
  3. 1min – Full Strokes @20 strokes/minute
  4. 1min – Full Strokes @24 strokes/minute
  5. 1min – Full Strokes @28 strokes/minute

Watch your power curve on the monitor during every stroke of the 5 minute warm-up.  Is it a smooth inverted parabola?  Where’s the peak?  Is there a double peak that you need to eliminate?  Is there chatter you can eliminate?  Be in control of your stroke at all times and maintain good posture.  If you find something that seems jerky or out of control try to change it and make it different.  Experiment a little and have some fun!  Power Power CurveIf you’re looking for an added challenge, as the stroke rating increases to 24 strokes/minute and then 28 strokes/minute, try to move the peak of the curve to the left and get the curve to start higher up the vertical axis with a very steep slope.  This will mean you’re very connected and getting good initiation with the legs.  The challenge then becomes can you keep the curve smooth and chatter free!

If you’re interested in learning more or getting out on the water, email patrick.larcom@communityrowing.org!

Congrats to all CRASH-B Competitors! Compete on the water at Community Rowing Inc!

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Bob and Coach Pat CRASH-B 2016It’s been a long weekend, but it’s what we live for.  This past weekend I got a chance to interact and brainstorm with some of the best rowing coaches and athletes in the country at the What Works Summit at Community Rowing.  I got to hang out with the 5 alumni classes of the Institute for Rowing Leadership.  Then we all crushed it at CRASH-B 2016.

Erin CRASH-B 2016I was asked many times yesterday if I was racing.  While I would love to get on that Concept2 Erg and test my limits, I had a lot more fun coaching all 5 of the Renegade Rowers who competed yesterday.  Many of them PR’ed and all of them rowed like champs.  I’m proud to say that all of them were rowers yesterday as well as athletes.  They came prepared, went through their warmup, and executed a solid race plan.  All of them left it on the floor and I couldn’t be prouder.

The Renegades CRASH-B 2016So now what?

In the past couple of months I’ve started a new job at Community Rowing Inc.  In my new role I’m able to be the Rowing Ambassador that you know and love for more than just one gym or one community.  My new goal is to spread rowing to as many gyms and communities as possible.

One initiative I’m working on is to help gyms create their own rowing teams that compete and train together every year.  This Spring I will be running the Charles River Rowing League at CRI and I already have 6 gyms creating teams  to compete on the water!  Checkout the flyer below to learn more.  If you’re interested and you have a community or gym that would like to put a team together, please get in touch and I’ll help you make it happen.

Charles River Rowing League 2016

Also, I plan on updating the Renegade Rowing website to focus on consulting and private training.  If you would like to get on the water and become a better rower or get in the gym and get stronger, please get in touch.  If you know any friends in the Boston area who could use Renegade Rowing, please have them sign up for a consultation!

Rowing WOD 2/20/16: 5x1k w/ 4min Rest – Post Fastest and Slowest Times/Splits

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Rowing WOD:CFRowing Trainer Course Drills

5 x 1k w/ 4:00 rest

  • Execute Race Pace
  • Row like it’s the middle 1,000m of a 2k

While it’s good to constantly vary your training to push your boundaries, there is something to be said about repetition to build your confidence!  Today’s Rowing WOD is an opportunity to build your aerobic capacity and work on a couple of tactical and technique fixes.

Have a game plan for each piece including the split and stroke rating you want to hold.  Ideally each piece will be done consistently or a little bit faster.  If you’re working on efficiency or sequencing, focus on one fix each piece.  Perhaps you find your breath and rhythm on the first.  Or maybe it’s sequencing and body preparation that needs attention on the second.  If you choose the right pace it will build your confidence and you will be ready to tear up your next 2k and Rowing WOD. Below are some goals and times to think about.  Our next 2k will be at CRASH-B’s on February 28th!

Post your fastest and slowest times!

Interval Time = 3:15; Goal 2k Time = 6:30

Interval Time = 3:30; Goal 2k Time = 7:00

Interval Time = 3:45; Goal 2k Time = 7:30

Interval Time = 4:00; Goal 2k Time = 8:00

Interval Time = 4:15; Goal 2k Time = 8:30

Interval Time = 4:30; Goal 2k Time = 9:00