13: What is Renegade Rowing? – Check it out!

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Renegade Rowing

Rest Day 8/11/13:

What is Renegade Rowing?

It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve managed to put together a new video highlighting everything that I’ve done with Renegade Rowing thus far and describing what Renegade Rowing is today. There has been a daily blog from day one providing you with a Rowing Workout of the Day and a few thoughts to focus on while you attack it. Many people from around the country and the world have jumped on board and given the Rowing WOD a shot as part of their regular training routine. Thank you to everyone out there who has posted their results, commented with their experience, and given me great feedback. I look forward to pushing you every single day and I love to hear your results. Keep up the great work!

Calling all Renegades or potential Renegades in the Boston Area! This video is for you. If you’d like to row faster, than you need to schedule a consultation with me and start pushing to reach your goals. Click here to set up your consultation now!

Rowing WOD 8/9/13: 6RFT – 500m Row, 20 Push Ups – Post Time and Splits

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Renegade Rowing

Renegade Rowing Practice earlier this week.

Rowing WOD 8/9/13:

6 Rounds for Time (20min Cap)

500m Row

20 Push Ups

As we begin training for the fall season it’s important to work in some longer pieces to build up our endurance and prepare ourselves for head races. Head Races are anywhere from 4k – 6k in distance and take around 15 minutes or more to complete. They are run like time trials with one boat starting at a time. Mental toughness is key to keep intensity up and push hard enough to catch the boat in front of you.

In today’s Rowing WOD you’ll need mental toughness to keep pushing through the middle rounds. Imagine there’s a crew just ahead of you. Chasing them down is the only option.

Pick one split you can hold all the way through each piece. If possible try to negative split each round. On the push ups get full range of motion and scale as necessary. You can scale by elevating your hands, giving yourself a target, or decreasing the volume to 15 or 10 per round.

If you’re looking to spice things up and have some more fun try this on the water. I did this workout in a single off of the docks at Community Rowing this Wednesday. It was pretty epic. Can’t wait to have a group of Renegades doing workouts like this on the water with me. If you’re interested let me know!

Post time and splits to comments!

Rest Day 8/8/13: What Competition are you training for this Fall? – Share

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Renegade Rowing

The Renegade Rowing Team is training for the Rumble on the River at CRI in September!

Rest Day 8/8/13:

What Competition are you training for this Fall?

An easy goal to kick-start a training cycle and get yourself motivated is picking an event to compete in. As we come to the end of Summer and Fall picks up there are tons of fun competitions to look forward to. Earlier this year I committed to running a half-marathon in Newport, RI in October. This week I found out that I received a singles bid to row at the Head of the Charles in October. Next weekend I’ll be heading up to CrossFit North Shore with CrossFit Boston for a little throwdown action. Long story short, I have a lot of fun training to look forward to in the coming months.

What are you training for in the next couple of months? Who are you training with? Challenge a training partner to compete with you. Share what competitions you’re training for to comments!

Rowing WOD 8/6/13: 3x2k w/ 5min Rest – Post Goal and Experience

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Renegade Rowing

Rowing WOD 8/6/13:

3 x 2k w/ 5min rest

Checkout the Renegade Rowing Membership if you’d like to row in Boston!

1st 2k:

750m @ 2k+5
250m @ 18 spm (paddle light)
750m @ 2k+3
250m @ 18 spm (paddle light)

Rest 5min

2nd 2k:

750m @ 2k+4
250m @ 18 spm (paddle light)
750m @ 2k+2
250m @ 18 spm (paddle light)

Rest 5min

3rd 2k:

750m @ 2k+3
500m @ 18 spm (paddle light)
750m @ 2k+1

Have you ever wished you could get a feel for Fran before competing so that you know what to plan for mentally and physically? If you’ve been trying to break a 7 minute or 8 minute 2k, you’re probably wondering, what will it feel like? How should it be paced? What can I do to improve upon my last 2k?

Today’s Rowing WOD is a great way to test out the race pace you’d like to hold on your next 2k. Set the monitor for 2,000m of work and 5 minutes of rest. During the first 750m hold the prescribed pace and really execute with form and efficiency. Then paddle out for the next 250m . At the 1000m mark build back up and row the next 750m at the prescribed pace. Finish with a paddle to recover. The second and third 2k will be executed similarly.

To see your consistency during the race pace portions set the monitor to record split lengths of 250m. This is done on the screen when you enter the work and rest. After the workout go into the memory and check it out.

Post your goal 500m Split and how you executed the 750m portions of today’s Rowing WOD.

Rowing WOD 8/5/13: “The Castle” – 21min Row, Varying Rates – Post Distance

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Renegade Rowing

Rowing WOD 8/5/13:

Imagine doing this on the water! You can with a Renegade Rowing Membership.

“The Castle”

Row for 21min as follows…

3′ @20 s/m, 3′ @24, 3′ @28, 3′ @26, 3′ @28, 3′ @24, 3′ @20

Focus on Rhythm and Ratio

As we start to look forward to the fall head racing season, many athletes will need some extra time on the erg to focus on rhythm, timing, and overall form. Today’s Rowing WOD is a great opportunity for any athlete, experienced or not, to get a sense of form and rhythm without the pressure of intensity and competition. Sometimes it’s good to slow down for an active recovery day in order to go harder and faster later on down the road.

Rhythm and Endurance are two necessities for successful competition in longer WODs. A great example would be the KB Swings and Pull Ups found in “Helen”. Those who find a consistent rhythm can flow through the movements naturally and rely on their aerobic endurance without dipping into their anaerobic energy supply.

In today’s Rowing WOD the focus is developing rhythm and endurance. Another word for rhythm in rowing is Ratio. By varying the ratio of the drive to the recovery rowers can maintain the same pace or split, but work more efficiently and make the stroke feel lighter or heavier.

When going from a 20 stroke rating to a 24 you should focus on more pressure with the legs and quickly redirecting the hands through the finish. This will help increase the stroke rating while leaving you the same amount of time to sit up, breathe, and relax as you slide forward on the recovery.

Post distance rowed to comments along with songs that helped you stick to each rating!

A project that I’ve started thanks to Renegade Rower Mike T. is how to help people feel the proper rhythm and ratio by rowing to music. Music can motivate us to push hard and row longer, but it can also give us a sense of timing.

If you have Spotify, I’ve created a playlist for each stroke rating. Each playlist is named “Renegade Rowing @(insert stroke rate)”, so for songs that you could row to at a 20 the playlist is named “Renegade Rowing @20″. If you have favorite songs that go well at certain stroke ratings please feel free to add to the playlists on Spotify. Thanks Mike T. for kick starting this project and I hope this helps motivate everyone to find better rhythm and ratio!

20 s/m: Renegade Rowing @20

22 s/m: Renegade Rowing @22

24 s/m: Renegade Rowing @24

26 s/m: Renegade Rowing @26

28 s/m: Renegade Rowing @28

30 s/m: Renegade Rowing @30

32 s/m: Renegade Rowing @32

34 s/m: Renegade Rowing @34

36 s/m: Renegade Rowing @36