Tag Archives: people

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Renegade Rowing!

Santas Rowing

The holidays are a time to spend with family, so we’re not going to do anything to crazy today.  I’d rather everyone go sing some carols and drink some egg nog than row today.  If you must have some fun, test your peak power with a few family members.  Maybe you can show the sport to someone new!

The Peak Power Test will give you a sense of the raw power you can put into one stroke. For the Peak Power Test set the monitor for 20 seconds of work and 2 minutes of rest.  Start by paddling a couple of strokes to get the fan moving and then go for max watts.  It may help to video the test or have a partner watch to tell you the highest watts you pulled in just one stroke.  During the 2 minutes of rest paddle lightly or roll out.  Take 3 or 4 tries to find your max wattage starting with the damper set low and increasing the drag each successive try.  At some point you’ll find a drag that you like and gives you the most power.  Your score for the Peak Power Test is the Max Watts pulled in just one stroke.

Post your Max Watts and/or your favorite Christmas Tradition!

Video Review: How can Terese help you? Are you Prepared?

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It’s that time of year Renegades!  The Holidays are upon us, the renegade rowing league is this Saturday, and it’s starting to look like snow.  Are you prepared?  Did you get your shopping in early and get the gifts you want to give?  Did you register and train for the Renegade Rowing League?  Do you have the tools necessary to deal with all of the snow this year?  If you answered yes to these questions you’re prepared and ready to have some fun.  It’s a good feeling that instills confidence and excitement rather than doubt and worry.

In the rowing stroke it also helps to be prepared.  If you’re prepared for the catch by 1/2 slide, you know your body is in a strong position and the timing of the catch comes together a lot easier.  It allows you to keep the hips and the hands connected, suspend, and basically pull whatever split you would like without wasting any extra energy.  Take a look at the following video review of Terese to see what I mean and how you might need to improve your stroke as well.

Another area where proper preparation can help is your WarmUP.  Performing an appropriate warmup for the workout that is set out each day can make or break a performance.  Below is the warmup we use fairly consistently in classes at CrossFit Boston and at the Renegade Rowing Club.  It’s a good 10min warmup to focus on control, connection, and recovering to strength.  Checkout how slow the Renegade Rowing Club approaches the catch in the beginning.  Executing this drill with control will allow you to really focus on putting technique changes into effect and hitting that catch with good timing and connection.

Please share your thoughts on preparation in regards to your stroke and your warmup to comments!

Renegade Rowing Club Warmup:

1min – 1/2 Legs Only

1min – Full Legs Only

1min – Legs and Body Only

1min – Full Stroke

1min – Pause @1/2 Slide Every Stroke

5min – 10 Strokes On/ 10 Strokes Off, 15 On/15 Off, 20 On/20 Off

Compete! Re-Test “Sculler X”! – Post your score and any improvement

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Today is a Competition Day!  Compete with yourself and try to crush your previous time!

Results from Sculler X last week.

Results from Sculler X last week.

Preparation vs. Competition

In our plan one week will be a microcycle. Our microcycles can be classified as either preparation or competition. During a preparation microcycle a fitness block and/or a rowing block will be introduced and then repeated the following week. In the following week, aka – competition microcycle, those blocks will be repeated and individuals will be expected to compete and try to better their performances from the preparation microcycle.

This week is a great example.  Today is a Re-Test of “Sculler X”, which was introduced last week.  Last week was a preparation microcycle and this week is the competition microcycle.  If you did “Sculler X” last Wednesday and you are attacking it again today your goal should be to finish the rowing for calories in one less stroke and hold a more consistent pace overall.  Last week you prepared.  This week you drop the hammer and compete.  Have fun and get after it!  Let us know how you do and if you were able to improve.

The Renegades throwing down with "Sculler X" last week!

The Renegades throwing down with “Sculler X” last week!

Strength and Conditioning WOD:

Re-Test

“Sculler X”

5 Rounds For Time:

10 Pistols (5 each leg)

10 Push Ups

10 Kettle Bell Swings (2/1.5 Pood)

10 Calories on the Erg

  • (HOW MANY STROKES WILL THIS TAKE YOU?)

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 push up is a great stabilizing exercise if you try to keep the hips and torso quiet.  Everything needs to move together.  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!

Video Review: What do you think of your form? How about Erik’s?

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The Men attacking their 2k in Heat 2 of the Renegade Rowing League on Saturday!

The Men attacking their 2k in Heat 2 of the Renegade Rowing League.  Register for the next one taking place on Saturday, December 20th @8am!

Video Review

From time to time it can be beneficial to look at yourself on camera.  No we don’t care about the aesthetics or the fashion.  We’re looking to gain feedback and a mental picture.  We’re looking for just one or two cues that might give us a smoother, more powerful stroke.  What’s going right?  What’s going wrong?  What can we do better?

You should be asking yourself, “What do I look like now?  How do I move now? What could use some extra focus and improvement next time?”  Don’t dwell on to many things at a time, just find one or two things that might make your life on the erg or in the boat a little better.  Go work on them.  Then reassess in a couple of weeks.

The Renegade Rowing Club has agreed to help everyone by taking a look at their strokes. If you’d like feedback similar to this, post a 20 second clip of you rowing to YouTube and share it with us in the comments of this post.  I’ll do my best to give you a couple of things to work on!  Here is a video of Erik and what he’s going to work on over the next couple of weeks.

Take a look and share what you might focus on next time you row!

Video Review: How can Stan help you? and Skill Transfer between Olympic Lifting and Rowing

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Howdy Renegades!  I hope you all had a good start to the week and you’re getting fired up for the weekend.  Here is a little video review and feedback for Stan.  Take a look and see if there is something you can improve or think about in your rowing.  If you have questions or would like to join the Renegades let me know.  Right now we practice on Tuesday mornings at 6am and Wednesday evenings at 6pm.  If you’re interested in other times let me know and we’ll keep it growing!

Olympic Lifting and Rowing?RR Snatch Setup

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.

Last month 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?