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Steve's training

Rowing is essentially a strength-endurance
activity requiring periods of activity in competition of
anything from a few seconds (in the Oxbridge-style 'bumps') to
half an hour (in the longer Winter head of the river races).
Body movements are unlike anything encountered in normal life,
and therefore newcomers to rowing, properly trained, can
expect to achieve large fitness gains in the early stages. It
requires a lot of technique to efficiently transfer power to
the forward movement of a racing boat, and my belief is that
time on the water is best spent developing that technique.
Fitness training is best conducted in a controlled and
supervised environment, where gains can be measured, recorded,
and built upon.

Ergo Training
Rowing ergos can be used to great
effect as they can combine cardiovascular training with an
activity closely resembling rowing. Here, aspects of technique
may also be taught, and the better the technique the more
beneficial the exercise. For optimum strength and endurance
gains, an ergo session should end with a sprint finish, to
provide the maximum training stimulus. For optimum
cardiovascular benefit, the ergo should be for at least 10
minutes, and send the pulse rate into the calculated training
range. Ergo training for an hour will have negligible effect
upon your ability to row a ten minute race. Distance, time,
and date should be noted after each ergo session. It is well
worth remembering the rudiments of good rowing technique while
on the ergo:
* Nose above keel
* Legs parallel
*
Hands relaxed, level
* (Squaring early on leading edge down
to the water)
* Drop in and push with the legs (blade just
covered)
* Accelerate with hands then quickly round the
turn
* Hands lead the body then slow slide - decelerating
towards front stops

Callisthenics
Callisthenics are exercises using
your own body weight to provide resistance, most commonly in a
form of circuit training. For any given exercise, if the range
of movement is total, and temporary muscle failure occurs
after around 8 to 10 repetitions then the exercise is
efficient. If more repetitions are required, then more work is
done to achieve less (a certain proportion of high-strength
muscle fibres will not have been recruited). If temporary
muscle failure does not occur, then the optimum training
effect will not have been stimulated. Finally if further
repetitions are performed after temporary muscle failure, then
there is a good chance of a net performance loss.
Callisthenics have only a limited useful life - performance
gains result in a greater number of repetitions required to
bring about fatigue, gradually reducing the effectiveness of
the exercise while increasing the total energy expended - 'the
law of diminishing returns'.
Unless people know how to
exercise, the training effects will at best be questionable.
Specificity of training should also be remembered when
designing callisthenics - correctly performed press-ups will
train for press-ups (or an activity that closely resembles
press-ups) and nothing else.

Weight Training
Fitness training over and above
ergo training is probably best done with weights. That is not
to say that weight training does not have as many poor regimes
as any other form of training. The advantage of weight
training is that machines have been designed specifically for
the task of targeting muscle groups and providing a means of
controlled, safe, and measured loading. Weights can be
selected to provide the most efficient overloading of any or
every major muscle group in the body.

A weight training session would ideally be done
immediately after the ergo while the muscles are still warm
and the pulse rate is still in the training range, but in any
case on the same day so as to combine the recovery periods.
Suitable exercises for rowing would target the buttocks,
thighs, lower back, chest, and arms. Around 10 exercises in
all, alternating extensions with curls to overlap rest periods
for secondary muscle groups and to maintain the aerobic
workout, preceded by a 5 or 10 minute ergo, should take no
more than around 40 minutes.
* Before starting a weight
training session, the body should be thoroughly warmed up
through aerobic exercise, but not stretching. Stretching a
cold muscle before exercise may cause damage - only stretch
after exercise when the muscles are warm.

* Exercises should resemble the activity being trained for
as closely as possible to ensure maximum transfer of fitness
benefits.
* Each exercise should involve the maximum range
of movement, just short of 'locking' in either rest position.

* Muscle groups should be trained in the order of largest
to smallest (buttocks, thighs, back, chest, calves, shoulders,
arms, stomach) - any exercise is dependent upon many minor and
weaker muscles, and the fatigue of any of these first would
limit the loading of the larger ones.

about steve redgrave
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* Weights should not be allowed to touch the unused weight
stack between repetitions, as this provides rest.
* A
repetition should typically involve a steady contraction over
around 2 seconds and a relaxation over around 4 seconds.
*
The effect of acceleration of the weights should never be
allowed to become significant. Jerky exercise is easier
overall due to the rest while dropping with gravity, but may
place uncontrolled and unmeasured stress exceeding the
structural integrity of body tissue. * Each set of repetitions
should take around one minute - time it and ensure you do not
hurry.
* Always perform repetitions until 'temporary muscle
failure' - the point at which you can no longer support the
weights against gravity. If you can do more than 12 reps, next
time increase the load. If you can do less than 8, next time
decrease the load. In either case - still go to failure.
*
Never attempt more than one set. If you can do another set you
did not do the first set correctly, while attempting another
set may cause damage beyond that from which you can
beneficially recover.
* Make a note of the load and number
of repetitions for each exercise, together with the date, at
every weight training session.
* After weight training, the
trained muscle groups should be gently stretched to prevent
shortening of the fibres during the recovery period.
Stretching reduces muscle tone but increases flexibility.

'Endurance' Training
Much is made of so called
'endurance' training, i.e. low rate exercise over a long
period. It is perfectly legitimate to target aerobic rowing
fitness, but the objective of training to win a race should
come first. Each body is best at targeting its own weak links
over a given target distance. The optimally efficient training
distance is never going to be more than the event distance,
and in most cases considerably less. (E.g. marathon runners
don't train by running 4 marathons a week). Training at a
higher load and shorter time may not result in the same
increase in aerobic fitness, but it will result an improvement
in overall fitness for the target event that is at least as
good. The question to ask is: are you training to improve your
aerobic fitness, or are you training to win a race ? These are
differently aligned objectives which require different fitness
training regimes. It should be remembered that if aerobic
fitness is the ultimate fitness goal, then such a low rate
session should still end in exhaustion to stimulate the
desired training effect. Moreover, the club objective is to
win a race, and the fitness training regime should support
this directly and not entertain abstract objectives.

Summary
Exercise is a highly personal discipline
- we all have different bodies, different weaknesses and
different objectives. One can only rely upon the motivation of
others to produce worthwhile returns to a very limited extent.
Train as a team by all means, but do not expect any two
persons' exercise regimes to be the same. If they are, at
least one is not training optimally. Monitor your own progress
religiously - some record of achievement forms the ultimate
motivation once the initial novelty and pain of exercise has
faded. Exercise does damage which is unpleasant. Beneficial
recovery is the objective of exercise. Minimise the
unpleasantness by training optimally, and maximise the
benefits by allowing your body to fully recover - rest, food,
and glorious sleep.

Copyright 1997-2000, Tim Millea, MSI Research
Institute, Loughborough University, England.