Rowing, Strength and All Round Athleticism

@countrygirl2016 - Yeah, would be great to go again. Ultimately will come down to affordability, but I do miss the simplicity of life in the mountains with good friends. Glad you are feeling better. Keep positive and you will be back 100% before you know it.

@theBird - Yeah they are great. For a long time I followed a template based on Alpha’s training with conditioning, strength, then giant sets. More recently when training with the rowing squad I have been following sessions based on the GB start program which is generally higher reps and multiple supersets. They are challenging, but I find them great for building mental toughness and work capacity.

Rest I try to keep to a minimum, but if I do ramp the weights up, I do have a little longer on the heavier sets. My old program I often did 3-5 reps and just did steady progression, then up the weights a little more each week for about 4 weeks, then go back down in weight and start the cycle again, with the aim to do just a little bit more than the previous cycle.

I have only gone twice, once to do something different on a date and once for my housemates birthday. It is surprisingly tiring, but it isn’t really my thing and spraining my ankle was very frustrating, so to be honest mate, I don’t think I will be going back any time soon. Still, if you can do flips on a trampoline, it would look pretty cool.

30/10/2016

14km in a single scull. Not often I do this kind of distance in a scull and it is tough.

Still felt I got a lot out of it and given how far down I am in the crew selections, without being given any reason for why or what I need to work on, winning in a single could be my main aim this year. It is the toughest boat to row, given how technical you need to be and how hard it is physically, but I kind of like the challenge and it will make me fully accountable, no reliance on anyone else.

1 Like

31/10/2016

Was meant to be 3x 3750m, but just not on it today:

1st 3750m at 1:52.3 split.
2nd 3750m at 1:57.9 splt.
3rd didn’t happen. Not too sure what it was, but need to make up for it tomorrow.

01/11/2016

Lets try this again!

3 x 3750m 2 minute rest r22.

1st at 1:53.6 split
2nd at 1:53.7 split
3rd at 1:54.7 split
Averaged 1:54.0 split. Not bad.

02/11/2016

2 x 21 minutes rowing on the erg r22 2 minutes rest.

1st at 1:53.6 split
2nd at 1:52.8 split
Averaged 1:53.2 split. Moving in the right direction, decent pace today.

03/11/2016

Conditioning
6 minute core circuit

Superset1:
Power Cleans: 60/8, 60/8, 60/8, 60/8
Burpee Press Ups: 8, 8, 8, 8

Superset 2:
Front Squats: 60/8, 60/8, 60/8, 60/8
Skipping: 60s, 60s, 60s, 60s

Superset 3:
Bench Press: 60/10, 60/10, 60/10, 60/10
Barbell Rows: 60/8, 80/8, 80/8, 80/8

Solid enough weights session and nice to get back doing squats, no issue, with my ankle just need to strengthen it back up now.

Really good weeks’ land training.

05/11/2016

Double Outing:

1st Outing:
9km in coxed 4, working on the drive phase. Started scrappy, but improved significantly.

2nd Outing:
10km in coxed 4. Good progress again.

06/11/2016

AM
Went to boat house early to do some weights to make up for having to redo Monday’s erg on Tuesday so missed a weights session.

15 minutes mobility work.

Superset:
Deadlifts: 60/3, 100/3, 120/3, 130/3, 140/3, 140/3, 130/3, 120/3, 100/3
Burpee Press Ups: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Done with very little rest and a lot of intensity. Burpee Press Ups are evil!

2nd Session:
11km outing in coxed 4. Best outing of the season, rowing was good, really got good work in on the pieces. 2 x 1600m and 1 x 2750m at race piece. Hopefully crew selections stay on point as it made such a difference this weekend.

07/11/2016

Just weak today, did row on the ergo, but just couldn’t find it today.

Disappointing, but got to look ahead to the next session now.

08/11/2016

5km then 4.5km at r22 at 1:53.8 split. Better, but still feeling a bit leggy.

09/11/2016

Bit of a backoff day to recharge. Just did a light lunch time session.

Superset:1
Deadlifts: 90/5, 90/5, 90/5
Press Ups: 20, 20, 20

Superset2:
Bench Press: 60/10, 70/10, 70/10, 70/10 (pretty much cardio right?)
Pull Ups: 8, 8, 7, 5 (Don’t know why these felt so hard)

10/11/2016

Felt a massive difference today after a day away from rowing and the boat house yesterday. More mentally refreshed than anything.

Lunch:
30 minutes on bike at 250 watts per hour. Happy with this pacing at this point of the season.

PM
Conditioning:
Complexes 20/10, 40/8, 60/6 of the following:
Deadlifts
Romanian Deadlifts
Barbell Rows
Power Clean
Push Press
Squats

Man doing 60kg for complexes is hard.

Superset 1:
Front Squat: 60/5, 70/5, 80/5, 90/5
Burpee Press Ups: 10, 10, 10, 10

Superset 2:
Military Press: 60/5, 60/5, 60/5, 60/5
Barbell Rows: 80/5, 90/5, 95/5, 100/5

Decent sessions today and good news is I have been selected for the top 4 and and top sculling boat in the double as well. Hard work has paid off.

12/11/2016

Double Outing:

1st Outing:
13km outing in coxed 4. This was in the race crew, but just didn’t click.

Men’s squad meeting. Really refreshing to have everyone discuss their aims and what there commitment is to rowing this year. Knowing what everyone wants should make it easier to select crews to target certain races. Despite my frustrations with selection up until now, there is a really good spirit in the squad.

2nd Outing:

11km in coxed 4. Just worked so much better 2nd session. We swapped me from 2 seat to stroke and coach gave us a couple of technical pointers and it made the world of difference. Also did a 2500m race piece, hitting fastest time of the season so far in training.

So I have been struck down with a virus which hampered race prep somewhat.
I got a session in the double last Thursday, but I did not feel good after that. I got 2 sessions in on Saturday, with the race Sunday. Came 3rd out of about 25 crews in the 4 and we crashed in our double due to a quad steering in to us so that race was write off.

Anyway I am on the mend now and starting to breathe more normal, so will be back in the gym tomorrow.

1 Like

23/11/2016

2 x 15 minutes on erg rate 22 at 1:54.2 split.

Still a little off, but chest infection seems to be behind me now.

24/11/2016

Superset:
Pull Ups: 8, 7, 6, 4
Dips, 16, 12, 12, 8
These went terribly, just felt really weak.

26/11/2016

Double Outing:
1st Outing:
5km outing in coxed 4. Cut short as a double capsized in freezing conditions so we had to help them.

2nd Outing:
12km in a pair with 3 x 1500m sprints. Hard work, but best outing of the year. Feeling so much better now, so time to kick on for the last part of the year and end 2016 on a high.

27/11/2016

12km in coxed 4 working on the drive phased and acceleration. Good work again today, with positive improvements. Also one of the crew from Henley last season has come back which is great news. Another good competitive rower back and he is a stroke sider like me so keeps me on the toes having increased competition.

Happy with this weekend after a frustrating 2 weeks. Regular plan now is going to look like this:

Saturday: Double outing on the water
Sunday: AM: Water Outing PM: Core and mobility work
Monday: Erg
Tuesday: Lunch: Optional conditioning PM: Weights
Wednesday: Erg
Thursday: Lunch: Optional conditioning PM: Weights
Friday: Long steady state erg or long cycle/turbo session

The biggest thing here is consistency. Water session won’t be on over the Christmas period, but I will replace them with some form of crosstraining. Occasionally Friday will be a rest day, but other than that I don’t plan on missing any sessions. No excuses now, Henley is only 7 months away and I want more than just qualification this year. With a bit of luck in the draw I want to go for the quarter finals.

1 Like

28/11/2016

3 x 4km row on erg at 1:54.8 split r22 with 2 minute rest.

29/11/2016

Lunch:
20 minutes on stepmill at level 11.

PM

Conditioning:
3 rounds as fast as possible:
5 x Curtis Ps with 40kg
20 Toe Touches
20 Mountain Climbers

Strength:
Superset 1:
Power Cleans: 60/8, 60/8, 60/8, 60/8
Burpee Press Ups: 8, 8, 8, 8

Superset 2:
Bench Press: 60/10, 70/8, 70/8, 70/8
Barbell Rows: 90/6, 90/6, 90/6, 90/6

30/11/2016

2 x 25 minutes row on erg at 1:54.4 split r22 with 2 minutes rest.

01/12/2016

Conditioning:
Complexes: 3 rounds with 40kg x 8 reps
Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Barbell Rows
Power Cleans
Push Press
Squats

Strength:
Superset 1:
Front Squat: 60/10, 60/10 60/10, 60/10
Skipping: 60s, 60s, 60s, 60s (Would like to do double unders, but haven’t quite got it)

Superset 2:
Shoulder Press: 60/3, 60/3, 60/3, 60/7
Romanian Deadlifts: 80/10, 80/10, 80/10, 80/10

03/12/2016

Double Outing:
1st Outing:
10km outing in coxed 4 with 4 x 1.5km pieces.

2nd Outing:
12km outing in coxed 4 with 3 x 1.5km pieces and 1 x 2.5km piece.

[details=Summary]This text will be hidden[/details]I’m in the mix for a place on the 2017 Invictus Games team for indoor rowing.

The two events are 1 minute and 4 minutes.

Looking at this years distances the gold medal was won in with splits of 1:29 (1m) and 1:40 (4m), mine are currently 1:38 and 1:49. I row with one arm.

Given your experience, what row training would you recommend to get closer to the splits required? (Both erg and weights)

Cheers

05/12/2016

3.5km, 2.5km, 1.5km row at about 1:57ish split. This was just horrific and a bad backwards step.

07/12/2016

5km test.

HIt 18:23.0. Awful time, but it is out the way and I know what needs doing to improve it. The year I got to Henley I hit 18:31 at this point, so I know I can do this. Just need to smash 2017 like I did in 2015. Persistency, consistency and belief!

08/12/2016

Conditioning:
Complexes 3 sets of 20kg, 40kg, 40kg with 8 reps:
Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Barbell Row
Power Clean
Push Press
Squat

Deadlift: 60/3, 100/3, 140/3, 160/3, 180/3, 140/3

10/12/2016

12km outing in coxed 4

11/12/2016

12km outing in coxed 4. Really solid session today.

Not the greatest week, but 5k test is out the way which means over 1 month solid training before any sort of race/test. Time to get some rowing mileage and weights lifted.

@xfitrow given the relatively short time frame rowing, I would focus more on sprint work on the erg and strength and power work in the weights room. Try a few of these (Yes they hurt)

8 x 500m sprints 1 minute rest
Tabatas: 4 minutes of 20s max effort 10s off
4 x 1km 3 minute rest

Also have a quick look at form. You want to make sure you are engaging your core all the way through. 1m and 4m pieces will be done at a high rate so you really want to make sure you have your core engaged at the finish and really get the accelration with your legs and back.

Thanks @Ironwarrior25

That’s pretty much what I have been doing following a modified Pete Plan- The Games are now until September so I have a little time to build more power through Tabata rows.

I’m more focused on 1m that 4m so I’m doing a lot of Kettlebell Cleans and Dead lifts, as I said, I only have one arm, so barbell work is out for cleans.

Keep posting I enjoy reading about your struggle, It inspires me to try harder

I

@xfitrow - No worries. Pete Plan is solid indoor rowing plan. It is aimed more at 2km distance, hence the long distance work, but isn’t all that far off one of the first programmes we were given when I started rowing.

12/12/2016

AM
50 minute cycle to the Wretched Sufferfest video. Solid cadence today. Erg will be tomorrow due to work schedule. Had to use weight in the garage so was slightly different session.

PM
Agile 8 and 5 minute warm up most Deadlifts and press ups.
EMOM for 10 minutes
Deadlifts: 140/2
Burpee Press Ups: 5

14/12/2016

30 minutes on erg r20 at 1:53.1 split hitting 7955m.

Need to get back up above 8km as minimum standard, but not far out.

15/12/2016

Lunch:
15 minutes on the step mill at level 12. Man this is a tough piece of equipment. Far far better than regular steppers and crosstrainers.
5 minutes on treadmill 10kph on 8 incline. Ankle seemed to be ok, so hopefully it is a positive step forward.

PM
Conditioning:
Complexes:
Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Barbell Row
Power Clean
Push Press
Squats
20/8, 30/8, 40/8, 50/6

Strength:
Giant Set 1:
Power Clean: 60/8, 60/8, 60/8, 60/8
Squats: 100/6, 100/6, 100/6, 100/6
Burpee Press Ups: 8, 8, 8, 8

Giant Set 2:
Barbell Rows: 80/8, 80/8, 80/8
Squats: 100/6, 100/6, 100/6
Burpee Press Ups: 8, 8, 8

A lot of squats. Ouch!

16/12/2016

Lunch:
Giant Set:
Weighted Pull Ups: BW/5, 5/5, 10/5, 15/4, BW/8
Weighted Dips: BW/10, 5/10, 10/10, 15/8, BW/16
Hanging Leg Raises: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

5 minutes on step mill at level 14

PM
1 hour turbo session to the 9 Hammers Sufferfest video

Been ages since I have logged. Still training, will get back to daily logging tomorrow. Performance has been ok at best, but enjoying the Christmas week off to catch up on sleep. Still been lifting weights and rowing.

I plan on going back to my old routine of Conditioning, Strength, Giant sets then mobility work. Always done best with this routine or using cluster sets.

1 Like

30/12/2016

30 minutes on the stationary bike at 232 watss per hour average doing hill intervals.
8 minutes on the stepmill level 12.

31/12/2016

30 minutes on the stepmill level 10.
5 minutes intervals on the bike.

02/01/2017

1 hour 24 minutes cycling on turbo to Blender Sufferfest video.

Still had 20 minutes to go, but my right calf cramped up to hell. Still decent volume to start the year. Back on it with weights tomorrow and the squad training starts on Wednesday.