Rowing Plan Part 1: Don't Get Broken

Introduction

As I mentioned in a previous post, I plan on competing in an indoor rowing competition in February 2016. I wanted to give a brief outline on my training plan. I am not an expert trainer or anything, but I have a little experience with training for this event.

This will be a three part mini-series. In this first part, I'll be talking about how I'm going to avoid injury (not breaking myself). In Part 2, I'm going to discuss how I'm going to get faster. In Part 3, I'm going to discuss recovering from each workout. 

I think a lot of training when you get older - once you're in your 30's and 40's - should focus on not getting injured and recovery. In your 20's, you can do a lot of things and not worry too much about it and be ready to go again the next day. However, this is not so as you get older. However, I do believe with proper recovery and nutrition (as well as balanced programming), people can improve their performance dramatically as they age.

So let's talk about not getting hurt. There are two main things that I feel will help keep me fit and injured. First, I want do develop overall strength. Second, I want to improve my rowing stroke.

Getting Strong

Luckily, my current workout program doesn't have to be changed too much to accomplish the objective of increasing strength. There are two purposes to increasing my overall strength. 

First, as the muscles in the rowing stroke - particularly the legs, back, and arms - get stronger, the rowing stroke becomes easier. Or put another way, rowing hard becomes a lower percentage of our maximum strength. As an example, if you had a max deadlift of 300 pounds and had to deadlift 100 pounds, you would be lifting about 33% of your maximum. However, if you could increase your max deadlift to 500 pounds and then had to deadlift 100 pounds, you would only be lifting 20% of your maximum. The main exercises that will supplement the rowing stroke include low bar back squat, high bar back squat, deadlift, and chin-ups. 

The second purpose to getting stronger is to maintain balance within the muscles of the body. In rowing, the muscles of the posterior chain are emphasized - back, glutes, hamstrings (although the quads are also emphasized). The muscles of the chest, the front of the shoulders, and the triceps are not used as much (although they are used in the recovery, but with very little resistance). Therefore, training these muscles with exercises like bench press and overhead press are important. 

I will mainly be training for maximum strength, so I will be doing less volume and higher weights. I figure most of my muscular endurance I will gain from the act of rowing itself. Specializing for a specific event has certain trade-offs, but I want to minimize them through my program.

Rowing Technique

The importance of rowing technique in injury prevention should be obvious. The rowing stroke is designed to exert the most force on the oar (or handle in this case) in the most efficient manner. The sequence of using your legs and hips before your back and before your arms not only ensure you are pulling as hard as you can, but that the strongest muscles get engaged first and therefore make it safer for the weaker muscles. 

Besides the sequence of engagement, there are a couple other technique errors that I will be vigilant about. First, there is what rowers call "shooting your butt." This happens you don't brace or engage the muscles of your back when you drive with your legs and hips. It causes you to overextend your back while you straighten your legs. Besides the inherent inefficiency caused in the stroke, it puts your lower back in a more dangerous position. The other typical mistake I've made and see is rounding the back to reach further in the beginning or catch position. The problem with this is that when you drive with your legs, your spine is overextended and again susceptible to injury. It is important to have a neutral spine and to engage the back muscles as you drive, just as one would with a deadlift.

I posted a video on technique in my article Comfortable with Uncomfortable. Although I'm not currently working with a rowing coach, I think my previous experience has given me enough insight into an efficient and safe rowing stroke. I plan on occasionally taking videos of me rowing so I can self-correct the stroke. I will also show them to one of my friends, who spent a few years as a college rowing coach. 

Conclusion

I believe keeping myself injury free is incredibly important as I get closer to my 41st birthday. I will err on the side of safety versus aggressive progress as I train and I will keep aware of my limits during my workouts. I think by strengthening my whole body through heavy weightlifting and by perfecting my rowing technique, I plan on getting to my race healthy and ready to row my best!

December 9, 2015 Workout

Warm-up: Rowing 5 min. 904 m.

Rowing: 2000 m in 9:01.6

(This is a pic of the splits on my test today). I felt like my game plan worked well. I need to get used to the intensity, but otherwise I felt pretty good about the pacing throughout the race. I will be training three times a week (although I'll talk more about that in my next post).

I actually drove home right after this to catch my son's bus, so I didn't stretch until I got home. In general, I'd do a cool-down row at low intensity and then a nice long stretching session.