Lifting Regiment for Rowers

[roguerower]

I figured I'd check this forum out in hopes that some of the heavy lifters could give me some advice.

I am a member of my college's crew (rowing) team and am looking to increase my upper body size to get my times down. What would be a lifting plan that would help get me the best results. From what I've read, mid-weight but hi-reps are the best with a focus on squats, bench, lat pull downs, military press, and bench row.

Any pointers?

 

[RagingBITCH]

Don't they have a coach you can ask? Don't you do weights + ERG sessions? I'm sure there might be a few rowers here, but if you're looking to improve, I'd probably ask my coach first

My good friend Leslie has been rowing since she was a kid...now is the asst. coach for Tulsa. Rowing is big on legs and lats. You drive more power using your legs than your upper body. I'd need to ask her what kind of workouts she did back in HS/college. Needless to say - she's built like a powerlifter and before messing up her ankle, (has had 5 surgeries on it) probably could powerlift more than most of the guys here.

 

[EvilYoda]

Has someone told you to increase your upper body size? I would think that rowers would want to work on back and legs too since the drive and pull are what produces the most power.

 

[brikis98]

I'm no expert on rowing, but intuition tells me that leg + back strength (and obviously stamina/endurance/etc) will be far more important for rowing performance than "upper body size". I'd recommend looking into Crossfit, which will be a great way to increase not only your strength, but also power, speed, endurance, stamina, etc. I don't know what your training regiment looks like now, but there are plenty of ways to incorporate Crossfit into almost any schedule. Also, if you do any kind of very long distance events, crossfit endurance may be your best bet.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

High volume deadlift workouts and squats could benefit you very much. Low volume could help as well I'm sure.

 

[silverpig]

I'm a former rower. We did a lot of work on lats, leg press, and abs (for form).

Of course strength is good, but the best rowers worked on form more than power. The best erg guys were not the best seat racers.

 

[roguerower]

Ergs don't float...a concept I know all too well as a lightweight (former)

Little bit of backstory...

Rowed for 3 years in high school as a novice, then coxed for a year, then hit my growth spurt and rowed as a lightweigh my senior year. Took 2 years off because of college starting up and other obligations (ROTC). Finally got back into it last year and rowed as a lightweight for the year and this fall. As I've gotten older, I've started putting on muscle mass and have hit the point where I would have to drop 7-10 lbs a week in order to hit the required weight (160). Some of my current numbers:

-3 mile: 19 flat
-Mile and half: 8:52
-2k (erg): 6:55

As a lightweight I know the importanec of form on the water. My light 4 used to own our heavy 4 (it's a club, not a varsity program) up and down the lake because they just hauled on the handles rather than trying to correct their form. Those rowers have since left the team and the heavy 4 that i'm rowing in for this season has lots of potential.

Since the team is a club sport (even the women who in most schools are the only "sponsored" team) we recieve little to no funding from the school and can't attract good coaches because there is no pay. So what we usually end up getting are the rowers who have rowed for multiple years (in both HS and college) and then try to pass it on (I will be doing this next year). Results vary based on the person and their dedication to the team.

My body type is that of a typical rower...decent calves, very large thighs, 6-pack (gotta work on definition though), and lats. What I want to concentrate on though is my arms and upper back. I feel that with those two elements improved, I would see both a large decrease in my 2k time as well as an increase in the size of my puddles.

Workouts now are primarily on the water since the season for us started this past saturday w/ a quad meet between us (Virginia Tech), William & Mary, Univ. of Virginia, and Univ. of Richmond. What I will be doing are supplemental workouts.

I looked at crossfit last night but only have access to the schools gym which, from what I read, is not the right atmosphere for someone trying to get into crossfit. We do have a full gymnastics room but that is untouchable. Perhaps next year when I'm living off campus (finally!) I can start putting something together.

Thanks to all for your replies so far.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: roguerower
I looked at crossfit last night but only have access to the schools gym which, from what I read, is not the right atmosphere for someone trying to get into crossfit.

Every crossfit workout is scalable and allows substitutions. For example, if there is a workout with muscle-ups and you don't have access to olympic rings, you can substitute muscle-ups on a pull-up bar. If you can't do a muscle-up, you can instead substitute 3 pull-ups and 3 dips for each one. If that's too much, do 1 pull-up and 1 dip for each one. If that's still too much, you can do assisted pull-ups and push-ups. Every exercise and workout can be modified this way and as long as you keep the general format the same - high intensity, functional movements, constant variation - the results will be great. I do most of my CF workouts at a standard globo gym with great success, so I'm sure you could pull it off at a school gym if you wanted to. Read through the Crossfit FAQ for more info.

 

[silverpig]

What's the lowest 500m split time you can get on the erg? I'm talking go full-out for 500m and see how far you can get it down.

 

[silverpig]

Oh, also, we had a national team coach come out and help us train for a little while. The best exercise we got was something called the Russian catch drill. Sit up at the catch, drive with your legs, then pop the oar out of the water and go back to the catch. The entire motion is just your legs driving, no back, no arms. It feels really awkward to learn, but it really helps. The coach (who was a former olympic silver medallist) said that this drill brought her from 10th in the world to 2nd.

 

[Redfraggle]

I've done that Russian catch drill. Good stuff. It's been years since I was in a boat though, hmm...I miss it. Anyway, keeping your lower back strong is important as well. Find some exercises and stretches for that. One thing I noticed was that flexibility made a huge difference, especially in the back and ankles. To improve core strength, try some yoga, but I have found this workout to be great for a variety of active pursuits. I take martial arts and require a good bit of balance and stability to spar effectively. I think it might help you, and requires little to no equipment (great for poor clubs -- we had one too).

Good luck!

 

[roguerower]

1:33ish. Hit a 1:23 on a 250m. We've done russian catch timing before, but not for a prolonged period...usually just ends up being another one of the drills, grouped up with pause drills, square rowing, etc.

 

[conorvansmack]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
High volume deadlift workouts and squats could benefit you very much. Low volume could help as well I'm sure.

Pull ups too. Once you can do 12-15 consecutive, start adding weight.