Is rowing the most grueling sport?
sbell@.stern.nyu.edu
pass out during competitions, than world class athletes in any other sport.
Is this true? Would it be fair to conclude from this that rowing is the
most grueling sport?
(As you can probably guess, I'm new to rowing and I'm trying to understand
what I've gotten myself into.)
Thanks,
Steve Bell
sb...@rnd.stern.nyu.edu
THOMASJ RYMES
experience with both. Just my $.02
Tom Rymes
Christopher J. Russo
: Yes, Steve. It's either wrestling or rowing, just judging from my
: Tom Rymes
I also was a wrestler in high school and am now a rower. (The one
thing that hasn't changed is I still don't get to eat. :( ) While wrestling
is probably more mentally grueling, I would venture to say that physically,
rowing is probably the hardest sport I've done.
I don' think that there is another sport that places the same demands
on the body, both cardivascular and muscular, as a rowing race does. (I'm
speaking here of 2000m racing.) Not many sports require you to go anaerobic-
then try to settle down slightly for 1200 meters- and then generate a greater
power output at the end fo the race. I seem to remember that there was a study
done a few years ago that was reported in _Bicycling_ magazine that said that
of all the Olympic athletes studied, rowers had the largest hearts, in terms
of volume and mass. May or may not mean anything, but it's sort of interesting.
I'm sure that somebody is going to pop up and say "what about ....",
so I'll say again that _any_ elite athlete works very hard and reaching the
elite level in any sport requires a tremendous amount of work, but I rowing
does seem to be one of the most demanding.
Christopher Russo
cru...@tufts.edu
cru...@mit.edu
Dave 1X
most physically demanding sport there is. But It is believed that the
reason that O2 consumption is lower in rowers is the sitting position
versus standing. So Rowing may be just as demanding!
marc nathan roston
...I have friends who play a lot of golf, and get pretty tired out...
I think they might have it ;-)
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Marc N. Roston mn...@ellis.uchicago.edu
Univ. of Chicago Dept. of Econ. aajm...@hilbert.spc.uchicago.edu
_______________________________________________________________________
David Simas
>I remember reading somewhere that of all the sports, more world class rowers
>pass out during competitions, than world class athletes in any other sport.
>
>Is this true? Would it be fair to conclude from this that rowing is the
>most grueling sport?
>
Oh yeah, we rowers have the longest, hardest ... 'workouts' of any athletes.
Didn't you ever here the story about the two rowers crossing the Golden
Gate bridge?
>(As you can probably guess, I'm new to rowing and I'm trying to understand
>what I've gotten myself into.)
>
>Thanks,
>
>Steve Bell
>sb...@rnd.stern.nyu.edu
>
David S.
Jim Kreuziger
Well Steve, I am just beginning my second year of rowing here at UCI and
my experience of last year is that this is the most physicaly demanding
sport that I have ever tried. Yes, I have heard that cross country skiing
is the most demanding, but rowing has to be a (very) close second. About
the passing out - I never passed out. I threw up, but never passed out.
I threw up so many times, my teamates called me the DH (designated hurler).
On the other hand, the benifits I have received have been tremendous. I am
in the best shape of my life. Those 6:00 am workouts have helped bring some
disipline in my schedule 'cause if I don't finish my homework by 10:00 pm,
I sure have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Also, it's an
ego boost for me. Being 31 years old, I like to think that I can hold my
own with all the young guys out there. The people, the coaches, and just
about everybody I have met in the last year in rowing are the nicest people
in all sports.
I hope your experience with rowing is a great one!
_______________________________________________________________________________
Jim Kreuziger
University of California Irvine
Department of Physics
e-mail j...@galaxy.ps.uci.edu
Go Anteater Crew!
_______________________________________________________________________________
Babylon
writes:
> I seem to remember that there was a study
> done a few years ago that was reported in _Bicycling_ magazine that said that
> of all the Olympic athletes studied, rowers had the largest hearts, in terms
> of volume and mass. May or may not mean anything, but it's sort of interesting.
>
> cru...@tufts.edu
> cru...@mit.edu
For what its worth.....
Before the Seoul Olympics I remember
reading a report on the physiological characteristics of the
British Olympic team. Steve Redgrave could withstand the highest
concentration of lactic acid in his blood of any athlete going to
the games.
--
Babylon - an ex-rower, his back has ceased to be. (Skiing injury by the way)
bab...@wallop.demon.co.uk
David Steadson
>
>In article: <36ae4f$6...@Emerald.tufts.edu> cru...@Emerald.tufts.edu (Christopher J. Russo)
>writes:
>> I seem to remember that there was a study
>> done a few years ago that was reported in _Bicycling_ magazine that said that
>> of all the Olympic athletes studied, rowers had the largest hearts, in terms
>> of volume and mass. May or may not mean anything, but it's sort of interesting.
>>
>> Christopher Russo
>> cru...@tufts.edu
>> cru...@mit.edu
>
>
>
>For what its worth.....
>
> Before the Seoul Olympics I remember
>reading a report on the physiological characteristics of the
>British Olympic team. Steve Redgrave could withstand the highest
>concentration of lactic acid in his blood of any athlete going to
>the games.
>
>
country sking comes close to matching rowing. Since this is pretty
much a measure of work, yep it is the most grueling.
David
SteveE5303
Steadson) writes:
>> I seem to remember that there was a
study
>> done a few years ago that was reported in _Bicycling_ magazine that
said that
>> of all the Olympic athletes studied, rowers had the largest hearts, in
terms
>> of volume and mass. May or may not mean anything, but it's sort of
interesting.
>>
>> Christopher Russo
>> cru...@tufts.edu
>> cru...@mit.edu
>
>
>
>For what its worth.....
>
> Before the Seoul Olympics I remember
>reading a report on the physiological characteristics of the
>British Olympic team. Steve Redgrave could withstand the highest
>concentration of lactic acid in his blood of any athlete going to
>the games.
>
>
>I also seem to recall that in terms of caloric output, only cross
>country sking comes close to matching rowing. Since this is pretty
>much a measure of work, yep it is the most grueling.
It's been awhile, but there are a few measures where rowers are
doing more work than any other athlete:
* Rowers have a very high "anerobic threshold." When compared to
other athletes, rowers operate much closer to their maximal levels (98%)
than any other athlete. This occurs during maximal exertion.
* Aerobically rowers are very fit, with some lightweights using
80+ ml/kg/min O2. This is comparable to some endurance athletes
like cross country skiers and marathoners. The difference is that
rowing is weight supported (we sit) and not supporting our body
weight lowers the need for max O2 consumption.
* Each sport has its own requirements. Therefore, a golfer operates
at the capacity she/he needs. Rowing requires lots of O
H Ainsley c o Wizar
marathon and cross-country ski racing at the top of the *toughies* league
- not in any particular order apparantly - but all three quite a way
above the next group (which I cant remember...). I would regard all 3 as
having a strong "mental toughness" element quite apart from the physical
too...
hugh @ Marlow Rowing CLub
S N Travis
I would give anyone who does the Tour de France a fair amount of
respect! Three and a half hours of the Boston Marathon did for my
backside; just imagine 7 hours a day for 21 days (plus, of course, all
the other pro races over the season) on the saddle without getting off...
Rachel Quarrell
> In the referenced article, hu...@cix.compulink.co.uk ("H Ainsley c o
Wizar") writes:
> >In the studies they throw at us on coaching courses, they line up rowing,
> >marathon and cross-country ski racing at the top of the *toughies* league
> >- not in any particular order apparantly - but all three quite a way
> >above the next group (which I cant remember...). I would regard all 3 as
> >having a strong "mental toughness" element quite apart from the physical
> >too...
> >
push off Steve.
_____________________
WINTER CROSS-TRAINING:
Dretful cheat putting it after this, but it seemed to be relevant.
Adam Clift, the Molesey club coach, has had the idea of getting together a
trip to go cross-country ski-ing in Slovakia, about 200 miles west of
Prague, in early January, as post-Xmas cross-training for rowers. He is
asking around the London clubs, but anyone is welcome (UK probably) - the
more go, the lower the price. He thinks about 250 gbp excepting spending
money, as he has a friend working in a sports training centre over there.
It would be a flight to Vienna, which is closer, then an hour's coach ride
to the resort.
The main aim is serious cross-training - apres-ski excepted, it would not
entirely be a holiday. One of the reasons why X-country ski-ing is so
"hard" is that you require a very large VO2-max, and it slowly increases
if you do the sport a lot (up to a limit, one presumes). X-ski-ing is
non-impact (especially on the knees) and vg as a "steady-state"
replacement for miles on the river.
Anyone interested? If so, don't mail me: ring Adam in the evenings on
081-876-0061.
Rachel.
(ps the beer's 4p a pt in Slovakia - and the Aussies found some bars with
1p a pt during the champs last year).
--
any sig better than no sig...