Masters Rowing and Strength Training
Dave Sill
http://row2k.com/features/features.cfm?action=read&ID=359
His conclusion:
a) gym work, combined with periodized aerobic erg training, until
rowing starts on water.
b) then bungee rows on water until sprint racing (e.g. Masters'
Nationals in August).
c) then no strength training, with extensive aerobic training,
through the end of head racing.
d) no races during the two months between Masters Nationals and the
Head of the Charles, effectively making two seasons with a strength
program for the first, and a no strength "slenderizing" program for the
second.
The "bungee row" is described as "a bungee cord wrapped around the hull,
with the ends hooked over the feet". What does that mean?
--
Dave Sill
J Flory
> The "bungee row" is described as "a bungee cord wrapped around the hull,
> with the ends hooked over the feet". What does that mean?
A bungee is a piece of elastic cord (maybe 3/8" in diameter at rest?)
with a hook at each end. A bungee of an appropriate length is passed
under the hull near the footstretcher and the ends are hooked together
above the feet. This adds considerable drag: weight training in the
boat. It can be installed and removed on the water.
A friend of mine opposes it on the grounds that it kills the run of
the boat and so reinforces an aberrant stroke. I have not tried it
yet.
paul_v...@hotmail.com
Good reasoning on the part of your friend. Need more drag in your
boat, row faster! [;o)
It baffles me that anyone will contend that working hard in a slow
moving boat is going to help them eventually move a boat fast,
apparently without going into a whole new learning curve where they
need to be able to pick up a faster moving system.
Slow moving Drives don't do anything to move a boat fast. (corollary
to "Ergs Don't Float")
- Paul Smith
Dave Sill
>
> It baffles me that anyone will contend that working hard in a slow
> moving boat is going to help them eventually move a boat fast,
> apparently without going into a whole new learning curve where they
> need to be able to pick up a faster moving system.
I'm not defending the practice, but the subject *is* strength training.
And the article also says:
"Unlike the bungee, the erg lacks any feel taking up the load. In a
boat, the bungee dramatically punishes effort applied too soon, before
the blades are loaded - the boat goes backwards. One champion master
rower of the writer's acquaintance uses bungee rows specifically to
train the blade loading sequence. In this respect, the bungee is "super
specific", since it highlights a key skill. Strength training on the erg
may lead to incorrect sequencing."
So there might even be improvements to rowing technique from drill, in
addition to strength training.
--
Dave Sill
paul_v...@hotmail.com
Well, let's hope to not deviate from THE subject too far then. [;o)
There _might_ be? So this is philosophical, rather than scientific?
IOW, "There might not be", just as well.
I disagree that the bungeed boat is that much different than the Erg
on Damper 10 (well cleaned of course) for the effect of "strength
training", and I don't like either of them.
This specific quote is interesting, "In a boat, the bungee
dramatically punishes effort applied too soon, before the blades are
loaded - the boat goes backwards."; Does this not happen regardless
of a bungee bding in place or not? And as far as "effort being
applied before the blades are loaded", I think that is a virtual
impossibility; can one work against no resistance?
I do advocate slowing things down for the purpose of improving the
sequencing patterns so they can become habits, improving the quickness
of execution later on, but it has nothing to do with strength
training. Much like practicing various weight lifting moves with the
bar only, but with perfect technique, before slowly increasing the
weight systematically. Always watching for a breakdown in technique
and keeping the weight managable.
I read the article also, and am wondering exactly what is meant by
"Blade loading sequence", I understand each word well enough, but when
strung together in that way, I find no additional meaning.
Is he perhaps refering to the catch sequence, where the blade should
be placed in the water prior to attempting to apply any handle force
(or footplate force, if you like)? That would make some sense, but of
course it can genuinely be done in no other way (The footplate and
handle are the "equal but opposites" in this equilibrium, aside from a
small body momentum conponent.).
Just this morning, my ladies boat was kicking the crap out of the mens
Boat, not due to greater strength, but simply because they are
managing to "start the start" and "finish the finish" of each stroke.
They even managed to transfer that to a racing start and have positive
spacing on the 6th stroke at R36 coming off the line, hopefully more
to come.
We can determine if good boat moving is being accomplished by using
the well defined power outputs that can be seen on the Erg and
comparative boat speeds on the water, i.e. if too much effort is being
expended for the boat speed, we need to figure out why that is and fix
it. There's not much point in having the strength if it gets wasted
swirling water.
- Paul Smith
Jamie
Posiglioni all talked about the use of bungees or hydro breaks as an
effective and useful part of strength training particularly with
regards to the transfer of strength from the gym or ergo into the
boat.
Grobler said that the bungee should not reduce the speed by more than
7-10% so that there is still some good run on the boat.
Drew Ginn on his blog has also taked about using the bungee for
training sessions
As far as I know there are several ways to use the bungee successfully
in training
1. Power strokes - sets of 15-30 strokes at high rate and high
pressure with rest in between. Personally these are my least favourite
as it is quite common to tear the water when applying the load.
Athletes tend to focus on pulling hard and not rowing well. Use thick
bungee for high drag
2. Medium intervals - 2-3 x 2000m pieces at 20-24 focusing on strong
coordinated drive while staying connected. Basically strength
endurance training. Got to be better than 120-200 reps in the gym.
Medium bungee
3. Long Steady - 60-75min sessions at 16-18 with a small thin bungee.
The small amount of extra resistance can help develop strength
endurance while the extra drag forces you to focus on not tearing the
water and to carefully lock on the drive and move the boat past the
puddle.
Jamie
Dave Sill
Thanks for understanding. Nobody that I'm aware of is advocating the
bungee method for rowing technique training.
> There _might_ be? So this is philosophical, rather than scientific?
> IOW, "There might not be", just as well.
I said "there might be" because I was just repeating someone else's
second-hand assertion. I find it plausible, but I haven't seen anything
that I'd consider proof.
--
Dave Sill
Ted van de Weteringe
> Thanks for understanding. Nobody that I'm aware of is advocating the
> bungee method for rowing technique training.
Really? Well we already knew from Anne that Paul moves in
low-performance rowing circles... Now you too?!
paul_v...@hotmail.com
I'm really not sure how you arrived at that conclusion. Your knowlege
base must be quite limited.
I'm pretty sure that I know more about high performance than most, but
feel free to think as you like.
Keep flocking to those miracle workers that start with the most highly
motivated athletes possible, and manage to end up with a few that
still perform pretty well. What a tough job that must be. LOL
- Paul Smith