Strength Training for Rowing and a Few of Its Benefits

Throughout my career, I supplemented my rowing workouts with strength training in the gym.  There are many different exercises athletes can choose to strengthen their bodies as well as their minds, some being more effective for faster injury free rowing and improving motivation.

Here are a few topics:

• Strength training for rowing needs to be conducive to improving boat speed, erg performance, and staying injury free, yet in club environments, the opposite is often the case, leading to worse rowing technique, injury, and a waste of time.

• There are many methods of strength training, but only few truly promote the dynamic movement needed in rowing to maximize specific power and acceleration.  Follow this link to read about how I used strength training to optimize speed and stay injury free.

• Injury prevention: Staying injury free is crucial for consistent improvement in personal records. Smart strength training balances musculature around joints which is needed to keep the joints healthy. Rowing alone does not satisfy this need. 

• Smart strength training is also a great way to improve motivation. Besides the more apparent benefit of gaining strength, the process improves athletes’ mentality as well.  More on this here.

• Unfortunately, injury and the ensuing performance plateaus are very common in club rowing environments. Club coaches are well-intentioned, yet they lack the ability to identify the cause of injuries as well as which preventative methods are needed to steer clear from such setbacks. Follow this link for more information on the above points.