Weight Training Necessary?

[[old] ljwagner]

A middle age lightweight, here.<br /><br />Freshman year of college, at 145 lbs, I worked up from 180 lbs on leg press to 360 lbs (3 sets of 12). That logged journey got the coaches attention, so I was continued to be given opportunities to row and race despite being the skinniest guy on the team. Others could leg press more, but none in such a proportion to their body weight. This was also in the pre-C2 era when quantifiying rowing power was a bit more difficult. A guy at 200 lbs needed to be able to do 495 lbs to have the equivalent leg press strength.<br /><br />I think use of weights to balance muscular strength is very important, and also provides a good alternative workout for rowing. When your one set, or three set, maximum weight goes up by some percentage, you know that is real and measurable, and I think provides a positive psychological edge. Even during the endurance work, when your power level is below that mark.<br /><br />Sophomore year, I and two others went a month doing squats every other day, 10 sets at 90 lbs. Not a lot, but we got sore, and it got easier over time. 500 meter times got faster and we were less tired after multiple intervals on the water. We were firm believers in weight work to augment rowing. <br /><br />We also tried swimming. Muscle usage was too different; it only made us tired, and did not help the rowing at all. We cut the swimming.<br /><br />Having a strength coach is a good thing. For those with training and accreditation, their training is much more thorough than most realize. Finding the knowledge through books is tougher, since there is a lot of stuff published with little scientific basis behind it, and without proper form, getting hurt is a definite possibility. A coach is less likely to let you just do your preferred workout, and have you do one that is more balanced and sport appropriate.<br /><br />With sport specific technique, some things are difficult to master if the problem is aggravated by weak supporting muscles. If those muscles can be exercised off the water in a weight room, home gym, or dorm room, then that improves the athletes' chance for success. But the right exercises need to be found/designed to provide that benefit in the area of weakness, and done in appropriate amounts and intensity.<br /><br />A nice simple guideline for incremental increase is 5% every 2-3 weeks. That will allow a doubling of strength in 1 year. <br /><br />To avoid injuries, never try to finish a difficult rep. If a prior rep was even moerately difficult to finish, it may have caused a small painless connective tissue injury that one of the next attempts will tear right through, and then you are in recovery for a few months, while you lose strength. I have read that disuse causes strength loss about twice as fast as it takes to produce. Keep the steps moving forward. Never try to impress somebody with "just one more rep".<br /><br />

[[old] John Rupp]

<!--QuoteBegin-ljwagner+Jan 27 2006, 10:42 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(ljwagner @ Jan 27 2006, 10:42 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Sophomore year, I and two others went a month doing squats every other day, 10 sets at 90 lbs. </td></tr></table><br /><br />How many reps in each set?<br />

[[old] ljwagner]

10 reps. They were done at a moderate pace, up and down. Nothing fast. <br /><br />I have since read that about 60% of strength gain comes in the first set, and about 5% in subsequent 3-4 sets, followed by about 3-4% subsequent to that. Based on those numbers, 10 sets would happen to provide about the maximum improvement possible. <br /><br />Of course as we got stronger, we should have upped the weight, but I don't think we did. That was a little error in our punkin'head youthful ways. Youth will do far more dumb things than older wiser folks , the usual excuse starting with, "I didn't think ...".

[[old] jbell]

I have another question for this thread: Does doing chest weights (like bench press etc) do anything for crew. My friend and I usually make up debates for our coach, and he said that the biceps and stuff do some work in crew so make sure you work them a little. I asked him if there are any muscles that aren’t used, and he said the chest really doesn’t do anything. I can see the reason for working them out though, but is it beneficial for crew.

[[old] razorfizh]

Here is another couple of articles I found on the web concerning weight training for rowers:<br /><br /><a href='http://www.healthy.net/scr/column.asp?C ... =12&ID=447' target='_blank'>http://www.healthy.net/scr/column.asp?C ... 447</a><br /><br /><a href='http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0107.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0107.htm</a><br /><br /><a href='http://www.oarsport.co.uk/training/guid ... e=weights1' target='_blank'>http://www.oarsport.co.uk/training/guid ... ts1</a><br /><br /><a href='http://www.rowingcanada.org/files/mc_masters.pdf' target='_blank'>http://www.rowingcanada.org/files/mc_masters.pdf</a>

[[old] John Rupp]

<!--QuoteBegin-jbell+Feb 2 2006, 07:16 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(jbell @ Feb 2 2006, 07:16 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Does doing chest weights (like bench press etc) do anything for crew. </td></tr></table><br /><br />I found this on a skiing site, also relevant to rowing.<br /><br />"The pectorals participate in power poling by pulling a raised arm downward as in the power stage of poling. It also stabilizes or locks the shoulder against rotation to provide a lever for the triceps extension of the arm."<br />

[[old] John Rupp]

More from the skiing site:<br /><br />"The lats are the major muscles in the movement of the arm during poling. This broad back muscle swings the arm down and back and cooperates against the pectorals to stabilize the shoulder."<br /><br />The video of Eskild Ebbeson and the short clip of Rich Cureton show they both swing the upper arm quite powerfully downward in relation to the torso.

[[old] Ray79]

<!--QuoteBegin-jbell+Feb 2 2006, 10:16 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(jbell @ Feb 2 2006, 10:16 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I have another question for this thread: Does doing chest weights (like bench press etc) do anything for crew.  My friend and I usually make up debates for our coach, and he said that the biceps and stuff do some work in crew so make sure you work them a little.  I asked him if there are any muscles that aren’t used, and he said the chest really doesn’t do anything.  I can see the reason for working them out though, but is it beneficial for crew. <br /> </td></tr></table><br />The pectorals are not used as much as some other muscles when rowing. It is important however to address any musculature imbalances that may occur from rowing. <br />Bench press or even press ups can help to work your chest against the back and shoulders that are predominantly used in the rowing stroke.

[[old] ljwagner]

For joint health, balance the exercises and muscles around joints used.<br /><br />Bench press balances chest muscles against the lats and shoulder complex muscles used while rowing.<br /><br />You'd think the abs don't work a lot either, since you don't flex forward to pull. You need strong abs and hip flexors to balance the low back strength.<br /><br />Biceps pull the hand to the shoulder, predominantly when the palm is up. Palm down, there are forearm muscles involved as well as the bicep. Elbow drawn down and to the rear is mainly the lats, depending if the elbow is down, or raised and rotated outward, when the rear delts and rhomboids are more involved.<br /><br />The pecs are used minimally rowing, since the pushaway is with the oar out of the water, unless one is rowing backwards to position a boat. But then lifting and carrying a boat does involve more pushing of the weight of the boat, so bench press and shoulder press strength is good to have. <br /><br />Don't go out of your way to skip part of a balanced workout routine, or be argumentitive about it with a coach. It was developed and thought about a long time ago. Figure out why all of the recommended workout IS valuable.<br /><br />On the other hand, maybe if you skip part of the workouts, you'll end up on the wrong end of a seat race outcome, or perhaps with some minor injury, and will then know why the full workout was developed. Its always good to be able to point out someone who would not follow the workout plan, and why they should have.<br /><br />We have 600 or so muscles. Evolution, good design, or bad design ? Maybe someone will try removing a few they don't think they use.