Concept2 Forum

hello all! i have a question..i was wondering if you all think that stairs are beneficial to rowing?? near my house, there is a very large staircase of about 45 steps..how many times do you think i would have to go up these to have a good workout? thanks!

My crew team did stairs over winter break to improve general fitness. I don't know how much it did to specifically benefit rowing, but it certainly is a hard workout. What we did is go up about 25 stairs, sprint across to another set, go down 25 stairs, sprint across to another, go up another 25, sprint across, and down 25. This was repeated 7-11 times, with a lap around the track inbetween. Thusly, there is no actual rest. The only break is the lap, which should still be run hard.

My freshman coach use to make us do 10min on the erg then 10min on the stairs. We would do that around 6 times.

<!--QuoteBegin-jbell+Feb 5 2006, 04:15 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(jbell @ Feb 5 2006, 04:15 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->My freshman coach use to make us do 10min on the erg then 10min on the stairs.  We would do that around 6 times. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Two hour workout? That's long.

Yea, it was brutal. Although, we did come in #1 in New York and #5 at Stotesbury. I think if we had spent a little bit longer on the water we could have had 4th or 3rd (4th beat us by 2sec, and 3rd beat them by like .3 or something). We could have had a really fast season, but a bunch of the football guys that tried out in the spring thought they could pull muscle over technique until it was too late.

I went to high school in New York (Niskayuna), and I don't remember your school. Where is it?<br /><br />Congrats on your good finishes. (But I still think two hours is overkill for almost anyone, and especially for high schoolers.)

Used to do stairs when we were younger, it's indeed a great workout!<br /><br />But take care, I once broke my leg going down the stairs while recovering!

We ran our football stadium stairs 2-3 times a week, and a major stadium once a month. A also ran stairs in high school, and it may have given me an edge when I got to college.<br /><br />Our stadium workouts took about 12-15 minutes, doing 3 continuous up and back cycles of stairs and connector on the bottom walkway, of about 9 aisles of 25 or so stairs. As you warmed up, you took more stairs per step. First half lap, single steps, 2-5, double steps, final half-lap, triple steps. But that was strictly optional, some took the whole thing in single steps. I think sprinting steps mimics rowing leg motion pretty well, and helped us a lot.<br /><br />The big stadium was 80 bleacher rows high, and we'd warm-up, then do 10 times up and down continuous. Best speeds were about 8 minutes for the few guys who could come down fast. It was a real thigh burner. I maintained speed up, but could not go down fast. My times hovered around 10 minutes.<br /><br />On your 45 stairs near your house ? Warm-up walking up once or twice, then start timing yourself going up, rest coming down. When single steps is easy, start taking them two at a time.

<!--QuoteBegin-ninthman+Feb 6 2006, 12:06 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(ninthman @ Feb 6 2006, 12:06 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I went to high school in New York (Niskayuna), and I don't remember your school. Where is it?<br /><br />Congrats on your good finishes. (But I still think two hours is overkill for almost anyone, and especially for high schoolers.) <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Chaminade high school is in Mineola. We recently had our prom cancelled. Mainly known for football, swimming and lacrosse. Not many people know chaminade has crew.

<!--QuoteBegin-jbell+Feb 6 2006, 07:24 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(jbell @ Feb 6 2006, 07:24 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-ninthman+Feb 6 2006, 12:06 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(ninthman @ Feb 6 2006, 12:06 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I went to high school in New York (Niskayuna), and I don't remember your school. Where is it?<br /><br />Congrats on your good finishes. (But I still think two hours is overkill for almost anyone, and especially for high schoolers.) <br /> </td></tr></table><br />Chaminade high school is in Mineola. We recently had our prom cancelled. Mainly known for football, swimming and lacrosse. Not many people know chaminade has crew. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br /><br />I hadnt heard of you guys till this fall season when our program (st catharines junior or "youth" men) raced you guys at head of the fish. It was way to cold that day and I forgot to bring my long spandex and didnt have enough money to buy some so I froze in my spandex unisuit shorts. You guys gave us a good run for our money in the junior varsiety 8+, we were sent off before you guys I believe and could see you gaining on us then we put it together and pulled away and beat ya by 12 seconds. Our youth 8+ did real well to, they won as well, we won all the high school/youth mens 8 races.

When we do stairs, we generally run our entire stadium which holds around 80,000 people. It's brutal, but in a sick way, pretty great...

I'm sure its considered most brutal by those who come in the slowest, or push themselves the hardest.<br /><br />If you seem to like the workout, sounds like you are in the latter group. Good for you.

My team does "towers" sometimes. I go to SUNY Albany, in New York, and we have 21-floor dormitories. Usually, we run up and down them about 7 or 8 times, it's a good workout. We race going up, and also down, although i find i jump half a flight each time. That's probably a good way to get hurt. Either way, i recommend the workout quite a bit.

I loved running the risers at the Harvard football stadium, and try to get a set in whenever I get back to Boston.<br /><br />Under 20 minutes, and you can feel good about yourself....

<!--QuoteBegin-Rate35+Feb 6 2006, 07:58 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Rate35 @ Feb 6 2006, 07:58 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I hadnt heard of you guys till this fall season when our program (st catharines junior or "youth" men) raced you guys at head of the fish. It was way to cold that day and I forgot to bring my long spandex and didnt have enough money to buy some so I froze in my spandex unisuit shorts. You guys gave us a good run for our money in the junior varsiety 8+, we were sent off before you guys I believe and could see you gaining on us  then we put it together and pulled away and beat ya by 12 seconds. Our youth 8+ did real well to, they won as well, we won all the high school/youth mens 8 races. <br /> </td></tr></table><br />I remember you guys. Yea, you guys won like everything. You beat my boat (JV category) by ~ 15 sec and our JV A boat by 10sec. I never heard of you guys til then either. Hopefully we'll race you @ NY states, Stotes and Nationals.