Thoughts on my training plan for winter / off-season

[will3]

Hi all,
My season is now over and over the past few weeks I have refined and tweaked my training plan for the winter. My purpose for this plan is to come back as strong and fit as possible and to improve my 2k. I have about 5-6 months until training starts again and I will be following the following:

Monday: UT2 / LSS Erg (60 mins in total, 3 * 20' OR 2*30' OR 3 * 5km OR 1 * 60' OR Similar)

Tuesday: Upper Body Workout:
Incline Dumbell Press 4 * 6-8 Reps ; Chest-Supported Rows 3* 8-10 Reps ; Overhead Press 3* 6-8 Reps ; Lat Pulldown 3* 8-10 Reps ;
Incline Dumbell Curls 3 * 12 Reps ; Tricep Rope Push Down 3*12 Reps ; Optional Face Pulls OR Flies 3*12 Reps

Wednesday: Lower Body Workout:
Back Squats 5 * 12 Reps ; Romanian Deadlift 4* 8-10 Reps ; Leg Press 3 * 12 Reps ; Leg Extensions 3*12 Reps ; Seated Leg Curls 3*12 Reps ; Lying Leg Curls 3*12 Reps ; Calve Raises 3*20 Reps ; Seated Calve Raises 3*12

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: UT2 / LSS Erg (60 mins in total, 3 * 20' OR 2*30' OR 3 * 5km OR 1 * 60' OR Similar)

Saturday : Upper Body Workout (Same as Tuesday)

Sunday: Lower Body Workout (Same as Wednesday)

I would like to know your opinions on my plan and feel free to give feedback.

Thanks,
Will

[Dangerscouse]

Hi all,
My season is now over and over the past few weeks I have refined and tweaked my training plan for the winter. My purpose for this plan is to come back as strong and fit as possible and to improve my 2k. I have about 5-6 months until training starts again and I will be following the following:

Monday: UT2 / LSS Erg (60 mins in total, 3 * 20' OR 2*30' OR 3 * 5km OR 1 * 60' OR Similar)

Tuesday: Upper Body Workout:
Incline Dumbell Press 4 * 6-8 Reps ; Chest-Supported Rows 3* 8-10 Reps ; Overhead Press 3* 6-8 Reps ; Lat Pulldown 3* 8-10 Reps ;
Incline Dumbell Curls 3 * 12 Reps ; Tricep Rope Push Down 3*12 Reps ; Optional Face Pulls OR Flies 3*12 Reps

Wednesday: Lower Body Workout:
Back Squats 5 * 12 Reps ; Romanian Deadlift 4* 8-10 Reps ; Leg Press 3 * 12 Reps ; Leg Extensions 3*12 Reps ; Seated Leg Curls 3*12 Reps ; Lying Leg Curls 3*12 Reps ; Calve Raises 3*20 Reps ; Seated Calve Raises 3*12

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: UT2 / LSS Erg (60 mins in total, 3 * 20' OR 2*30' OR 3 * 5km OR 1 * 60' OR Similar)

Saturday : Upper Body Workout (Same as Tuesday)

Sunday: Lower Body Workout (Same as Wednesday)

I would like to know your opinions on my plan and feel free to give feedback.

Thanks,
Will

Hhmm, just my thoughts so feel free to ignore them, but the 2k isn't very dominated by strength, and you're definitely missing something by not doing intervals and some mid/high range intensity sessions.

I think you're focusing on strength too much eg two types of calf raises aren't needed, and if you're doing Romanian deads you don't need leg curls as well. Your hamstrings will be hammered enough.

I'd add the other sessions to the end of the strength training, or you could possibly get away with three days of hard weight training eg PPL (Push, Pull, Legs) and squeeze in another row session.

Martin and Cam will be better placed to advise on what works for them as they really do incorporate heavy weights to lots of aerobic sessions.

[MartinSH4321]

I think Stu is right, that's a lot of weights , but only little endurance work, so you'll only reach the strength goal but not the fitness goal.
It's possible to focus on strength for a while and hold endurance on maintenance, but in my opinion that's not needed if your goal is to improve your 2k.

A few things I would change to get a faster 2k:
Strength work:
- do less, and focus on exercises that support rowing, so back and legs. Unless you also have other goals (like looking strong) you should do exercises for chest, shoulder and triceps only to prevent imbalances, not to get them as strong as the muscles you really need for rowing. From my perspective, you can cut out the calve raises, they already get trained enough with rowing and leg work.
- You should have some variation with both reps and selected exercises

endurance:
- as Stu already said, you also need to do hard work on the rower, at least once a week
- depending on how much time you can spend on training, you should do way more base meters, 2h per week is on the very low side. 2 easy trainings per day worked pretty good for me, 1x AM 1x PM. You can do a part your base work also on the bike, or run..., this can help to prevent overstessing of back and arms, especially when also doing weights. But the hard endurance work should be done on the rower if possible.

To give you an example, I train for some erg sprint PBs in June atm, right now I'm in the middle of a strength mesocycle and my normal training week consists of 3 strength days and 2 days with 2x1h bike. Soon I'll focus on power developement with less weights, 2 hard short erg workouts, 1x plyo exercises and 4h bike per week.
When I'm finished with the sprints I've planned to focus on endurance a good bit more, with propably 2 strength sessions, 1 hard interval session and 4-8 easy base workouts. I think something similar should work for you too, you'll get stronger and fitter.
Just my thoughts, please feel free to ignore them.

Good Luck!

[MartinSH4321]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT4iwzHCBKk
Here's a link about Scheduling Strength Training with Rowing from Strength Coach Will, I like his content, maybe it can help you.

[jamesg]

My purpose for this plan is to come back as strong and fit as possible and to improve my 2k.

What's your 2k target? If you know this, do a little maths. Start with the target time, translate to Power in Watts, divide by the rating you think you can do it at; this will give a number, which is the work in Watt-minute in each stroke.

If 300W, rate 28, then you need a stroke worth 300/28 = 11 Watt minutes.

Then develop that stroke and train it. This will be very hard work, as well as requiring perfect technique, so you'll have to do short work pieces as 8 x 1 minute, 4 x 5 minutes, at low ratings.

You can see a complete 24 week program here, showing the types of work needed:
https://www.britishrowing.org/indoor-ro ... ing-plans/

[Tsnor]

Monday: UT2 / LSS Erg (60 mins in total
Tuesday: Upper Body Workout:
Wednesday: Lower Body Workout:
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: UT2 / LSS Erg (60 mins in total
Saturday : Upper Body Workout (Same as Tuesday)
Sunday: Lower Body Workout (Same as Wednesday)

In this study adding one intensity day/week (one HIT session per 7-10 day) during off season https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... d_cyclists
1. Makes you faster when measured 8 weeks later. Not a surprising result.
2. Makes you STILL faster when measured 16 weeks after the first measurement compared to people who did 8 week of only low intensity even though both groups did the same workouts after the first 8 weeks. This was a surprise, the group that only did UT2 was unable to catch up.
Conclusion from study: "..The present study suggests that well-trained endurance athletes should incorporate one HIT (high intensity) session every 7-10 days during the transition phase in order to avoid reduction in fitness and performance level when entering the preparatory period. Maintaining 40-min all-out performance during the transition period increased this performance from before the transition period to the beginning of the subsequent competition season, while this improvement was not seen when performing only LIT (low intensity) with associated decline in performance during the transition period. "

Net: I'd add one day/week of intervals or other hard workout to your off season workout plan. Maybe add it to one of your lower body lifting days. Or maybe replace Sat/Sun with one hard interval day and another day of UT2.

[will3]

Hhmm, just my thoughts so feel free to ignore them, but the 2k isn't very dominated by strength, and you're definitely missing something by not doing intervals and some mid/high range intensity sessions.

I think you're focusing on strength too much eg two types of calf raises aren't needed, and if you're doing Romanian deads you don't need leg curls as well. Your hamstrings will be hammered enough.

I'd add the other sessions to the end of the strength training, or you could possibly get away with three days of hard weight training eg PPL (Push, Pull, Legs) and squeeze in another row session.

Martin and Cam will be better placed to advise on what works for them as they really do incorporate heavy weights to lots of aerobic sessions.

Thanks for the response. I understand what you mean, so would it help a lot by adding an intervals session say on Saturday or Sunday after weight? What would one of these sessions look like and should I measure them by split or heart rate.

[will3]

I think Stu is right, that's a lot of weights , but only little endurance work, so you'll only reach the strength goal but not the fitness goal.
It's possible to focus on strength for a while and hold endurance on maintenance, but in my opinion that's not needed if your goal is to improve your 2k.

A few things I would change to get a faster 2k:
Strength work:
- do less, and focus on exercises that support rowing, so back and legs. Unless you also have other goals (like looking strong) you should do exercises for chest, shoulder and triceps only to prevent imbalances, not to get them as strong as the muscles you really need for rowing. From my perspective, you can cut out the calve raises, they already get trained enough with rowing and leg work.
- You should have some variation with both reps and selected exercises

endurance:
- as Stu already said, you also need to do hard work on the rower, at least once a week
- depending on how much time you can spend on training, you should do way more base meters, 2h per week is on the very low side. 2 easy trainings per day worked pretty good for me, 1x AM 1x PM. You can do a part your base work also on the bike, or run..., this can help to prevent overstessing of back and arms, especially when also doing weights. But the hard endurance work should be done on the rower if possible.

To give you an example, I train for some erg sprint PBs in June atm, right now I'm in the middle of a strength mesocycle and my normal training week consists of 3 strength days and 2 days with 2x1h bike. Soon I'll focus on power developement with less weights, 2 hard short erg workouts, 1x plyo exercises and 4h bike per week.
When I'm finished with the sprints I've planned to focus on endurance a good bit more, with propably 2 strength sessions, 1 hard interval session and 4-8 easy base workouts. I think something similar should work for you too, you'll get stronger and fitter.
Just my thoughts, please feel free to ignore them.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the reply. I guess like you I am focussing on strength right now but I do see why I need to do more edurance work. Would it be better to do a strength cycle for a few weeks and then move onto more edurance or just do a mixture of both for the next few months. The reason I like doing weights is because last winter season I only did weights and saw my rowing splits improve by a lot as well as my 2k.

[will3]

My purpose for this plan is to come back as strong and fit as possible and to improve my 2k.

What's your 2k target? If you know this, do a little maths. Start with the target time, translate to Power in Watts, divide by the rating you think you can do it at; this will give a number, which is the work in Watt-minute in each stroke.

If 300W, rate 28, then you need a stroke worth 300/28 = 11 Watt minutes.

Then develop that stroke and train it. This will be very hard work, as well as requiring perfect technique, so you'll have to do short work pieces as 8 x 1 minute, 4 x 5 minutes, at low ratings.

You can see a complete 24 week program here, showing the types of work needed:
https://www.britishrowing.org/indoor-ro ... ing-plans/

Thanks for the reply. My 2k target is sub 7 or 300 W and I usually do race pieces at 30 rate so that would be 10 Watt minutes. Do you think one hard training at 10 W per stroke would be helpful over the winter season?

[will3]

In this study adding one intensity day/week (one HIT session per 7-10 day) during off season https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... d_cyclists
1. Makes you faster when measured 8 weeks later. Not a surprising result.
2. Makes you STILL faster when measured 16 weeks after the first measurement compared to people who did 8 week of only low intensity even though both groups did the same workouts after the first 8 weeks. This was a surprise, the group that only did UT2 was unable to catch up.
Conclusion from study: "..The present study suggests that well-trained endurance athletes should incorporate one HIT (high intensity) session every 7-10 days during the transition phase in order to avoid reduction in fitness and performance level when entering the preparatory period. Maintaining 40-min all-out performance during the transition period increased this performance from before the transition period to the beginning of the subsequent competition season, while this improvement was not seen when performing only LIT (low intensity) with associated decline in performance during the transition period. "

Net: I'd add one day/week of intervals or other hard workout to your off season workout plan. Maybe add it to one of your lower body lifting days. Or maybe replace Sat/Sun with one hard interval day and another day of UT2.

Thanks for the reply. Wow just one HIT session makes such a difference. I'll definely add it in. Would you think a shortened Upper Body Weight session and then a HIT afterwards be a good combo and if so what type of workouts should I do. During on season we usually do 8 * 500 m with 1 minute rest. Would that be a good HIT session.

[jamesg]

My 2k target is sub 7 or 300 W and I usually do race pieces at 30 rate so that would be 10 Watt minutes. Do you think one hard training at 10 W per stroke would be helpful over the winter season?

If you plan to race at that Work level per stroke, then all pieces will center on that level or close, whatever the rating, and including UT2. This trains strength and endurance. If you need to ease into it, starting at a lower work level, do so.

Interactive Plans for 2k using the above type work are max 26 weeks, which is plenty. So if you race in May-June, winter work will include it. Typical Level 3, 5 day schedules started like this:

1 TEST 1x20'UT1 2x12'UT1 2x15'UT1 2x10'UT1
2 40'UT2 2x14'UT1 2x16'UT1 2x18'UT1 2x15'UT1
3 45'UT2 2x17'UT1 2x19'UT1 4x10'UT1 2x18'UT1

The test serves to set your Watt bands: UT2 up to 60% Test, UT1 70%. In ratings, UT2 means 18-20, UT1 20-23.

[Dangerscouse]

Thanks for the response. I understand what you mean, so would it help a lot by adding an intervals session say on Saturday or Sunday after weight? What would one of these sessions look like and should I measure them by split or heart rate.

I'd suggest doing short and medium sessions. 5 x 750m 3:30r (at 2k -2) and 4 x1k 5r (at your 2k target pace) are good examples. Also 4 x 2k at your target 2k pace + 7/8 and a medium hard 5k-8k at 85-90% of max HR.

I'd use HR for the longer single distances, but that is a personal preference as you could use Watts, but I don't know what to advise for them.

The 85-90% is great for preparing you to tolerate the lactate build up, but don't do them too often as they can be counter productive in the long term.

There are loads of options, and I'm sure others will chip in with some others too

[MartinSH4321]

I think Stu is right, that's a lot of weights , but only little endurance work, so you'll only reach the strength goal but not the fitness goal.
It's possible to focus on strength for a while and hold endurance on maintenance, but in my opinion that's not needed if your goal is to improve your 2k.

A few things I would change to get a faster 2k:
Strength work:
- do less, and focus on exercises that support rowing, so back and legs. Unless you also have other goals (like looking strong) you should do exercises for chest, shoulder and triceps only to prevent imbalances, not to get them as strong as the muscles you really need for rowing. From my perspective, you can cut out the calve raises, they already get trained enough with rowing and leg work.
- You should have some variation with both reps and selected exercises

endurance:
- as Stu already said, you also need to do hard work on the rower, at least once a week
- depending on how much time you can spend on training, you should do way more base meters, 2h per week is on the very low side. 2 easy trainings per day worked pretty good for me, 1x AM 1x PM. You can do a part your base work also on the bike, or run..., this can help to prevent overstessing of back and arms, especially when also doing weights. But the hard endurance work should be done on the rower if possible.

To give you an example, I train for some erg sprint PBs in June atm, right now I'm in the middle of a strength mesocycle and my normal training week consists of 3 strength days and 2 days with 2x1h bike. Soon I'll focus on power developement with less weights, 2 hard short erg workouts, 1x plyo exercises and 4h bike per week.
When I'm finished with the sprints I've planned to focus on endurance a good bit more, with propably 2 strength sessions, 1 hard interval session and 4-8 easy base workouts. I think something similar should work for you too, you'll get stronger and fitter.
Just my thoughts, please feel free to ignore them.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the reply. I guess like you I am focussing on strength right now but I do see why I need to do more edurance work. Would it be better to do a strength cycle for a few weeks and then move onto more edurance or just do a mixture of both for the next few months. The reason I like doing weights is because last winter season I only did weights and saw my rowing splits improve by a lot as well as my 2k.

In another thread you posted that you're 15, 183cm and 66kg, so I think it's normal that you improve a lot within 1 winter season, you propably would have improved as good (or even better) with a mixture of both strength and endurance.
It's possible to start with a strength mesocycle, but I doubt it's necessary, you would need at least a few mesos to get significantly stronger than with a mix, and you would loose some fitness.
3 hard training days per week with at least 1 hard row, preferably on the same day with upper body strength, and as much easy endurance work as you can fit in and can recover from, should work well.

[btlifter]

As others have said - way more strength work than is needed. By my count, you have 21 sets of lower body strength/session... and you do that twice.
(not counting calf work, which as Martin pointed out will not be providing any benefit to rowing)

That's more than twice the amount that's optimal for hypertrophy, and arguably 3 or 4 times as many sets as is optimal for strength. Consequently, this amount of volume will not only likely interfere with aerobic development, it will also be counterproductive for gaining strength - either your quality of work will be compromised or you will bury yourself if you aim to sustain this.

It would be irresponsible for me to prescribe what your weight-training routine ought to look like. But, suffice it to say, after 3-4 quality sets of squats and the same of romanian deadlifts... you've unlocked well over 90% of the total lower body strength development you have the potential to achieve in that workout session. The saved time and energy would be much better spent incorporating more aerobic development.