fast and explosive or slow and steady

[2ball]

I have only done 4 or 5 work outs.

I do very short explosive (for me) intervals. 200m 1 minute rest.
This is tough, I am out of breath and sometimes pause at the end of my stroke for a coupe of seconds to rest.

Then one time I do a slow and steady stroke with no rest where I just go faster at 60% or so and my time in the 200mm was only 5 seconds slower then my all out "explosive time".

Which way do I want to row?

[iain]

It depends what you want from your workouts. I am a fairly weak lightweight so may not be comparable, but I can do 200m almost flat out without resting as a one off, but would need to slow the rating by 20-25% to do say 6 and maybe 30% for 10. It is generally frowned upon to pause between strokes, but many workouts are done at a low rating so that the power sustained during the drive can be high, this is done by really slowing the recovery just crawling up the slide for very low ratings but without coming to a complete stop. This allows you to concentrate on every stroke and improve your technique. Going hell for leather will inevitably lead to compromises that might make injury more likely. That said, the most important thing is that you enjoy your rowing enough to continue doing it, so which do you prefer?

That said, unless you are trying to build sprint speed, it is likely to be better for your fitness and health to go steady and start to do longer intervals. 200M is largely anaerobic. If you are looking for strength, you will make more progress with weights!

[2ball]

If my goal is to put up the best 500m time I can, what should my work out look like?

[Tsnor]

I do very short explosive (for me) intervals. 200m 1 minute rest.
This is tough, I am out of breath and sometimes pause at the end of my stroke for a coupe of seconds to rest.

Then one time I do a slow and steady stroke with no rest where I just go faster at 60% or so and my time in the 200mm was only 5 seconds slower then my all out "explosive time".

Which way do I want to row?

Both.

Aerobic conditioning is slow steady over long period of time. You get more capillaries, mitochondria, useful lung capacity, blood volume, ability to work at higher and higher loads for longer and longer. But takes a LONG time to see results. Months or years. You should do this. Gradually build up, plan on rest of your life doing this. Intermix walking, running, biking, rowing, hiking, etc.

Anaerobic conditioning (strength training, short hard intervals, high output pieces) builds up really quickly. 6 weeks of work will give obvious improvement. Instant gratification. You want to mix some of this work in a few times a week. As you get close to when you want your peak 200m performance this is where you focus. BUT you cannot focus too hard on this for too long without negative health impact (overreach/overtraining).

NOTE: Short hard pieces with poor form is one way to get hurt. Your legs start strong and get stronger fast, your back/core muscles start smaller, mainly used to stabilize you. With poor form/technique your back muscles work against your leg muscles, can't handle the load and you get back pain. Just like lifting a heavy package wrong. Plenty of great technique videos out there, post if you want links.

Suggestion: Focus on low load, gradually longer rows where you are thinking FORM not power. Once you are comfortable rowing 30 minutes with good technique then introduce some fast intervals at higher power while still focused on good form.

[Tsnor]

If my goal is to put up the best 500m time I can, what should my work out look like?

Weight lifting and Beginner Pete Plan will max your 500m. https://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/beginner-training/

Understanding training will help: https://youtu.be/MALsI0mJ09I

[MPx]

Even a piece as short as 500m needs some aerobic fitness. You can sustain your pure strength assault for about 40 - 45 seconds. To work on your aerobic base takes a lot of seat time and long distances over many months/years, but can be done at a relatively slow pace. Sprinting requires greater power - easiest to gain with weights but also through use of the erg. Speed training is usually accomplished through short intervals (like your 200m r1) where you try to sustain a pace quicker than your goal 500m pace for say 10x 200m. The one min rest is quite short - think in terms of rest time = 2x work time for max efforts on short stuff.

A word of caution. To sprint fast you need a strong stroke. A strong stroke will come most efficiently if your form is good. With only 4 or 5 sessions under your belt its likely that you may still need to tweak your stroke a bit. Going at it full beans every time will stop you doing that - you'll just learn workarounds to get the current best times and they will become hard to unlearn when you plateau and need to change to make further progress. Take some time now to get the stroke right before getting too fixated on world domination.

[Dangerscouse]

A word of caution. To sprint fast you need a strong stroke. A strong stroke will come most efficiently if your form is good. With only 4 or 5 sessions under your belt its likely that you may still need to tweak your stroke a bit. Going at it full beans every time will stop you doing that - you'll just learn workarounds to get the current best times and they will become hard to unlearn when you plateau and need to change to make further progress. Take some time now to get the stroke right before getting too fixated on world domination.

Great comment Mike. Understanding how to row effectively will be very beneficial as you can be leaking power through bad habits that soon become automatic.

What is important to remember is that you need to train 'around' the target and not just very specific training aimed at 500m. As an example, Olympic rowers will also regularly row 20k+ and circa 150k a week, in addition to short and very sharp intervals.

[Dave Neve]

Hello 2ball and all

One thing that I'd like to add, and to see how others react, is that unless you're training for a competition or to record your time, I'm inclined not to start sprints from a standstill but to start rowing a few seconds beforehand

This is simply to avoid injury such as a pulled muscle, especially if you are new to rowing/sport and your body is not as resilient as you might hope.

[jamesg]

As already noted, both. The first 20 minutes is warmup. The WODs then provide plenty of variety.

[Dangerscouse]

Hello 2ball and all

One thing that I'd like to add, and to see how others react, is that unless you're training for a competition or to record your time, I'm inclined not to start sprints from a standstill but to start rowing a few seconds beforehand

This is simply to avoid injury such as a pulled muscle, especially if you are new to rowing/sport and your body is not as resilient as you might hope.

Agreed. A rolling start definitely removes the risky starting element of the stroke, especially, as you say, when your muscles, ligaments and tendons haven't got used to the effort required

[Willy.VdW]

What about technique? Is it a good idea to go "fast and furious as" a beginner?
Isn't this risky if your technique isn't good and isn't the better way to develop a good technique to row slow(er)
while paying attention at how you row until you do it correct without thinking before speeding up?

[p_b82]

Just my 2p.

You've made no mention of your pace or your rate (or age/conditioning) - so there's a lot of assumptions to be made but...

When I started, I had poor technique, and pulled my biceps - I was pulling (upper body) not pushing (legs & lower back) too much. As others have said, bad habits are very easy to develop early, and spending time on your technique now will pay you dividends in the longer term as you aim for your goals.

I hit my 500m pb while training for a FM, and having been doing a load of slow steady stuff at 20-23spm. I threw in a 500m session "because I was bored" - 5 min warmup, then hit it hard; only averaged 35spm, so I know "I can do better" as I've hit 40spm and higher power at other points.

The challenge is to not fly and die so badly that you'd have been better off with a slightly lower peak power output that is more sustainable for the duration. You will get slower at the end in all honesty - but it's managing that rate of decline that's the tricky part.

[2ball]

thanks for the replies, in hindsight, I think rowing is exactly like running.
If today I decided I was going to be a runner, would I do 200m sprints or would I jog a few miles.

I think I would jog a few miles. That's what I am going to do on the rower.