Weight Training for Rowing

[Bob S.]

167lbs is quite reasonable for a college lightweight.

Reasonable?? What is that supposed to mean? The rule is the average weight of a lightweight crew cannot be over 155# and no individual oarsman in that crew can weigh over 160#. Perhaps you may consider it to be unreasonable, but those are the rules.

4-106 Lightweights
A lightweight crew is one that complies with the requirements below. An open event is one that is not a lightweight event.
(a) Men: (1) A men’s lightweight crew shall average no more
than 155 lbs. per rower, and no individual rower shall weigh more than 160 lbs.
(2) A male single sculler (1x) shall not weigh more than 160 lbs.
(3) A Junior men’s lightweight crew is one in which no individual rower weighs more than 155 lbs.
(4) A men’s Masters lightweight crew is one in which no individual rower weighs more than 160 lbs.
(5) The coxswain shall not be counted for purposes of this rule.
(b) Women: (1) A women’s lightweight crew, including a single scull (1x), shall have no rower who weighs more than 130 lb. (2) The coxswain shall not be counted for purposes of this rule.
[Editor’s Note: Please note that rules relating to USRowing National Team Trials regattas and regattas governed by FISA, the International Rowing Federation, may vary; refer to Rule 6-203.]

By the way - don't blame me. I don't make any rules - I just look them up on the USRowing website.

Bob S.

[ThatMoos3Guy]

He probably means that it's reasonable for the 167lb athlete to get down to 160lbs by race season; most collegiate lightweights weigh in at well over 160 during the off season, some even getting into the 180s.

[bperry63]

exactly. its not uncommon for college lightweights to be 160-170 during the fall and winter. Remember for most college lightweights, the weighin is the day before the race. Nobody walks around at their target weight during the week.

[hjs]

He probably means that it's reasonable for the 167lb athlete to get down to 160lbs by race season; most collegiate lightweights weigh in at well over 160 during the off season, some even getting into the 180s.

That may be the case, but that doesn,t mean it's wise to do so. If you are well overweight you have to focus on weightloss in the runup to the season instead off good training. There is never a reason to get your bodyfat % to heigh. Stay fit, stay lean !

[arje06]

You are right with that hjs, he had to focus for him to have the better result. He should start with the lightweight before the heavyweight and then the overweight. It's not easy but it is possible achieve by someone who had a healthy body,potential and most determination.

[sheehc]

The thing you must remember, is that in the States the top level teams weigh in the day before racing. As such, they can drop an unreasonable amount of weight prior to racing and still have time to re-hydrate and recuperate. There are more athletes than one would first think who are only under 160lbs for the few moments they spend on the scale and then quickly come back up. This is one reason why results sometimes change from Sprints to IRAs, where they weigh in the day of racing. Even looking at safe weight loss though, a rower could easily be 167lbs (say 7% body fat), drop enough fat to be 163lbs (now at ~4.5%) in a month or less and then sweat off the last 3 lbs with minimal impact to performance. This is with with lightweights who row for heavyweight programs and tend to let themselves drift up toward the high 160's during the year (it makes no sense to stay at 4% year round) and then come back down over the summer to race at Canley/Nationals or when they graduate if they want to continue. Additionally, it is standard practice for college coaches to recruit HS athletes in the high 160's to row as lightweights. I believe Dartmouth frosh 3 or 4 years ago didn't make weight at a number of races and people were speculating if they'd make weight at Sprints (they did). Given all that, to see a 167lb rower on a heavyweight team and call him a lightweight may not be 100% accurate, but it is not entirely outside the bounds of reason either.

[hjs]

The thing you must remember, is that in the States the top level teams weigh in the day before racing. As such, they can drop an unreasonable amount of weight prior to racing and still have time to re-hydrate and recuperate. There are more athletes than one would first think who are only under 160lbs for the few moments they spend on the scale and then quickly come back up. This is one reason why results sometimes change from Sprints to IRAs, where they weigh in the day of racing. Even looking at safe weight loss though, a rower could easily be 167lbs (say 7% body fat), drop enough fat to be 163lbs (now at ~4.5%) in a month or less and then sweat off the last 3 lbs with minimal impact to performance. This is with with lightweights who row for heavyweight programs and tend to let themselves drift up toward the high 160's during the year (it makes no sense to stay at 4% year round) and then come back down over the summer to race at Canley/Nationals or when they graduate if they want to continue. Additionally, it is standard practice for college coaches to recruit HS athletes in the high 160's to row as lightweights. I believe Dartmouth frosh 3 or 4 years ago didn't make weight at a number of races and people were speculating if they'd make weight at Sprints (they did). Given all that, to see a 167lb rower on a heavyweight team and call him a lightweight may not be 100% accurate, but it is not entirely outside the bounds of reason either.

Sure you don,t have to be lightweight all the time and indeed most lightweights are clearly above the limit, that's the case in most sport's with weightclasses.
Weighing in the day before is clearly nonsons, that way you make it possible to glycogeendepleet and dehydralisch maximally. Not very healthy and it can be 5/7 lbs difference.
Best would be close before rwoing to weigh in, that way only real lightweights can compete.

The fat % thing is something else, sure you don,t have be 4% al year round, but you also don,t have to be above 8/10% out season.

[milkman21]

FYI, the *absolute leanest* competitive bodybuilders only get down to 4-5% BF for their competition--and that's only for a 12-24 hour period. I don't think there are any athletes who compete below 7-8% in their respective sports, except perhaps the very rare, genetically-gifted type who was born with a sixpack.

Even someone shredded as Terrell Owens is in the 9% BF range, and doesn't go below that. Usain Bolt is probably in the 8% range.

Ahtletes simply don't get anywhere near 5%, and if they do, then they won't have much of an ability to compete.

[hjs]

FYI, the *absolute leanest* competitive bodybuilders only get down to 4-5% BF for their competition--and that's only for a 12-24 hour period. I don't think there are any athletes who compete below 7-8% in their respective sports, except perhaps the very rare, genetically-gifted type who was born with a sixpack.

Even someone shredded as Terrell Owens is in the 9% BF range, and doesn't go below that. Usain Bolt is probably in the 8% range.

Ahtletes simply don't get anywhere near 5%, and if they do, then they won't have much of an ability to compete.

Top bodybuilders go to 2/4%. Your bodyfat % does not change in 12/24 hours, for a 100 kg man to gain 1% in bodyfat he should have a 9000 kcal surplus in a given periode. To eat that much above your basis energy need in 1 day is almost impossible and does not happen.
Bodybuilders are very good in manipulating there hydration. This makes the big changes in the last weel before there competition. Not the change in bodyfat, that happens mostly in a 12 weeks periode. Going from around 10 % to competion percentage. If you show up with 5% you wil not win.

[DanMartin]

In the meantime. Do snatch grip overhead squats to build up some overall body strength.

[Nosmo]

I don't think there are any athletes who compete below 7-8% in their respective sports, except perhaps the very rare, genetically-gifted type who was born with a sixpack.
.....
Ahtletes simply don't get anywhere near 5%, and if they do, then they won't have much of an ability to compete.

Are you sure about that?

That is Rasmussen (aka chicken legs) who was leading the Tour De France before he got ejected for lying to the anti-doping authorities. And that picture was taken just before the tour started.

and Tyler Hamilton who managed to not only finish the tour but win a stage after breaking his collar bone in the first few days--one really tough dude (and of course another doper):


I'd bet most pro cyclists who race the the grand tours are below 7%. Certainly by the end of a tour if not at the start.
Edit: Thinking some more, I would bet almost all pro and top amateur cyclists are below 7% during the season (they may get fat during the off season.) There is just too much of a weight penalty on hills not to be skinny.

[ThatMoos3Guy]

FYI, the *absolute leanest* competitive bodybuilders only get down to 4-5% BF for their competition--and that's only for a 12-24 hour period. I don't think there are any athletes who compete below 7-8% in their respective sports, except perhaps the very rare, genetically-gifted type who was born with a sixpack.

Even someone shredded as Terrell Owens is in the 9% BF range, and doesn't go below that. Usain Bolt is probably in the 8% range.

Ahtletes simply don't get anywhere near 5%, and if they do, then they won't have much of an ability to compete.

I'm not so sure about that. For a lab in my nutrition class we collected everyone's body composition via the BodPod (one of the more accurate ways to estimate body fat). This report said that I had a percent body fat of 4%. For lean individuals the BodPod does tend to estimate a percent or two lower than the actual percent, but even so that puts my levels at 6%. This was in the middle of race season.

Also, at the NBA draft combine players BF% is recorded. Almost everyone is below 10% and a lot are sub 6%, with the lowest recorded being 3.7%. Clearly these athletes are able to compete. Here are the full results: http://www.nbadraft.net/2010-nba-draft- ... asurements

[sheehc]

I can make no claim to elite status (honestly didn't have the work ethic to match tip top guys, doubt I have the physiology either), but those were essentially my numbers that I used. I typically floated around 164 in the off season and came down to 160 fully hydrated. Weigh in at 157. Body fat was done a number of times over the years by skinfold and varying forms of electrical impedance. After accounting for errors, my range would be about 4-8% over the year. You are correct about a low end though. I didn't need a scale to know I was under 5%, my performance showed it. As such I tried not to get that low. These days I workout just enough to keep old injuries at bay and spend the rest of the day studying. I made a concerted push to put on weight for several months (weight in general, not muscle). Still only ended up with 10% body fat. Similarly when our trainer tested rowers on a team I coached a few years ago, several were between 5-7% naturally and were perfectly fine and quite competitive. Just like there are some people who put on weight by looking at food, some people are just not meant to be big.

As for TO looking shredded at 9% I think, and I readily admit this is pure speculation, that the sheer size of his muscles may play a part in that. I would imagine the muscle size would cause what body fat he does have, to be stretched out over a greater surface area allowing him to look more shredded than a much lankier and muscularly smaller rower of the same body fat.

[sheehc]

In the meantime. Do snatch grip overhead squats to build up some overall body strength.

Hmmm, you must be a beginner to recommend this. Advanced athletes would know it has to be a snatch grip overhead jump squat to get any real improvement.

[DanMartin]

In the meantime. Do snatch grip overhead squats to build up some overall body strength.

Hmmm, you must be a beginner to recommend this. Advanced athletes would know it has to be a snatch grip overhead jump squat to get any real improvement.

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.