Under 7:20 now...still looking for SUB 7!

[mmayzak]

I really want to be under 7:00 next season, dropped 8 seconds this year.

Big off season of training ahead.

What weight training do you do to augment you rowing??

Mike in Oklahoma

[bisqeet]

I really want to be under 7:00 next season, dropped 8 seconds this year.

Big off season of training ahead.

What weight training do you do to augment you rowing??

Mike in Oklahoma

Me. Specifically - none
I do circuit training and Reha sport ( born work trainer supervision) - but both are targeting allround muscle stability. Mobility. Strength rather than muscle building

Aerobic is either rower/bike/swimming.

2k is still 80 % aerobic - thats where you want to concentrate.

I think squats, deadlifts would be good excersizes for strength building.

Still no point in building all that strength if you die 60 seconds in...

Muscles need o2

[lindsayh]

weights won't make a huge impact but helps with core stability and top end power
time OTE is the best way forward
this may help https://indoorsportservices.co.uk/train ... t_training

[nick rockliff]

I really want to be under 7:00 next season, dropped 8 seconds this year.

Big off season of training ahead.

What weight training do you do to augment you rowing??

Mike in Oklahoma

If you want to row a faster 2k do more training on the erg.

[Anth_F]

Yep, what Nick said basically.

Barbell deadlifts, power-cleans to squats presses, even regular squats all help as well though. But ultimately, there really is no substitute for just getting on that erg regularly, and getting plenty of solid meters in the bank

[Edward4492]

Ya gotta erg! I found when I was doing crossfit and then some weight training that it took away from my erg sessions. Absolutely nothing wrong with weight training (Anthony does a great job with a well-rounded approach).But.....ya said you want to go sub 7min. My erging improved rapidly when I dropped everything else. And looking at it from another direction, my erging suffered when I spent six months OTW and ignored the erg. I lost about 10s off my 2k.

IMO the best way to build power is low rate (20spm) high power sessions; high wattage being relative. When you can do 10k at 200w rate 20 you should be pushing a 7min 2k.
(with some speed training to sharpen up).

[Oarsome Fitness]

Surprised by the comments towards weight training here.

You NEED to do weight training if you want to start getting sub 7 and beyond. You just need to be clever about the make up of those sessions. Depending on your current amount of weight training, you may need a couple of weeks to get used to lifting weights again. However, once you feel ready try a few weeks of this:

10 x 10 of:

Squats (getting legs to parallel)
Deadlifts
Bent Over Row

Big session - but it pays dividends. You then need to start changing up but for now i'd suggest getting this on the go.

Erg wise. MIles are needed.

Try 1 or 2 sessions a week similar to:

20 mins r18
rest 2 mins (get off, stretch, drink)
20 mins r18
rest 2 mins (get off, stretch, drink)
20 mins r18

If you are wanting to be sub 7, you should be able to handle 60 mins on the erg. (if you aren't already)

[G-dub]

Simon, I'm with you - it's hard to find an athletic event these days that doesn't support itself with weight training. Time becomes a factor I suppose and weight lifting alone won't get Mike to sub 7M which is clear. But not weight training seems very old school.

[nick rockliff]

Simon, I'm with you - it's hard to find an athletic event these days that doesn't support itself with weight training. Time becomes a factor I suppose and weight lifting alone won't get Mike to sub 7M which is clear. But not weight training seems very old school.

I've never lifted a weight and managed to get down to 6.16 for the 2k age 48. My 500 and 1k was always slow in comparison so maybe some weights may have helped those scores.

I got stuck on 6.20 and only progressed by doing more metres.

[mdpfirrman]

Simon, I'm with you - it's hard to find an athletic event these days that doesn't support itself with weight training. Time becomes a factor I suppose and weight lifting alone won't get Mike to sub 7M which is clear. But not weight training seems very old school.

What I always find interesting on here is that the rowers that are taller on here say, "just row" and the rowers that are "vertically challenged" say, "weights are important". I'm of average height but short legs and arms. For me, to even ever have a shot at sub 7, weights are critically important.

With that said, the OPs speed / power (based on his shorter rows) aren't bad at all. His distance work is really sub-par (based off of his times). I personally would continue lifting (I'm assuming he does based off of his power / shorter rows) and do plenty of distance work too.

I hope you get there (and that we all do that are shooting for the eventual sub 7).

To answer your question, I'm doing a lot of what Simon mentions, just with heavy dumbells and kettlebells. I think honestly that barbells are probably best but I have a bad right knee and for stability, I don't feel all that great using heavy barbells. I use up to a 50lb (your in OK so I can not talk metric) kettlebell and sometimes two 35 lb kettlebells at the gym. I'm also working on doing cleans now with kettlebells and heavy dumbbells. Personally, I'm working higher reps / lower weights early in the training year and I'll gradually build up and do more explosive stuff later in the season. I didn't improve this year on my 2K officially, but my Pete Plan workouts went down 2 full seconds per 500 this year from last (I got sick a few times overworking / overtraining before my race this year). I'm convinced that had I not gotten sick I'd be around 7:10 to 7:12 this year (I'm going to do a 2K test again next month and see if I can get there as I've been healthy now 2 full months).

Height does not matter according to most, but if you've got shorter limbs, bulk / strength matters greatly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0gDqsSUtWo

Here's a video similar to a lot of the work I'll do at the gym. I lift on my interval days (which right now are very short and sweet). I'll do longer recover rows on days between my hard days (@ 22 seconds above my 2K recent PB times paced). This allows speed work on my lifting days -- today I did an Ed McNeeley type of power workout - only made it to 6 reps today because of my lift! 20 secs max power, then 1' off, repeat until you can't sustain 80% of your max watt average. Obviously warm-ups are very important for this type of training.

If I could do barbell work with my compound lifts, I would but right now I only use barbell for mainly benching. It is the most effective but there are other effective ways to do compound moves.

[G-dub]

Nick, not to press the point too much but certainly weights aren't necessary to produce great times. You will always have better times than me and so many others for all kinds of reasons beyond whether you weight trained or not. Your argument would be like someone saying "all I ever did was ride my bike and the first time I sat down I pulled 7:00, so you really don't need to train on the erg at all to pull 7:00". My small point is that weight training seems to be part of athletic training whether that is to keep imbalances from causing injury or to enhance strength and power. I don't think weight training will get Mike to 7:00 - he still has a long way to go yet based on his improvement curve so far. But it would seem to me that people that train for a living wouldn't weight train if it didn't have any positive benefits, unless of course they are just trying to kill time.

[nick rockliff]

Nick, not to press the point too much but certainly weights aren't necessary to produce great times. You will always have better times than me and so many others for all kinds of reasons beyond whether you weight trained or not. Your argument would be like someone saying "all I ever did was ride my bike and the first time I sat down I pulled 7:00, so you really don't need to train on the erg at all to pull 7:00". My small point is that weight training seems to be part of athletic training whether that is to keep imbalances from causing injury or to enhance strength and power. I don't think weight training will get Mike to 7:00 - he still has a long way to go yet based on his improvement curve so far. But it would seem to me that people that train for a living wouldn't weight train if it didn't have any positive benefits, unless of course they are just trying to kill time.

Fully understand what you're saying but was just giving my opinion on the best way for the OP to achieve what he has set out to do.

[G-dub]

Nick, not to press the point too much but certainly weights aren't necessary to produce great times. You will always have better times than me and so many others for all kinds of reasons beyond whether you weight trained or not. Your argument would be like someone saying "all I ever did was ride my bike and the first time I sat down I pulled 7:00, so you really don't need to train on the erg at all to pull 7:00". My small point is that weight training seems to be part of athletic training whether that is to keep imbalances from causing injury or to enhance strength and power. I don't think weight training will get Mike to 7:00 - he still has a long way to go yet based on his improvement curve so far. But it would seem to me that people that train for a living wouldn't weight train if it didn't have any positive benefits, unless of course they are just trying to kill time.

Fully understand what you're saying but was just giving my opinion on the best way for the OP to achieve what he has set out to do.

Indeed! In the end Mike will have to get super fitter than he is right now and that won't happen without serious time on the erg.

[hjs]

Simon, I'm with you - it's hard to find an athletic event these days that doesn't support itself with weight training. Time becomes a factor I suppose and weight lifting alone won't get Mike to sub 7M which is clear. But not weight training seems very old school.

I've never lifted a weight and managed to get down to 6.16 for the 2k age 48. My 500 and 1k was always slow in comparison so maybe some weights may have helped those scores.

I got stuck on 6.20 and only progressed by doing more metres.

500/1k where "slow" cause you never ever trained for those.

Plenty of rowers do zero weights. I do, but don,t have the feeling it helps much, if any above 1k, and it seriously does hinder my erg training. Its more for general training and boredom from erging that I do other stuff.
Strenght is seldom the limiting factor on a 2k. Only guys who come from running/cycling often have very weak Upperbodies.

[lwtguy]

Proper weight training will do two things. First, it will improve your maximum output slightly (i.e. anything less than 500m). This won't do much good for you in a 2k except for maybe the first 100m and last 100m.

The second thing it does is enable your body to support a high training load (more volume and more intensity). This is what you need for a 2k. To push harder for a longer period of time. So essentially it will indirectly improve your 2k, but allowing to train more. But there is no substitute for aerobic fitness when it comes to a 2k.