Weight Training and Rowing

[johnlvs2run]

Regular deadlifts definitely develop your hamstrings.

They might develop yours, but not mine.

The hamstrings are two joint muscles.

Do regular deadlifts and these will develop your hamstrings.

[johnlvs2run]

Better yet, go out and run up and down some steep hills.

[zenpharaohs]

Regular deadlifts definitely develop your hamstrings.

They might develop yours, but not mine.

The hamstrings are two joint muscles.

Do regular deadlifts and these will develop your hamstrings.

I've done deadlifts just about once a week so far this year (I just checked my workout journal). It's about the same amount of deadlifting as I've done for the past two years. Almost all that weight lifting was supervised by professional trainers.

And regular deadlifting might develop someone's hamstrings. But not always. I've explained why. I don't expect to convince you, but the facts are what they are. Deadlifting has not done much at all for my hamstrings. As soon as we switched to ball curls and glute-ham raises, the hamstrings started responding rapidly.

Now you might be quite happy to fail to understand that the hamstrings are prime movers for knee flexion and not prime movers for hip extension. But there might be someone reading this who might find themselves in the same situation as I was. And for them, hamstring development is not about deadlifting.

Now I still deadlift, but primarily for lower back.

[johnlvs2run]

Do regular deadlifts -- not stiff legged -- and the regular dead lifts will develop your hamstrings.

Your problem is that you have not been doing the deadlifts correctly.

[johnlvs2run]

[zenpharaohs]

Do regular deadlifts -- not stiff legged -- and the regular dead lifts will develop your hamstrings.

Your problem is that you have not been doing the deadlifts correctly.

Maybe you could help out the people at exrx.net and correct their omission of barbell deadlifts from the list of hamstring exercises?

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ThighW ... hor1942303

[LJWagner]

The training plan in college we used included

15 minute bleacher runs 3 times a week. 1 step start, 2 steps the body, final sprints 3 steps a stride (me, anyway. Most guys could not do 3 steps).
2 mile runs 3x a week.
Dam spillway runs (10x up and down) once a week
Weight room work 3 times a week.
Rowed 6 days a week.

I came in at 145 lbs, gained no weight, despite about 6000 calories a day, but more than doubled my strength the first year.

If you want to increase rowing power with weights, work methodically at low back strength, bench row strength, and squats to parallel. Also work muscles balancing them. There are lots of exercises to choose from. Low back is the easiest to injure, so be very careful how much you do there.
Squats let you do low back and legs/glutes together. Bicep curls are next to useless for rowing, since rowing is done palms down. Rope climb is good for you, too. Legs hanging free, of course. Best if you can hold an L.

I gained the most rowing power for lower body doing 10 sets of 10 back squats, working with only 90 lbs. Doing more sets will stress the muscles well for endurance. The last sets should be pretty tough. I could squat more than that, doing 145 lbs, but could not get it over my head to place on my shoulders. One time, aA few other guys loaded me up with 145, and put it on me, then I did a set of 10. No problem, but 10 sets would have been too much.

Rowing is not about max strength, its what you can deliver at your boat's average stroke rate for your race time, up to 2-3 times a day in competition. Fastest boats get more rest time, fewer races, a huge advantage. More measurable strength should help your effective strength rowing, but it may not if you do not work at endurance with it.