#row2k

[savvylittlecoxswain]

How to Throw Your Coxswain in the Water

Rob Colburn via row2k

“For most coxswains, being thrown in is the perfect end to a perfect day, and they enthusiastically join in. There are always a few dissidents who allow trivial fears of hypothermia, toxic runoff, or impalement on a submerged log, to cause them to resist. Coxswain escapes are serious and time-consuming; once loose, they can wedge themselves like hermit crabs into impossibly small crevices in the luggage compartment of the bus or under the sink in the training room, and -- depending on how much weight your cox has had to cut for the race -- it will cost you at least half of a box of fig newtons to lure them out again.

One of the rowers -- someone big and who is impervious to appeals for clemency (such as your five seat) must keep firm hold of the coxswain from the moment the shell returns to the dock. It is not enough simply to run a trailer strap through the gussets of his or her jacket -- coxswains can gnaw right through those. If things are busy on the dock, and no one can be spared for sentry duty while the shell is washed down and put away, temporarily empty the equipment box. (Most coxswains can be made to fit as long as you fold them properly, and if enough rowers stand on the top to press it down. Remember to punch some holes in the lid)

One very cold day early in the season, the winning coxswain of a crew which shall remain nameless (it's not the one you're thinking), succeeded in getting the drop on his rowers, forcing his exhausted crew to chase him on race-tired legs. He got as far as the soccer fields before they tackled him, dragged him down to the boathouse, stripped him to the essentials, and threw him in. They then lined up on the edge of the dock and pushed h im in again every time he tried to climb out. He had turned a very satisfactory shade of blue before they relented.

They made their point.

[southjerseyweb]

South Jersey Indoor Championships - 11:10am - 2:00pm - Rowing photos | row2k.com

South Jersey Indoor Championships – 11:10am – 2:00pm Rowing photos on row2k, one of the premier sources of rowing and sculling news, …

[powerhousefit]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jack Nunn (@roworx_rowing)

Wanted to reach out to you all and give massive thanks to all the donations so far. We are over 15% of our goal in just 2 weeks of starting this campaign. GoFundMe is matching raised funds up to $500 which we have matched so far. 🙏 Due to the recent Covid-19 virus, Roworx fitness has been closed but we have continued FREE online virtual classes and feature them on our business Instagram and personal/business Facebook Roworx pages. The classes are everyday at NOON 🕛 and we plan to keep offering these classes until we open our doors again. In the meantime, Roworx is in need of raising money to pay rent and the ability to improve the broadcast from a remote location. Any donation is greatly appreciated as we navigate through these challenging times. Click the link below to donate and/or offer prepaid gift cards to send to friends and family for future rowing classes via Venmo and PayPal. Thank You And God Bless ☝🏻 Link in bio above to donate☝🏻 #smallbusinessrelief @roworx_rowing #rowing #groupfitness #gofundme #onlinefitness #fitspo #fitnessmotivation #fitnessclass #workout #workoutmotivation #exercisemotivation #exercise #workingfromhome #rowingclass #rowingcoach #row2k #fitnessgoals #exerciseroutine #rowingbible #liverowing #onlineclasses #fitnessjourney #rowingtechnique #rowingpost #rowingrelated #dailyrowing #worldrowing #werow #rowingworkout #rowingmachine (at Roworx) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-0i9WEAKNN/?igshid=1goc9trum3jzb

[justtblue]

📸 Instagram | row2k

[rowingchat]

The print edition of #RowingTales has arrived! So happy. Buy @row2k https://rowingstore.row2k.com/product-category/rowing-books/ #rowing #rowinglife #rowingrelated #rowingbible #mastersrowing https://www.instagram.com/p/CWCNjt4PZMV/?utm_medium=tumblr

[fagdykefriendship]

the row2k photos they took of me are atrocious i swear i’m getting better at looking up while i row but they managed to capture every moment i was looking down 💔

[izatrini]

row2k's Four Years Later: Trinidad & Tobago's Aisha Chow - row2k.com http://dlvr.it/S1gPkw

[southjerseyweb]

South Jersey Indoor Championships - 8:00am-10:55am - Rowing photos | row2k.com

South Jersey Indoor Championships – 8:00am-10:55am Rowing photos on row2k, one of the premier sources of rowing and sculling news, rowing results, …

[powerhousefit]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jack Nunn (@roworx_rowing)

ROWORX IS GOING LIVE TOMORROW (Sunday at Noon) with a 60 minute heart pounding low impact workout at a remote location during this self isolation. Tune in and get a great workout with us on our social media feeds on Facebook @roworxrowing and here on Instagram @roworx_rowing 🔼Follow my social media handles above and tune in to get moving 🔼 You can use any rowing machine but concept 2 is preferable. I will continue these workouts throughout the quarantine process every day until our doors open again at Roworx Fitness. Be safe. Keep moving. Stay strong 💪 and above all else HAVE FAITH! When in doubt... row it out! Excited to get going again. Tell your friends and the entire Roworx community to tune in. @roworx_rowing #roworx #rowing #concept2 #indoorrowing #alonetogether #americastrong #workout #rowingmachine #row2k #indoorrowing #rowingrelated #dailyrowing #rowingworkout #rowingmachineworkout #rowingclass #rowingclasses #rowinglife #rowingispassion #longbeachca #sealbeachca #worldrowing #werow #rowingmotivation #fit #fitspo #fitness #groupfitness #rowanywhere #fatergos #exercise #rowcoach (at Roworx) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-AwB5zg2x0/?igshid=mpph6n2kig0u

[tracy1926]

I love rowing. I have been rowing since I was 16 years old. It’s my passion and I will always do it as long as I can! Every time I carry a boat or take a stroke I remember how much fun I have and how much I love the sport. I am so grateful to be able to do so many things with my life and so many options with fitness. I appreciate my husband for allowing me to dream. He supports me and everything I do. @tracyfalkenthalifbbpro @chinookperformanceracing @rowing_insta_lover_190 @row2k @row_360 @row_muskoka @rowing415 @just_rowing @rowingrelated @rowingnews #proathlete #ifbbprobodybuilder #ifbbpro #npc #gratefulgirl #nattygirl #fitover50women @fit_over_40 @fit_over_50_ @fit.over.50 @fit_over_40_club (at Sheraton Sonoma County - Petaluma)

[justtblue]

📸 Instagram | row2k

[rowingchat]

Guest Blog: Winter Workouts: Why do Rowers Fear the Erg?

Friend. Not Foe. Courtesy: RowingRelated

I am really frustrated by our sport when it comes to the erg being viewed as a torture device rather than a helpful tool that people can enjoy. This negative mindset, which is extremely contagious, plagues the sport, preventing athletes from training to their potential and possibly serving as one of the reasons that careers in rowing, at every level, are often so short.

My main problem is that everywhere I turn in the rowing community, whether it’s high school guys and girls, college guys and girls, or even National Team hopefuls, I hear of people dreading the erg. I’ve never heard about a cross country runner ‘dreading’ a track workout. True, basketball and football players may dread running wind sprints or other such conditioning activities, but I can live with that because those are not endurance sports. In other words, when strength, power, endurance, mental toughness, and monotonous activity are the bread and butter of your sport, it seems wholly inappropriate to create a culture that disdains such fundamentally important and central activities.

When compared to other endurance sports like cycling, running, swimming, etc., I have not encountered an equal level of disdain for such fundamental mental and physical endurance training. A track runner might complain if he or she had to be on the treadmill all winter long, but the idea would not strike fear into his or her heart, as track athletes are forced to be accountable at all times. I don’t know why, every Winter, I have to go on Row2k and read Rowing News to find out about “How to get through winter training,” or, “How to find ways to spice up/find alternatives for the erg.” Why can’t people just say, “Time to erg? Okay great. What is the workout, what am I trying to accomplish and what is the best way to do that in this workout?”

Another issue: rowers complaining about mysterious injuries that only seem to affect performance on land. How common is it to have an injury that allows you to row on the water but not on the erg? I think that, in actuality, such injuries are exceedingly rare. I’ve had a number of athletes tell me about an injury they have, but somehow that injury only comes up on the erg. Rarely do I hear about an injury when coaching on the water. It is all too common for people to say, “but it doesn’t hurt in the boat.” Really? You mean that when you have to carry a heavy load, rowing by pairs, fours and sixes in an eight, have to twist out to one side with your torso and overload that side (all of this in a potentially unstable environment), that it doesn’t hurt, but that when you are on a stationary machine that is completely stable and balanced, with a resistance setting that you can control, then it hurts? It seems very unlikely. I have a hypothesis: either it doesn’t hurt on the water because you aren’t pulling very hard, or it’s because you aren’t really injured and don’t know the difference between pain and injury, or a combination of both. Again, track athletes are held accountable 100% of the time. The coach is standing there with a stop watch. When a rower is on the water, it’s up to him or her to “give full measure.”

I have a simple solution to this: you can’t erg, you can’t row. It’s amazing how many less injuries occur when this is the policy. Also, I don’t care how hard you work when running, cycling, swimming or doing whatever cross-training you might be doing — you aren’t going to be in very good rowing shape based on your potential without the sport-specific training development.

Another common phrase: “I’m just not good on the erg, but I’m good on the water.” Nonsense. Sure, you might be able to beat someone on the water with a better erg score, but that is because that person is not technically skilled, and thus isn’t able to utilize the extra power and fitness that they have. It’s not complicated. I don’t boat based on erg scores, but I give people with erg scores the presumption — they must lose a seat race to a weaker teammate in order to lose their seat in the boat. If that happens, it’s not a good thing. It just means the rower with the stronger erg score is not technically skilled. Show me any good Olympic boat and I will show you a boat with great erg scores. Hamish Bond and Eric Murray of New Zealand are excellent rowers with great boat feel and technical ability, but they also have tremendous power and fitness. What about Mahe Drysdale, or Olaf Tufte, or Xeno Muller? Tremendous erg scores. Sure ergs don’t float, but they don’t lie either. If you can’t pull an erg it means you have no engine. I don’t care how beautiful, sleek and aerodynamic your race car is, if it has V6 engine, then the only way it is going to win a race against a race car with a V12 engine is if that V12 is in an extremely inefficient car.

Now, I understand people might have a problem with the erg because it doesn’t perfectly simulate the rowing stroke, and can, undoubtedly, end up rewarding things that will hurt boat speed on the water (like rushing the slide). I don’t have a problem with those people, because that, to me, is a valid concern and viewpoint. These people are not afraid of the erg and it doesn’t cause them mental distress which affects their ability to perform and achieve their best. However, I think it’s time for the rowing community, beginning at the high school level, to be more willing to embrace the ergometer as a training tool, rather than coming up with millions of reasons to fear the machine and letting it play games with our minds. In my opinion, this attitude, which is perpetuated year after year in programs throughout the country, creates mental blocks and leads people away from the training intensity they need to achieve their best possible results.

This may be, in part, the result of coaches requiring athletes to go too hard on every workout on the machine. Sometimes, workouts should be easy. I suspect that if one went around to various rowing programs to find out how their ‘steady state’ speed on a 10k erg piece compared to their 2k or 5k time, and then went around to cross country and track coaches to find out what pace they had their runners run on a typical easy or steady state run, one would find that the rowers work much harder. For instance, let’s say a runner runs a 5k in 18:36. This works out to six minute pace per mile, and 1:51.6 per 500 meters. According to the McMillan Running Calculator, easy steady state runs should be done at 2:02.5 — 2:06 per 500 meters and easy/long runs should be done at 2:18-2:27 pace per 500 meters.

Take a rower who pulls an 18:36 for 5k, which is that same 1:51.6 pace per 500 meters. I bet many high school and college coaches would have that person doing their steady state erg workouts at 1:58-2:00, and would never have them go as slow as the running calculator recommends on the easy/long runs.

It’s possible that because rowing is so low impact as compared with running, rowers can handle a faster pace for all of their workouts than runners and still recover. But this is a difference of 8-18 seconds per mile, which would be 45 seconds to a minute and a half difference over 10k. Finishing a 10k a minute faster than someone else is a pretty significant difference, especially if done day after day and week after week. The cumulative effect on the body wearing down could potentially be significant, as the body’s physiological systems would be constantly over-taxed. Perhaps this is why so many people hate the erg and “burn out” in rowing — far more often and much earlier in their careers than the majority of runners. Many coaches seem to adopt the approach that Jack Daniels refers to as the “Eggs Against the Wall” theory of coaching, which he defines as the metaphysical act of throwing a basket of eggs against a wall and hoping one of them doesn’t break. When you train as hard as most coaches recommend, the few, stellar athletes that can handle the training will succeed, and some of them might even go on to compete in the Olympics. What about all the rest? They will burn out, get injured and leave the sport. The key is balance: your training program needs to be well thought-out, with enough days of easy, longer training to complement the extremely demanding sessions. If the erg is used purely for the most difficult of training sessions, it will not only solidify a negative mindset regarding the machine, but also, unintentionally, contribute reduced accountability on the water. If water training is looked at as ‘easier,’ you will undoubtedly underachieve when it comes time to race. Rowers should look at both kinds of training as equally as difficult. For this to happen, coaches must bring a balanced approach to both land and water training.

Finally, I think many rowing coaches fall victim to creating a crutch when it comes to an erg workout, rather than dealing the fundamental, underlying problem. Here is a common example of the kind of patchwork solution to a more serious problem: steady state erg workouts broken up into intervals like 4′ on, 1′ off when such rest is not needed to accomplish the physiological goals of the workout. In my mind, that type of rest should be used for speed intervals (in other words, when you actually need the rest to recover between intervals). I don’t think if you are trying to keep your heart rate at between 60-80% of your maximum, for example, that having a minute off every five minutes will help keep your heart rate down over the course of the workout. At that intensity, if you are in good aerobic shape, you will not notice much variation in your heart rate between an hour straight through and an hour of 4′ on, 1′ off if it is done at a consistent ‘steady state’ effort (steady state being heart rate between 60-80% of its maximum). To me, this is appears to be another way of perpetuating the problem of disliking the erg, as it is clearly a concession to the idea that the erg is difficult to deal with mentally.

This belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I wonder how many running coaches would say to their athletes, “Today we are doing an easy steady state run of eight miles, I want you to run at your easy/steady state pace for four minutes and then stop, walk or jog for one minute before resuming your steady state run pace until you complete the eight miles.” I don’t believe many running coaches, anywhere in the world, at any level, would do this. I think they would say, “Today we are going to do a steady state run of 8 miles at your easy/steady-state pace to work on aerobic development. Stay within this zone by running X pace and I will see you when you get back.” Maybe running is in the dark ages and rowing is just ahead of the curve on this one, but somehow I think it might be the other way around.

-The RowingRelated Team

The post Guest Blog: Winter Workouts: Why do Rowers Fear the Erg? appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

Related posts:

2 new rowing books! On sale now.

Cross-Training for Rowers

     from Rowperfect (On-Demand) http://ift.tt/2B5jkSY

[cyndichamberssports]

#FromTheSidelines For Team USA para-rower Hallie Smith, Sunday's finals in the Women's Single Sculls will be a defining moment for the athlete. Smith became paralyzed a few years ago when the genetic disorder Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia took over her body. She discovered para-rowing in January of 2016, tried out and qualified for the US Team this past summer, and made it into the finals after qualifying earlier this week--the photo series posted here is from that qualifying heat. She'll be representing the United States in the women's race. Hallie is a great representative for our country with her determination, passion, excitement for the sport and pride at representing the United States. I'm looking forward to capturing more of her incredible journey tomorrow and in the future, and wish her the best of luck! 📸 @cyndichamberssports ••• •• • @smithonwheels @wrch2017 @worldrowingofficial @row_360 @row2k @rowingnews @just_rowing @rowingrelated @rowamerica @rp3rowingusa (at 2017 World Rowing Championships)

[boatporn]

Good to see my old team getting some press (and some water time). (via Sunrise Flare - row2k Rowing Photo of the Day)

[aninfinitecatalyst]

On June 16th, I thought I would be back at practice really soon-- if I annoyingly took two weeks off, what I thought was a hip flexor strain would heal and I would get back to summer training. It was my senior summer and I had been recruited to row in the fall. 

I didn’t touch a boat for 8 months.

I get to campus still not sure what was happening to me. I actually had a hip impingement and a torn labrum. I wasn’t allowed to row from the get go and was barely talking to the other recruits, I felt so awkward because I wasn’t as strong as they were, I couldn’t just toughen up, not be soft, not be weak. It had to mental, I thought, because my body wouldn’t give up on me. God wouldn’t do this to me.

So I had a hip arthroscopy October 5th, 2016. 

Crutches for 3 and a half weeks. Physical therapy for months. 

I won’t elaborate much on the hell (not to be too dramatic but honestly I wanted to not be here so much there was one terrifying moment where I thought I really would do something so terrible) that was my first semester and the month of January at school besides extreme isolation, loneliness, and purposelessness. 

My first practice with the team was February 27th, on the ergs, at our boathouse, in the wood room. It was hot. It was so humid, it was a Big Easy meaning 40-30-20 min at 20 spm. The first 40 minutes was in silence.

And I loved it. Every second.

In high school, I was the best rower on the team. I had been since my junior year, arguably since sophomore year. I was seven seat of our V8 that ended up being the fastest 8 in my small high school’s history. People knew me at school for that and the underclassmen would ask me things and I tried to be the best possible. 

Suddenly I was the worst and I was so nervous in the two weeks preceding that practice. I kept thinking what if I only liked rowing because I liked being the best at something. 

The picture up there (courtesy of row2k) is from Sunday, May 14th, Ivy League Championships. Varsity 4. We didn’t have a great race when it mattered in the finals, but we did win Eastern sprints and I have never been in a boat that felt as good and solid as that one, every day at the lake, every day at practice.

I pulled myself from the worst on the erg and started getting better and feeling more confident, made more friends (it’s strange how much your body and mind are connected that way) and realized I loved this for this. Rowing. It’s my favorite thing in the world. 

My hip has been hurting again. And my right one too. I’m so utterly terrified because I cannot give this up again. I want to take this summer to get back in proper shape and be the recruit they wanted. God please please please I don’t want to do this again but god, I will if I have to.

[mediaz-agency]

This Week's Best of Rowing on Instagram 5/15/2020 - Rowing Stories, Features & Interviews  row2k.com