Despite the daffodils and crocuses peeking up above the ground, the Thames and other rivers levels – the bane of winter for the sport of rowing – have never been higher (surpassing 150 m3/sec last week – see video below). So most river-based rowing clubs retreat to the gym and its weights and rowing machines for a good part of the dark and dreary months. All the more so for the Adaptive rowers who have to take extra water precautions for both flow rates and water temperatures.
Marlow RC has been particularly affected for the past several years and so it has had to adapt its whole training regime for the adaptive squad for what has been up to 6 months (October through March). A number of clubs and rowers have reached out enquiring about adaptive gym or S&C (Strength and Conditioning) workouts so I thought I would share what has proven to be an effective (fitness has increased notably) and popular (the sessions have not been as painful or tedious as they might be) routine.
As with all adaptive sport, general guidance on introducing new exercises is:
- Avoid assumptions of what the athlete can or can’t do. We (coaches and athletes) continue to be surprised by what the athletes can do despite their impairments being in the way.
- Assess the exercise against their impairment to anticipate what might be an issue.
- Provide risk assessment, support/spotting and initial adaptation to accommodate anticipated issues.
- Experiment with minor variation in the exercise to make it more manageable given the impairment and how it is actually affecting execution of the exercise.
GENERAL – The squad’s training is generally scheduled for 90 minutes year-round (it is sometimes longer in the water sessions if there are lots of boating logistics to attend to, and sometimes shorter in the gym sessions if workouts are more conservative). The overall winter agenda is as follows:
- ERG – 20 minutes: gentle UT2 for general warm up, modest cardio and continuity of technique reinforcement.
- WEIGHTS – 50 minutes: see below
- CORE – 10 minutes: see below
- STRETCHING – 10 minutes – see below
WEIGHTS – A weight circuit of 4-6 exercises (depending on time available and numbers present). The exercises are a balance alternating between upper body and lower body targeted (“super-setting” as it is dubbed in the weightlifting community). The advantages are (a) efficiency (you can get more work done in a set amount of time), and (b) cardio (by constantly doing an exercise, you keep your heartrate up for an extended period).
- LOWER BODY EXERCISE – Leg Press, Squats, Russian Twists
- UPPER BODY EXERCISES – Lat Pulls, Dumbbell Rows, Bench Press, Military/Shoulder Press
The general principle is that we do 4-5 sets (depending on time available and how people are feeling) of 6-12 repetitions (generally, if you can’t do 6 reps, then the weight is too heavy, and if you can do more than 12 reps, then the weight is too light).
CORE – Core training was directed by our coach Lily O’Connor who offers the following tips:
- PLANK: Athletes who cannot keep their legs straight can do it with knees on the floor. Those who can do it with straight legs and struggle to maintain it for 30 seconds, can pause for a few seconds but go back into the plank again.
- SIDE PLANK: Athletes who cannot keep their legs straight for 30 seconds can rest for 1-2 seconds then go back into the side plank.
- DEAD BUG: Start with arms straight up and knees bent, then work on the legs first, left leg straight and down but do not touch the floor and back up into knee bent position. Then repeat for the right leg and continue for 15 seconds alternating right and left leg. At 15 seconds introduce moving the left arm back over the head and the right leg moving down, left arm then returns to upright position parallel to right arm. Right leg returns to a bent position parallel to left leg then alternate between right arm, left leg and left arm and right leg movements.
STRETCHING – The full stretching routine is sketched out below by our coach Paul Thomas who leads this part of the session complete with illustrative stick-diagrams. Stretching after training helps to reduce muscle soreness the next day, reduces the muscle shortening effect after weight training and also protects the joints. We do static stretches and if we had the time we would maintain each pose for 60-90 seconds. In practice, it is more like 30 sec as we have to finish in a reasonable time.
