The Case for High Training Volume

“Champions are made in winter!” the saying goes, and experience confirms this. To be successful in rowing at any level, you must prepare for competition optimally. Developing the necessary skill takes a considerable amount of time.

Preparatory training for rowers, which takes place primarily during winter, is about building strength and endurance through indoor rowing on ergometers, supplemented by cross-training and weightlifting.

Key features are many high-volume, low-intensity steady-state sessions to build an aerobic base; longer strenuous sessions at the aerobic-anaerobic threshold; and some high-intensity intervals to improve explosive power. Essential also is strength training, particularly large-muscle exercises such as squats and deadlifts. Vary the sessions to prevent overtraining.

Don’t forget to schedule regular tests to monitor progress and set realistic goals and to develop competition strategies and cope with performance pressure. They are also excellent high-intensity training sessions.

There are two reasons for long sessions of high training volume:

—the development of rowing technique and efficiency

—the adaptation of the cardiovascular system, especially the skeletal muscles, through mitochondrial biogenesis

Studies show that the endurance of rowers increases with training volume and that rowers improve their performance when they train at mid-range or lactate-threshold intensity—the same intensity at which they row in long-distance races, in intervals of five to 20 minutes or longer sessions of 40 minutes.

Because these sessions are strenuous, they require plenty of motivation. Rowers must concentrate on maintaining the requisite effort as well as proper technique. When executed correctly, the improvement in fitness and efficiency is remarkable.

For elite athletes, high-intensity training is effective when based on training volume that’s already high. In other words, to reap the full benefit of high-intensity training, build a solid foundation.

The different training modes of the preparation phase require planning and seasoned understanding from the coach. A common mistake is to focus too much on high-intensity training and to overdo it. Such demanding sessions require time to recover and shouldn’t be added haphazardly.

Recovery doesn’t mean complete rest. Low-intensity training promotes regeneration, so it should be performed early and often, as long as rowers are eating and sleeping well.

Speed skater Nils van der Poel, Olympic champion and world-record holder, did huge amounts of low-intensity training while preparing, which allowed him to train at extremely high intensity while competing. He paid careful attention to recovery by including regular rest days and cutting back when he felt he wasn’t recovering sufficiently.

Volker Nolte, an internationally recognized expert on the biomechanics of rowing, is the author of Rowing Science, Rowing Faster, and Masters Rowing. He’s a retired professor of biomechanics at the University of Western Ontario, where he coached the men’s rowing team to three Canadian national titles.

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