Memories of the recent Oxford v Cambridge boat race are already starting to drift away. This is the most publicised rowing race in the world - surprisingly, because although the standard is quite high, the composition of the crews would hardly match up in an Olympic final. Attention in the summer will be focused on shorter races rather than the traditional jaunt along the Thames, and those planning to peak at the summer regattas should have the bulk of their hard training under their belts by now.


Demands of the sport
There used to be a strong belief in rowing that you had to be a big, powerful, anaerobic beast to do well. This was fuelled by the fact that most successful rowers were, indeed, of a bigger build with hulk-like musculature. Such athletes trained extremely hard but not necessarily according to the demands of their sport. Given that the race distance is 2000m, which typically takes about 6-7 minutes to complete, depending on crew size, gender and, of course, ability, it is more accurate to think of rowing as a power endurance sport rather than a strength sport.

Obviously great strength is needed to generate large force and propel the boat at high speed. Yet the more pertinent factor for you to consider, as a coach or athlete, is the length of time taken to compete. It has been shown physiologically that at least 70 per cent of the energy requirement comes from aerobic metabolism. The remainder comes from anaerobic sources, a small portion of which is alactic in nature. Just by looking at this physiological breakdown it is easy to see that there must be plenty of work done to condition the aerobic, or cardiorespiratory, system - because however large and powerful a rower or crew, if they lack sufficient endurance, they'll remain in full view of the opposition in the closing stages of a race!


Phases of training
Much of your 'conditioning' work will be done in the winter months when you will be rowing heavy mileages. It is not uncommon for a large part of this work to be done on a rowing ergometer rather than the water, because of light and water conditions. The intensity of this work has to be low, because if your volume of training is high it is impossible to do it at a hard level. The trend in British rowing has followed German examples, where extremely high volumes of training are used at low intensities. It is this type of work that is said to increase the oxidative capacity of the muscle cells. This long duration, low intensity work will also enhance your ability to bum fat, so if you row in the lightweight category it will give an added advantage.

German physiologists quote percentages in excess of 90 per cent for this type of training in the early winter months, and since the German success rate is good British coaches have followed suit and changed the emphasis to long, slow training. Percentages, however, can be a little deceptive, because although it may look as if very little quality work is performed in the winter months, the actual amount of time of faster work in terms of minutes may not be much different from the summer. The reason is simply that the overall volume of training is far higher in winter than towards the competition period.

Any successful training regimen will have work of a variety of intensities throughout the whole year. It is just the change in emphasis of these levels that alters. Threshold work should be performed throughout the year until a couple of weeks before competition time. This gives the cardiovascular system an excellent workout. Similarly, you should be performed high-intensity repetitions throughout the year to boost your V02max. As with all sports, however, the volume of work must taper down towards the competition period, by when all the hard work must have been done. Maintenance work is still essential during the competition period, so the odd long paddle is needed to work on the aerobic capacity of your muscles, while quality work, used sparingly, can help maintain peak condition.


The training week
There has to be a good mixture of training sessions throughout the week and, as I mentioned above, the exact structure will depend on the time of year. The long paddles will form the bulk of your mileage, but quality work can be structured in a variety of ways. Longer pieces at a higher level (ideally controlled by heart rates) can form threshold work. The pace will be slightly lower than race pace but the duration longer - 20-25 minutes. This can also be split to reps such as 4 x 5-6 minutes, 3 x 8 minutes or 2 x 10 minutes. Progression can be achieved by increasing the pace at which you travel, as long as you stay in your set heart-rate range.

Shorter, more intense training can be used to work on the anaerobic aspect of performance, as well as technique. Such sessions are more frequent in summer but shouldn't be neglected during winter months.

Strength training is another important area that needs year-round attention. Naturally the muscles used in rowing need to be strong, but the muscles of posture, which may not get well trained in the rowing action, also need toning to avoid imbalances. Many rowers perform strength training in circuit fashion but the value of such work has to be questioned. First, if increase in strength is the goal, the load should be high, the reps low and the recovery sufficiently long. This is rarely the case in rowing training, where lots of reps from one exercise to the next, with little or no recovery, is far more usual. Some might argue that this works on strength endurance, but a more pertinent counter-argument is that the most specific way to work on strength endurance is on the water.

Second, it has to be remembered why these traditional circuit training sessions were first introduced a couple of decades ago. When rowing was lost due to bad light or weather, circuit training was the next best alternative because it gave a good aerobic workout by keeping the pulse raised for a sustained period. But nowadays ergometers are available for rowing so the customary circuit session has less value. It is also fair to say that they may well replace running and cycling, two forms of cross-training that have remained popular from pre-ergometer days. After all, the training that is most likely to improve your rowing performance is...more rowing!

Perhaps it's time for rowing coaches to rethink the philosophy behind some of their training sessions. By keeping workouts specific and effective, they could take performances to a new dimension in the 21st century