Cross training

Pete,

You have done extremely well in your sport and it is credit to a very structured and progressive training programme. You have obviously made good gains with your training.

1) Why do you feel that you need to Cross Train?

One of the benefits of x training is to take tme off from what you do normally and ease the impact of say running or days in the saddle on the bike. Indoor rowing is not really a high impact exercise and certainly works a lot of muschle groups.

2) Are you at a plateau?

I think not. If you have been improving regularly then you will not need to look for any different ways of training. What you are doing is obviously working.

3) Are you getting injured?

If so then you will need to address exercises that improve core stability.

4) Are you bored?

To train 6 days a week on one type of exercise can be a test of motivation but obviously you feel that you do not need pushing.

5) Do you want to compete in other events?

If so then you should incorporate other exercises and training with a view to improving on them rather than thinking they will improve your rowing.

6) Do you feel that you have a wekness in your rowing?

If so then you will need to look at more types of rowing specific training but you obviously do a lot of distance work, interval works and sprint work and do so in the right balance.

7) When you reach your plateau of say 6.05, what then? Is 6 mins realistically possible withou changes in weight assuming that you cannot really change your height too much.

There is one guy i know quite well, Hywel Davies who i think you will know too. He is the best Cross trainer in the country and one of the all round fittest guys in the country. His training is purely cross training without really trying to concentrate on just one sport yet he reaches the top levels in a number of those sports. That is an extreme example as he trains to be able to compete in a number of events rather than use the training to help just one sport.

It would be a good to ask him about some of the other CV training he does and what benefit it has on his rowing and vice versa.

Good luck

Well, it's funny you should mention Hywel. I'm taking part in my first x-training type event in 3 weeks time, a super sprint triathlon. A team of rowers and a team of x-trainers have been put together to go head-to-head in the event. We're both being sponsored by the same company - I'm leading the rowers team, and Hywel is leading the x-trainers team. It should be a lot of fun.

So I do need to do a little cross training for this.

Am I at a plateau? No, still improving consistently at the moment.

I don't get injured or ill, and I'm not bored with my training, which continues to work well.

I don't think I have a particular weakness in my rowing, and do a varied training plan that improves all areas together, which like I say, has been working well for some time.

I don't know "what then" when I finally reach a plateau. I think I will eventually go "sub 6", but the work from here to there will be hard.

I guess it's perhaps more a case of - I will continue to do 6 ergo sessions a week. If I did say 3 cross training session on top of this (running, swimming and cycling, for example) would this have a positive or negative effect overall?

I guess the answer is really that it depends on the intensity of the other activities, and whether I would recover sufficiently between training sessions.

Thanks for your comments.

Pete

Pete M
why would you want to change the current training routine if improvements are still being made.
I dont know much of the rowing and enjoy running myself,but i think when improvement ends then that would be the time to change things.
What period of time does the rowing season cover.
Maybe in the off season you could try to do some running,cycling etc.to rest the rowing muscles but keep fitness.
as i say i dont know about rowing but i would think that the training you do must be specific for your sport.i cant see what benifit swimming would have for rowing unless to maintain fitness when legs are injured.
i know runners who do aquajog training when they have injuries.
maybe if you want to do additional three training days in the week you could do training to improve strength by weights or plyometric exercises.
would you consider this cross training or supplementary training.
maybe you already do these but you only mentioned that you row on the machine six days per week.
again this type of training would again have to be specific to the rowing movements of legs,pulling movements also.
and weight used,reps,speed of movement.im sure that the sports scientists have plenty to say on that subject.thats the way performance is improved these days i suppose,through science and not beasting sessions.
it sounds though that what you are doing for now is working when the progress stops then is the time for change.
i think the Mr Davies you were speaking of was recently on staring on a television sports show.i think this is the one who the comentator said is likely to be the most all round fitest man in Britian,and then went over Mr Davies list of credentials,which were not just impresive but awsome.
he was mentioned how he cycles,runs,triathlons,weights,all to extreme standards.
he then did a fitness test against other guys and won and didnt look like it put him out too much,not to say the test wasnt hard though.
to get advise from this guy would be good,but he is an exception i would think and to try and do all the events he takes part in would lead to you loosing focus on the rowing,and maybe going backwards instead of improving.
i hope the best for your future in the rowing.
Suerte hombre.
P Prieto

Yes, Hywel did a competition called Best of the Best I think, which was shown on TV. I guess that's the one you're thinking of?

The cross training event I'm doing against Hywel is a one off probably, but should be a lot of fun. You can also see if, if you can get the TV channel Sky 1, on a show called Britains Hardest, which starts tonight.

Ok, so when I said cross training I did really mean supplementary training.

Thanks for the comments.

Pete

Hywel upset a few people at theat event as he had said on TW sport that he found the event easy. These were people who really struggled with the weight whereas Hywel made it look very easy and he won by over 2 mins. He gave me a very sound answer when i asked him why he does not just concentrate on 1 sport. " The ultrafit prizes are better than from any triathlon"
The problem with the Xtraining events is that if you make them too difficult, no one will finish them. If someone trains hard then they have obviously done the work in the gym to get the result.

This is much like yourself PeteM, if you find doing PBs easy and taking 10 secs off a year then you must be training hard and efficiently.

With regard to your X training, you would not be able to do anything of real quality if you want to keep your 6 days a week rowing at the same intensity as you will find that you will have less energy.

If you really want to start, i would suggest doing high rep weights and perhaps swimming as both will require structured breathing patterns like rowing. Then move to things like cycling and running but i would be very aware that gylcogen depletion in the legs could be a factor if your x training supplements rather than replaces a few rowing sessions.

why do you think people were upset with your friend victory.
if a quality athlete wins a race by 2 minutes,whatever that event may be,whether 10k run,marathon,gym test,10mile tt,then in my opinion the win was easy.
it is as you say the hard training paying off.
2 minutes indicates that the winner had some reasonable breathing space at the finish line and did not have to go eyeballs out for that win.
even if the race was won in a fantastic fast time,2 minutes is a big gap.
jealous not upset is more like how it sounds.
quality should be praised and applauled not met with negative comment.
Pete P