Concept2: Training Tips & Guidelines

TRAINING TIPS & GUIDELINES

Plan your workouts in advance but be willing to adjust depending on how you are feeling. Feeling great? Go for it in time or intensity. Feeling stressed out and tired? Make the workout relief. Cover the monitor, turn on the radio or TV and just row for the release of it.
Include a period of warm up and cool down in each workout. This time can also be spent working on proper rowing technique.
Experiment periodically with both your wind damper setting and your race stroke rate. You may find that a change in damper setting may make you slightly more efficient and complement your improving cardiovascular conditioning and strength. This may also be true with stroke rate.
Be sure to supplement your Indoor Rower workouts with body exercises that encourage additional flexibility and reciprocal joint and muscle strengthening. For example, try push ups, pull ups, stomach crunches and back arches, as well as simply bending over and touching the fingers to the toes, letting gravity help lengthen you out a little.
Be sure to schedule in rest days as well as test days.
Keep a log. This helps in terms of motivating yourself by noting your improvement and helps identify a successful series of workouts.
Train with a friend either on two Indoor Rowers or by alternating pieces on one Indoor Rower while one of you is stretching or doing body exercises.
Enjoy the rowing. It is a great way to spend some time with your body!

Guidelines for Groundwork and Preparation:

Rowing:

Try to row a minimum of 30 minutes per session, aiming for an average workout length of 45 minutes.
Aim for 4-6 long workouts per week. This can include cross-training sessions like trail-running or biking.
Intensity of long sessions should be moderate-sometimes a little easier, sometimes a little harder.
Keep one shorter, more intense interval session per week in your training mix. You can do this at the beginning of a longer row, finishing the row with steady state after the intervals are done.

Strength Training:

Use a low number of lifts (reps), and high resistance to build your maximum strength. A standard lifting protocol is 3 sets of 8 lifts (reps), using the heaviest weight that still allows you to complete the sets.
Safety: If you are using free weights, find a lifting partner or personal trainer to be sure you are lifting properly and safely.
Aim for three sessions per week for the whole body, or alternate upper and lower body every other day.

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