Following Chelsea's post about the Women's Team Lift, I decided to get the Men's team perspective...

We lift every Monday and Wednesday morning throughout the Winter. Before Winter Break, our Coach, Adrian Spracklen, went to a conference held by a number of Olympic Weight Training Coaches from all over the world. Upon return, Coach informed the team that in terms of rowing, we had been lifting the wrong way. A lot of the guys had been lifting the heaviest weight they could up to this point - in a typical college male testosterone-filled way. After listening to the trainers from the New Zealand National Rowing Team speak, coach decided to switch the way we lift so that it catered to the sport of rowing specifically.

I walked around the weight room asking the guys why they felt lifting was important to the sport of rowing, and specifically how the exercise they were doing helped strengthen their stroke.

Our Wednesday morning lift goes as follows:
1) YTWL (3x25 reps)
2) Monster Walks (4x25 steps)
3) Seated cable Row (3x25 reps)
4) Hanging Body Crunch (2xMax reps)
5) Pull-ups (3xMax reps)
6) Push-ups (3xWide/Narrow/Normal)
7) 3 Minuet Core Builder


Head Coach: Adrian Spracklen
Q: Why do we lift?
A: "We lift to strengthen weak areas of the body that we can't strengthen in other workouts." Another major reason is, "Injury Prevention", strengthening these muscles will help to prevent injury down the road when we need the guys healthy. Finally, "The stronger the body, the more we can do with it." According to coach, strength training will give us a little extra speed on the water that we couldn't have gotten just from erging.

Junior Rower Harrison Kieffer
Q: In what ways do YTWL's help you as a rower?
A: "I don't think it translates directly into boat moving, but it definitely helps strengthen the core while supporting weight on the shoulders and arms" Harrison mentioned that the exercise is teaches the body to stay relaxed while carrying weight which definitely translates to the water.

Senior Rower Amel Younis 
Q: How do you see Monster Walks strengthening your "rowing muscles"?
A: "It definitely works my IT bands as well as hip and quad muscles." In terms of rowing, "It will help with maintaining speed throughout the leg drive portion of the stroke, it also strengthens the quad muscles to prevent other muscles from being injured during the leg drive."

Junior Rower Blaze Kelly
Q: How will seated cable rows help translate to when you are on the water
A: Blaze give me the "Are you seriously asking me that question right now??" look. We both laughed but he did say, "This exercise replicates the exact motion at the finish of the stroke, and builds arm and back muscles that help with explosiveness at the finish."

Senior Rower Doug Riethmuller 
Q: How are hanging body crunches helping you as a rower?
A: "I would say it primarily strengthens the core. It also works the back and shoulders a bit. More importantly, it is a mental test. If you think about it, the concept of inverting your body while only hanging on with your hands is very dangerous. I builds that mental confidence that is essential during our races."

Freshman Rower Danny Madden
Q: Why do you think we do Pull-ups?
A: "Honestly, I just go along with coaches philosophy because I trust it will make us faster. I don't like doing them at all, but I feel it working the shoulders and arms." Danny noticed that he is "Mentally and physically stronger each week because [he] can do more reps each week."

Senior Rower/Captain Gary Loo
Q: Why do we lift? How do push-ups help us as rowers?
A: "Lifting helps [with] getting the power we need be explosive on the front end of the stroke. Each exercise we do helps a specific part of the stroke. Push-ups are mainly for [strengthening] our pecs. They also help focus shoulder muscles that are important at the finish [of the stroke] especially rowing into strong head winds."

Junior Rower Milos Veres 
Q: Why is it important that we do the core assessment at the end of every lift? 
A: "It is important to do it at the end of a workout when we are already tired and fatigued. No one wants to do it, but we have a partner pushing us through it. In terms of rowing, it doesn't matter how tired you are or where you are in the race, you have to keep pushing yourself."