Low back pain is the most common rowing injury, causing around 60% of rowers to miss at least one session per year. The vast majority of low back pain is non-specific, meaning not medically serious and not diagnosed to a specific tissue pathology causing pain or dysfunction. Non-specific low back pain in rowing is mostly due to training factors that are under the control of coaches and rowers, with secondary causes under individual athlete control. This article is a practical guide to what rowers and coaches need to know about rowing low back pain, focusing on preventing, managing, and returni ..read more

Rib stress injuries are an overuse injury affecting up to approximately 10% of rowers in a given year of training. While not as common as other injuries, the long recovery time of a bone injury makes it the costliest injury in terms of total missed training time per injury. Injury risk increases with training volume: Collegiate and elite rowers doing more total training volume experience more rib stress injuries than masters and junior rowers. This article is a practical guide to what rowers and coaches need to know about rowing rib stress injuries, focusing on preventing, managing, and return ..read more

Rowing injuries are typically defined as pain limiting the ability to fully participate in training as planned for more than 24 hours. This excludes minor tweaks or aches that just require a little extra warmup time, recovery attention, or occasional slight modifications to training for a day or less. More significant pain that limits an rower for more than a day can be stressful, aggravating, and disrupt training and impair performance. This article is a detailed guide to understanding, preventing, and managing common rowing injuries. Key Points: The best rowing injury prevention and manageme ..read more

Rowing has changed immensely in the last 40 years, with watershed points in training methods and performance standards due to equipment, access to the sport, sport science developments, and more. Modern rowing strength training needs to keep up with these changes to best serve rowers and continue pushing the performance level. I started writing in 2015 because I recognized that I offer a different perspective on strength training for rowing than what I saw first as a rower myself and later as a coach. In this article, I will outline some of my overarching key concepts to strength training that ..read more

The Second Edition of my book, “Rowing Stronger: Strength Training to Maximize Rowing Performance,” came out five years ago this month. I’ve coached, written, and learned a lot since then, perhaps even more than in the four years after the First Edition. I don’t have time in the foreseeable future to write a Third Edition, so I have written a supplemental PDF for now. This “Five-Year Update” details the major things that I’m doing differently as of winter 2024 that I would include in a Third Edition. I have also added several strength training templates and sample programs. You can buy it usin ..read more

What are the key elements in a good rowing strength training program? In this article, we’ll cover five priorities for each major area of exercise selection, strength training performance, and annual training program design. These priorities are where we see the greatest benefits in rowing strength training and changes that we make when I work with coaches and rowers of all ages, types, and levels. Key Points: In exercise selection, all rowers should be doing some form of squat, hinge, upper body pull, upper body push, and specific minor exercises for the hip, shoulder, and core. These exercis ..read more

I’ve worked with many coaches and rowers of all ages, types, and levels who are ready to start strength training for rowing, but just don’t know exactly when to start, what to do, and how to progress from there. In this article, we’ll cut through the mass of information and get right to action with a simple system to start strength training for rowing, including free example beginner strength training sessions. Key Points: When you’re ready to start strength training for rowing, the initial goals are introducing different and possibly new ways of moving the body, practicing the technique of ba ..read more

Update re: Summer 2022 I’m currently working full-time in the Craftsbury Outdoor Center’s summer sculling camp programs. I’ve reduced my online operations to current clients and my free weekly email list only (subscribe here). Book delivery in print and e-book continues automatically via Blurb and Paypal, respectively. Please contact me with any questions or to get on my waiting list for online strength coaching in the fall or winter. You can browse article archives or read past emails or watch any recorded webinars until I can get back to producing more content. Thanks to camper/reader Neil K ..read more

Do you use the bodyweight row in your strength training? In this article, I will detail why the bodyweight row is such a great exercise, and how we can modify and program the bodyweight row for rowers to keep it challenging and engaging for off-season and in-season strength training. Key Points: The bodyweight row is an effective exercise to strengthen the muscles of the back, shoulders, and arms for improved rowing performance. Unlike other popular horizontal pulling exercises, the bodyweight row reduces injury risk to the low back and ribs. The bodyweight row also requires very little specia ..read more

Rowers and coaches want to know a few things about scheduling strength training with rowing. How do we make different types of training work together to maximize performance and long-term adaptation to training? How do we minimize interference between the two and reduce risk of injury? In this article, we’ll discuss scheduling strength training with rowing at the seasonal, weekly, and daily levels. Key Points: At the annual or seasonal level, we will use a periodization system to focus on specific elements of training at different times in the training year. At the weekly level, we decide to c ..read more