Cross Training for Competitive Rowers

Video Transcript

" Hi! I'm Anna Marie and I am a Canadian Olympic rower and I am here on behalf of expertvillage.com. In this clip we are going to talk a little bit more about cross training. As I mentioned before, the rowing machines are a great way to cross train if you can't get on to the water. It is also very important if you are going to be rowing competitively to make sure that you are doing other workouts that compliment the rowing stroke or that work on muscles that maybe the rowing stroke doesn't work on. This will give you a more balanced approach to training. Don't get all caught up in the volume, volume, volume of just rowing. It is very very healthy to be able to cross train to be able to run, bike, swim, sit on the rowing machine and row and do any other variety of activities. It will actually help your body stay a lot healthier and wart off injury instead of just rowing all the time. Yoga is also a really good way to cross train for rowing. You can help to stretch out the muscles that you are over using in rowing and to help balance things out with. If you are running, that is also a great way to keep your fitness up for rowing. You can get your heart rate up really quickly because you are supporting your bodyweight as you are moving. Swimming is also a great way especially doing something like the backstroke. If you are rowing, you are always pulling behind you and you are kind of bent over to row all the time but swimming especially the backstroke can open things up a lot. So it could really help to open your chest, strengthen the muscles that you might be otherwise missing when you are rowing. There is a ton of different ways to cross train for rowing so make sure you take advantage of all the different opportunities you have to keep it exciting and to keep your training motivating. "