You might have noticed that since the arrival of the new rowers (or ergs), rowing has become pretty common in our weekly programming. Love it or hate it, rowing is here to stay. Why should you learn to respect it? Well for starters, you can’t cheat the distance on the rower. Also, rowing allows us to work the three specific energy systems hard while not giving your joints a pounding. Thus making it an excellent choice for longer workouts that have a fair amount of joint loading already.
Gaining meters efficiently is compromised by poor technique. Short and choppy strokes lead to expenditure of excess energy and load your body with much greater forces than do longer, smoother, and more powerful strokes. The technique is similar to swimming where longer and more powerful strokes will propel you much further.