Getting the most out of your training plan

Entries are now open for the 2019 Australian Indoor Rowing Championships, and we know you don’t enter hoping for so-so results. To help you achieve your goals and improve your performance, Rowing Australia has just launched three 12-week training programs for the novice, intermediate and advanced rower.

Now you have the plan, here are a few tips to help you keep moving towards those goals on Sunday 27th October.

1. Set a goal and share it; better still find a training partner to enter the event with you to keep you on track and motivate each other. While this may seem obvious, we all know that at some point motivation will wain and will power can run out.

2. Individualise the program to make sure it is achievable, and the best way to do this on the erg is through heart rate, and heart rate zones. Based off your maximum heart rate, an easy session is 18 – 22 strokes per minute, medium / moderate session 22 – 26 strokes per minute and intense session anything over 28 strokes a minute.  One of the best ways to get your maximum heart rate is to do a 2000m all out and take your maximum heart rate from that. Another way is the rule of 220 minus your age.

3. Knowing you are on the right program for your level is all about consistency. Getting a good rate of progression will see you achieve results, and this all depends on how consistent you are with the training i.e. how many of the sessions you undertake and complete. 90% of the sessions completed in the order they are written will give you a good rate of progression. If you are struggling to get through 90%, then consider reviewing the level of program you are on.

While there is always flexibility built into any training program, if you do change anything, make sure it doesn’t affect your consistency.

4. Tracking your progress ticks a number of boxes in achieving your best performance. Keeping a record of total distance for a set timed piece; or time taken for a distance piece along with measures such as heart rate and rate of perceived exertion can help you see the progression you are achieving, goals you are smashing and making sure you aren’t getting too much of a good thing and overtraining (or the point of diminishing return where they body, immune system, and progress break down.

5. The warm up for an indoor rowing session should be like the first interval of an interval training where you are puffing and should feel hard, as this is turning all the systems on that allow you to do the intensity phase of the training session the right way.

6. Recover well: Results = work + recovery. Stretching, walking, or yoga can all be part of an active recovery. Don’t forget the music; listening to the right tunes helps during exercise and in recovery.

Click here for our 12-week training programs.

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