The advantage of being a Personal Trainer and working out at another small training gym is that you not only rub shoulders with some awesome coaches, but you get to learn boat loads of new information all the time. After finishing my Poliquin Qualifications years ago, my cardio based work dropped off dramatically. At W10 performance they believe you need an engine to go with a strong body... hence the numerous Watt bikes, Airdyne bikes, Concept 2 rowers and Ski Ergs.

One of the cool things about the gym is they have a standards board. A beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. This means you are always striving to beat one of the standards on the board no matter what level you are.

Two of the coaches had recently gotten heavily into rowing. Watching all the GB team training on Youtube and watching how they did things. Their goal was to beat a time of 7 minutes on a 2000m row. They had to row two times a week with different workouts to condition themselves for the test. It was a 12 week training program.

Sample 2000m Row Times According to W10 Perfomance Standards

Beginner
Male- 8:15
Female- 9:30

Intermediate
Male- 7:40
Female- 8:55

Advanced
Male- 7:00
Female- 8:10

Here are one of the workouts they did. Having done it myself I can tell you that it's quite emotional...

The Workout

Concept 2 Rowing Machine- Set the resistance at the side to 6/10
To figure out your race pace click here

Part 1
2000m Row x 4
Rest 5 minutes after each 2000m

Pacing
set 1 s/m=20
set 2 s/m=22
set 3 s/m=20
set 4 s/m=22
(s/m- is on the top right of the monitor and means strokes per minute)

Sample Strategy for the 2000m
First 5 pulls- all out
Next 10-15 pulls high rate and full length
Settle into s/m pace
250m-750m- focus on power
750-1250- aim to hit race pace
1250-1750- maintain s/m pace with focus on push from feet
1900-2000- Go go go!

Part 2
500m Row x 2
Rest 3 minutes between rows
Go at race pace

Yours In Health

Patrick Fallis