Get stronger by doing resistance work in the boat using a bungee. What's it useful for? How to set up your boat. Timestamps 02:00 Resistance training in rowing All masters rowers need this to keep up strength and bone density. We lose strength as we age. I You don't have to go into the gym. 03:45 Weights on the water give you specificity It aligns the weight training with the rowing action and movement. In the boat gearing helps you to not get over-loaded. 05:00 Why do resistance training? 06:45 Strength and conditioning includes work on core muscles Resistance training helps us to recruit more muscles into the rowing stroke. It's hard to learn the overlap between the legs - back - arms. Watching masters rowing, very few have an active back swing. Video of good rowing technique demonstrating legs - back - arms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv07y9mEO5M Compare this to a video of yourself. When you have a heavy load, figure out which muscles are working because they have to work harder. On the erg, increase the fan resistance to 10 and try it. 10:30 How to do resistance training in the boat. 1 - Lower the rate. Do this resistance work at low rates, moving slowly and thoughtfully to make yourself deliberate and check your movements while you do each stroke. I like rates 16-20 if you can manage. Otherwise rate 24 is good. 2 - Increase the resistance - in a crew boat get half the crew to sit out so you carry their mass while you row. Caution - you are carrying a large load build up gradually to doing this. Start with 20 strokes and then switch to the other half of the crew doing the work. Three sets of 20 is enough to begin with. Do 2-3 sessions of this before changing the number of strokes or repetitions (sets). Well-trained athletes can build up to 50 or 60 strokes and many more sets. 14:15 How to do the workout Do your warm up, then steady state for 10 minutes, 3 sets of power strokes, then paddle light or stop and have a rest. Then do another 10 minutes of steady state rowing, another 3 sets of power strokes and then warm down and end. To increase the amount of power strokes - increase the repetitions - increase the sets - reduce the amount of steady state 15:15 Other ways to increase the load in the boat You can also increase the gearing on your oars. Or you can add a bungee on the boat - under the hull to provide the resistance. This can be an elastic cord or a boat tie. 17:00 How to attach a bungee to your boat Take a boat tie and put under the hull so it reduces the smoothness of the boat hull. Attach it behind the rigger because when you row it could slip off if put sternwards of your rigger! increase the resistance by twisting the boat tie under the hull. You can also add a short section of garden hose - thread the boat tie through the hose. 19:30 The best part of resistance training The end of the workout - take it off the boat. Then row your last steady state work without a bungee - your learned pattern of movement from the resistance training gets put into your normal stroke nad that additional work from overcoming the resistance helps to make the boat go faster (check it on your app / speed coach). 21:00 The biggest impact is on your technique Using the recruited muscles and building into your stroke. Rowing slowly and deliberate movements really helps to improve your technique, especially at the catch. The slower hull boat speed means your placement into the water can be more accurate, once under the water you will also really feel the load. If you can slow the rate down to 16 - the boat is going through the water more slowly and the additional load at the catch placement helps you to feel what you're doing better. After taking the bungee off you continue to row with that level of skill in the final 10 minutes of rowing.