Coach Kaehler on National Team Strength Training

Question:
I’m interested in how much and what type of strength training national team athletes do. There seems to be so much conflicting information about how necessary it is for rowers, how to change your strength training (if at all) as the training year progresses (e.g., by switching from heavier to lighter weights as important competitions approach), and what type of strength training best translates to a 2000m race (e.g., plyometrics vs. on-the-water strength training vs. free weight-training in the weight room). Is strength training prescribed for each member of the team or do people just tend to do as much as they feel like they need? - Steven

Hi Steven,
I was fortunate enough to have helped the men’s sweep team with their strength training program in 2007-08 and I can say that we included strength training 1-3 times per week depending upon the time of year. We used a mix of Olympic lifting, both heavy and light, plyometrics, circuit training, and also body weight training. The goal was to increase the power of the rowing stroke and to reduce injuries. Everyone followed the same strength training program. In addition, each athlete also had their own specific body balance program that I assigned to them after I did an individual evaluation on them. (I am not sure what the current strength training program is for the current National Team Athletes.)

There seems to be no real consensus on what the best mix is for volume and methods for rowing. Many different strength training methods have been used by top level coaches and athletes to achieve success. Some have even won without using any strength training program. I believe that when a rowing strength program is well designed it serves to reduce overuse injuries and to increase the strength and power of the rowing stroke. Over time athletes and coaches tend to find out what works best for them over time and they usually stick with that.

Good Luck with your training!

Best,
Coach Kaehler

(Steven, check out Coach Kaehler’s blog, http://www.coachkaehler.com/blog/, for more fitness and training tips! shivs)

Bob Kaehler participated in three Olympic Games (1992, 1996 and 2000) as a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team. He also competed in seven World Rowing Championships, winning in 1994, 1997, 1998 and 1999 in the M8+. Today, Coach Kaehler is a body-balance coach and conditioning consultant.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 10:08 am. It is filed under ATHLETE BLOGS, QUESTION/ANSWERS, Rowers, TEAM USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.