Episodios

  • Form _ fitness minus fatigue

    Form _ fitness minus fatigue
    Apr 2 2026
    Tapering is reducing volume while maintaining intensity. Deloading is drop volume and intensity. Remember form = fitness minus fatigue. Timestamps 00:45 How fit are you to race and train? Three ideas for your race preparation - taper compared to deloading; the form formula explained; and a practical taper blueprint. When you ease off training do you feel flat and slow in the boat? A taper is pre-competition where you reduce volume but increase the intensity of your workouts. The conclusion is to arrive at the race feeling fresh and you haven't lost your sharpness. A deload is a recovery strategy where you reduce both volume and intensity. This lets your body get more rest during a hard training block. They feel similar but the effect is different. 03:45 What is rowing form? Fitness rises lowly and fades slowly - notice this if you have time off. You can come back to the level of fitness you had before the break quickly. Fatigue is the acute training load which is on top of your fitness. Form is what's left when we clear out the fatigue - the fitness available to you on race day. As masters our fatigue can be amplified as it takes us longer to recover. A taper keeps your fitness steady and rapidly drops your fatigue - think of your fitness as a glass of water and the fatigue is a layer of mud sitting on the top surface of the water. Clear away the mud and you can access your fitness reserves. 06:00 Taper blueprint All Faster Masters Rowing training programs include tapers for the major masters rowing races and months of the year. Most masters only peak with a taper twice a year - a long distance race and a sprint 1k race. In the taper we cut volume by 40-50% across the taper period. Shorter sessions but nearly every session has elements at or above race pace e.g. racing starts practice. Do not add in anything new in a taper week - no new equipment, drills or nutrition changes. The urge to train more during the taper because you feel flat during the mid-taper. This urge is nearly always long and you'll feel flat in days 2-4 as your fatigue is clearing. Remember you aren't losing fitness. For multi-day regattas start the taper one week before your first race. Review your race week training and plan how you are going to manage your fatigue. Your taper is a way on collecting on what you've already earned in your training.
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    10 m
  • You get out what you put in to rowing

    You get out what you put in to rowing
    Mar 23 2026
    Dr Malcolm Howard, Canadian eight Beijing 2008 “People say it was always so easy for you, so straightforward. But it’s always been about the work. Rowing, by its nature, is a beautiful sport because you get out of it exactly what you put in. The harder I worked at rowing the more success I had.” Timestamps 00:45 Why your brain is working against you Many masters rowers are putting in less than they think believing in a ceiling which is not real. And limited by a brain that pulls the 'alarm cord' long before you've reached your limit. 02:00 The effort ledger Are you paying what rowing actually costs? This is a way of measuring work and exposes pretend work. If you train by feel (Rate of Perceived Effort RPE) but feel and reality diverge with age. RPE rises as recovery slows. When you bring tiredness into training sessions your RPE can be higher even if your work output is lower. The three columns - What you planned to do this workout, what you actually did, honest quality rating (1-5 range). Average the scores at the end of each week. Map the gap between what you intended and your execution. Write it down and bring honesty to your training. 05:30 Your effort ceiling Some masters may be leaving more on the table than you think. A limiting belief is that your effort is limited by age. This kicks in before your actual physical limit occurs - mind working separately from the body. Test yourself by picking one thing on your training plan that you dislike and so avoid doing. Am I avoiding this because my body can't do it or because I don't want to find out what it reveals about me? Masters have more choice and may take more recovery between workouts than pro athletes. Do that one session which you've been avoiding next week and notice if the ceiling is your body or your mind. 07:45 The repeated bout effect The science behind your brain limiting you in an effort to protect you. Your brain lies in order to protect you - so renegotiate with your brain. Brains are survival machines and send a STOP signal before you reach your actual limit. It's conserving resources and energy reserves in case you need it. The Central Governor Theory by Tim Noakes - brain limiting your output based on predicted cost not actual capacity. When you expose your body once to a hard effort - your brain re-anchors what hard feels like. Next time you do it the alarm goes off later. Perceived difficulty and the urge to stop reduces on the second exposure to the same stimulus. The brain's prediction model adapts. This is the physiological underpinning of Malcolm Howard's quote. The work doesn't just build the engine, it teaches the brain what your engine can do. Faster Masters Rowing training programs include workout repeats in order to help you use the repeated bout effect in your training. https://fastermastersrowing.com/racing-program/ 11:30 Three layer synthesis The ledger shows what you're actually putting in; the ceiling test shows what's still available; the repeated bout effect shows why doing it once is enough to retrain your brain.
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    13 m
  • Rigid rowers miss water

    Rigid rowers miss water
    Mar 19 2026
    Why do so many masters rowers struggle with catch timing despite endless practice? Al Morrow's counterintuitive principle. The causes and cures of rigidity in your body and the amazing catch timing waiting for you (when you cure it). Timestamps 00:45 Rigidity problem Al Morrow's remark when talking about Good Rowing is Horizontal - the issue that rigidity kills how you approach the catch. "The more rigid you are, the lower the probability you will have a good catch." Al Morrow Feeling you are in control in rowing can lead to tension, particularly in your hands. There's a balance between having control and being so tight that you do not have good control. Controlled, accurate movements are your goal. Test this for yourself by gripping your handle tighter than usual and note how your catch timing and depth is or your feather/square movement. Poise is a balance between the right amount of control and tension to facilitate the rowing movement, Enough tension to get into the right positions but not so much that you are rigid and hamper your strength, movement and oar control. Rigidity kills your strength. 90% of your power in rowing is below your arm pits. When rigid it's hard to respond in real time to a gust of wind, balance issues or wake. When relaxed, the boat absorbs the energy from the wind or waves and you don't react to the disruption. 07:00 Al Morrow's drill This is a catch drill - put the oar in the water fast so it arrives at the perfect depth under the surface. From the catch position, push down on the handles so the oar spoon is high above the water. Let go of the handles quickly and listen to the sound the oar makes as it enters the water. An oar arriving in the water under zero tension - you will see it arrive at the perfect depth. The perfect depth happens when you are relaxed and do not interrupt gravity. Progress the drill by gradually holding the handle without tension - fingers extended. Make the same sound. Move to holding a normal grip while keeping the same blade entry sound. Then take one stroke. Stop rowing and try it again. Move towards making the perfect catch sound but starting at the finish - roll up the recovery and unweight the handle to place the oar in the water. Work on the timing of unweighting your hands and the slide change of direction. The hand action has to precede the slide stopping. Remove rigidity from your neck shoulders, arms and hands at the catch using this drill. 11:00 Trust the release of tension The best possible catch at higher stroke rates comes from being proactive placing the catch - that can negate the lack of rigidity you've been working on. 12:00 Active Catches Build trust that you won't flip when unweighting the handle. Move the moment when you release the tension to being earlier in the recovery. Listen to the sound of the blade entry.
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    14 m
  • Abrupt training changes cause injury

    Abrupt training changes cause injury
    Mar 9 2026
    The risks of abrupt changes of your training and surprising outcomes from practice lineups, rigging, and winter to summer transitions with guest Marlene Royle. Timestamps 00:45 The effect of abrupt changes Marlene sees these as a red flag for masters rowers. Her experience as a coach when racing season comes around was a trend from mid-summer on where their season got derailed. All were caused by quick changes, unfamiliar boats and doing a training session from another coach on top of their normal training. These are all avoidable. 04:00 Transition from winter to summer Let your muscles and tendons adapt to different stresses like moving from an indoor rower to a boat. The difference between a sculling erg and a sweep boat is clear in movement patterns. All these abrupt changes resulted in injury to tendons or muscle strain. Rule of thumb for moving onto the water is to start at 50% volume in week one and build up to full training in the new mode over 4 weeks. You won't get as fit on the water initially as you did on the rowing machine so use this time for technique. 07:00 Three injury scenarios - An athlete with mild tennis elbow changed the grips on her scull handles. The new grips were a different size and it flared her tendonitis. Be aware of any pain (it may be a very small thing). - Another had a glute / sacrum tendon tenderness and while somewhat fatigued did a practice with another club member and the following day was in a quad doing a race simulation. The boat was rigged high for her and she rowed the quad two days in a row doing another race simulation. This pushed the ligament strain and stopped her rowing for a month. - Two athletes visited another club for a quad outing and found the rigging/boat changes led to a hamstring strain and the consequent race was "cautious" and not full power. A soft tissue injury takes 6-8 weeks to heal, at best, with physical therapy. 19:00 When in an wobbly boat The temptation is to stop rowing your normal pattern and instead to "flex" and go with what you feel in the boat. This is an abrupt change in technique and not conducive to protecting your body. If you have a sensitive low back, then an unstable boat can cause a flare up. Common sense - think before you do. Common sense is not very common. For equipment make gradual changes. Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192
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    22 m
  • Masters rowing in South America

    Masters rowing in South America
    Mar 1 2026
    Join Santiago Fuentes to discuss - the growth in masters rowing in South America (country by country differences) - the main rowing events in the region - long distance head races and sprint. — What you hope will happen next in the future
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    22 m
  • Getting ahead or behind the boat speed

    Getting ahead or behind the boat speed
    Feb 22 2026
    Ways to adjust your stroke to match the boat hull speed. Timestamps 00:45 The boat velocity changes through the rowing stroke cycle and you can feel these changes as you row. 01:30 Efficiency is key This is a measure of the difference between a skilful crew and less experienced athletes. When watching crews in a race you can see some crews just inch ahead of the others. Efficiency is a key to why the best crews do well - they use their power efficiently; they help the boat hull to move through the water with greater efficiency - how do they do this? They manage their body mass well. Body mass is resistance to changes in velocity. This matters because the entire boat is moving forwards all the time (even though you may think you go backwards and forwards on the slide). Because of the sliding seat, the boat hull doesn't travel level, the bow moves up and down through the stroke cycle. 03:40 Maximum Boat Speed Diagram of boat speed through the water (credit British Rowing) LINK Maximum boat speed DOES NOT happen in the power phase. The point of maximum velocity is after the oars have come out of the water. [NOTE: not maximum acceleration as said in the video.] At this point you are transitioning onto the recovery (arms away / body rock forwards). On a video filmed square off 90 degrees to the rowing boat - when the bow ball is at its highest point is when the athletes have moved closest to the stern (on the recovery) and the point of maximum acceleration is when the bow ball is lower and when the athlete is transitioning from the power phase onto the recovery phase. The diagram shows the boat at low and high rates (right hand side). At higher rates the point of maximum acceleration is nearer to the catch on the recovery. The boat moves differently at high stroke rates from low stroke rates. Understanding and noticing the boat acceleration feeling and how your body moves are two things you can control. If you can learn how to feel the boat movements you can make refined adjustments to how you are rowing at race pace compared to steady lower rates. 07:30 Low rate endurance rowing We get good at efficiency at low rates because rowers do a lot of endurance training. Yet athletes who race want the effect of efficiency at race rates. Can we improve our agility and how we are moving with the hull and practice in training? Periodised training plans do not include a lot of high rate work. What we can do to keep the boat skills of handling the oars and body mass at low and high rates? 08:45 Agility Drills These are key to learning the skills. Ways to move quickly and keep the handle speed in time with the boat. These can be spliced into endurance rows for short periods of time. This doesn't upset the physiological training effect. Try doing agility drills for 1 minute in every 10 minutes low rate rowing. - Half Slide rowing - go from stroke rate 20 down to half slide the rate will change to around 26-28. This forces you to prepare the handle earlier for the catch, to move with more precision around the finish - you have less time on the recovery. - Half Slide Up Twos - take the rate up two points while staying at half slide. Stop when you lose the front end timing and / or the crew cohesion. This indicates your limit. - Double quick hands round the recovery - go twice as fast as normal round the early part of the recovery. Decide where this stops e.g. at hands away or body forward or quarter slide. Notice after the drill if you can be more precise with your handle / body movements. - Pause drills - choose where you pause for example quarter slide or weight on the feet. Look for the moment when the boat glide begins on the slide and the athlete body is relaxed. - Double quick hands and pause at weight on the feet. Learn how to feel whether you are getting ahead or behind the boat hull speed is key to going really fast when you are racing. Get easy live streams like this https://streamyard.com/pal/c/5694205242376192
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    15 m
  • Cardiac Health and Rowing

    Cardiac Health and Rowing
    Feb 15 2026
    Hear Becky Wilson for an in-depth review of the considerations for the masters athlete in terms of cardiac health. - Understanding your cardiac risk profile - New to rowing or returning after a long break? - How training for sport changes as we age from a cardiac health perspective. - A common mistake many masters athletes make with their training. - Age related adjustments to heart rate with respect to training in UT2, UT1 etc. - Understand and use the Karvonen Method for finding Heart Rate Zones. - Beta Blocked athletes need to do this with their calculation - Is it safe to train/compete after a cardiac event or a diagnosis of a cardiac condition? Download the slides https://fastermastersrowing.com/cardiac-health-and-rowing/
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    57 m
  • Ratio in strength training

    Ratio in strength training
    Feb 9 2026
    Improve your rowing ratio while lifting in the gym. Timestamps 00:45 Rowing can be improved by strength training Lifting heavy has lots of benefits - today we'll talk about ratio. The contrast between the power phase and recovery phase. How to use this concept of ratio in strength training. 02:00 Improve range of movement As we age we find our muscles and tendons don't have the same range and so our stride gets shorter. Strength training can help improve or maintain RoM. Weight lifting works in two planes - when you lift the weight and when you return it to the start point. Concentric muscle movements are shortening the muscle (as you lift). Eccentric muscle movements are lengthening the muscle (as you return the weight to the start). Eccentric muscle work can help improve your range of movement. Working on this part of the strength lift can use the rowing ratio as part of the movement. 03:45 Ratio in strength training The braking effect that you use as you control the weight in the eccentric lengthening muscle phase as you lower the weight down can enable you to have greater force production. When lifting heavy for few repetitions or using small muscles e.g. doing chin-ups against your body weight you may find the difference between the last successful lift and when you fail is large. Do your first chin up One way to improve your strength and do your first chin up is to start at the top of the lift with your chin over the bar (you may need a chair to step or jump up there). Then slowly lower yourself by straightening your arms doing just the eccentric part of the lift. You will gain strength more quickly by doing this slowly muscle lengthening under load. When you've done this a few times, try doing one chin up - you probably can lift yourself up. Use approximately a 3:1 ratio in your lifting. The more ratio you can manage the more you will be working the braking effect on the eccentric lift. 06:45 Improve range of movement Consider a difficult lift like a squat using an olympic bar. Getting a deeper squat - to 90 degrees or to a deep squat position is challenging. 08:00 6 week challenge to improve your ROM. 3x per week for 6 weeks. Start each lift with an ultra-light load. This helps refamiliarise your muscles with the movement. Then add weight so that you keep good form. Try to do 3-5 sets of each lift each time you go to the gym. Do 6 sessions on power - increase the load you can lift. Position a bench behind you so you squat down to just touching your bum on the bench. Goal is 90 degrees. For a deep squat choose a lower block to sit down to. Start with 5-8 reps on power - increase load. Do 6 sessions on range of movement - lower the bench. You may need to reduce the load in order to do this. Have someone spotting for you and checking your movements. Do 6 sessions on speed - lower for 3 and push up fast for 1. So build your ratio into these sessions. 11:30 Take your ratio training from the gym back into the boat. Can you push the oar faster through the water so that you can take longer on the slide recovery? You may be able to increase your ratio thanks to your work in the gym.
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    13 m