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Coming Up: Junior Crew Conditioning

Now that the Fall competitive rowing season has come to an end, we are ramping up our winter training program.  We strongly encourage any athlete who is serious about being competitive in the spring to participate.

As coaches, our training plan revolves around the Northwest Regional Championships held in mid-May.  This means we don’t see the fall racing season as a separate season from the Spring, but rather as a preparatory step towards spring.  I won’t bore you with the details of periodized training plans and macrocycles, but the fall and winter are meant to develop the base strength and conditioning which provide the foundation for the speed and power that we develop in the Spring.  What this means for the athlete is that the training calendar never stops between September and May.

Not only are the next three months important to maintaining the training that we’ve been doing for the last eight weeks, but teams that expect to win in spring are the ones who come out of winter faster than they ended fall.  I’ve said this so much to my team that it’s become cliche: championships are won in December and January.

This is where our winter training courses come in.  We break down our offseason training into two periods: one from November through December, and another through the month of January.  Right now we are focused on the period from November through December.

For the novices, we are offering a two day a week class on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Wednesdays will be on land and incorporate the ergometers, running, and general strength exercises.

For the varsity athletes, we have retooled our offerings a little this year and are now offering what we think will be a much more robust and effective plan.  In past years we have only offered a three day a week plan which included one day on the water.  We are now offering what we are calling a “cross-training” session which will provide an additional two days of training.  The conditioning days will be similar to what we’ve done in the past, they will largely incorporate ergometers on land and rowing on the water on Saturdays.  The cross-training sessions will incorporate strength training, flexibility, and core development.  Our goal is that these classes will complement each other nicely.

One final note about the varsity training classes: if an athlete can only do one, they should do the fitness course.  The cross-training course is really meant to augment the fitness work, not replace it.

Class Details

Please note that the days listed in the brochure are different than those listed below.  We create the brochure for the entire calendar year, and it is sometimes hard for us to anticipate our needs 12 months in advance.  Also, there are several holiday dates during the next couple months.  Coaches may elect to offer additional training during those days (such as the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving) on a volunteer basis at no additional charge to the athlete.

Varsity Boys:

Conditioning: Tuesday, Friday, Saturday
$58    66743

Cross Training: Monday, Thursday
$30    80846

Varsity Girls:

Conditioning: Monday, Thursday, Saturday
$58    66744

Cross Training: Tuesday, Friday
$30    80847

Novice Boys and Girls:

Conditioning: Monday, Saturday
$42    66742
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