Why 10 X 3 Is Best For Strength And Size

If you see people doing chest and biceps, then do legs.

But the biggest disconnect usually comes when we talk about volume. Everyone knows typical gym training begins with three sets of ten. There is actually some science behind that. Back in the 1960s, Dr. Thomas DeLorme found that people responded better to multiple sets than they did to a single exposure, both in terms of building muscle size and strength (which explains why high-intensity training doesn’t work long term).

While sets of ten will work to begin with, they do have some limitations, especially for the natural trainee. Sooner or later the decreasing intensity in these sets of ten will have you need to work fewer reps per set. To begin with, a set of ten may leave you out of breath and flushed, but it won’t stay that way. The best way to think about it is like going for a jog. At first it’s difficult to even get around the block, but if you keep running those relaxed runs, you will be covering more and more distance pretty quickly. And at that point the only way to get fitter is to run faster

 

It may seem like a strange analogy, but there are far more similarities than differences between strength and fitness training. Beginners usually find themselves training at around seventy percent of what they are ultimately capable of. In fact, there is even a table to work out how hard you are working based off how many reps per set you are doing called Prilepin’s Table. A single set that is the heaviest thing you can lift once and once only represents 100% of your maximum. Looking at Prilepin’s Table, you’ll see that it goes down and eventually ends up at sets of ten and a corresponding seventy percent effort.

 

One of the things people often lose sight of is how many total reps are in a session. There’s a real reason why top strength coaches record not just weight, but sets and reps in their students’ work, as it helps to calculate the total intensity for the session, and even the training cycle. When you look at successful training plans the majority have one big thing in common - they share a total number of reps between the mid twenties and low thirties.

 

Think about it:

 

• 3 x 10
• 3-4 x 8
• 5 x 5
• 4 x 6
• 6 x 4

 

But there’s one incredibly valuable scheme that is overlooked in these plans, and that is the flip side of the old three sets of ten. What happens when you do ten sets of three? Let’s look at some of the benefits of 10 x 3:

 

• In a lift like the deadlift, where the set up can often be half the battle, this gives a trainee more opportunities to learn how to set up properly.
• Fatigue per set is kept to a minimum, reducing the possibility of injury. It’s rare to hear of people hurting themselves on the first rep of a set, but far more common for people to push hard while fatigued and hurt themselves on the eight, ninth, or tenth rep.
• Instead of thirty reps done at seventy percent intensity, this is thirty reps done at around 85% intensity.

 

This style of training allows for much greater stimulus to be applied to the muscles, which will result in greater strength and hypertrophy along the way. This is a great tool to use with opposing muscle groups and big lifts. Good choices are:

 

• Front squats and Romanian deadlifts
• Front squats and power cleans
• Bench press and chins

 

It can also be used to good effect on its own, and Westside Barbell made the 10x3 workout famous when they started using it for speed work on their Dynamic Effort days. For people who have never tried it, the end result is similar to what Dan John had in mind when detailing the One Lift a Day program. Just know that ten genuinely hard sets of three in a big exercise will take some time to get through, and the rest needed to do all this properly will make what seems like a small workout push out to the hour mark.

 

I’d suggest scheduling no more than two workouts per week for the ten by three sessions and using lower intensity work on the other days. A good sample split would be:

 

• Monday: 10 x 3 front squat and power cleans
• Tuesday: 5 x 5 bench press and chins, 3-4 x 6-8 of another upper-body pair
• Wednesday: Rest or easy cardio
• Thursday: Same as Monday
• Friday: Rest or easy cardio
• Saturday: Same as Tuesday
• Sunday: Rest or easy cardio

Read More

7 Exercises To Maximize Hand, Wrist, And Forearm Strength

It is extremely important not to neglect working your forearms during your exercise routines.The hands, wrists, and forearms should be prioritized while warming up and while working out. Below, I will review and demonstrate several stretches and essential exercises that will allow you to build strong and symmetric forearms.

The Benefits of Forearm and Wrist Exercises

So often, the biceps and triceps are the focal point of upper extremity development, while the forearms and wrists are given minimal attention. But the forearms and wrists allow us to perform the exercises that develop and maximize biceps, triceps, deltoid, chest, and back strength. Therefore, it is imperative that we devote time and energy to optimize the strength of our hands, wrists, and forearms.

As an orthopedic surgeon, I speak with many of my athletes and patients about forearm and leg development on a regular basis. Many of them complain about having thin, bird-like legs and forearms. But if you work your legs and forearms, they will respond and develop. We have to do the work and eliminate any excuses such as “my legs are always small” or “my forearms just don’t seem to bulk up.” Do the work and get the results.

7 Essential Forearm and Wrist Exercises

Here are my seven essential tips to really help you to develop strong and symmetric wrists and forearms. I recommend doing these exercises three times per week. Watch the video for a visual demonstration of the exercises.

1. Flex and extend all fingers, while making a complete fist for 30 seconds. Next, open and close your fingers do 2 sets of each for a total of a minute.
2. Flex your wrist and hold in maximum flex for 30 seconds with the elbow straight but not locked.
3. Extend your wrist with the elbow straight for 30 seconds. Do 2 sets for a total of 2 minutes. These initial three stretching exercises will prepare you for the more complex and more intense weight-bearing exercises to optimize muscular development and the strength of the forearm.
4. Seated Wrist Hammer Curls - In a seated position with your back straight, place your forearm on your thighs with your thumbs pointed upward. Use a 5-, 10-, or 20lb weight in a hammer position and lift it back and forth slowly for 3 sets of 20 repetitions. This will develop your brachioradialis muscle, which inserts at the distal aspect of the forearm at the wrist. Greater hypertrophy of this muscle will give more definition and balance of the forearm.
5. Seated Wrist Straight Curls - This is to develop your flexor muscles. In a seated position, with your forearms on your thighs and palms facing upward, with a 5-, 10-, or even 20lb weight in hand, flex your wrist upward. Keep the forearms well placed against your thighs for greater stability and isolation of the wrist and forearm musculature. Be careful to place the wrist three to four inches away from the knee to allow the full range of motion. Do 3 sets of 20 repetitions.
6. Seated Reverse Wrist Curls - This is to develop your extensor muscles and is also done in a seated position with your forearms on your thigh, palms facing downward, with the wrist three to four inches away from the knees. Grasp the weight and extend the wrist fully. Do this for 3 sets of 20 and be sure to not lift the elbows from the thighs when extending the wrists. Keep the palms down.
7. Finger Curls - This is an easy exercise to perform and will develop finger and hand strength. Simply sit and hold a 5-, 10-, or 15lb in weight your hand. Turn your hand with the palm upward with the back of your wrist on your thigh. Allow the weight to roll down your fingers, and now curl your fingers back holding the weight securely. Remember to keep the back of your wrist against your thigh throughout the execution of the exercise. Use weight which you can effectively control and execute the exercises properly.

Ultimately, these seven exercises will help to maximize the strength and contours of your hand, wrist, and forearm. This increase in the overall strength of your upper extremities will also help to improve your hand and wrist dexterity, which in turn can improve competitive performance in athletics, gaming, and even in day-to-day tasks.

Read More

A Look At How Squatting Affects The Knee

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people say not to perform back squats because it’s bad for this or that. Usually they say the spine or the knees (or both). And yet it’s one of the most fundamental movements for human beings. In many countries, people rest in a squatting position every single day like a catcher in baseball. Therefore, I’ve always looked on such claims with skepticism.

It’s always good to be prepared with information, though, particularly as a coach. When you work with numerous athletes of every level of ability, you need to be armed to the teeth with knowledge if you want to do any good for your clients. Knee injuries are perhaps the most common of all injuries I see, so it’s important to understand how the squat does affect the knee.Recently a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning did just that.

In the study, the researchers focused on pressure at the patellofemoral joint. That’s an anatomical term for where your kneecap rests on your knee. Injuries to this joint account for some 30% of all knee injuries reported, and pressure at this joint seems to have something to do with these injuries.

 The researchers looked at various loads and joint angles of the squat exercise and how it affected forces at the knee. Since intensity in exercise science is expressed as a percentage of maximal strength, the researchers noted that maximum strength drops as squat depth increases. For this reason, the researchers tested the athletes’ maxes at all three squat depths they analyzed. They hypothesized that forces at the knee would increase as the squat got deeper, but that reduced maximal weight in the deeper squat would reduce the force evenly.

My own hypothesis was slightly different. I thought the greatest force on the patellofemoral joint would be when the knee was close to a 90 degree angle. That would be the point at which the body is farthest from the center of gravity, meaning it would require higher forces.

Well, we were both wrong. The force at the knee went up with heavier weights and greater squat depth. Even though the rep maxes were less (for some) at the deepest position, the force at the knee was still the highest. However, it should be noted that everyone’s squat form and leverages are different, so these results may not hold true for everyone.

For athletes without injuries, there is some important takeaway to keep in mind. Despite tremendous force at the knee, many people do heavy squats with a lot of depth for years and are just fine. The researchers noted that experienced lifters had reduced knee laxity, meaning the soft tissues of the knee joint were healthier than sedentary controls. So keep working your squat and listen to your body.

For people with existing injury or knee pain, these results also give us something practical to work with. It’s still possible, and in many cases favorable, to strengthen the legs by squatting. However, it’s best to start working on your squat unloaded and above parallel and then slowly increase the depth before adding weight.

Read More

Trainer, I Can't Do Pull Ups: 7 Tips To Get You There

Pull ups are a basic movement in CrossFit, yet in and of themselves they are an intermediate gymnastic movement. Starting out pulling your bodyweight can seem like an insurmountable task.

Don’t fall prey to the mistakes of progressing too fast, kipping before you’re ready, or skipping over the fundamentals. There are tons of strategies and methods of assistance to get your chin over that bar, but not all of them are helping you to get stronger.

Here we will learn where to begin and which alternatives are worth your time. Here are seven tips for achieving that beautiful, dead-hang pull up.

1. Work Your Mobility

Pullups begin as all movements do - with proper mobility. Work on being able to maintain a proper overhead position exactly as described in my article The Safest and Smartest Progression for Building Your Overhead Lifts. If you start with tight lats, chest, or spine you’re already in a compromised position. This will put more stress on your shoulder joint and spine. For a pull up, you must start in a deadhang position with active shoulders. Once you can hang in this position in a controlled manner, then you can start pulling motions.

If you are unable to achieve a proper active hang position, you can still start building strength while working on your mobility. Work on grip strength using heavy deadlifts along with farmer’s carries. Both will stress the forearm and hands in a similar way to a pull up. To begin building pulling strength, you can do bent over barbell or dumbbell rows. Both are effective at building pulling strength and require less mobility to perform correctly.  

2. Get Some Hang Time

Once you open up the mobility to dead hang properly, then you need to start spending time on the bar. Dead hangs for time are an effective way to build shoulder stability and grip strength. Make sure you never let your form suffer during these.

3. Avoid Jumping and Rubber Bands

Jumping pullups and banded pullups are popular in the CrossFit world as a way to get in a workout, but I’ve found little success with these methods and little direct translation into actual pull up strength. Strict banded pullups can be decent for building strength, but during a metcon they get abused and people begin to kip, bounce out of the hole, and squirm in all sorts of ways to finish their reps. If you’re after metabolic conditioning, switch to rows, deadlifts, rowing, ring rows, or some other variation.

4. Build Strength

To get your first pullup what you want to do is build strength. This means operating at 80%+ of your max effort at a minimum. Ring rows are one of the most effective methods to build strength and are easily varied in intensity by changing your positioning. Mark your foot positioning each workout and begin to creep your body closer to parallel with the floor each time. This will increase the load by involving a greater percentage of your bodyweight.

Negative pullups are also effective at building strength. Start with a five-second controlled descent and build to longer durations of time. Eccentric work can be very taxing and leave you sore, so start conservatively and add on as your body tells you. Don’t combine a lot of eccentric pulling work and then a hard metcon involving similar movements.

5. Stay Focused

Remember the body can adapt well in one way at a time. It’s hard to increase strength and endurance at the same time. This is why we cycle our training and have times when we focus on strength and times when we focus on conditioning. If your goal is to do a pull up, then focus on getting that first one now, and then multiple reps later.

6. Resist the Kip

Don’t kip until you can do at least five strict pullups. Kipping is the translation of horizontal momentum to vertical force and allows you to do a greater number of pull ups. Kipping is more efficient, but it also loads the shoulder dynamically, putting more force on it. If you are unable to control your bodyweight, there is no reason to add momentum on top of that.

7. Climb a Rope

Another movement great at building pulling strength is rope climbs. Rope climbing with efficiency involves using your legs to hook the rope and push yourself higher. Your arms hold you in place as you bring your legs up. So for a rope climb you only need to be able to hang on, not just pull your way to the top. Therefore, this is a great tool for people still working on building their pulling strength. If you’re a beginner, though, remember to let your legs help you so you don’t just focus on your arms and get burned out.

Respecting the pullup, training for your current ability level, and listening to your body will yield long-term results. If you’ve never done a pull up, then it’ll take time to get there, but the long smooth road always beats the ups and down of overtraining and progressing too quickly.

Read More

The Comprehensive Rowing Warm Up And Cool Down

Dynamic Warm Up Exercises for Rowers

These six exercises should be performed before each erg, body circuit, or cross-training session. Perform 8-10 repetitions per exercise, or per side if applicable:

Sumo Squats: Reach both arms overhead and squat as low as possible while still maintaining a straight spine and neck, with hands pointed toward the sky. Activates the glutes and quads, while ensuring good posture in the neck and spine. A great exercise to help mimic ideal body positioning on the C2.

Lunge with Reach for the Moon: Perform a lunge, stepping the right leg forward, stopping just before the left knee of the back leg touches the ground. Feel a stretch in the left hip flexor. Hold the position at the bottom and reach diagonally across the body, back and toward the sky. The stretch in the hip flexor should increase while also stretching your side and lat. Return to center and push off with right leg to return to standing position. Repeat on the left side. Activates the glutes and quads and mobilizes the hips and thoracic spine.

Single-Leg RDL: Plant right foot firmly on the ground and kick your left heel up and back until you feel a stretch in the right hamstring. Both hips should stay pointed forward, back should stay flat, and head should be pointed so you are looking two feet in front of your right foot at the end position. Hold for two seconds. Squeeze the right hamstring and glute to return to an upright position. Repeat on left side. Activates the hamstrings and glutes, while helping enforce proper posture.

Pushups with Shoulder Retraction/Protraction: Perform a pushup (toe or knee). At the top, push your upper back out as much as possible (protraction), then let the shoulder blades squeeze together (retraction). Repeat pushup sequence. Activates the pectoral muscles and mobilizes the shoulders.

Cat/Camel: Start on all fours. Push your upper back out as much as possible while dropping your head and rounding your lower back. Hold for 2 seconds. Then, arch your entire back and look up toward the sky. Hold for 2 seconds. Repeat. Mobilizes the entire spine and pelvis.

Alternating Cross Extensions: Start on all fours. Reach your right arm out in front of you and kick your left leg straight behind you, reaching the fingertips of your right hand and pushing back through your left heel as far as you can. Both hips should remain parallel with the floor. Remain as still as possible by engaging your abdominal muscles. Repeat on other side. Activates the entire core and promotes core stabilization.

Cool Down Stretches for Rowers

Perform these 6 stretches after every workout: 

Hip Flexor: Start with left knee on the ground and your right foot planted in front of you (your right leg at a 90-degree angle). Reach your left arm up as high as you can toward the sky. Both hips should be pointed forward as you lean slightly forward into the stretch. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on the right side. Stretches the hip flexors and entire side. Helps to relieve low back tightness.

Piriformis: Lay on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, head resting on the ground. Cross your right ankle over your left knee and pull your left leg toward your chest with both hands. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on the left leg. Stretches the piriformis muscle. Helps to relieve low back tightness.

Hamstring: Stand with your right foot two feet in front of your left foot, both hips pointing forward. Sit back into left leg and glute and let your right foot tip back onto right heel. Hold for 30 seconds Feel the stretch in your right hamstring. Helps to relieve low back tightness.

Lion: Start on all fours. Reach your hands straight out in front of you on the floor while you push your hips back and up, resting your forehead on the floor. Hold for 30 seconds. Stretches your lats and relieves pressure on your lumbar spine.

Doorway: Stand in a doorway with both forearms resting on either side of the opening, arms at a 90-degree angle, shoulder blades gently squeezing down and back. Hold for 30 seconds. Stretches your chest and shoulders. Helps relieve tightness in the pecs, ribs, shoulders, and upper back.

Low Back Twist: Start by laying on your back on the ground. Bring your right knee to your chest. With your left hand, bring your knee across your body, all the way to the ground if possible. Stretch your right arm out to the other side and turn your head to look at your right hand. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on the left side. Mobilizes the entire spine. Stretches the pecs, IT bands, glutes, and low back. The best stretch to perform after a long session on the C2.

How Much Time Should You Spend?

Warming Up to Perform

For each erg workout that needs a warm up (medium intensity and higher), the suggested warm up time should be given in the training plan. If you are not given a suggested time, 10-20 minutes should suffice. The harder the workout, the longer the warm up should be. Don't forget, these minutes count toward the total workout!

As a general rule, half of the warm up time should be done at steady state (easy) pace and stroke rate. The other half of the time, you should perform a series of 10-20 stroke bursts up to and at the stroke rate and pace (or faster than) you will hold for the workout pieces, paddling for 30 seconds between bursts. By the end of the warm up, you should be breathing heavily and starting to sweat!

Cooling Down to Recover

Much the same as the warm up, the suggested cool down time should be given. If it isn't, cool down for another 10-20 minutes, and count those minutes toward your total workout time.Just like the warm up, the harder your workout was, the longer your cool down should be.

The split for the first two-thirds of the cool down should be 3-5 seconds slower than your easy, steady-state pace. For example, if your steady state pace is 2:10/500m, you should hold between 2:13-2:15/500m for the first two-thirds of the cool-down.The last third should be done at easy steady state pace. The purpose of the cool down is to flush any lactic acid built up in the muscles from the workout. It is important not to go too hard or too easy on the cool down. You don’t want to be producing more lactic acid, but you also want to make sure you are going hard enough so that you are flushing properly. By the end, the burning sensation in your legs (and in the rest of your body) from the workout should be gone.

Read More

An 8-Week Training Plan For The Beginner

First, let's cover some definitions. Your warm up and cool down routines can be found in my previous article. Your stroke rate (SR) is the number of times you pull in a minute, and is displayed on the erg. Now let's see what your week is going to look like:

Mondays

Your Monday workouts will be timed, steady-state (SS) efforts at lower SRs. The goal is to get to the point where you can hold the same 500m split pace for the entire SS workout. As the SR changes, the splits will increase or decrease slightly. The higher the SR, the lower the split, and the lower the SR, the higher the split.

Tuesdays

The second day of your training week will contain distance intervals at slightly higher SRs.

Wednesdays

Wednesday will see you doing one of two total-body circuits, described in detail below. Exercises in the body circuits should be done continuously, with the only rest coming after all of the exercises are completed once.

Thursdays

Timed intervals of varying stroke rates and intensities will make up your Thursdays.

Fridays

Friday is speed day. You'll work on shorter bursts at higher stroke rates, to build your power and capacity.

Saturdays

Saturdays are for getting out and having fun! Cross-train by running, swimming or biking for the time prescribed.

Sundays

Recovery is an important part of any program, and Sunday is the time to do it. Go for a walk, do some yoga, or take a light, short jog to flush the lactic acid and soreness that built up during the week's training. If you want, you can just rest. This day is meant to have you charged back up for the next training week ahead.

Bodyweight Circuits for Wednesdays

Circuit A

Perform 10 reps each of the following exercises in a continuous sequence:

1. Squats
2. Forward lunge (right leg)
3. Forward lunge (left leg)
4. Jumpees
5. Backward lunge (right leg)
6. Backward lunge (left leg
7. Burpees
8. Side lunge (right)
9. Side lunge (left)
10. Good mornings

Circuit B:

Perform the following exercises in a continuous sequence:

1. Push ups x10
2. Front plank, 1 min
3. Left side plank, 1 min
4. Right side plank, 1 min
5. Supermans x10, hold 3 seconds at the top of each rep
6. Bicycles x10 each side, hold 2 sec at the top of each rep
7. Hip ups x10, hold 3 seconds at the top of each rep
8. Alternating V-ups x10 each side
9. Fire hydrants x10 each leg
10. Horse kicks x10 each leg

Week 1

Monday

• Row: 3x10 min
• SR: 18
• Rest 3 min between sets

Tuesday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 2x2km
• SR: 22
• Rest 4 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Wednesday

• Body circuit A x2
• Rest 2 min between sets

Thursday

• Row: 3x12 min
• SR: 19
• Rest 3 min between sets

Friday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 3x1km
• SR: 24
• Rest 4 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Saturday

• Cross-train 30 min

Sunday

• Off or active recovery

Week 2

Monday

• Row: 4x10 min
• SR: 19
• Rest 3 min between sets

Tuesday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 2x3km
• SR: 24
• Rest 5 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Wednesday

• Body circuit B x2
• Rest 2 min between sets

Thursday

• Row: 2x20 min
• SR: 20
• Rest 3 min between sets

Friday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 5x500m
• SR: 26
• Rest 3 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Saturday

• Cross-train 35 min

Sunday

• Off or active recovery

Week 3

Monday

• Row: 3x15 min
• SR: 18/20/18 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Tuesday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 3x2km
• SR: 22/24 for 1km each
• Rest 4 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Wednesday

• Body circuit A x3
• Rest 2 min between sets

Thursday

• Row: 3x15 min
• SR: 19/21/19 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Friday

• 15 min warm up
• Row: 3x1km
• SR: 26
• Rest 4 min between sets
• 15 min cool down

Saturday

• Cross-train 40 min

Sunday

• Off or active recovery

Week 4

Monday

• Row: 3x20 min
• SR: 18/20 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Tuesday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 2x3km
• SR: 22/24/22 for 1km each
• Rest 5 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Wednesday

• Body circuit B x3
• Rest 2 min between sets

Thursday

• Row: 2x25 min
• SR: 19/21 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Friday

• 15 min warm up
• Row: 5x500m
• SR: 28
• Rest 3 min between sets
• 15 min cool down

Saturday

• Cross-train 45 min

Sunday

• Off or active recovery

The erg can be an intimidating piece of equipment to master, but steady work will yield improvement. [Photo credit: J Perez Imagery]

Week 5

Monday

• Row: 3x10 min
• SR: 18/20 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Tuesday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 2x2km
• SR: 22/24 for 1km each
• Rest 4 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Wednesday

• Body circuit A x3
• Rest 2 min between sets

Thursday

• Row: 3x12 min
• SR: 19/21/19 for 4 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Friday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 3x1km
• SR: 26
• Rest 4 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Saturday

• Cross-train 30 min

Sunday

• Off or active recovery

Week 6

Monday

• Row: 4x10 min
• SR: 18-20 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Tuesday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 2x3km
• SR: 22/24/22 for 1km each
• Rest 5 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Wednesday

• Body circuit B x3
• Rest 2 min between sets

Thursday

Part 1

• Row: 20 min
• SR: 19/21 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min

Part 2

• Row: 20 min
• 30 strokes "firm," 10 strokes "paddle"
• SR: 18-26 (see note)

Note: The SR should remain the same within each 30-stroke piece. The SR should follow the progression 18-20-22-24-26-24-22-20-18-20 and so on. The firm strokes should be harder than normal continuous work. The paddle should be very easy.

Friday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 5x500m
• SR: 28
• Rest 3 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Saturday

• Cross-train 35 min

Sunday

• Off or active recovery

Week 7

Monday

• Row: 3x15 min
• SR: 18/20/18 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Tuesday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 3x2km
• SR: 22/24 for 1km each
• Rest 4 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Wednesday

• Body circuit A x3
• Rest 2 min between sets

Thursday

• Row: 3x15 min
• SR: 19/21/19 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Friday

• 15 min warm up
• Row: 3x1km
• SR: 26
• Rest 4 min between sets
• 15 min cool down

Saturday

• Cross-train 40 min

Sunday

• Off or active recovery

Week 8

Monday

• Row: 3x20 min
• SR: 18/20 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min between sets

Tuesday

• 10 min warm up
• Row: 2x3km
• SR: 22/24/22 for 1km each
• Rest 5 min between sets
• 10 min cool down

Wednesday

• Body circuit B x4
• Rest 3 min between sets

Thursday

Part 1

• Row: 25 min
• SR: 19/21 for 5 min each
• Rest 3 min

Part 2

• Row: 25 min
• 30 strokes "firm," 10 strokes "paddle"
• SR: 20-28 (see note)

Note: The SR should remain the same within each 30-stroke piece. The SR should follow the progression 20-22-24-26-28-26-24-22-20-22 and so on. The firm strokes should be harder than normal continuous work. The paddle should be very easy.

Friday

• 15 min warm up
• Row: 5x500m
• SR: 30
• Rest 3 min between sets
• 15 min cool down

Saturday

• Cross-train 45 min

Sunday

• Off or active recovery

Read More