Strength Training for Rowers: Using the Gym to Pull Harder

Gym training helps rowers in two ways: it raises the force you can put through the footplate on every stroke, and it makes the body more robust against the back and rib problems that come with thousands of repetitive pulls. For most club and masters rowers, two strength sessions a week is enough. Build them around a squat or leg press, a hip hinge such as the deadlift, a heavy row or pull, a press, and some trunk work. Lift heavy with modest volume, keep the sessions short, and leave the conditioning to the water and the erg. The rest of this post covers the detail: what to pick, how to load it, and how to fit it around a rowing week.

What the stroke actually asks of your body

The drive phase is mostly legs, then hips, then arms, in that order. Coaches often describe it as roughly legs first, back swing second, arms last, and the gym should respect that sequence. The legs push the body away from the footplate; the trunk transmits that force to the handle without folding; the arms finish the stroke. A strong pair of arms attached to a soft trunk loses force at exactly the point it matters.

That gives a clear list of priorities:

• Leg drive: squats, leg press, split squats.
• Hip extension and a stiff back under load: deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts.
• Pulling strength and upper-back endurance: heavy rows, pulldowns, pull-ups.
• Trunk stiffness: carries, anti-rotation work, planks done properly.
• Balance work for the muscles that rowing neglects: pressing and some rotation, partly to keep shoulders and the rib cage happy.

Rowing already supplies huge amounts of endurance. What it rarely supplies is maximal force or variety of movement, and that is what the gym is for.

The core lifts and why each one earns its place

Squat or leg press

The catch position is a deep knee and hip bend with the shins close to vertical, so a squat to a comfortable depth trains the same joint angles. A back squat or front squat both work. If your back is already tired from a heavy rowing week, the leg press loads the legs without asking much of the spine. Our comparison of front squats and back squats is useful if you are choosing between them.

Deadlift and Romanian deadlift

The deadlift trains the same relationship between legs and back that the drive does: push the floor away, keep the trunk rigid, then open the hips. It is also the lift most rowers are most nervous about, usually because of back pain they have had in the boat. Done with good positions and sensible loads, it tends to make the back more resilient rather than less. The Romanian deadlift is a useful second hinge that loads the hamstrings with less fatigue.

Heavy rows and pulls

A seated cable row, chest-supported dumbbell row or bent-over barbell row all train the finish of the stroke with far more load than the oar provides. Pair them with a vertical pull such as the lat pulldown or pull-up for the upper back and lats. The technique points in our guide to the seated cable row carry over directly.

Pressing

Rowers do almost no pushing. A dumbbell bench press or overhead press keeps the shoulder balanced and gives the chest and front of the shoulder something to do. It is not glamorous, but it helps.

Trunk work

Choose exercises where the job is to resist movement: farmer’s carries, suitcase carries, Pallof presses, dead bugs. Endless crunches add little. The trunk’s role in the boat is to stay stiff while force passes through it.

A two-session weekly plan

This suits a rower on the water or the erg four or five times a week. Take every working set to about two reps short of failure. Rest two to three minutes on the main lifts.

Session A	Sets x reps	Session B	Sets x reps
Back or front squat	4 x 4 to 6	Deadlift	4 x 3 to 5
Chest-supported row	4 x 6 to 8	Bulgarian split squat	3 x 6 to 8 each leg
Romanian deadlift	3 x 6 to 8	Pull-up or lat pulldown	3 x 6 to 10
Dumbbell bench press	3 x 8 to 10	Overhead press	3 x 6 to 8
Pallof press	3 x 10 each side	Farmer’s or suitcase carry	3 x 30 to 40 metres

Each session should take 50 to 60 minutes including a ten-minute warm-up. Add a little load when you hit the top of a rep range on every set with good form. That is all progressive overload means here.

Fitting the gym around the water

The main conflict is fatigue. A hard deadlift session the evening before a long steady piece leaves you with heavy legs and a tired back, and the piece suffers. A few rules that work well in practice:

1. Put strength after easy days, not hard ones. Lift on the same day as a steady session, ideally several hours later, or on a day with no rowing.
2. Keep at least one easy day before racing or a test. Two days is better for a heavy lower-body session.
3. Change the emphasis with the season. In winter, when there is more steady work and fewer races, you can push the gym harder: three sessions, slightly more volume. In the racing season, drop to one or two short sessions that maintain strength with low volume.
4. Do not add extra conditioning in the gym. No finishers, no circuits. You get enough of that elsewhere.

Mistakes I see rowers make in the gym

• Training like it is another erg session. High reps, short rests and light weights feel productive but mostly add fatigue. The gym is where you go heavy.
• Skipping the legs because rowing already uses them. Rowing uses them for endurance, not maximal force. Heavy leg work is where most rowers have the most room to gain.
• Too much pulling, no pressing. A programme of rows, more rows and pulldowns compounds the imbalance the boat already creates.
• Ignoring the trunk until it hurts. Low back pain is common in rowing. Trunk work and good hinge technique are cheap insurance.
• Testing maximums in season. A one-rep max has little value to a rower. Track sets of three to five instead.

If you have a history of rib stress injury, a disc problem or recurrent back pain, check with your GP or a physiotherapist before starting heavy lifting, and tell your coach. Most of these issues do not rule out strength work, but the starting point and progression need adjusting.

Masters and returning rowers

Many people take up rowing, or come back to it, in their forties and fifties. For them the gym matters even more. Muscle and bone both respond to resistance training at any age, and the UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week for adults. The plan above works, with two adjustments: spend longer on the warm-up, and start with lighter loads for the first four weeks while technique settles. Recovery between hard sessions also tends to take longer, so be stricter about the order of hard and easy days.

Where coaching makes the difference

The lifts above are not complicated, but the hinge and squat in particular are where small faults turn into sore backs. Having someone watch the first few sessions, set loads that suit your rowing week and adjust as the season changes saves a lot of trial and error. That is the kind of work we do in the private training studio in Highgate: one person, one coach, a full squat rack, cable station and dumbbells, and a plan that fits around your outings rather than competing with them. If you row with a club on the Lea or train mostly on an erg at home, coached sessions with Artem are a short trip from Archway, Crouch End and Muswell Hill.

For the governing body’s guidance on rowing safety and clubs, British Rowing is the place to start.

Questions we get asked

Will lifting weights make me too heavy for the boat?

Not with two sessions a week of low-volume heavy work alongside a full rowing load. That combination builds strength far more than size. Weight gain in rowers usually comes from food, not from the gym.

Should I lift in the morning or after rowing?

If you row in the morning, lift later that day or the next. If you can only do both in one session, row first and lift second, and keep the lifting short.

Is the erg enough strength work on its own?

The erg builds endurance and some strength in beginners, but the resistance is too low to build maximal force in trained rowers. That is why most serious programmes include the gym.

How long before I notice a difference on the water?

Strength numbers usually rise within four to six weeks. Turning that into boat speed takes longer, typically a season, because technique has to catch up with the new force.

---

Book with The Highgate House

Ready to start training properly? Email us at [email protected] with the service and the day that suits you, and we will come back to you with times.

Visit The Highgate House · Private personal training

The Highgate House, Archway Road, Highgate, London N6.