Strength
Deadlift
Heavy 2
Workout
3 x 500m row
-Rest as needed between efforts
-No less than 2 min
-These are all out, max effort rows
**Deadlift – pick up the barbell, put it down. Still doing deadstop deadlifts, and make sure you set it down v drop it on the second lift. Key things here – solid set up, and tension throughout the body. That doesn’t mean squeeze everything so tight that you’re immobile, but be as tight as necessary in the appropriate places – feet screwed into the ground, midsection tight, lats tight (think of squeezing an orange in your armpits), and tension in your hamstrings right before you pry the bar of the ground.
Rowing here is all out efforts. That doesn’t mean let your form go to shit – legs, body, arms; arms, body, legs. Your coaches might use slightly different terms, but you’re moving your lower half, midsection, upper body, and doing it in the reverse order. As with any movement we do in CrossFit – deadlifts, pull ups, snatches, box jumps – no matter how mundane it might seem, there is always technique involved.**
This is a great video of the ‘pick drill’ that essentially picks apart each piece of the stroke – arms only, arms and body, arms/body + quarter slide, arms/body + half slide, arms/body + full slide aka taking a full stroke. It’s a great way to warm up. Think about how we warm up to do cleans – we don’t warm up with full squat cleans. We warm up with some RDLs, bent over rows, stretching the rack position, Burgener warm up, muscle snatches, front squats, etc. So why should it be any different when rowing?
This is one of my favorite breakdowns of rowing technique when I rowed crew nearly a decade ago.
**And if anyone is interested in a 1-on-1 session to spend more time learning about rowing technique and how to improve your splits/times, I would be MORE than willing to work with you. Rowing is a passion of mine, having completed a half marathon row back in February and other various events/races. Looking to complete the marathon row next year.