It’s May! Apparently, that means we’re in spring. But looking out the window, I’m glad I row inside!

As people venture out onto the water (that’ll never take off…) you may notice things slow-down a bit for the Indoor Rowing communities over the next few months. But only a bit. There are still a LOT of people rowing at home and in gyms – and still lots to look forward to this month:

CONCEPT2 ONLINE CHALLENGES

CTC – 10 x 100m / 1 minute rest

Concept 2 Monthly Facebook Challenge TBC - likely to be a 1000m Waterfall
(1000m / 800 / 600 / 400 / 200m with 90 second rests between)

Lightweight Facebook Challenge – Full Marathon

Concept2 Logbook – Global Marathon and Century Challenge (May 1 to 15)

FMMC – Has finished for the season, and is unlikely to return.

IRL – Has finished for the season.

ROWALONG WORKOUTS

With almost 400 (free) workouts on YouTube, I’m spending a little bit of time trying to package some of them together into useful collections. One of the more common questions I’m asked is “Where do I start?”.

And although I have a “Beginner” playlist, and a “Build me Up” playlist too – I’ve put together a playlist progressing through 30 different workouts, in an idea similar to “Couch to 5K” for runners – which I’ve called “Zero to Hero”.

The idea is that you jump aboard or exit the playlist at the right place for you. A 5 minute workout to start may be a little TOO short for you. So start at 10 minutes. Or maybe you have no interest in a workout called “30 Minute Destroyer” – in which case, don’t do that last one. (To be fair, the title is a little worrying!!)

The playlist is designed to build up your strength and fitness from nothing, all the way to being capable of rowing for much longer than you started, and hopefully much faster. Leaving you prepared for whatever challenge you want to do next.

HALF MARATHON TRAINING PLAN

Continuing the packaging up of existing workouts, I’ve done the same for a Half Marathon Training Plan. I’ll make a bespoke one eventually, but with so many longer rows already on my RowAlong YouTube Channel, it makes sense that instead of keeping those people who’ve asked for one waiting – that I use existing sessions to make the plan.

Make sure to read the description on the Playlist linked below - as it’s important you understand the design. This will end up on the website soon.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8ookhrQKwvIiuXs5wEf1saKbX7EbJzRk

FORM CHECK FRIDAY

This has taken a bit of a back seat for the past few months. Partly because I’ve not been pushing it due to work commitments (I’m still waiting for a Vegas fat cat to bank-roll me so I can do this full time… anyone? 😉 ) but also because the videos stopped coming through.

So, if you’d like to be part of Form Check Friday, please send me a video (side on) of you rowing at a rate and pace which you think shows you at your best. You can use the WeTransfer.com website to email to info@rowalong.com

ROWALONG.COM

I get so used to sending people to the YouTube channel that I forget sometimes that people use Rowalong.com as a way to get links to specific videos. I’ve let that fall away recently, and will start to rebuild pages for all the specific plans. In the meantime, there is a page with a simple list of all the YouTube playlists.

I’M GOING FULL NARCISSIST

If you’ve been rowing along with me in some of my more recent videos, you may have heard me mention that I’m still trying to build up my own strength and fitness after getting Covid all the way back in January. Part of this recovery is that I’m giving myself a taste of my own medicine, and doing the RowAlong thing myself.

I film the warmup, but then load up a RowAlong video from YouTube, and RowAlong with myself! I’ve made one of these already – and it was interesting going through what you folks go though. Man I talk rubbish… But as weird as it was, it still kept me distracted through the 30 minute row, and the technique tips and cues I was telling myself actually made me think about what I was doing. So maybe this RowAlong thing is onto something…. Tell your friends!

TECHNIQUE TIP

The reason I barf out lots of chatter about technique is because it will

1) Help prevent you getting injured when rowing
2) Help you row more efficiently, and therefore – for longer
3) Will let you use all the muscles you’re meant to be using when rowing.

This starts with getting into the right position for the drive, where you put all your power into the machine – known as “The Catch”.

· Tilt over your hips so you’re leaning into around 1 o’clock on the clock face.

· Arms straight, at a neutral height (not up, not down)

· Keep your arms and shoulders relaxed

· Hook fingers over the handle, thumbs underneath. Don’t choke on the handle!

· Slide forwards on the seat until shins are vertical, heels not too far off the plates

· Knees slightly apart (but not outside your elbows)

· Look straight ahead, chin neutral (it helps to have the monitor at eye height)

Next month – the drive. But all my videos talk about technique, so check them out.

POSTER

If you’re interested in printing off the RowAlong poster to hang in your gym, please get it here: https://rowalong.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/RowAlong_Poster.pdf

That’s all folks! Until next month, I’ll see you on the YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/c/RowAlongFreeIndoorRowingWorkouts