Get a copy of Will Ruth’s book, Rowing Stronger.

Split squats work very well. As well as rdls, as they strengthen your lower back, and can help you “sit up” in a stronger position.

Some of my other favourite are single arm dumbbell rows (using a bench to support your body, these will strengthen your lats and help with your pull with the arms. 2 types of dumbbell fly’s - bent over dumbbell flus(looks like this), and side delt flys (again, looks like this). This is will help with general pulling, and control in the catch and finish.

Hope this helps!

• Erg a lot.
• Do the classic weights stuff, especially leg day (deadlifts, squats and variations on those).
• Your core is important but if you're sculling regularly yours is probably fine; don't neglect it completely.
• Have a generally balanced workout that doesn't neglect areas anyway.

Will Ruth has far better information than anything you'll read here from random posters.

OP, /u/VaniDroga, /u/larkinowl, /u/bfluff

Will Ruth here. I'm really glad my work is helpful for you all, and thanks for the praise and sending others my way. I deleted my old account and was away from Reddit for a while, but I still lurk here every now and then and just made this new account. It honestly makes my day to hear from rowers and coaches putting my work to use to get stronger, faster, healthier. Happy to answer questions here via tags and such when I can.

T bar row, lat pulldown, shoulder press, chest press, skull crushers/tricep pulldown, bicep curls, leg press, calf raises, squats, dead lifts, take your pick man, rowing uses so many muscles it's up to you to figure out where to start on improving. For me, my legs are good (can press 250kg, I'm 90kg) but my shoulders and arms need to be able to take the "pull" from the legs pushing, and that's my limiting factor in overall improvement to rowing, I can't always keep arms straight/shoulders positioned correctly when I am going all out, so for me at the moment, my work out is top heavy (shoulders, chest, upper back and arms) The rowing takes care of my mid/core, and legs I hit once a week at the moment, till my upper body is where I want it to be.

But ultimately, working on wherever you need to is better then overall weights, especially if you have a solid workout foundation already. Feel what gets sore/lacks strength when rowing, that needs the most attention, they are the weak link in the power transfer.

Squat, overhead press, pull-up, deadlift.

Use the gym to work on your core! (key to injury prevention) It's great for stretching/mobility work as well. And of course, you will need to use the gym to improve your max strength lifts at appropriate times in your training schedule.

Lift total body at least 2x a week. Think more about movement patterns, not just specific lifts: squat, lunge, hinge, press, pulldown, row, carry.

Power cleans simulate the rowing stroke quite accurately

Kettlebell swings — for core, static/dynamic shoulders, dynamic hip extensors. This can be your main PULL.

Body weight squats (or kettle bell squats) — more core, static for biceps and shoulders, dynamic for knee extensors especially quads. This can be your main PUSH.

Plus these can be devastating cardio work outs. Look up “Tabata” workouts to mix it up or if sometimes you have less time.

Plus there are a million strength training things you can do with the right sized KB.

Jumpies are good if you don’t have a KB. It does push for knees and pull for hips. But not as much for core and shoulders.

Well running steady state is great, good cardio+leg muscles.  It’s also good to do just bodyweight circuits and stuff. Obviously it would be great if you had an erg but you can work without. My coach recommended to me mostly core and leg workouts, but I throw in some arm. You can look up videos of bodyweight workouts 

Bodyweight workouts (with lots of squats, lunges, burpees and Russian twists)

I know you said ‘no equipment’ but you can make all those more effective with small hand held weights (or small water bottles as a sub).

Also I got two wedge blocks as I find that changing angle of feet when doing squats can really help

Also, and often overlooked, flexibility exercises - loads of Pilates and yoga workouts online. Do one (about 40mins - 1hour) at least weekly

Keep on top of tight leg muscles. I got diagnosed by a rowing active physio with ludicrously tight Achilles tendon, and lack of adequate strength in my glutes. You need to keep the range, especially if you sit in a share boat not set up for you individually. Ankle raises on a brick, quite a few of the pilates mat leg series are worth doing every day.

Jumpies. Lots of ‘em.

Definitely add some sort of split squat - forwards and backwards and bulgarian all work different muscles but are all great.

split squats help ensure you work both legs evenly and don’t overload/overuse one side. you’ll need both legs pushing their best to row well, so add some exercises to train each leg and arm individually (using dumbbells besides barbells for upper body motions is an easy swap)

If it's only one day you don't need to front squat and deadlift. Maybe alternate each week

RDL for sure

You need to add a regular chest press of some kind, not just shoulder press

You'll get plenty of horizontal pulling from rowing. It's ok to do some 'rowing' lifts, but also add in some lat pulldowns / pull ups etc.

The best way to train your whole core is through 'bracing' exercises - planks, farmers carries, suitcase carries, etc. But mix in traditional core stuff if you want.

I would include clean, which really help you to put your whole body in tension for a pull movement with a quick execution.

Pull ups and back squats. 

Does your club have free weights or kettlebells? I noticed a difference in my rowing performance when I started really targeting my lats with bent over rows specifically. I’m up to rowing with 2 45lb weights (4 sets of 10-12 reps) as a lightweight woman, so you can go a little heavier than you’d expect (just make sure you’re still feeling it in your lats)

I also don’t think unilateral strength movements get enough love, especially in the rowing where balance is important and it’s easy to develop muscle imbalances. Maybe consider switching out your regular deadlifts and squats with single leg deadlifts and split squats/deficit split squats/Bulgarian split squats once a week or every few sessions. I usually go a bit heavier and focus on lower reps of 8.

Regarding core, make sure to do plenty or core that incorporates the hip flexors as well. I see you have Russian twists in there which is good—you might also consider bicycles (slow and controlled is better than throwing your elbows and quick), bird dog, dead bug, and v ups. Planks and plank variations are also fun if you want to work on core but incorporate full body strength as well.

Finally, don’t forget mobility before lifting, especially if you’re new to it. It will prevent injury and also help you get into more depth in your strength exercises.

Rowing Strength/Blake Gourley is a great follow on Instagram if that’s your thing.

Lifting is really important to increase peak wattage. Traditionally you do it in the off season in summer to build your body before the start of the year. Then you can translate all the leg gains into erg splits during that first term. Good rowers will likely have a strong leg press, ideally a high squat and in the past bench pull was popular for a full RoM back exercise (also Romanian Deadlift/Hip Thrust for the glutes).

Weight training is very important for a rower. Sure, a novice high school rower can probably get away with skipping the weight room, but it is very important for those competing and training at a high level.

In hs and college, if you aren't lifting, you probably aren't winning and you may even be injuring yourself at a higher rate.

If you don't weight train, you will have a movement and muscular imbalance because rowing only works certain muscles. You need to weight train the opposing muscles. If the rowers don't, they will be more prone to injuries with their backs, ribs, hips, legs, etc.

Here is a good article....

https://rowingstronger.com/2023/02/12/rowing-strength-training-program-priorities/

Other links:

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/rowing-preventing-injury

https://www.concept2.com/blog/the-power-of-strength-training-for-rowers-enhancing-performance-erg-scores-and-longevity

https://ludum.com/blog/athlete-health-fitness/a-fresh-perspective-on-strength-training-for-rowing/

The older you are, the more important it is that you lift, and lift heavy (whatever heavy means for you).

Not just for rowers, for everyone.

My belief is that specifically for rowers, you should lift like you row. Rowing is a strength-endurance sport, so lift in a strength-endurance way. This is why I predominantly use kettlebells, they're fantastic strength-endurance tools.

Being able to pick up a heavy kettlebell and do a full-body complex for 4 straight minutes without putting the weight down is far more applicable to a 1k than being able to back-squat twice your bodyweight for 5 reps but then you need a sit-down for 5 minutes afterwards.

100%. Year round lifting should be done by all athletes, changing up frequency/intensity/etc based on in season / off season. It needs to both 'balance out' the movements you don't really get from rowing (presses, lat pulldown, rotational work, full range squats, overhead movements) while ALSO enhancing/supplementing the movements you do plenty of while rowing. It's also going to help a lot with your muscular endurance, injury prevention, and recovery time after an injury.

Depends on your level, I think. (Assuming heavyweight men) you can do body weights and fight your way down to 6:25, 6:30 on wind alone, but you're not getting much faster without power.

Given that a 2k is heavily aerobic, after a certain point your numbers in the gym don’t really make that much of a difference.

If you can squat 1.25x bodyweight and 1.5x deadlift, you’re probably fine.

Squats and deadlifts are probably the most important exercises to be doing in the weight room

Squats and deadlifts for sure. I’d also add just about any and all core workouts. It’s amazing what I’ve seen folks do by just sticking to squats and core.

I would strongly prioritise getting to the bottom of why your back hurts when you get under squat/deadlift loads. A physio specialised in sport/spine physiotherapy would be ideal for this. You technically can supplement other exercises in to target similar muscle groups, but by doing that you just put yourself at higher risk of a back injury when you are rowing.

Let's say instead of squatting you get really good at leg press. Great! - you have strong legs and can generate a lot of power for rowing. But, now your legs are likely stronger than what your core/back can handle, so when you try to crank up the effort you end up with a sore back on the erg or in the boat. Staying on that path you can end up with more frequent injuries or more severe injuries.

Basically yes you can, but you're just delaying the injury and potentially making it worse later.

To answer your question, yes. A push/pull routine will compliment rowing nicely. I highly recommend adding some core stability & strengthening exercises to your routine. That should help with some of your back pain, at least in a preventative sense

My form has been corrected multiple times, but it seems that a previous injury just makes my lower back extra sensitive.

As a tall, long femur dude, ditch the back squats and do front squats instead. Back squats would kill my back, front squats feel great for me.

Maybe try Romanian deadlifts? Deadlifts have never bothered my back at all.

Leg press is great, I would just make sure your do it with a proud chest, make sure back doesn’t cave.

A lot more people do back squats incorrectly rather than leg press 😀

I think Front Squat is by far the best lift to supplement rowing. Probably the only one worth doing. Spend the rest of your time doing steady state.

In terms of cross training I really like to do long bike rides at a higher intensity. You want to build a nice burn throughout the whole thing. In terms of weightlifting I like to do the big three (for rowing at least) squats, deadlifts, and bent over rows. Those three hit almost all your muscles used for rowing. Pull-ups are also really awesome for that.

Isolate biceps like a true athlete

Search YouTube for HIIT workouts. Endless options.

Body weight calisthenics and running/cycling are generally good for you. If you can stretch and do core exercises at home (mat + medicine ball) as well, that would certainly be beneficial.