Rowing and scientific research at the Forum

Kleshnev speaking at the Forum

During the recent World Rowing Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, presentations from an assortment of scientific research highlighted rowing specific interests. It also highlighted the difficulty of conducting sports specific experiments and the large range of conditions that are present in rowing and rowers that affect the outcomes. To follow is a selection of the research.

Dr. Valery Kleshnev, currently with the English Institute of Sport, Great Britain, has studied the long term trends in boat speed and the subsequent ?gold medal? times. Using results from Great Britain’s Henley Royal Regatta that go back to 1836, Kleshnev found an increase in boat speed over time.

Kleshnev noted an improvement in performance up until 1900 followed by stability through to the 1950s (perhaps, he speculated, due to two world wars during this period), then very fast growth in improvement through to the early 1990s (perhaps due to advances in equipment and training). Since 1996, though, a regression in boat speed has occurred. Kleshnev guessed the addition of stricter doping controls could be a possible reason.

Kleshnev compared this trend to swimming and athletics (men’s 3000 metres, running) and found a similar pattern.

Kleshnev is cautious in the use of prognostic times (prediction of future winning times) as boat speed is impacted by a number of factors including water temperature and wind speed. Kleshnev also saw a range of boat speed trends across the different boat types. But Kleshnev predicts that boat speed will continue to improve but, he believes, at a smaller rate over time. ?We could still find some new methods of training or rowing technique.? He believes though that the progression over time will become smaller and smaller.

Kleshnev found that the men’s four has increased the most in speed followed by the men’s single over the last 150 years. But Kleshnev cautions that speed in rowing is very much affected by wind speed and water temperature which can skew data.

Kleshnev also analysed stroke rate versus distance per stroke concluding that the distance the boat moved decreased as the stroke rate increased because of the shorter time in the stroke cycle. Then using the Athens Olympics men’s four final Kleshnev compared the top three boats in relation to the distance per stroke and found that the boats achieved a higher work per stroke at the start and reached higher speeds at the finish by increasing the stroke rate. The distance per stroke was highest going through the middle of the race.

Dr. Neils Secher is currently a professor of anaesthesiology at the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre in Denmark. He looked at what was going on in the brain during exercise and how the fast and slow twitch muscles responded to exercise. ?When you get fatigued you lose the ability to recruit slow twitch fibres but you maintain the fast twitch movement – it doesn’t decrease.?

Secher was asked if this meant that we need to train the slow twitch muscles more. ?Strength training is very specific. Classical weightlifting is not necessary as we need to address the right fibres for rowing.?

Secher also stressed the impact of the environment on rowing performance. ?If there is too much arousal then the athlete gets more fatigued.? Secher found that when he was in the room with the people he was testing they would get fatigued quicker than when they were left to do the selected workout by themselves.

?They needed to get used to their environment,? concluded Secher. ?For rowing you need to be exposed to having, for example, a big crowd around you. It’s not a muscle problem, it’s a brain problem.?

Sweden’s Dr. Per Tesch spoke about strength training and whether rowers can benefit from it. Tesch agreed with Secher. ?When it comes to performance so much is related to specificity.?

Tesch could not say conclusively if there was an advantage for rowers in strength training, but he found that, ?if not balanced, resistance training may compromise endurance capacity of rowers.?

Tesch also found that just a small amount of exercise (3 ? 4 minutes per day during 90 days of bed rest) was enough to maintain size and function of the muscles.

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