How to... Cross Training

Whether you’ve won multiple World Rowing Championship medals or you’re just starting on your rowing journey, cross training is an essential element to any training plan. For a sport that demands the perfection of one repetitive movement, it is necessary to keep some variety in your training to look after your mind and body.

So what is cross training, and how does one do it?

Cross training is any type of non-sport specific training that complements your main sport’s physiological requirements. For rowing, this can be a variety of physical activities particularly during the early part of the training season, that will help the year-round development of the athlete.

Cross training is also the best method to help the rehabilitation process after an injury, then gradually work your way back into rowing as a regular activity. Read more on this in our 2019 piece ‘How Rowers can stay healthy‘.

“Cross training can be useful for both mental and physical health reasons.” says Dr Matthew Waddell, PhD Kinesiology and Rowing Coach at Western University. “If you feel like you need a mental break from rowing or erging due to a lack of motivation, cross training can help provide an exciting new challenge that helps you develop physiological capacities that will help you when you return to rowing training. Sometimes you might be restricted from rowing specific training due to injury, and cross-training can help maintain or improve fitness until your rehabilitation process allows you to row again.”

Many rowers use jogging or cycling (such as Olympic Silver medallist and now world class cyclist Jason Osborne) as their main form of cross training, but so many other activities can be used: swimming, walking, hiking, jumping rope, skating, x-country skiing, etc.!

Should cross-training be done year round in conjunction with a training plan and/or should a dedicated time of year be spent away from rowing and solely focused on cross-training?

When it comes to scheduling in your cross training, Dr Waddell says it really depends on your goals, training environment, and the amount of time you can allocate to training. “If you are really limited in your weekly training hours because of other commitments, it might be best for your performance to focus on dedicating your time strictly to rowing. Conversely, if you’re struggling to break through a certain training hours plateau with rowing/erging alone, it might be time to look at adding in a weekly cross training session or two. If you have limitations on your training on a seasonal basis due to facility/environmental restrictions, you may need to look at supplementing your training at those times. Younger athletes may wish to consider pursuing a second sport during their rowing team’s ‘off season’, like rowing with their high school team in the spring and racing with their cross-country ski team in the winter. If you’re organizing your training on a monthly or annual basis around a specific championship race or season, the demands of this time might mean that a break or transition period afterwards is desirable. This transition period can be when you substitute a large portion of your rowing training for cross training.”

What sort of cross-training would benefit rowers?

“The best cross training is really whatever you have access to. Swimming, biking, running, and cross-country skiing are all good options for improving your aerobic base, but all require some specific equipment and training environments. Flexibility or strength focused activities like yoga or body weight exercises are also helpful for developing strength and preventing injury. Rowers should be careful not to overestimate their capacities when trying a new sport. Just because you’re able to row 15 hours a week doesn’t necessarily mean you could jump into the same amount of running or swimming without injury if you’re trying it for the first time. Try to take on a cross training activity that you have some familiarity with, so you can do it safely. Better is if you can find a friend to train with who knows the other sport better than you. Perhaps they can share coaching or tips on running, and you can help them learn to erg.”

Looking for more information on training in rowing? Check out the Training page on our website.

Thank you to Dr Matthew Waddell of Western University for his knowledge on the subject.