Rowing is described as a whole body strength-endurance sport. To be successful in rowing, an athlete should have specific anthropometric attributes, highly developed physiological characteristics, superior levels of fitness, strong psychology and mental toughness.
Watch this video from World Rowing about the Body of a Rower
#1 Anthropometry
Rowers are generally taller and heavier compared to the other endurance athletes. Their height and long limbs allow them to reach an optimal stroke length, without going through an excessive range of motion, which in return means more power, less fatigue, and longer boat glide.
In his interview for The Telegraph , James Cracknell a British double Olympic gold medalist, said that being 6’4” tall, he was one of the shortest rowers at the Olympics.
The scientific literature reports that an Olympic male rower is on average over 6’3” tall, and over 200 pounds, while the female Olympic rowers tend to be over 5’10” tall, and over 165 pounds.
Rowers are also very muscular and lean. Their increased muscle mass allows them to generate high power outputs, and their low percentage of body fat means less ballast that slows the boat down, but also more efficient aerobic energy system.
The literature indicates that body fat percentages range from 6%-10% and 11%-15% for male and female Olympic rowers.
#2 Physiology
Rowing competition is considered to be one of the most physically demanding amongst the competitive sports (Akça, 2014). Depending on the conditions and boat class, it takes between 5:30 - 7:30 minutes for elite rowers to finish the 2,000 meter race.
Rowers have recorded some of the highest metabolic responses during maximal exertion in both competition, and laboratory testing with maximal aerobic power (VO2max) of 5.5-7.75 L/min or 60-70 ml/kg/min (Nolte, 2005), anaerobic threshold at 80%-85% of maximal performance, and blood lactate concentrations of 15-17 mmol.l-1 (Steinacker, 1993).
As an endurance sport, rowing requires hi efficiency in both aerobic and anaerobic systems to cover the energy demands of a rowing race.
The research shows that aerobic system covers 70-80% of total energy demand in the race, and 20-30% is covered by the anaerobic system (Mickelson and Hagerman 1982; de Campos et al., 2009).
With such hi metabolic demands and energy profile of the race, rowers spend over 1,000 hours a year working on improving their energy systems. Most of those hours, about 70%-90% is focused on improving aerobic energy system (Steinacker, 1993).
Watch this video from Olympics about the Anatomy of a Rower
#3 Fitness
Strength and power are important factors for successful rowing performance (Riechman et al., 2002). Rowers engage more than 70% of total muscle mass (Ogurkowska, Kawalek, & Zygmanska, 2015) and generate peak power of up to 1,200 Watts (Steinacker, 1993), and average power of 480-560 Watts. Compared to athletes from other endurance sports, rowers demonstrate higher muscular strength and power outputs (Hagerman, 1984).
In addition to strength and power, rowers need to develop respective levels of flexibility to maintain relaxed movements throughout the entire rowing stroke range of motion.
#4 Mental Toughness
The rowing race is mentally and physically exhausting, and requires concentrated determination and mental toughness.
Elite rowers sprint at the beginning of the race quickly reaching high levels of exhaustion. They slow down a little bit during the body of the race, just to pick up the pace again, and finish with a grueling sprint.
During the race, they must deal with high levels of pain, while maintain strong focus on their technical performance, and moving together as one.
Watch this video from Worl Rowing about the Mental Strength of a Rower
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