How to Train Your Rower" for All of the Rowers and Coaches out There Who Aren't Necessarily As Familiar with the Lifts As They Are the Technique of Rowing

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made with Table of Contents

1. The Squat: Training

2. The Squat: FAQs

3. Deadlift: Training

4. Deadlift: FAQs

5. Overhead Press: Training

6. Overhead Press: FAQs Rowing Stronger

The online home of strength training for rowing.

I'm a strength coach who just wants everyone to row stronger so they can row faster, healthier, and longer.

As a junior rower, I tried it all from bodybuilding programs to powerlifting to Crossﬁt to high-rep machine-based training and it was always missing something. I was getting stronger in the gym, but it wasn't carrying over to my water performance or erg times. Now I know why, and I want to share that with you and how you can do things differently to train better than I did and be faster than I was.

I wrote "How to Train Your Rower" for all of the rowers and coaches out there who aren't necessarily as familiar with the lifts as they are the technique of rowing. For coaches to safely instruct athletes in the weight-room, you should be certified in strength training instruction. There are many levels of certification out there that can prepare you for instruction of the lifts. For athletes intending to begin strength training, you should find a qualified personal trainer or strength coach who can teach you the basics in-person first. The following information is intended to supplement this knowledge, not replace it.

This "How to Train Your Rower" series contains my system of breaking each major lift down into a version of catch-drive-release. This is a simple and effective way to focus the athlete on the immediately relevant cues in a way that is familiar to them from stroke after stroke of rowing. Read on and make sure to check out the videos!

Thanks for reading and happy training,

Will Ruth aka Strength Coach Will

BS, MA (in progress), NSCA-CSCS, US-Rowing Level 2 The Squat: Training

When 100% of coaches agree on something, it’s probably best to listen. In a recent research survey, 32 out of 32 GBR coaches agreed that strength training enhances rowing performance. The next step after developing a strength training program for your team is instructing them in the execution of the lifts. Nearly all injuries that happen from weight training at any age are due to poor instruction or poor supervision, not inherent ﬂaws of the exercises themselves. It is essential that athletes understand the basic form on barbell lifts and that they are supervised by a qualiﬁed coach whenever they are lifting. Just like in rowing, the better the coaching, the better the results.

Now, most rowing programs are fortunate to have one strength coach, let alone a sufﬁciently sized coaching staff to adequately instruct 20+ athletes all at once. This is the system I use to teach a large group of rowers the basic exercises in a manner that is both time and space efﬁcient while making sure that athletes receive quality instruction.

Rowers are used to thinking of things in 3-4 parts, for example, “arms, body, legs, catch.” I broke each of the lifts down into 3-4 parts and made that the basis of my instruction.

I first get all of them in the weight room and instruct the athletes to organize themselves by 4-5 athletes of similar heights per platform. This it the basis for how to form groups per my article, Efficient Circuit Training for Team Sports, and the easiest way to minimize adjustments once they start lifting. I also find assigning groups to be much more successful than asking them to come up with groups on their own, as it avoids developing cliques and helps new athletes quickly assimilate into the group.

Once they are organized, I instruct the warm-up and hip mobility sequence, then we move on to the lifts. I demonstrate each lift or have a veteran rower demonstrate the lift, explaining the cues I’ll use and what I’m looking for at each point in the sequence. Each platform has one athlete lifting, all following the same lift sequence, with an empty barbell. This is just instruction, not an actual workout, so we're not worried about really loading up the movement.

For the squat, familiarize yourself with the basic cues for Back Squat and Front Squat from my exercise guide, then watch the instructional video below as I demonstrate and explain the lifts following the whole-part system.

#1: Rack position—“Walk it out”

On the back squat, the ﬁrst position is simple. Look for straight wrists, braced abs, and good posture. On the front squat, teach the proper rack position with either the clean grip or the cross grip. For the clean-grip, cue the athletes “elbows up and in” to create a stable shelf for the bar and reach full thoracic extension, then look for abdominal bracing and good posture. Check stance width here too. Front squat stance should be just inside shoulder width, while back squat stance should be outside shoulder width. #2: Descent—“Down, ready DOWN”

Look for controlled descent, not dropping into the hole, with proper form. On squats, many athletes initiate the descent with the knees and need to be cued to break from the hips ﬁrst. Check depth. Athletes should be close to, if not slightly below, parallel depth. One common problem with rowers seems to be collapsed arches. Since rowing doesn’t develop the muscles of the foot the same way a ﬁeld sport does, many rowers have either poor motor control for their feet or poor musculature to support them. Many rowers also use minimal shoes, which can exacerbate this. I recommend an arch support for these athletes. Good foot stability leads to better knee and hip stability, which means safer, more effective squats. #3: Halfway up—“Halfway up, UP”

Watch for athletes to rise evenly from the chest, torso, and hips. The hips should not “pop up” out of the hole, nor should the rower over-extend the upper back, throwing the chest backwards. The hips and chest should rise evenly and simultaneously to roughly 45 degrees at the halfway up point. One issue that will often arise at this point is caving, or valgus, knees. Many rowers have weak glute muscles, which can cause the knees to cave when squatting. Glute activation work can help, but athletes who are unable to correct knee cave need to use a different squat variant until they can squat correctly. Many will be able to correct this when cued and when the weight is light enough, so make sure to give them time to work on it before ruling the back squat out. In my few years of working with Western, I’ve only had two rowers who I deemed unable to squat.

I am demonstrating this common technical fault in the picture below, knee cave on the left and correct technique on the right. Always rule out instruction ﬁrst. Make sure that the athlete knows that they should be pushing their knees out to keep them in line with the toes on the descent AND ascent! Next is weakness. If the athlete can keep the knees out at light weight, but caves under heavy weight, they need to do more reps and more work to master the lighter weights and increase the weight gradually. Finally, if the athlete is unable to keep the knees in line at any weight, they may have a mobility restriction, structural problem, or signiﬁcant muscular weakness and should be referred to a physical therapist.

#4: Finish—“Finish”

Make sure that all athletes lock the weight out under control. I rarely see problems from halfway up to the ﬁnish, but sometimes an athlete will hyper-extend or ﬁnish in a poor postural position. If an athlete is hyperextending, cue them to squeeze the glutes to complete the lift. This will get them using more of their hip musculature and create a better brace.

That’s one rep. I’ll usually have the group do 5 broken-down reps while I make any adjustments to their technique, then they do 1-2 full reps on their own. We then cycle through athletes and repeat the process until everyone has gone through the lift. The Squat: FAQs

The squat is the king of lower body lifts. If you're looking for a lift to inject power into your stroke and build a pair of thighs worth having out on race day, look no further. However, this is also a lift that can be intimidating for the beginning lifter or athlete. Familiarize yourself with the lift, how I teach it, and what cues I focus on ﬁrst, then check out my answers to some frequently asked questions about this awesome lift.

Front squat, back squat, or single leg squat?

I like to use a variety of squats with my rowers as I think all variations have different merits and are excellent when combined to produce a strong and powerful rower.

Front squat: Tend to be easier for tall athletes to learn and get to parallel depth. Bar placement puts a high demand on postural muscles of the upper back and abdominal muscles, making it very applicable to rowing.

Back squat: More athletes have prior experience with back squatting than other variations, so they often come in already knowing this lift and can perform it proﬁciently. High demand on all lower body muscles, excellent developer of gluteal muscles. Should be done in high-bar placement on top of traps, not a low-bar placement, with an emphasis on keeping torso as upright as possible. Single-leg squat: Excellent unilateral exercise, promotes even development of left/right legs. Requires less loading (weight) than front squat or back squat, making it useful in-season and as an assistance exercise, as well as useful for an athlete with back problems or anything preventing them from heavier loading.

I'll often use the following rotation:

Week 1 / Day 1: Front squat Week 1 / Day 2: Deadlift and Single-Leg Squat (lighter, higher reps) Week 2 / Day 1: Back squat Week 2 / Day 2: Single-Leg Squat (heavier, lower reps) and Romanian Deadlift Repeat.

Don't squats hurt your knees?

Every lift has the potential to cause injury if you don't learn or demonstrate proper form. The squat is an exercise that most people need taught to them, rather than just naturally being able to learn on their own. Many people are reluctant to seek out qualified coaching, so a lot of people end up squatting incorrectly. 9 times out of 10, when someone says "squats hurt my knees," I can find a correction to their form that alleviates the pain. However, if you have a prior injury or if correctly performed squats truly do hurt your knees, experiment to find a variation that doesn't. Maybe the higher loads of back squatting hurts your knees, but the lighter single-leg squats don't. Maybe an above-parallel close-stance box squat is necessary for you. At the end of the day, you want to find some way to strengthen your legs in a manner that doesn't cause you pain.

How often should I max out? If I don't max out, how will I know I'm improving?

I very rarely have my rowers test 1-rep maxes (1RMs). In the fall and winter seasons, I will often have them do 3-5-rep maxes or max reps at a set percentage, usually 90%. This gives me a good idea of where they’re at and it’s a more sustainable test (not as much recovery required from the lower percentage) and it’s more similar to rowing (ﬁve heavy strokes to start, in the case of a squat/deadlift, rather than one). I think a few rep max tests per year is a good way to gauge progress. The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) chart is very useful for selecting weights and tracking progress. If you're selecting weights, 8.5 RPE = 85% 1RM, 8 RPE = 80% 1RM, etc. If you're tracking progress, the same weight done at a lower RPE equals progress. If 225 x 1 was a 9.5RPE and now it's an 8.5RPE, you got stronger.

Is it better to go heavier or go deeper? How deep is deep enough?

Range of motion is more important than maximum weight lifted. I've seen coaches use the box squat with new athletes to teach them to squat, but I think that the box becomes a crutch rather than a teaching tool. It supports the athlete at the bottom of the lift, the hardest part, and removing it can make athletes panic and go back to cutting the lift high. I think the box squat has utility for injured athletes, but that's about it. With new athletes, I will often set up a light band across the power rack to give them a depth measurement, like this. This has the advantage over a box because it provides a depth check without taking any weight at the bottom. It’s just an indicator and saves coaches and athletes from wondering if every rep was to depth.

Watch the video of how I set this up here.

A lot of new lifters struggle with the mentality of a full depth squat. I don’t think “butt to heels” is necessary, but parallel depth is attainable for everyone and is a good compromise of requiring a baseline level of mobility and still being able to load the exercise appreciably. In my experience, rowers who can reach a good catch position can usually squat to parallel depth (top of thigh parallel with the ground) with minimal extra instruction. Those who can't reach parallel on a squat probably aren't getting to full catch either. Check out Mobility for Rowers to ﬁgure out what's limiting them. Should my stance be as narrow as it is in the boat? Is it OK if I turn my toes out?

Foot positioning on the squat IS different than in the boat. For back squat, I advocate for a stance just outside shoulder width with individual modifications made for athlete comfort. For front squat, a little closer. There’s a lot of variation in athletes’ hip shapes, particularly from girls to guys, so I don’t think a “one size fits all” approach is effective. As I general rule, I encourage athletes to be as narrow as they can while still achieving parallel depth and as upright of a torso as possible. This tends to be just outside shoulder width. If athletes have to turn their toes out more than about 45 degrees, there's usually something limiting their mobility and that will show up in the boat too. I've noticed that rowers who really splay their knees out at the catch tend to turn their toes out too much when squatting as well, and this tends to be an ankle mobility restriction. Check out Mobility for Rowers to figure out what's limiting them.

More: In episode 7 of the Strength Coach Roundtable podcast, co-presenters Blake Gourley, Joe Deleo, and I discuss our teaching progressions, favorite (and least favorite) variations of the squat to use for rowing training, and how we program it in-season and off-season. Check it out here. Deadlift: Training

The deadlift is one of the best exercises out there for rowing performance. Correctly executed, the deadlift teaches the rower to apply force through the legs while maintaining a braced torso to transfer power through the arms to lift the barbell. The deadlift also requires great torso strength from the abdominals and back, making it an excellent exercise for the entire trunk stabilizing muscles. Finally, the deadlift forces the rower to go through a full hip extension cycle, something that doesn’t happen in the normal rowing stroke, and using the hip muscles through a full range of motion is great for injury prevention. Swap out the barbell for an oar and you’ve got an athlete who knows how to put power down with the legs while keeping a tight braced torso and putting all of their strength to work.

Using the whole-part system of breaking the lift down into separate parts, here is the deadlift. The deadlift is the only lift that I will use more than an empty barbell to instruct at ﬁrst. Blocks or boxes may be used to elevate the starting position to the standard height if bumper plates are not available. Bumper plates are the best option as they can be loaded lighter while still maintaining a standard height. I also ﬁnd that many rowers, particularly those over 6’6 (198cm), have trouble getting into a correct start position. Rather than work endlessly on mobility exercises, I’ll often have these athletes always pull off 4-6” blocks. Remember, we’re training rowers, not powerlifters, and the goal of the deadlift is just to improve posterior chain strength and coordination to carry over to rowing performance.

First, familiarize yourself with the deadlift cues, then watch the instructional video.

#1: Start position

I have every athlete start standing straight up before touching the bar. Standing straight up, I can check their stance width to ensure that athletes are in their “jump stance.” I then have them hip hinge backwards, arms straight down in front of them, then grab the bar and squat down to it when they can hip hinge no further. This is their start position, and they hold it while I make necessary adjustments. Many rowers often have trouble with the hip hinge, which manifests as excessive forward knee translation or a rounded spine. In the video, I demonstrate two teaching techniques for the hip hinge. The ﬁrst is the simple "butt to the wall" drill and the second involves using a PVC pipe and 3 points of contact on the body while the athlete practices the hinge. #2: To the knees—“Halfway up, UP”

Pausing at the knee ensures that athletes are breaking the ground correctly, rising evenly with the hips and torso, and maintaining a braced spine. Many rowers used to rowing with a rounded upper-back will deadlift with the same style, but I prefer that rowers maintain a totally neutral spine when deadlifting. Athletes should also have their weight balanced more toward the hindfoot when deadlifting, not on the balls of the feet. I have them hold this position at the knees for 2-3 seconds so they can ﬁnd that sweet spot of balance on the feet and torso tightness.

#3: Finish—“Lock it out”

Check that athletes are simply standing straight up, not hyper-extending to ﬁnish the lift. From the knees, I will cue athletes to think “hips to bar” to ﬁnish the lift. This not only helps activate the glutes and alleviate some pressure on the spine, but it helps them recognize when the lift is complete. The end position of a deadlift is standing straight up, with knees locked out, not leaning backwards or rolling the shoulders back. #4: Down

I instruct the athletes to control the weight down. This is not to be confused with a slow eccentric, where the purpose is fatigue, but simply control to help them stay in a proper starting position for the next rep without having to reset for each rep. Not only is dropping the weight from the top of the lift loud, obnoxious, and potentially damaging to the equipment, it makes the athlete re-set up before each repetition. Maintaining control of the lift, rather than ﬂopping to the ﬂoor, helps the athlete maintain torso tightness and proper technique. Deadlift: FAQs

The deadlift is a lift that has the potential to have excellent utility and carryover to rowing. I emphasize potential because many rowers perform the lift with the goal in mind of lifting the absolute most weight or reps that they can, rather than the goal of becoming a better rower. Training for rowing always comes back to this question—am I using this activity correctly to become a better rower? In many cases, lifting the absolute most that you can is NOT actually making you a better rower.

The biggest mistake I see with rowers’ deadlifts is turning the lift into a pull with the back rather than a push from the legs and hips. Performed correctly, the deadlift should look almost identical to a half-slide stroke. Rowers tend to incorrectly set up at the bottom of the lift, often turning the lift into a squat or a stiff-leg pull or failing to maintain a braced torso and neutral spine. Make sure your instruction and technique is solid, then read on for some frequently asked questions about the deadlift. How should I set my stance? Should I do sumo deadlifts?

As demonstrated in the video above, your stance width should be roughly your “jump stance.” This is also very close to where your rowing stance in terms of foot width. Your feet may be slightly turned out, but should not be further than 45-degrees. If an athlete is unable to deadlift without turning their toes out severely, look to mobility restrictions in the hip ﬂexors or glutes. Sumo deadlift does not have much carryover for rowing and it is a very complex lift from a technique perspective, so I don’t use it with rowers. Just like Olympic lifts, if you are already proﬁcient at the lift and want to include it in your program, do so in the General Preparation Block furthest away from your competitive peak as a general strength lift. Should I use straps, double-overhand, or mixed grip when deadlifting?

Many rowers are natural workaholics and are unsatisﬁed with a single weak link in their body. It is very, very rare to be able to double-overhand grip a truly maximal weight. Lifters who you see doing double-overhand are likely actually using the hook grip, which is another technique of its own. Thinking about this logically, your back and legs should be stronger than your hands, so it is natural that your grip gives out before you reach a maximal weight. Some rowers may be comfortable using a mixed grip, and others are not. I encourage my rowers to use wrist straps so that they can continue lifting double-overhand without grip fatigue limiting the amount of weight they can lift. You get a lot of forearm and grip work in through rowing anyway, so keep the goal of deadlifts the goal and focus on developing a stronger posterior chain.

Tip: straps have a left/right. Align your straps so the loop is on the little ﬁnger side of your hand, not your thumb side, for the most secure grip on the bar. Clockwise from left: Double-Overhand, Mixed Grip, Strap Grip, proper strap alignment

Should I wear a belt?

It is a popular myth that lifting belts are designed for safety, and that there is a certain level or weight one needs to reach in order to earn wearing a belt. Belts exist for the sole purpose of helping the lifter lift more weight. Belts act similarly to a sprinter sprinting out of start blocks. By providing something for the trunk muscles to push against, torso bracing is more effective and more weight can be lifted. Using a belt in the absence of proper torso bracing is neither safer nor will result in more weight lifted. You can use a lifting belt as long as your technique without a belt is solid ﬁrst. Should I reset every rep or do touch-and-go?

Coming back to the question “is this making me better at rowing,” I coach a dead-stop for every rep rather than using touch-and-go (TNG). TNG deadlifts tend to turn into an awful bouncy affair by the end of a hard set, with athletes slamming the bar down to maximize the rebound out of the bottom. This can put you in a terrible position and cause injuries, so I avoid even introducing the idea of TNG with my rowers. Dead-stop deadlifts allow you to put yourself in a correct position to deadlift for every rep, minimizing risk of injury, and also build the most strength at of the bottom position of the deadlift, which is where we want to build power for the rowing stroke. Should I do 25+ reps for endurance or 1-rep maxes for strength?

Neither! The deadlift should always be done with attention to correct form. At super high reps, it becomes impossible to maintain your focus and you're likely to suffer an injury. I have noticed more people hurting themselves with high reps with low weight than low reps with higher weight--it's too easy to get sloppy and make a mistake. The sweet spot for the deadlift is in the 2-8 rep range. If we go above 8 reps, we are usually using a Romanian Deadlift (RDL). The 2-8 rep range does a good job building strength and power without being overly taxing to recovery or exposing the rower to unnecessary injury risk. We will also often perform peak power work using the deadlift to build power and connection for starts and pressure pieces.

Deadlift Variations

I do not always use the barbell deadlift from the floor for my rowers' training. Most often, I will use a trap bar (also known as a "hex bar") for deadlifting or the Romanian deadlift variation only. I have found that rowers often respond better to these exercises for the purposes of developing the hip hinge and are less likely to struggle with technique than they are with the barbell deadlift. If you find that the barbell deadlift from the floor is not working well for you or your rowers, feel free to experiment with different versions. The block pull, trap bar deadlift, and Romanian deadlift are all great ways for rowers to improve their hip hinge and posterior chain power for healthier hips, backs, and stronger starts.

More: In episode 6 of the Strength Coach Roundtable Podcast, co-presenters Blake Gourley, Joe Deleo, and I discuss the deadlift--how we teach it, train it, and program it in-season and off-season. Check it out here. Overhead Press: Training

The overhead press is one of the best upper body exercises for rowers. Not only will it help you go “up and over heads” with ease, the overhead press is a great exercise for scapular function and strengthening the whole upper back and shoulder muscles. However, this lift is often executed incorrectly in ways that fail to reap the rewards of this great exercise and have the potential to cause injury. Quality execution is critical in all exercises to gain the full beneﬁt of strength training.

Now we will cover the final barbell exercise and main pressing exercise I use with rowers—the overhead press. In addition to tight hip flexors, many rowers have mobility restrictions in their mid back, or thoracic spine. I first instruct the athlete as best I can, then prescribe scaled-down versions of the exercise while the athlete works to develop mobility. Scaled-down versions of the overhead press include the unilateral dumbbell overhead press, the half-kneeling dumbbell press, and the incline bench or incline dumbbell press, but the goal is that each athlete can do an overhead press safely and effectively.

Watch the strict overhead press and push press cues, then watch the instructional video below.

#1: Rack position—“Walk it out”

The rack position for the overhead press is one of the harder positions for athletes to master, particularly rowers who often have restricted thoracic spine mobility. I ﬁrst instruct athletes on what a “packed” shoulder feels like. “Packing” refers to putting the scapulae in a position of depression and retraction. If you know anatomical terms, great. If not, extend your arm straight overhead, then bend at the elbow and reach down to grab the tag of your shirt. Take note of what your scapula does when you do this—it should go “back and down” into a position of depression and retraction. Watch this video for a demonstration. Try to get back to this position when you unrack an overhead press. It often helps for athletes to begin the press with the barbell at chin level, imagining creating a shelf with the latissimus dorsi. Several attempts may be necessary to ﬁnd the right position. Many athletes will want to point the elbows out to the sides in a position of internal rotation. Cue these athletes to point their elbows “up and in,” similar to a front squat but less extreme. You can see me do this with Carl in the instructional video to get him to create a better rack position. #2: Halfway up—“Foreheads, ready UP”

The next instruction is to press the barbell to forehead height, or halfway up to lockout. This allows me to check that the bar is close to their forehead, not pressed out in front of them, and that they are maintaining a braced torso and neutral spine. Most rowers who exhibit faults in this position tend to have poor thoracic spine mobility, poor starting position, or shoulder/mid-back weakness in maintaining the packed shoulder position. #3: Finish—“Lockout”

Unlike in the squat, many athletes exhibit poor form at lockout for the overhead press. Athletes with restricted thoracic spine mobility will struggle to lock the bar out straight overhead without compromising the neutral spine. These athletes need to improve their thoracic mobility and ﬁnd other pressing variations they can do in the meantime. Others will be able to reach the correct position when cued to do so. Make sure you provide complete instruction and give the athlete a few chances to get it right before diagnosing a mobility restriction. Common postural faults at the lockout of the overhead press. Lack of torso bracing at left, lack of thoracic mobility at right.

#4: Down—“Down”

As with the deadlift, I emphasize the down position because it helps them ﬁnd that correct rack position to start the next repetition. I cue them to initiate the descent with the elbows, going from locked out overhead to aiming them forward, then bending the arms into the rack position. This controlled descent makes it much easier to hit the same rack position for each rep and teaches the shoulder a correct range of motion.

Overhead Press: FAQs

The overhead press is a lift that has great potential for rowers, but also carries more risk than other lifts. The unfortunate result of this is that most tend to discard it from programs when a few simple technical tweaks, adjustments, or mobility drills may be all you need to get on the right track. Executed correctly, the OHP strengthens the entire upper body and builds a bulletproof upper back for better connection and power transfer through the entire stroke. Many rowers with weak shoulder girdles can't sustain the amount of force that their legs can produce. Their legs go down hard, but their upper-back rounds and all that pressure never makes it down the oar handle. The OHP is also a great developer of many muscles that rowing fails to, making it a great "bang-for-your-buck" exercise for the scapular muscles, triceps, and deltoids.

Thoracic spine, or mid-back, mobility is crucial to being able to perform the overhead press. While thoracic mobility is something that many rowers DO struggle with, it is important to make sure that the athlete receives plenty of instruction before making a diagnosis. Often, what looks like a mobility restriction is actually just an athlete who doesn't understand the correct technique.

The most common errors I see are starting from a poor rack position, not pressing the bar back toward the forehead, and arching at the low-back. Check out the video below for a detailed explanation and demonstration of these errors and ﬁxes.

The ﬁrst error is most often caused by a lack of instruction. Everyone should have the mobility to get into a good rack position. However, like the hip hinge, it is not an intuitive movement and some athletes can require extra instruction to get there. If an athlete can get into a good rack position, but ﬂares their elbows or presses the bar out in front of them the second they start to apply force, that athlete likely has weak mid- back and shoulder muscles so their triceps and anterior deltoids take over the lift. Strict rowing variations like the batwing row, facepulls, band pullaparts, and YWT raises, as well as something like a bottoms-up kettlebell hold/walk to work shoulder stability at that range of motion should help build up the shoulder girdle strength to be able to press.

The second error is similar to the ﬁrst. If an athlete starts in a poor rack position, they will have a hard time correcting that once they start applying force and will end up pressing the bar out in front of them rather than back toward their forehead and then directly over their head. The ideal bar path is as close to a straight line as possible, so the bar should start under the chin and move toward the forehead as the bar clears the face. Most often, I ﬁnd that athletes who start in a good rack position are already in a good position when the bar is at the forehead.

Finally, a strong lockout for the overhead press is with elbows straight, head neutral, and bar directly in line with the feet. Many rowers, either for lack of mobility or technical knowledge, either press the bar out in front of them at lockout or arch their low-back to keep the bar in line above them. Cue the athlete to brace their torso (ﬂexed glutes and abdominals) and then lock the bar out directly overhead. Inability to do this may be the result of poor mobility.

What do I do if I have a mobility restriction?

I thought you'd never ask! We spent all this time so far talking about thoracic spine restrictions, so let's take a moment to address why it happens, how to ﬁx it, and what to do in the meantime.

The Why

Most often this is down to what muscles rowing does and doesn't develop. Rowing uses a lot of lats and a lot of upper traps as the power muscles, but not a lot of the ﬁner postural muscles that contribute to thoracic extension. Combine this heavy usage with the amount of sitting that almost all of us students, employees, and commuters do, and you get very strong and very tight lats and traps that restrict shoulder and thoracic extension.

The Fix

"Mobility for Rowers: Thoracic Spine" contains your answers in detail, plus video. In short, stretch and foam roll the lats and traps, strengthen the rhomboids, lower and middle trapezius muscles, and external rotators of the shoulders. Loosen the restricted muscles, strengthen the weak muscles, attain better balance between the two.

In the meantime

Continuing to try to OHP while working on mobility restrictions is likely to just ingrain bad movement patterns and make it harder to truly ﬁx the problem. Try to ﬁnd a variation of press exercise that you CAN do without running into the same restriction. Often, using dumbbells, doing one arm at a time, or using a seated variation of press (seated overhead or incline press, for example) can be performed without as great demands on mobility.

Why should I OHP instead of just bench or incline press?

If you have the mobility, the standing overhead press offers greater beneﬁts to rowers than prone or seated presses for the additional demands on torso stability, core strength, and mobility. Mobility is very much a "use-it-or-lose-it" quality. Once you have the mobility required to OHP, simply performing the OHP is also performing thoracic spine mobility maintenance which will also help you when rowing. The OHP also prioritizes development of the deltoids and mid-back muscles much more than the bench press, which focuses more on triceps and chest. I will often program the OHP as a main work exercise and a bench press variation (incline or dumbbell) as assistance work.

Strict OHP vs. Push Press

In the strict OHP, the knees do not move once the athlete begins the lift. In the push press, the athlete dips from the lower body and then explosively drives the weight overhead with the use of both upper and lower body strength and power. Both of these lifts are excellent for different reasons. The push press can be loaded heavier, forces the athlete to transmit force from their lower body to their upper body in a sport-similar pattern, and equally works the muscles of the mid-back and shoulders, all of which make it seem like the superior exercise. However, sometimes it is simply too much. It is often best to give rowers' sore and tired legs a workout off and have them strict press, using lighter loads with less systemic stress. I also ﬁnd that the simpler strict press is easier for athletes to master.

Is barbell OHP the only option or can I use dumbbells or kettlebells?

The main advantage that a barbell offers over other forms of loading is its ability to achieve maximal loading. In an exercise like the squat, the barbell allows us to load signiﬁcantly more weight on the athlete than they could hold with dumbbells or kettlebells. For the deadlift, most gyms do not have dumbbells heavy enough to come close to what can be loaded on a barbell. However, the overhead press is naturally a much lighter exercise than either of these two, and therefore, maximal load is easier to attain. Dumbbells and kettlebells offer the advantage of unilateral training (one arm at a time) as well as greater priority on the stabilizer muscles of the mid-back and shoulders. If you prefer these variations over the barbell and have heavy enough dumbbells or kettlebells to load the lift sufﬁciently, go ahead! The half-kneeling overhead press can be loaded with a dumbbell or kettlebell and is a great variation on the overhead pressing exercise. The Exercise Guide

Check out my free Youtube Exercise Guide for 50+ videos demonstrating and coaching the lifts used in this guide and the rest of my rowing programs. Click here for a playlist of just the exercises from this guide.

www.youtube.com/c/strengthcoachwill Thanks for Reading

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