Cross-Training: The Benefits for Rowers

The main benefits of cross-training for rowers are extra aerobic work with less repetition of the rowing stroke, a better balance of muscles, and a way to keep fit when you can’t row. It works when you treat it as easy extra volume. Done carelessly, it simply adds fatigue.

If your goal is to row faster, most of your hard sessions should still be rowing. Cross-training is a supplement, and the exception is when injury or conditions stop you rowing altogether. Our guide to the best alternatives to rowing covers what to do instead.

The benefits, and how you’d know they’re working

Benefit	Why it helps	How you’d know
More aerobic work	Adds weekly volume without another 600 strokes	Steady pace improves with no new niggles
Less repetition	Shares the load across different tissues	Back and hips feel fresher on your next row
Better balance	Uses shoulders, trunk and hips differently	Easier posture late in a long row
Variety	Gives you a break from the erg	You look forward to the next row
Active recovery	Keeps you moving on lighter days	You feel better after than before
Backup	Lets you train around a niggle or bad weather	Your fitness holds through a break
Skills	Paddling trains balance and boat feel	Steadier boat on the water

Rowing repeats one movement. At 20 strokes per minute, a 30-minute row is 600 strokes, and 5 rows a week is 3,000. Swapping one of those sessions for a ride removes 600 strokes and keeps much of the aerobic work.

Choosing activities

Activity	What it offers	Try this	Watch for
Cycling	Leg endurance, low impact	45 to 60 minutes at a chatting pace	Hunched position can add to tight hips
Swimming	Breathing and shoulder mobility	30 minutes easy	Hard to keep steady without decent technique
Running	Cheap, efficient aerobic work	20 to 30 minutes easy	Higher impact, so build up slowly
Walking	Easy to fit in, good for recovery days	45 minutes brisk	Too gentle to replace hard training
Canoeing and paddling	Close to rowing on the water	30 to 60 minutes	Different muscles and rhythm
Climbing	Pulling strength and grip	1 hour, easy problems	Finger and elbow load
Strength training	Stronger legs, back and trunk	2 sessions of 30 to 45 minutes	Don’t lift heavy before hard rows

Our guides to swimming for rowers, running for rowers and climbing for rowers go into more detail on each, and how canoeing can benefit your rowing training covers paddling.

Strength work deserves a special mention. The NHS activity guidelines recommend strengthening activities on at least 2 days a week, and rowing alone won’t cover that for most people. If you do only one thing from this list, make it strength.

How often

One or two cross-training sessions a week suits most people. Keep them easy or moderate unless they replace a hard rowing session. If you’re training for something specific, such as a 2k erg test, keep most of your hard work rowing-specific.

A rough guide by level, which you can adjust to suit you:

Your rowing	Rowing sessions	Cross-training sessions
Fitness rower	2 or 3	1 or 2
Regular club or erg rower	3 to 5	1 or 2
Racing squad	Per coach’s plan	Per coach’s plan

If you row in a squad, tell your coach what you’re doing. They know the plan and may want to protect certain days.

A sample week

Day	Session	Time	Effort
Mon	Steady row	45 to 60 minutes	Easy
Tue	Intervals on the erg	40 minutes	Hard
Wed	Swim or easy bike	30 to 45 minutes	Chatting pace
Thu	Strength	45 minutes	Moderate
Fri	Rest or long walk	Up to 45 minutes	Very easy
Sat	Longer steady row	60 to 75 minutes	Easy
Sun	Rest, or a gentle paddle, swim or walk	30 minutes	Very easy

Swap the activity for what you enjoy and can get to. The test is simple: you should finish feeling better than you started, not flattened.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake	Why it’s a problem	Fix
Making it a second hard session	A hard run after a hard row is 2 hard days	Hold a chatting pace throughout
Starting with too much volume	New activities load tissues you haven’t conditioned	Start with 20 minutes and add 5 a week
Picking something you dislike	You’ll skip it	Choose what you’d do anyway
Forgetting to count it	Your total load is higher than it looks	Log every session in one place
Dropping key rows to fit it in	You lose rowing-specific fitness	Add it only once key sessions are in place

Avoiding overload

Count all the work you do, not just the rowing. Add up your weekly minutes, and as a rule of thumb don’t raise the total by more than about 10% a week. Going from 300 to 330 minutes is a sensible step. Going from 300 to 400 isn’t.

Cut back for a week if you notice any of these:

• Soreness that lasts more than a few days.
• Poor sleep for several nights in a row.
• A slower pace on a session you normally find easy.

If pain doesn’t settle, get it checked by a GP or physio before adding more. Our training hub has more on structuring your week.