Dutch Men's eight training program

[limegreenspeed]

Hasn't been too busy here for a while, thought I'd throw this in and see what people think. The Dutch men's eight, so far as I can tell, came out of nowhere to stomp on the Germans (and everyone else for that matter), it's only really one performance (or two if you include their heat) but it's impressive and it shouldn't have been a fluke - they're definitely in the running for a medal. In an interview their coach says they've trained differently, sometimes rowing as little as four times a week for what I'd say much be less than an hour each outing and focusing on strength, that's surprising! I realize we've all seen Crossfitters pull decent times on the erg, my buddy pulled a decent 6:38 having spent no time on the erg and just lifting. Would this sort of periodization be applied everywhere? i.e. SS, intervals, threshold, strength? Anyway, it does seem like an interesting idea.

This could be a case of focusing on differences that don't matter, the coach is make a lot out of something that really didn't alter the performance to the degree that he claims it has and that the Dutch were on the up and up and this would have happened without the altered training program. But nonetheless this seems interesting. I've always been dismissive of strength training, but maybe it's been done wrong? I know some programs hardly use it, like Spracklen's (Teti too?), or some do use it, like GB, Germany and Canada.

Anyway, I'm excited for the Dutch.

From: http://nlroei.nl/mark-emke-beste-gaat-nog-komen/

"Even better?
"We train differently than others do. These changes have been reflected. The bottom line is that we prioritize in times to a particular component that needs to be improved. Lately we have put into strength much time. The idea behind it is that work on everything at once inadequate works. We have experimented with last year. Therefore we now know better what to do.

How does it matter?
"In the short term, it sometimes has consequences. When we were engaged in a power block, we have deliberately less trained in the boat. Sometimes it was just rowing four times a week. And then only eight to twelve kilometers. The men are visibly become much stronger. We're going back to work on the endurance and the kilometers in the boat. Thereof, it will be technically better, therefore it will be more and more naturally and easily. We must be at our best in August. " Explains the periodization also the inconstancy? " Partly. The deceptive. Take the European Championships. A disadvantage buoy the performance was not reflected in the rankings, but the eight rowed a good pot. I congratulated the men with their performance. Though it was not visible to the outside world, we knew we were in good shape. " The 750 meters from the Vierkamp, ​​Hollandia and EK gave the grumbling? " No. Certainly not. We have a logical explanation for everything. But she makes extra sharp. That's a fact."

[Remomex]

I wouldn't put much stock into what a coach says regarding his crew's training for such a short period of time. For one, he could be exaggerating or plain out lying. Two, he's only telling you what they are doing for maybe a few weeks out of an entire year - you have no context for what the rest of the training plan looks like.

More importantly, however, I would caution against reading too much into one race result. Just like you can find crews that focus on strength training and do well (e.g. the Sinkovic brothers), you can easily find crews that don't focus on it and do equally well (e.g. the Kiwi 2-).

Anyway, interesting discussion, but I don't really think there's anything groundbreaking here.

[Rowcoach]

If what the Dutch coach is describing is correct its known as Block Periodization

See here:
http://www.hmmrmedia.com/wp-content/upl ... zation.pdf

And an example of how it has been used in canoeing:
http://www.traininginparadise.eu/wp-con ... ierdo-.pdf

And XC skiing:
http://www.diva-portal.se/smash/get/div ... TEXT01.pdf

There are arguments for and against:
http://www.sportlogia.com/no6engl/eng1.pdf

As with 99% of training - do what works and makes you fast. There are no prizes for lactate, VO2, physiology, strength, training plans, periodization or other things that gain and loose popularity.

Medals are for moving the bowball fastest. That has always been, and will remain the only objective

[limegreenspeed]

I wouldn't put much stock into what a coach says regarding his crew's training for such a short period of time. For one, he could be exaggerating or plain out lying. Two, he's only telling you what they are doing for maybe a few weeks out of an entire year - you have no context for what the rest of the training plan looks like.

More importantly, however, I would caution against reading too much into one race result. Just like you can find crews that focus on strength training and do well (e.g. the Sinkovic brothers), you can easily find crews that don't focus on it and do equally well (e.g. the Kiwi 2-).

Anyway, interesting discussion, but I don't really think there's anything groundbreaking here.

All good points, thanks.