Rant and Rave about coaching methods

I am amazed how few coaches use lactate testing to train their endurance athletes. It actually makes me mad. Coaches are supposed to learn and improve their coaching techniques to help improve the ability of their athletes. I see too many athletes getting hurt from over training and training intensities that are too elevated too often. You might wonder what “Secret” I know that a majority of coaches don’t. It is no secret at all. There is a book written by different international coaches who explain the best way to improve athletes abilities. The book is called ROWING FASTER and should be mandatory reading for coaches who want to pass the USROWING coaching levels. It is outdated to believe that “MORE PAIN, MORE GAIN” is true, IT IS WRONG, w-r-o-n-g!!!! It makes me especially sad for rowers who put heart and soul into their training and follow blindly coaches who think that hard workouts make people faster. Junior coaches wrongly believe they are doing the right thing because their rowers get stronger. It is a FALSE POSITIVE, the junior rowers are growing and get stronger naturally and not because of a string of grueling workouts. In reality they could improve much faster, by following their target heart rate below the aerobic threshold. To figure that cardiac level out all a coach needs to do is purchase a lactate testing device and make his rowers row at stroke rate 20-22 for LONGER periods of time. If you want more detail on how to train you can subscribe to my monthly training program. If you are a coach and you wonder what to do, go buy the book ROWING FASTER, by Volker Nolte, pick up a copy on AMAZON.com. This is it for now.
XENO

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.