Indoor Rowing at the Iron Oarsman is picking up speed!

After having spent a few days in the mountains. I gave myself time to think about little changes I wanted to bring to the Iron Oarsman our indoor rowing facilty in Costa Mesa, CA. When we started three years ago, our indoor rowing athletes were fresh of the streets. Now the majority pushes several hundred thousand meters per year. Roughly 15 will go beyond two million meters. I came up with a color coordinated schedule, red and green. The red workouts deal with pushing farther and harder without focusing on technical drills and smaller muscle groups. The green workouts is a great cardio workout also, which focuses on stroke variation and technical drills. This class is great for any level rower young, elder, new or experienced. We added workouts on Saturday and Sunday. You can find the updated schedule on our website: www.GOROW.com.
Remember: Indoor Rowing is great for weight loss and toning. Because rowing is a ZERO impact motion, it is an excellent exercise for people who have joints that need support for movement. There is no other sport that equals rowing when it comes to burning calories at a very high rate. Rowing in a semi private group is fun and motivating.

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

Lactate Testing, why don’t we hear more about it and who is it good for?

As my quest for learning more about rowing continues, I came across an online article on worldrowing.com. The information I found was about Richard Tonks being elected coach of the year. It was short read. What surprised me however is that not one word was mentioned about lactate testing and the importance of it. A couple of months ago at the US rowing convention, I had a friend of mine listen to coach Tonks’ speech. There too nothing remarkable was mentioned on lactate testing either.
A little over a year ago, I invited Marnie McBean, Dr. Thomas Lange, and Rob Waddell, to Newport Beach for a rowing seminar. During the 2 ½ days we spent together sharing information, I scheduled an evening to talk about training methods. Thomas kicked off by talking about the importance of aerobic training, weight lifting and the biological changes that occur in athletes’ bodies when their fitness increases. I continued with practical applications of lactate testing and how the results were used to steer future training on individual levels. Marnie spoke about the “PacMan” theory. She explained how the larger aerobic capacity behaves like a PacMan eating away at the lactic acid during a 2000 meter rowing sprint thus allowing the athlete to push harder longer. Finally Rob came forward and prefaced his speech by saying that the physiological points had been extremely well covered and completed the lecture with the importance of mental training and visualization. Rob and I compared our year Sydney Olympic 4mmol power. He pushed 428 Watts whereas I managed 408 Watts, no wonder he pulled a sub 5:40 2K on the ergo. After meeting with these great rowing champions I reflected on the importance of using and checking lactate levels on endurance athletes whether they are club level or Olympians. I wondered how available information was on the Internet about testing protocols and lactate level results and interpretation. Ironically I found more information on how to train racehorses, but for human athletes, I found very little. Here in the United States, I notice how hard different junior and collegiate rowing programs train without compensating with longer aerobic steady state. The website of the US Rowing federation does not mention lactate testing. As an active person in rowing, I am puzzled why there are not more U.S. coaches using lactate testing to improve their team performance. From a U.S. national team point of view, why bother dealing with lactate accuracy, when the team disposes of a horde of rowers below 5:55 for 2k. But in my opinion, accurate lactate testing would enable athletes such as Jamie Schroeder, a consistent 5: 45ish/2K to break through 5:40 and potentially set a new world record on either the Rowperfect or the C2 indoor rower.
As I mentioned above, the determination of individual aerobic target heart rate through lactate testing is very beneficial for juniors as well as master rowers. Not only does the rower become more capable in burning oxygen, but also it is healthier. My father in law (a.k.a. F.I.L.) is a perfect example. He took up training at the Iron Oarsman, our indoor rowing facility. He would row 6 kilometers and feel done and tired after it. I lactate tested him and found out that he was pulling too hard and was unknowingly bathing in lactic acid. Now we established his target heart rate and his aerobic capacity has increased and he routinely rows 10 kilometers or more four to five times per week. In the case of younger rowers of ages 13 and up, I discovered that they consistently row between 4 and 6 mmol of lactic acid. I routinely advise them to pull less hard approximately 15 heartbeats per minute slower. They are usually dumbfounded, because they feel more capable to pulling longer and farther. As soon as the volume of training is increased and the aerobic engine grows stronger, workouts will become physically more taxing.
I highly recommend reading the book ROWING FASTER by Dr. Volker Nolte. The book is a compilation of chapters written by international caliber coaches. Marty Aitken my former coach and a man from down under wrote the chapter on building the aerobic capacity. The device that I use to test lactate levels is called LACTATE PRO.
All the best,
XENO

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

G.E.T. Junior conditioning program for university rowing scholarship

Athletic Scholarship Opportunity
at the

IRON OARSMAN

For the school year 2006, we are introducing our new junior indoor rowing and conditioning program oriented toward a college rowing scholarship. The goal is to take students to a new and higher level of fitness and mental conditioning in order to produce a top of the line 2k ERG score.

What is a 2k ERG score and why is it valuable?

The 2K ERG score is the amount of time it takes an individual to row a distance of 2000 meters (1.4 miles) on the rowing machine also known as an erg.
The value comes into play on a college application. Acceptance to top-level universities is growing more difficult. Give your son or daughter the extra edge on an application to be admitted to a top-level university and/or receive an athletic scholarship. A good 2K ERG score will do that.


The Iron Oarsman formula: GPA + SAT + ERG = Top-of-line University!!

What and who is the IRON OARSMAN?

The IRON OARSMAN is the premier indoor rowing facility, located on 17th Street in Costa Mesa, California. It is owned and operated by Xeno Muller.

Xeno has won the 1996 Olympic gold and the 2000 Olympic silver in the men’s single scull. He is the holder of the current Olympic single scull speed record. Xeno’s international elite rowing resume is over a decade long full of gold. He is 10 time national champion. Recruited by Brown University for his power on the ERG, Xeno graduated in 1995. The focus in his life has now changed from fierce competitor to coach, mentor, husband and father of three.

In addition, the Iron Oarsman provides further training tools: Lactate testing, on water coaching, stroke analysis, X-training, and weight training.

At this point enrollement is limited to 14.
We invite you to attend our open house and learn about our formula for success.


LOCATION IRON OARSMAN 400 EAST 17th STREET COSTA MESA CALIFORNIA

CALL US AT:
XENO 949-400-7630


Cheers,
XENO MULLER

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

This is how I race a 2000 meter Indoor Rowing Race on the Concept 2 Rower, CRASH-B or Long Beach Sprint 2006

Hi,
On the ergo you have immediate feedback what your pace is. This is not the case in racing on the water. On the water it was by feel and race experience. On the ergo you aware of every split time and second you pull.
So this is how I personally row a 2K.

First I determine what I am capable of for 2k, by rowing a few race pace 1000 and 500m, and past ability and my current endurance ability for steady state.

In 2004 I pushed 5:53
In 2005 6:02 ( I believe)

For the sake of simplicity I will show the race plan for a 6:00 2K

First eighteen strokes bring the average per 500 meters down to 1:27ish without overdoing it and using adrenaline. Be very carful not to be blinded by adrenaline, if you do that mistake you explode somwhere between 1200m and 800 meters to go.
After the first 18 strokes find your race pace, which DOES not have to be 1:30, you have a head start because of the start. So I would push 130-131 occasionaly seeing 1:32. I am carfully monitoring the total average split per 500. So slowly the "start-lead" fizzels down to a total average of 1:30. This occured to me at 900 meters to go. So now it is down to buisness. I couldn't immediately adjust to maintaining 1:30 constant overall average so I lost in overall average 0.4 seconds bringing it to 1:30.4. The further you go into the piece the less the total average per 500 meters fluctuates! Once I find the pace at exactly and consistantly 1:30 I am at roughly 650 meters to go. Cool I see the end of the tunnel, yeah! I also do not feel totally tired either because I chose the right pace and only had to row the 1:30 for roughly 500 meters. So by the time I hit 350 meters to go I sprint because I know it is roughly thirty stroke. That is psycho babble of coursem, because it is going to be more like 38 strokes, but who cares about an extra 8 strokes when you only have 50 meters left. Believe me, when the sprint is set up right, for the remaining 350 meters, YOU CAN DROP YOUR OVERALL AVERGE by 0.5 seconds or even 0.8.
I hope this helps.
I realize that this is different from negative splitting. I am NOT a negative splitter.
We should have a get together at the IRON OARSMAN one day and eat at the outback stake house down the street.
XENO

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

NO TO SKI BOOTS!!!!

As a family we went skiing for a couple of days. I had not been standing in ski boots for over two years. Well, I can tell you I did not miss walking in those clodhoppers at all. Skiing is fun one you don't have to walk with the boots. All I can say is that rowing on a daily basis made it very easy for me, my wife, and my father in law to take on ski chasing our little children up and down the hill.
Over and out!
XENO

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