Tim Mclaren coming to the US (and he also loves the Rowperfect)

US Rowing + Great Coach = Olympic Medals

Well, the first two parts to this equation has happened here in the United States. My former coach from Brown University, Steve Gladstone, who now coaches the University of California Berkley has hired Tim McLaren to head the California Rowing Club. Steve has long wanted to see a more successful U.S. rowing team at the World Championship and Olympic Games, will his wish come true?

In October the 300 millions American will be born. That is a lot of people. Yet the United States have had in comparison to smaller rowing countries a deplorable result of international rowing medals per capita since the beginning of the modern Olympics. US sculling boats have a catastrophical record in comparison to its sweep rowing program. The explanation for this is that all Universities with a crew specialize in fours and eights.

I often hear that the US is too large for its own good to crank out medals. Too many coaches are teaching different techniques and when the time comes to form the national team there is hardly any time left to practice before the major international competition. Mike Teti the US head coach, figured out how to shrink the vast US territory into Princeton New Jersey. He has created an environment for sweep rowing talent to train together and to find local jobs. His system is working. The result is that the US is producing medals in the men’s and women’s eight.

Princeton, New Jersey… sounds nice, but between November and April it is C O L D and definitely not the environment that I would choose to train in. So I wonder where the rest of the people are who are interested in sculling at the international level. If they are not the runts of the Mike Teti sweep program, they are scattered throughout the US. There seems to be a Boston and Seattle enclave for sculling programs, but I am not going to vaste out time talking about those obscure programs. The bottom line is, there is no successful small boat US flotilla that can make a dent in the medal count at the Olympics and world championships.

Now the US has Tim Mclaren! Right from the get go I can tell you that I am a believer in Australian coaches. My own Aussie coach Marty Aitken helped me figure myself out to win Gold and Silver in Atlanta and Sydney. If you are an Australian you ought to feel good about what I am going to say. You people are roughly 20 million or less and your per capita medal count is ridiculously high at the Olympics. Jeez, I wonder how that is possible… Simple, Aussie’s have good athletes and great coaches. Marty was so methodical with my training that I NEVER had a doubt that I couldn’t do the job at the major yearly rowing championship. He introduced me to methodical lactate testing and cross training that kept my thirst high for on the water rowing.

Lactate testing is arguably a foreign concept for rowing training here in the US. Yet, today it is a simple process to monitor lactate levels in athletes and benefit from its information. It boggles my mind that the high performance committee of the US Rowing Federation has not gotten a clue yet and informed the thousands of rowers and hundreds of coaches about its benefit to avoid overtraining. When it comes to sculling styles there seem to be as many as there are coaches here in the US…

BUT! Other countries better beware and not get too comfortable things are going to change. Tim Mclaren has a proven Olympic record and is about to build a system that will crank out highly trained athletes who understand the subtleties of training and rowing small boats, which in turn will create superb large boats. My prediction is that we will see a rapid convergence of rowing talent to the California Rowing Club. Heck, if I were still in competition mode, I would migrate to see Tim… I guess I am not too old for that yet… Hmmm this makes me think… In any case I am wishing Tim and his family a great time.

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

From a U.K. Paper

Note from me. 99.9% of the rowing machines available to the unsuspecting public are static machines. Rowing machines which do not move back and forth. Much healthier rowing machines are the ones that are DYNAMIC such as the ROWPERFECT and the Concept2 on Slides (cumbersome equipment needed when you using a C2)


23:21
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No pain, more gain: Why exercise can transform your life
By Anastasia Stephens
Published: 26 September 2006
1. CYCLING

Cycling, even for short periods, gives you an all-round aerobic workout. But cycling regularly and for long distances can strain your knees and, if you're a man, may put fertility at risk.

"The main problems I see with cycling involve the hips and kneecaps," says Gavin Burt, the London-based osteopath and spokesman for the General Osteopathic Council. "If your thigh muscles are out of balance, your kneecaps won't be stable - they'll move slightly sideways with the bending motion of your knee. That can cause grinding and inflammation."

Cycling can also harm male fertility. Recent studies show that 3 per cent of male cyclists who ride regularly become impotent, and virtually all of them felt pain or numbness before the problem occurred. The studies found that the more a person rides, the greater the risk of impotence or loss of libido.

Risk reduction Burt recommends the following exercise to strengthen your quadriceps and surrounding muscles. Lie down on your back with a rolled towel under your knee. Keeping your heels on the ground, press each knee down into the towel as if trying to straighten your legs.

Men who cycle for short or moderate periods shouldn't worry about fertility. Serious cyclists should take regular breaks along you cycling route - say every 30-40 minutes. Some bicycle seats such as Easy Seat (from £30; www.derri-air.com; 001 406 889 5288) are now specifically designed without the usual "nose" that compresses blood and nerve supply.

2. RUNNING

Running isn't as bad for your knees as most people think, says Siobhán O'Donovan, the chartered physiotherapist and sports rehabilitation specialist. "A study at Stanford University looked at the cartilage in the knees of runners," she says. "They found that in people who took up running while young, and continued to run, the sport had a cartilage-strengthening effect." For this benefit, you need to start running in your 20s, while your body is still growing. A sudden decision to take up running and cover long distances, without preparatory training, can cause knee strains.

The main risk for regular runners is Achilles tendonitis. "If the arch of your foot is slightly collapsed, your Achilles tendon will be slightly twisted. Run on it repeatedly, and the tendon will eventually become strained and inflamed."

Risk reduction Build up any running regime slowly and seek appropriate advice in choosing a good pair of shoes. O'Donovan, the clinical director at Meridian Sports in Bolton, recommends seeing a podiatrist or sports professional to get your feet screened. "This will identify if you have low or collapsed arches," she says. "You can then rectify the problem."

3. SWIMMING

Swimming is a great low-impact sport which strengthens and tones muscles of the whole body - and gives cardiovascular fitness a boost. But take into careful account which stroke you use. While front crawl is great for improving all-round muscle tone and fitness, O'Donovan believes breast stroke is so harmful, it should be banned.

"It's bad for your neck, back and knees," says O'Donovan. "Keeping your head above water compresses your neck, contributing to neck pain and tight shoulders. It also strains your lower back. Knees also suffer. "Your knees joints are made to kick up and down, not to kick out sideways as in breast stroke. This movement can strain ligaments and irritate membranes within the joint."

Risk reduction If you insist on doing breast stroke, you can minimise the strain by keeping your head in the water while swimming and coming up for breaths of air. Burt recommends reducing knee strain by propelling yourself forward using the momentum of your upper-body and kicking gently with your legs. Never extend them completely so that they are straight.

4. TENNIS

Beware of the classic tennis injury, tennis elbow. Caused by the backhand movement, the muscle and ligament leading from the forearm to the outer elbow becomes torn and inflamed.

Risk reduction As tennis elbow is painful and difficult to treat, your best strategy should be prevention. Using a double-handed backhand, where you use both arms to take the impact of the ball, will help.

Burt recommends this exercise for people with tennis elbow: place a moderately tight elastic band around the fingertips of your injured arm. Pull open your fingers against the resistance of the band and repeat several times every day. The exercise builds "support muscles" which help you use your arm while the strained ligament recovers.

5. ROWING

Rowing is one of the best sports for a strong back, but rowing machines in the gym can put your lower back at risk unless you get tuition in technique, says O'Donovan. Rowing outdoors may also put your lower back at risk if it is stiff. If you have scoliosis - a sideways curve along the spine - one side of your back may end up stronger than the other, causing muscular imbalances and strain.

Risk reduction O'Donovan suggests that you first ask yourself whether rowing is the best sport for you. "If your lower back isstiff, rowing could easily strain the joints, causing irritation and muscle strain," she says. "In extreme cases, it could lead to a prolapsed or slipped disc." If you do row, it's best to get professional advice. Burt says: "Your legs, low back, upper back and arms should all be involved in one effortless movement to propel yourself with each stroke."

6. YOGA/PILATES

While yoga and Pilates help prevent injuries by improving flexibility and strengthening abdominal muscles, both can cause the very injuries they're designed to protect against. "Overstretching can tear muscle fibres and irritate tendons or ligaments," says Burt.

Risk reduction Warm up properly before any stretching to prevent muscle tears in stiffness the following day, says O'Donovan. In winter, when the outdoor temperature is cold, give your body a good 20 minutes to warm up.

7. SNOWBOARDING

You don't get a rush without risk. And when it comes to winter sports, snowboarding tops the list for both. It offers speed and adventure along with a risk of knee strain, whiplash and wrist injury. "Your feet are fixed on to the snowboard in a way that stresses the knees," says Burt. "And if you fall, your upper body twists but your low body is fixed - that can snap and strain the cruciate ligaments of the knee." Falling forwards or backwards at speed on to compacted snow can cause wrist sprains and whiplash injuries respectively.

Risk reduction Get instructions and don't take on difficult slopes before you're ready. Protect your wrists from fractures or sprains by wearing wrist guards. Knee-braces worn under your salopettes can reduce any twisting when you fall.

Tips for safe and successful sport

Siobhán O'Donovan suggests picking a sport that will complement and help your physiology - then building up your fitness routine at a gradual rate. "I wouldn't recommend that someone prone to shoulder dislocation takes up rugby, for obvious reasons," she says. "Likewise, I'd be careful about suggesting rowing to somebody with a stiff lower back." Often, she adds, people may be predisposed to particular injuries without their realising.

Most people wouldn't know if they had a low foot arch, or if their pelvis was slightly twisted leaving one leg slightly longer than the other. These conditions are very common and can lead to muscular imbalances, tightness and injury in a wide range of sports.

She recommends a pre-exercise screen: an examination that looks at foot posture, leg length and your muscle balance. Orthotics and specific exercises can then ensure your bio-mechanical alignment is good to begin with.

A thorough warm-up routine is recommended before any sport - consisting of around 20 minutes of gentle aerobic activity and some stretches. It's vital not to overstretch early on, or you risk causing tightness and strain. Remember to finish any brisk activity with a 10-minute warm-down to help your physiology gradually adjust from an active to an inactive state.

Pre-exercise screening (£50 for one hour) is available at Meridian Sports in Bolton (www.getmebetter.co.uk; 08007 312 738). Consultations with podiatrists and physiotherapists are available at Health and Fitness Solutions, London (020-7702 1112).

For further details on sports injuries and rehabilitation, go to www.sportsinjuryclinic.net.

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

Tori Amos ROWS!

I picked up this piece of information from Row2k.com today. They had a link to some newspaper. Now we just need to know all the celebrities who row indoors. Forget about the celebrities who row on the water.

Question for Tori Amos:


HOW DO YOU STAY IN SHAPE?

I am convinced that Frenchwomen don't get fat because they eat two or three proper meals a day - real food. I don't do sugar substitutes.

I play the piano for a few hours a day - it's a real workout. Then I get on the rowing machine for about 20 minutes four times a week. And a sauna about five times a week. You can steam toxins out. Just sit in there for about 20 minutes and drink two big bottles of water. It changes your health.

XENO

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

What do you do when you can not run for exercise anymore?

Running injuries, there are many. However few are the people who can run all their lives. It surprises me that no one really notices this. Every morning we drive our children to school and I see a few runners/joggers out the car window circling the back bay. To simplify my description of the runners I will break them down into three groups. There are the ones who look born to run with zero body fat and stepping very lightly on their feet as if their body were filled with hydrogen, only the ball of their feet touch the ground. I can honestly say that I don't see too many of this kind. My second group is the cross training kind, there stepping is considerably heavier and their pace is slower, but still look as if they could benefit from running. The third group which is also the most painful to observe are the people who one morning had a sudden mirror image shock and came to the conclusion that they had to whip themselves back into by buying running shoes at Sports Chalet and hitting the back bay bike path.

All three groups have one thing in common. Their shelf life as runners will sooner than later hit the expiring date. The countless pounding of the pavement damages feet, ankles, knees, hip joints, lower back and to extreme cases shoulders.

If you fit in one of the three categories mentioned above, be careful and make sure that you allow yourself recovery time between running workouts. Down time from running is important. Use cross training as a form of down time. You can call it alternative active compensatory workouts which can be a quicker way to recover from strenuous exercise. You can cross train by lifting weights, spending time on the elliptical trainer, stair master, walking uphill, and what the heck ROWING INDOORS if you really want my opinion. Word of caution if you bike... avoid roads with traffic. It is likely that you don't live in Orange County. Around here it is totally asking for trouble if you ride your bike on main roads.

Over and out.

XENO

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

I dug up a postcast that I did on endurance radio in 2005

http://www.EnduranceRadio.com Interview with Xeno Muller – January 12, 2005 <>: “Welcome back to www.EnduranceRadio.com. This is Tim Bourquin. Thanks very much for joining us again for another interview. We’re got something a little bit different for you today. We’re going to be speaking with Xeno Muller. He is the gold medalist for Switzerland in the 1996 Olympics in single skull, which is rowing, and also a silver medalist in the 2000 Olympics, so we’re going to be talking to Xeno about how athletes can use rowing to get some good exercise and building endurance, and he’s certainly the expert in that arena, so we’re going to hear from him. A couple of things first of all, the race of the day today is the Powerman Ohio 2005. The race is going to be on May 14 th or 15th, 2005, in Ohio. You can check out more information about that race at www.powermanohio.com. So we’re going to be right back to speak with Xeno Muller in about 30 seconds.” “Dehydration can diminish your energy and impair your performance. Scientists at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute have been studying athletes for nearly 20 years and understand what endurance athletes need to stay hydrated. Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula contains a five electrolyte blend consisting of sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium, formulated to replace the fluids and electrolytes you lose during longer more intense workouts and races. Find out more about Gatorade Endurance Hydration at www.gatorade.com today. Is it in you?” <>: “Xeno, thanks very much for joining us this evening, I appreciate you talking to us.” <>: “Hi Tim, it’s a pleasure.” <>: “Well its good to do this interview because we always hear that triathletes and even adventure racers and endurance athletes in general get stuck in a rut, especially over the winter months maybe, where they’re tired of just going out for a run, or they’re tired of doing miles and miles on the bike. You offer something a little bit different in terms of rowing. Talk to us about how that helps builds endurance.” <>: “You know rowing for people who do a different sport could be considered as a great cross-training exercise. I, myself, when I was training for the Olympics, and over the years, I needed cross-training exercises to keep my body healthy, away from injuries and not get into a mental rut like you just mentioned. Rowing is a low impact sport. It involves all of the body and it’s a weight resistant exercise, which helps you develop your endurance, in a rowing specific way, but it certainly can help runners or swimmers or cyclists gain more endurance and more strength overall.” <>: “Now obviously you’re sitting down either on a rowing machine or actually in a boat when you’re doing this, but you’re not just using your arms and chest because actually you’re using pretty much a lot of muscles and a full body workout.” <>: “Two thirds of the power that you produce comes from the leg drive and the lower back, and then one third of the entire stroke is the upper body and then finishing with the arms, that’s right.” <>: “Now how much of this, in terms of building strength and endurance, is about doing the right technique as well?” <>: “Well the right technique is key in order to prevent people from getting an injury. The key thing in rowing is to be able to apply the leg drive while you have a forward body angle with the upper body, hinging from the hip joint so that the small of your back is one piece with your pelvis, and as you drive the legs you keep the arms straight so that you can really just push with the legs only, and then once the leg drive is almost finished then you chain on with the lay-back, a swing-back, with the upper body. Once the upper body is almost at its final position that’s when you bring in the arm draw.” <>: “Now what kid of set-ups do you use in terms of doing endurance training? How long are you rowing for, and are you doing it in intervals where you’ll do it long, or shorter and then faster? How does that all work?” <>: “Well quite an interesting question. Ninety eight per cent, I mean I’m rough here, but I can definitely say its really really a lot of endurance training and it a target heart rate, which is the aerobic threshold that two millimoles of lactic acid that the body produces, that is where you do 98% of your training in rowing. Why? Because the sprint racing and I say sprint racing even though its seven minutes long roughly in the single skull, it is quite a sprint. Often times we compare it to 400 meters, or even 800 meters. People are not quite certain where you would put rowing in there, but what’s important to know that 80% of a 2000 meter race, you heavily rely on the aerobic capacity which is at two millimoles of lactic acid, and of course we are producing more lactic acid in the race, but if our aerobic capacity is not built enough, we will very quickly, as athletes, over produce lactic acid without breaking it down during our race.” <>: “Now you talked about how you do lactic acid testing are part of your training. Talk about that.” <>: “Well the device that now is available in 350 box. Its called The Lactate Pro and I’m no sales person for that device, but the reason why I’m really enthusiastic about it is because five, six or seven years ago in order to have accurate lactic acid readings you would have had to buy a machine that was about US $8,000 to $10,000. Now you can buy this small device, it looks like a glucose tester, at Savons, and this thing, of course, tests your lactic acid and you prick your ear lobe and with a tiny tiny little drop of blood that you put on a little test strip, that’s stuck in the lactic acid measuring device, within a minute you know your lactic acid, you know exactly what your exertion is in your body and then all you have to do is make sure that you are writing down at what heart rate you were pushing what lactic levels.” <>: “Now I want to ask you about once you have this information what you’re supposed to do with it and how you can improve your tolerance of that, but we need to take a quick break. We’re going to be right back to speak with Xeno Muller. “As an endurance athlete you have special hydration needs. Introducing Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula, developed for elite and endurance athletes for use during their longer, most intense workouts and races. Research shows you’re going to sweat out more essential fluids and minerals during prolonged training and races. Find out how to put them all back properly at www.gatorade.com. Get the edge you need to achieve that PR you’ve been training for. Gatorade Endurance Hydration Formula, nobody does hydration better. Is it in you?” <>: “Xeno, once you’ve done this test and you find out what your lactic acid threshold level is, what are you then supposed to do with that information?” <>: “Once you have those numbers. For example if your aerobic threshold; the rule of thumb is that the aerobic threshold is around two millimoles of lactic acid. Once you know that; what has been studied and found out is that once athletes start doing their volume training at two millimoles of lactic acid, they become more and more performance at that level, which means months from the day you first tested yourself at two millimoles of lactic acid, a month later you will find out that at the same heart rate with the same millimoles of lactic, your power, your wattage on the Ergometer, or on the bike, or the speed that you can run at, has increased. So just by knowing that this aerobic level has increased you know that overall, in a max effort over several minutes, or even in a marathon situation, you will be more performance.” <>: “I’ve seen the rowing machines in the gyms, but you don’t see too many people on them too much. Is it because they simply just don’t know how to do it properly?” <>: “To be honest I think rowing is a fairly obscure sport for people on the street. They may see it every once in a blue moon on TV in a Hollywood movie, or they see it every four years at the Olympics. I think rowing is, in a way, certainly less accessible just because you need a boat out on the water. However, there are two really good rowing machines out there that can now be used for group workouts, and I am the first place here in the United States, in southern California, that has these rowing machines set up for people that are non-rowers to come, get the technique, come in with a dry shirt and leave with a sweaty shirt, and have had a great workout, a superior workout.” <>: “Well lets talk about that too because I want our listeners to understand two things. First of all we don’t endorse any products and rarely do we talk about it this much, but I think this is so unique I do want our listeners to know you’ve got available, so talk about your studio.” <>: “Well thank you. The reason why I’m enthusiastic about it, and lets deviate from plugging myself, lets just use rowing as an opportunity for people that, A, cannot run or cannot swim or cannot bike. For example, people with a leg injury, or whatever it is. Rowing in an organized group with people telling you how to do it is an absolute new ...” <>: “It sounds like a spinning class almost.” <>: “It sounds like a spinning class, but the thing is because the people sit on the seats, and even can actually put one leg out to the side and not use that ankle or not use that knee that maybe hurt, they can row along with just using one leg and both arms, and the same thing is true with the arms. So there are so many different ways of using this sport of rowing indoors for people who are slightly at a disadvantage, temporarily or permanently, and they can still have a great workout because its low impact, and that’s what we at the Iron Oarsman here in Costa Mesa. Anybody, whether they are tall, short, overweight, elderly, youngsters, they all have a niche in their way to be able to row and get the best out of it.” <>: “Well of course our listeners can go to Xeno’s website at www.gorow.com and find out about his iron Oarsman studio. Xeno, unbelievably we’re out of time already, there’s a lot more we can go into but we’ll link to your site and hopefully listeners can visit you and find out a little bit more about that.” <>: “It was a pleasure.” http://www.EnduranceRadio.com offers online radio programs and interviews with endurance athletes and coaches at all levels. Visit their site today and listen to everyday athletes just like you and also professional endurance athletes talk about how they train, eat and race. Weekend warriors and serious competitors alike will find something they can implement into their own training and technique immediately from each day's program. A new interview is posted each weekday.

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