Three questions--

[Willie]

Just curious to hear from people who know more than I do, as I *think* I know the answers to both questions, but I'm certainly not articulating either answer very well.

1. My friend's "elite" (that's a word we like to throw around a lot in the rowing world; it's essentially meaningless) rowing coach has her lifting, in a 5x5 schema, for about 6 weeks before the fall season starts. She has not lifted at all in the past year. He has her warming up for 15' on the rowing machine, and to watch her, you'd think she's racing. I looked at the program, and his protocol calls for "15' AT Erg". I think this is dumb, and I'm pretty sure I know why, but can anyone else better explain why this type of warm up would be remotely beneficial for a strength-gaining lifting protocol?

2. Can you compare the benefits / negatives of a bent-over row vs. a prone bench pull? Again, I think I know, but I'm curious to hear what others say (to my knowledge, BO row is a far superior lift for a number of reasons: core strengthening, ROM, more functional...).

3. Is there any reason to take a rest week, other than to prevent overtraining and injury? I.e., if I'm confident that I am NOT overtrained, and feel no threats of injury, and everything else feels good, and my immediate goal is to lose fat, why would I take a week off, and if I should, how often?

I know these are involved, and I appreciate anyone's input!

[Willie]

?? Anyone? I know they are big questions, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, even if it's only on one of the topics.

Pretty please?

[eastcoastsurfer]

1) Well, she's a rower so she needs to row and will be doing plenty of rowing at practice and during the season. Also a rowing warmup is actually a pretty good warmup since you should be pushing and pulling with your legs and pulling with your arms. The 5x5 makes sense to me as an effort to gain a little more strength before the season starts. My guess is that once it starts her focus will be on rowing and she won't have the time or energy to try to build additional strength at that point.

2) I would just say to mix them up. BO rowing is good, but if I'v done heavy DLs the day before my back might still just be too tired to do effective BO rows which then leads to cheating and a possible injury.

3) Well a rest week is for the reasons you mentioned plus other mental aspects. I know a lot of people who bracket their workouts with rest weeks. It marks a definite start/stop/goal point for them. Also, a rest week doesn't mean no exercise for the week. It just means no weight training for the week. I know I can't sit around for a week so I either try and coincide my rest weeks with travel, exams, or just other sporting activities that I don't often have time for.

[Willie]

Thank you!
1. Isn't 15 minutes (hard) too long, though, for a warm up that precedes a strength gain? She's already rowing 6+ times per week, and lifting in the evenings. I just figured it was a bad idea to train multiple energy systems in one workout, and to drain glycogen stores before a strength-based lifting regimen? I have no problem with the 5 x 5; I think that makes a lot of sense, actually.


2. That makes sense, too.

3. That also makes sense. I'm really not very good at planning my rest, or taking it, for that matter. I think I need to review my year-long plan in order to insert some active recovery.

Thanks very much; I appreciate your thoughts!

[Aoife]

1. rowing is a good general warmup, but I'd not do 15 minutes of any non-specific warmup before lifting.

2. variety. i mean, there's a number of exercises that would be "superior" to others, but it's not like you only do those. i mean, it's not like you only do bench press or only do deadlifts.

3. if you're seeing progress and you don't need to rest mentally or physically, then don't, if you don't want to. i usually try to build in rests every certain amount of time, a couple/three months, regardless of if I feel i need it, but usually i need it, if at a deficit.