2

Basic Rowing
Physiology
Autor: Thor S. Nilsen (NOR)
Editors: Ted Daigneault (CAN), Matt Smith (USA)
AUTHOR’S NOTE

The author wishes to express his appreciation to Professor of

Physiology Sigmund B. Strömme, Norwegian College of
Physical Education and Sport, for his suggestions as to the
presentation of this material and ideas for the content of the
sketches, and to Sturla Kaasa, the illustrator.

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 2. BASIC ROWING PHYSIOLOGY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Rowing is a sport which requires a well conditioned body to

operate at a high performance level during periods of training
and competition. During training and competition, the human
body acts as the engine to propel the rowing boat across the
water. As an engine, the body requires energy to enable it to
operate. The source of the energy for muscle contraction is the
breakdown of chemical bonds in the muscle cells. However,
these chemical bonds must be replaced by the fuels of the body.
The fuels of the body are carbo- hydrates and fats from the food
we eat. They are stored in the body in the form of glycogen and
fat and, when needed, are used to restore the chemical bonds
in the muscle cells.

In order to improve the efficiency of the human body to utilize

the fuels and produce energy, many adaptations take place
within the body during exercise. In this course, the physiology of
exercise will be presented in a way that will allow an under-
standing of some of these adaptations.

2.0 THE ROWING MOTION

It is necessary, in the beginning, to study the rowing motion to

enhance the understanding of the physiology of rowing. The
rowing motion is created by an athlete seated in a boat moving
forward and backward on a sliding seat while pulling on an oar
placed in the water. This will result in the boat being pried for-
ward across the surface of the water. When the athlete is pulling
on the oar, he creates a positive directional force on the boat
and, when the oar is out of the water and the athlete is moving
in the opposite direction of the boat, he creates a negative
directional force.

The method or technique that the athlete uses must coordinate the
proper use of the muscle groups and the movement of the boat
to maximize the positive directional forces and minimize the neg-
ative directional forces. This will optimize the prying motion of

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each stroke and cause the greatest possible velocity to be
achieved during a 2000 metre rowing race. During each stroke,
the athlete applies the equivalent of a 40 to 45 kilogram load
to the oarhandle in each of the 220 to 250 strokes that occur
during the race.

3.0 THE ROWING RACE

Next, we will examine a rowing race. The 2000 metre rowing

race consists of three parts or phases: the start phase, the middle
or distance phase, and the finish or sprint phase.

During the start phase, the rowing boats generally start the race
at a stroke rate that is higher than the stroke rate of the middle
or distance phase and the velocity of the boat is higher than the
average velocity achieved by the boat during the race. The
energy used to achieve and maintain this increased velocity is
obtained from the stored chemical bonds in the muscle cells and
the breakdown of stored fuels. However, during this phase of the
race, the muscle cells are operating without sufficient oxygen in
the breakdown of these fuels. This process is termed anaerobic
(or without oxygen) metabolism and results in the production of
a waste product, lactic acid. The accumulation of lactic acid
causes pain in the muscles of the athlete.

During the middle or distance phase, the athlete is using energy

that is obtained by converting the stored fuels into energy using
oxygen. The presence of sufficient oxygen in the system results in
the more complete breakdown of these fuels and is termed
aerobic (or with oxygen) metabolism. This phase will continue
for about 4 to 6 minutes until the finish phase.

It should be noted that the aerobic process is about 18 times more

productive than anaerobic metabolism and does not produce the
debilitating waste product, lactic acid. However, anaerobic
metabolism provides energy more quickly and can support high
velocity muscle contraction.

As with the start phase, the crews will increase the stroke rate

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 2. BASIC ROWING PHYSIOLOGY

during the finish or sprint phase in an attempt to increase the veloc-

ity of the boat over the remaining one to two minutes of the race.

This increase in stroke rate, and resultant increase in boat veloc-

ity, will increase the energy requirements of the body to a level
that will exceed the capacity of the aerobic metabolic process
to provide sufficient energy. Therefore, the anaerobic metabolic
process is called upon to contribute and the waste product,
lactic acid, is produced in increasing amounts.

Figure 1 - The Phases of the Race

In order to improve the ability of the athlete to move the boat

over the water, it is necessary to increase the athlete’s capacity
to produce energy and to improve the athlete’s ability to endure
the physical demands placed upon the body. This is called the
athlete’s endurance capacity. But what exactly is endurance
capacity?

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 4.0 ENDURANCE CAPACITY

Endurance capacity is defined broadly as the ability to persist in

the performance of physical activity. However, a more precise
definition would be the ability of the athlete to perform at a given
load over a period of time.

For the athlete to perform at a greater load (and, thereby, move

the boat over the race course in a shorter period of time), it is
necessary to increase the endurance capacity of the athlete by
proper training.

As a coach of rowing, you have a responsibility to understand

the effects of training on your athletes. This knowledge will assist
you in the preparation of training programmes that will more
effectively produce the desired physiological adaptations. Your
goal will be to give the athlete an opportunity to obtain an
increased performance level and, thereby, realize his or her
potential.

5.0 AEROBIC METABOLISM

Proper training to increase the endurance capacity of the athlete

must include training the aerobic metabolic process since this
system contributes 75 to 80 percent of the energy used in a
rowing race. Thus, the importance of oxygen transportation and
utilization is very clear. However, this raises two important
questions: How do we get oxygen from the air to the muscle
cells? And, what happens to produce energy at the muscle cells?
As the process which utilizes oxygen in the muscle cells to pro-
duce energy is complex, it will be discussed in Levels II and III
of the FISA CDP.

5.1 The Oxygen Transportation System

There are three systems involved in the journey of oxygen from the
air to the muscle cells. The first system, the respiratory system, takes
air (containing oxygen) into the lungs by breathing.
Approximately 21 percent of the air is composed of oxygen (O2).

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 2. BASIC ROWING PHYSIOLOGY

After the lungs receive air, the oxygen diffuses from the air through
the walls of the tiny air sacs (alveoli) of the lungs into the blood.

The second system, the circulatory system, carries the blood,

now saturated with oxygen, from the lungs to the heart where it
is pumped out through the arteries to the areas most in need of
oxygenated blood, namely the exercising muscles. As the blood
travels through the circulatory system, the arteries become
smaller and branch off into thousands of small arteries called
capillaries. The capillaries are small enough to surround the
individual muscle fibres.

Figure 2 - The Oxygen Transportation System

In the third system, the muscular system, an important transfer or

diffusion of oxygen occurs as oxygen is passed through the walls
of the capillary to the muscle cells. In the muscle cells, the oxy-
gen is taken to the mitochondria (power plants of the muscle
cells) and used in the conversion of fuels to energy in the oxygen
utilization process.

We have now seen that the oxygen utilizes three different syst-
ems while reaching the muscle cells where it is used to produce
energy in the aerobic metabolic process: the respiratory system,
the circulatory system and the muscular system.

The air that is inhaled into the lungs is the primary carrier of oxy-
gen. From the lungs, the oxygen is then transferred to the blood.

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The blood then becomes the second carrier of the oxygen. The
oxygenated blood is carried to the heart, pumped out through
the arteries and then to the capillaries.

When the capillaries carrying the blood reach the muscle fibres,
the oxygen is then transferred to the muscle cells. Within the cells
the oxygen is used in the process of producing energy. We shall
now look more closely at the major components of these three
systems and the possibility of increasing their effectiveness
through training.

Figure 3 - The Transportation System Simplified

5.2 The Major Components of Oxygen Transportation

The first component is the lungs. The lungs can take in 120 to
180 litres of air per minute during exercise in normal people.
Top rowing athletes have been observed with an intake of over
200 litres of air per minute.

Considering that the air we breathe contains approximately 21

percent of oxygen, this means that up to 42 litres of oxygen per
minute can be inhaled by a heavyweight athlete during heavy
exercise. This is considered enough oxygen for the metabolic
demands of the body and does not change significantly with
training.

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 2. BASIC ROWING PHYSIOLOGY

The second component is the ability of the blood to carry the

oxygen. This is dependent on the volume of blood and the
number of red blood cells in the blood. The red blood cells carry
haemoglo- bin which actually carries the oxygen within the
blood. Trained athletes generally have more total blood volume
and a greater number of red blood cells than untrained persons.
It has been observed that endurance training can produce up to
a 16 percent increase in resting blood volume. This change is
caused by an increase in plasma volume and red blood cell
volumes.

Figure 4 - Diffusion of O2 to the Blood

The third component is the heart. The cardiac output is the meas-
ure of the quantity of blood pumped by the heart through the
circulatory system to the body in one minute. It is equal to the
blood volume pumped in each beat (stroke volume) multiplied by
the heart rate. The volume of blood pumped can be increased
by training.

Cardiac output varies from 5 litres per minute at rest to over 40

litres per minute during strenuous exercise. Reductions in exercise
heart rate and resting heart rate, that typically occur with training,
are indicators that stroke volume has increased.

Illustration: Considering that a normal male can pump approxi-

mately 110 millilitres of blood per heart beat during exercise

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and assuming a heart rate of 200 beats per minute, the result is
22 litres per minute of blood being pumped. In athletes, stroke
volumes of 160 ml (lightweight men) and up to 200 ml (heavy-
weight men) can produce 32 and up to 40 litres per minute of
blood pumped at maximum exercise. Therefore, blood, having
a haemoglobin level of 15 g per 100 ml blood and carrying
200 ml of oxygen per litre, can deliver up to 8 liters per minute
of oxygen to the muscular system.

Figure 5 - Cardiac Output

The fourth component is capillary density. Each muscle fibre is

surrounded by capillaries which are the extensions of the arter-
ies. An increase in the number of capillaries surrounding a part-
icular muscle fibre will deliver more blood to the area and, there-
fore, deliver more oxygen to the muscle.

It has been shown that training probably increases the total num-
ber of functional capillaries surrounding muscle fibres and, there-
by, allows more oxygen to be available to the muscles.

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 2. BASIC ROWING PHYSIOLOGY

Figure 6 - Capillary Adaptation

Another component of oxygen transportation is the flow of blood

to the working muscles. During exercise, the flow of blood to the
working muscles does increase because arteries carrying blood
to inactive areas tend to constrict while arteries carrying blood
to areas that are requiring greater amounts of oxygen tend to
dilate. Research indicates that training will increase the blood
flow to working muscles.

Many adaptations also take place in the muscle cells themselves

to increase the consumption of oxygen. Endurance training has
been shown to increase the effectiveness of the machinery with-
in the muscle cells to produce energy.

Again, the adaptations that improve oxygen utilization will be

discussed in Levels II and III of the FISA CDP.

5.3 Limitations

The major components involved in the transportation of oxygen

have been discussed. They are, however, not equally important
in a discussion of the limitations in the transportation process.
The respiratory system delivers more oxygen to the circulatory

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system than can be transported in the blood. Thus, the lungs are
not considered a limitation to a rowing athlete’s performance.

However, the circulatory system can be improved with training

and can have a strong influence on the physiological capacity
of the athlete. To produce a training effect in the circulatory
system, any type of exercise that loads the heart can produce
improvement in oxygen transportation and, therefore, oxygen
uptake.

In the muscles, the oxygen is taken up and utilized in the con-

version of fuels to energy. These two processes have also been
shown to improve significantly with training and, therefore, con-
tribute to improved physiological capacity. Manyexercise phys-
iologists consider the muscular system to have the greatest poten-
tial for improving aerobic metabolism. To produce a training
effect which will influence the utilization of oxygen by the mus-
cle cells, training should remain specific to the sport by loading
the muscles which are principally used in the motion specific to
the sport at a medium training load for a long duration. Later, we
will relate specific types of training to the systems involved.

As stated, aerobic metabolism is not capable of supplying all the

energy needs of the body during work periods at a high load.
We will now look at the other system that provides energy to the
body in the absence of oxygen.

6.0 ANAEROBIC METABOLISM

We have now completed our discussion of the aerobic meta-

bolism process. However, there is another source of energy that
contributes 20 to 25 percent of the energy used in a rowing
race. We call this anaerobic metabolism.

Anaerobic metabolism is utilized primarily in the start and finish

phases of the rowing race. It should be noted that, during the
initial seconds of the race, energy is provided by the chemical
bonds stored in the muscle cells. After this initial period, the body
must rely on the anaerobic breakdown of glycogen to provide

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 2. BASIC ROWING PHYSIOLOGY

the remaining energy requirement of the start phase. The intens-

ity experienced during the start and finish phases of the race
necessitate the use of the anaerobic metabolic system to support
the high velocity muscle contraction and provide sufficient
energy to meet the high energy demands on the body.

Figure 7 - Energy Production

The use of the anaerobic metabolic system for the breakdown

of the fuels produces the waste product known as lactic acid.
The accumulation of lactic acid causes fatigue and reduces the
ability of the muscles to contract.

Training improves the athlete’s ability to tolerate the accumulation

of lactic acid and improves the mechanism for its removal.
However, because the aerobic metabolic system is more efficient
and contributes a greater proportion of the energy requirements
of the rowing race, this course will emphasize aerobic meta-
bolism. Further information will be provided on both of these
metabolic systems in Levels II and III of the FISA CDP.

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 7.0 MEASUREMENT

How does one measure the ability of athletes to work efficiently

with their bodies? By using laboratory instruments, exercise phys-
iologists can evaluate the athletes’ maximal oxygen uptake or
VO2 Max. VO2 Max represents the body’s maximal total aero-
bic metabolic rate. This is an important measurement because of
the relative importance of the aerobic metabolism to rowing. The
difference between the oxygen content of the inhaled air and the
oxygen content of the exhaled air is measured (we know that the
air inhaled from the atmosphere is 20.9 percent oxygen). This
difference is multiplied by the amount of air exhaled (ventilation)
to arrive at the absolute maximal oxygen consumption of the ath-
lete. This value is expressed as litres per minute of oxygen.

Figure 8 - Maximal Oxygen Uptake

The following average VO2 Max values have been observed

for international athletes in rowing:

Heavyweight Men: 6.2 litres per minute

Lightweight and Junior Men: 5.3 litres per minute
Heavyweight Women: 4.4 litres per minute
Lightweight and Junior Women: 3.9 litres per minute

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 2. BASIC ROWING PHYSIOLOGY

VO2 Max can also be expressed as the relative oxygen cons-

umption of the athlete by dividing VO2 Max by the athlete’s
body weight in kilograms. For example, using the relative VO2
we have observed average consumptions of 68 ml/kg-min for
heavyweights and 71 ml/kg-min for lightweights.

Although the measurement of oxygen uptake requires the use of

expensive equipment and the assistance of an experienced exer-
cise physiologist, this information is not necessary to produce
world class rowers.

Figure 9 - Characteristic Statistics

Further measurement systems for aerobic and anaerobic metabo-

lism will be discussed in Level II and III of the FISA CDP. It is now
important to look at the training methods that will improve the
aerobic metabolic system.

8.0 TRAINING METHODS

To relate the information presented to practical training methods,

we will focus on training methods which will affect the principal
systems of aerobic metabolism. The three systems are repres-
ented by the lungs, the heart, and the muscles.

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 Figure 10 - Training the Body Systems

8.1 The Lungs

The respiratory system cannot be significantly improved to

increase the efficiency of the entire system. Although the lungs
adapt to the load imposed by the increased breathing that
occurs with training, the respiratory system is not considered to
be a limitation to physiological improvement.

8.2 The Heart

The circulatory system can be improved with training. The most

effective type of training places a demand on the heart that
causes it to enlarge and strengthen itself. The best type of train-
ing to produce this effect is interval training. Interval training is a
systematic prodecure that utilizes short periods of work at a high
training load alternating with periods of recovery. This type of
training will result in a higher cardiac output to the body and,
therefore, an increased capacity for oxygen transport.

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 2. BASIC ROWING PHYSIOLOGY

8.3 The Muscles

The muscular system can also be improved with training. The

most effective type of training places a demand on the muscle
fibres to utilize oxygen. The best type of training is long distance
training. Long distance training is a systematic training proce-
dure that utilizes long periods of work at a medium training load
which may or may not alternate with periods of rest. This type of
training increases the number of functional capillaries around the
muscle fibres and increases the activity and mechanisms in the
muscle cells to utilize oxygen.

This is a very brief description of the types of training that will

increase the performance level of the athlete. Other courses in
Levels I and II of the FISA Coaching Development Programme
will provide further information.

9.0 SUMMARY

You should now have acquired a basic understanding of the

physiological requirements of the sport of rowing. With this infor-
mation you will be able to assist your athletes in their under-
standing of the body systems that are important to rowing and
how to improve these systems.

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