Breathe Right for Rowing Sport

Rowing Sport

Rowing is one of the most challenging endurance sports, and proper breathing is essential to sustaining the amount of work required. Training with breathing techniques can be key to improving endurance and performance. “During the rowing sport stroke the inhalation should be at the catch and exhalation (releasing of the air) should be at the finish when the hands touch the body.

This is something that must be trained daily. For some athletes a correct breathing pattern is harder to learn than the rowing sport motion and it is the coach’s job to make sure the athlete is breathing properly. This is especially important during hard training loads and workouts.”-www.rowperfect.co.uk  When you want to focus your training on breathing it’s best to slow down your pace and focus on each part of the breath, this way you can train your body to continue the breathing pattern as you increase your speed.

For indoor rowing sport (i.e. the erg) breathing technique is a little different especially when used as a low impact cardiovascular workout as opposed to dry land training for rowers. Either way the basic technique is one breath per stroke during low impact training, and two breaths per stroke for high impact training ”          During low intensity rowing (one breath)—Exhale gradually on the drive, expelling all remaining air at the finish. Inhale on the recovery. During high intensity rowing (two breaths)—Exhale as you finish the drive. During the recovery, inhale, then exhale quickly. Inhale again just before the catch.” www.concept2.com

The key to proper breathing is to create a breathing pattern and stick with the pattern throughout your row (this is also key to breathing patterns in many other high endurance sports). Maintaining a steady breathing pattern helps supply your muscles with oxygen allowing them to perform optimally and may even give you the stamina to increase the intensity of your training.

In addition to breathing techniques during your training you should consider breathing exercises that you can practice when you are not rowing or erg training. Adding breathing exercises as an additional part of your training can be extremely helpful as it will strengthen your respiratory muscles making it easier to maintain a steady breathing pattern throughout your workout, and reducing shortness of breath during high intensity training. Breathing fitness trainers like Expand-A-Lung can help maximize the efficacy of your breathing exercises by adding inspiratory and expiratory resistance. The added resistance helps to strengthen the respiratory muscles faster than you would without the addition of resistance. I find using a device like Expand-A-Lung also makes it easier to focus on the breathing exercise itself and allows me to give the exercises my full effort and attention. As you strengthen your respiratory muscles you are able to increase your lung capacity which improves your endurance.

Take a little time to focus on proper breathing and reap the benefits of improved performance.