Today’s workout involves rowing. We only have one rower, so we’re going to explore the wide, wide world of rowing substitutions. Yay substitutions!
Foundation
Pistol Practice
10 minutes
WOD
For Time:
500m row
50 wall ball (20/14)
400m row
40 wall ball
300m row
30 wall ball
200m row
20 wall ball
100m row
10 wall ball
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Zack, Jayne and Amy playing around on Saturday morning
The idea with any scaling or substituting of movements is to keep the stimulus of the “prescribed” movement (the one written in the workout) while adapting for the ability of the individual performing the workout and/or the logistical limitations of the environment in which the workout is completed.
The most straightforward example of scaling is changing the weight of a movement in a workout. For example, if a workout prescribes power cleans at 225 pounds, but Bob’s maximum power clean is only 135 pounds, Bob will need to “scale” the weight down to something that he can do. A prescribed weight of 225 is a fairly heavy power clean, so Bob will want to use a weight that is challenging but doable — say, 115 pounds.
A pretty straightforward example of substituting a movement is using the Russian kettlebell swing (swinging the bell up in front of the face) instead of the American swing (swinging the bell all the way overhead). An athlete who doesn’t yet have the coordination or strength to perform a good American swing would substitute a Russian swing to practice driving with the hips and keeping the back straight. The Russian swing would allow an athlete who doesn’t have a good American swing to safely achieve a similar stimulus in the workout to that of the American swing (using hip drive, taxing the grip and demanding mid-line stabilization).
In the case of today’s workout, we’ll be using a variety of substitutions for the rowing — not because we’re not good at rowing, but because we only have one rower. All of the substitutions listed below mimic the effect of rowing in the workout, but each one has a slightly different emphasis. You can select which substitution to use based on your strengths and weaknesses, or based on what might help you work towards achieving your goal for the month.
Rowing Substitutions:
(The numbers immediately under the substitution are the amount of the substitution you would do for each round of rowing. For example, you’d run 400m instead of rowing 500m to begin the workout, and you’d do 10 SDHP instead of rowing 100m at the end of the workout)
- Run
400m, 325m, 250m, 175m, 100m
Running mimics the cardio-respiratory demands of rowing, but not the movement pattern. Running is all lower-body and requires a fairly short range of motion, while rowing demands a long range of motion in both the upper and lower body. Use a running substitution if endurance is a particularly weak point for you. - Kettlebell Swing (24kg/16kg)
50, 40, 30, 20, 10
Kettlebell swings are a total-body movement, like rowing, and the two exercises use similar movement patterns. Kettlebell swings are more taxing on the upper body than rowing, and are also more taxing in terms of mid-line stabilization. However, they’re not quite as hard on the legs and don’t usually get the heart rate quite as high. Use kettlebell swings if upper-body strength is an area you’re trying to develop. (hint: if your November goal involves pullups, you want upper-body strength) - Sumo Deadlift High Pull (45/30)
50, 40, 30, 20, 10
The Sumo Deadlift High Pull (SDHP) is the movement that most closely mimics rowing. The motor pattern is almost identical, except that you’re moving vertically in a SDHP as opposed to horizontally in rowing. SDHPs generally take almost exactly as long as rowing, but have a slightly stronger strength emphasis. Your shoulders are in a somewhat awkward position at the top of a SDHP, so you’ll need to be careful that your form stays strong throughout the workout. Use SDHP if you want to stay as close as possible to the stimulus provided by rowing, but avoid SDHP if you have any issues with your shoulders.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
