In this interview I sit down with Head of Performance Support for Rowing Australia, Dr. Tony Rice to discuss athlete monitoring and training individualization at the elite level.

s for New Zealand. Competing in 14 events and winning five medals, four in women’s events including Silver in the Women’s 2x, Silver in the W8+, Gold in the W2-, Gold in the W1x, and Gold in the M8+.

However, three years before the Olympics only one female rower was eating enough to fuel their training. Many athletes were underfueling and showing symptoms of RED-S.

I sit down with Caroline MacManus, Head of Athletic Performance for Rowing New Zealand and Christel Dunshea-Mooij  Head of Performance Nutrition at High Performance Sport NZ to discuss LEA, RED-S, and how they work with athletes and coaches within a high performance unit to optimize performance.

Sizwe Ndlovu stroked the South African Lightweight Men's Four to Olympic Gold at the 2012 London Olympic Games. He is the first black athlete to win a gold medal in the sport of rowing.

He and I discuss his rowing career, how his headmaster Tom Price was instrumental in him taking up and sticking with the sport of rowing, the race in London, and his work as a coach of junior rowers.

Kris Robertson is the strength and conditioning coach for Rugby Canada and owner of Kris Robertson Training.

In this interview Kris and I discuss the pitfalls of chasing greater and greater levels of strength as it relates to sport performance. He shares how he trains his athletes and what program design elements he focuses on to gain improvements in power and speed. We also touch upon jump training for speed development.

On August 4th, 2020 a massive explosion erupted in the port of Beirut, Lebanon. The training center for the Lebanese Rowing Federation was completely destroyed from the blast. The facility was completely leveled and all rowing equipment is beyond repair.

Farah Jaroudi  and Rodrigue Ibrahim are rowers and coaches from the Lebanese Rowing Federation who share the history of rowing in Lebanon, their personal stories, and the current ReBuildreRow fundraiser taking place in coordination with World Rowing.

On December 21st there will be a rowing marathon hosted by the University of Malta. You can participate in the marathon or make a donation. Details are in the Show Notes.

• reBuildreRow Fundraiser
• University of Malta Rowing Marathon Sign Up Form

Kyra Edwards has raced for Great Britain at the junior, U23 and senior levels, and has won junior silver and U23 bronze World Championships medals. She has a degree in statistics from UCLA and is training for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. In this interview, Kyra and I discuss the similarities and differences between the United States collegiate system and the Great Britain Rowing Team. We also discuss how to improve diversity and inclusivity in the sport of rowing and her experiences as a Black mixed heritage athlete in a sport dominated by whites.

• Differences in culture and rowing experience in GB and US Collegiate System
• Degree in Statistics and what you would like to pursue post rowing career
• Science of Rowing

• Creating more pathways and accessibility to the sport across the world. How do we do it?
• We have seen greater awareness and resources (financial, people) put into place to promote more opportunity and diversity. What’s the next step in your opinion?

• World Rowing Profile
• UCLA Profile
• Instagram
• For British rower Kyra Edwards, being a source of representation is ‘an important message’
• Team GB's Only Black Rower: 'I feel like a guest in a white, privileged space'
• Why I am Now Talking to White People About Race

Alex Wolf spent 15 years working for the English Institute of Sport where he held the positions of Head of Strength and Conditioning and more recently Head of Learning. He spent five years working with the GB Rowing team in preparation for the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic games.

We discuss Alex's new book Strength and Conditioning for Rowing as well as leadership, communication, and trunk training.

Enjoy the interview!

In this podcast interview Dr. Bryan Mann discusses the history, science, and application of pliometrics. Pliometrics or more commonly known as plyometrics was developed by Dr. Yuri. Verkoshansky. 

This podcast explains how the name was quite literally, “lost in translation”. 

Dr. Mann will also discuss applications and some research studies around pliometrics. I highly recommend viewing the video version of this interview as it includes some slides from Dr. Mann.

Enjoy the show!

• Shock Method
  • Includes Shock Method and Depth Jump
  • Developed in 1960’s by Yuri Verkhoshansky

• Pliometric
  • Termed this in 1930’s due to increased muscle tension
  • In 1938 Hubbard and Stetson introduced the term “pliometric” due to recognition of three different contractions the muscles underwent: miometric (shorter), isometric (same), and pliometric (longer)
• Frog Study in 1968

• Bryan Mann Profile at University of Miami
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Video Version of Interview
• Shock Method by Dr. Yuri Verkoshansky

In this podcast episode I sit down with Dr. Volker Nolte and Dr. Valery Kleshnev to discuss power measurement and biomechanics in the rowing stroke. In Episode 119, I had interviewed Lotte Lintmeijer who presented a new method for power measurement. Dr. Nolte and Dr. Kleshnev wanted to discuss the traditional method of power measurement and share why this is still valid. We also discuss how this integrates into technology and what rowing can do to be more appealing to fans and spectators.

Here is a short bio on both of my guests.

Dr. Valery Kleshnev -  a graduate sport scientist and silver Olympic medallist. Since 1986, Valery has been involved in R&D and consultancy in rowing biomechanics and has spent more than 20 years working at sport institutes in Russia, Australia and the UK. You can learn more about Valery at his company's website Biorow.com 

Dr. Volker Nolte was the head rowing coach for Western University for 24 years and retired in 2017. Nolte’s work as a coach was recognized several times over his career. He received the Award of Merit from Rowing Canada Aviron in 1996 and the International Rowing Federation (FISA) in 1998, the President’s Award from Rowing Canada in 1998 and was the 3M Coach of the Year in 2001. In 2006 and 2007, he was awarded Coach of the Year from the Canadian University Rowing Association and was the first Western coach after Jack Fairs who received the Jack Fairs Coaching Award of Merit in 2009. In 2010, Nolte was presented with the Coaches’ Recognition Award from Rowing Canada.

Nolte received both a Physical Education Diploma (1976) and a Civil Engineering Diploma (1979) from the University of Saarbrücken (Germany), and a Ph.D. (1984) from the German Sport University in Cologne (Germany) in Biomechanics.

He is an internationally acknowledged expert in biomechanics. Together with his expertise in the coaching field, he frequently presents at scientific and coach education conferences worldwide. His research includes coaching and biomechanics of high performance sport, especially rowing. He is also a distinguished researcher in the field of sport equipment. He co-holds international patents for isokinetic training machines and his developments range from special measurement tools up to new boat designs in rowing. His research has produced many papers in refereed journals, articles in various publications and the popular book “Rowing Faster”, now in its second edition (2011).

• New Method vs. Traditional Method
• Nothing new in rowing
• Integration with technology by NK Empower Oarlock

• Discussion around making rowing more appealing to audiences and fans by using technology to show athletes outputs, speeds, and watts in reserve.
• How to train velocity for rowing; the next frontier in S&C?
• Spinal Kinematics and implications with different rowing styles.

• Biorow.com
• Kleshnev on Researchgate
• Nolte on Researchgate

In this interview I sit down with Dan Harris, World Class Start Coach for Bath. Dan works on behalf of British Rowing and is responsible for running talent ID testing regularly – to try to identify and recruit more athletes. In addition Dan is instrumental in training his athletes day to day and has been in this role since September 2011. 

One of the things that makes Dan’s perspective particularly insightful is handles the coaching on the water and in the strength and conditioning facility. I learned a lot from my conversation with Dan and how during the formative years of athletic development between 14-18 he emphasizes that some of his rowers strength train up to 4x a week to add mass in preparation for the high volume they will need to handle at the senior level.

• What physical metrics are you looking for in your athletes (height, weight, athletic background)?
• What ergo scores?
• Other athletic profile/physiological measurements to identify strong potential rowing candidates.
• Anything on the mental/psychological side?

• More gym sessions at a younger age to work on mobility, flexibility, strength, stability, power, - Why is this important?
• Athletic development and importance of adding some muscle mass so the athletes can sustain the training volume at U23 and Senior levels.
• What is your focus for that 14-18 age group in terms of gym? In terms of rowing?
• Notable Olympians who have come through the Bath Start programme?
• Skills to do
  • Pull ups / chin ups
  • Front and back squat
  • Seated rows and lat pull down, bent over row vs. bench pull

• What’s your top technical drill to develop skill for a rower?
• What strength and conditioning exercise do you feel has the best carryover to rowing?
• If you were in charge of FISA, what would you do to keep lightweight rowing? How would you continue to develop and expand the sport?
• What advice would you give yourself 10 years ago?
• What’s the one thing junior athletes should be doing more of to compliment their training and health?

• https://www.minervabathrc.org.uk/rowing-news/profile-interview-dan-harris/
• Instagram
• https://www.thesubath.com/rowing/world_class_start/
• https://www.teambath.com/sport/rowing/talent-identification/

Matt Fleekop is a Strength & Conditioning Coach for Princeton University. Matt holds a  BS in Exercise Science and a Masters Degree in Applied Health Physiology. He has interned at Purdue University and EXOS and earned his masters degree while a  GA at Salisbury University.

Matt provides great insight into what goes into training multiple sports during the academic calendar. In addition, he helps to touch on how his athletes have been effected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Matt has worked with rowing, Men's Lacrosse, Women's Ice Hockey, Men's Soccer, Men's and Women's Tennis and Football.

• 3-sport athlete (hockey, baseball, basketball)
• Undergrad – Rowan University, continued playing ice hockey for 2 years
• Interned at Purdue University after graduating
• After Purdue, came home and started working as a personal trainer and interning at Endeavor Sport’s Performance
•  Decided I wanted to keep pursuing a position in college; was offered a GA position at Salisbury University.
  • Earned a masters in Applied Health Physiology, specializing in Strength and Conditioning. 
• Took another internship at EXOS in Frisco TX | 2015
• I was the head strength coach at Rollins College. 1 assistant
  • • 1.5 years
  • Responsible for 14 teams
• Relationship with coaches is critical. Listening to their communication and verbs, cues. Leads to building relationship, trust, and the team.
  • Princeton University | 2017
  • Private vs. Collegiate/University
    • People are paying to work with you vs. being assigned a coach

• Schedule
  • Private | 4-5 for 8-12 weeks
  • University | 5-6 weeks at a time
  • Maybe 2-3x a week and 1 hour at a time
  • Holiday breaks, midterms and finals, travel
  • How does training or training focus differ? 

• What physiological qualities and skills do you prioritize for incoming freshmen?
• What are the fundamentals/basics every athlete should know and be able to do?
• How do you overcome or work with athletes who do not have the S&C experience compared to the rest of their teammates
• Challenges of NCAA calendar vs. EXOS environment?
• Training In-Season Athletes
• Work with Rowing Team; What did you prioritize for them?

• Matt Fleekop Princeton University Athletics
• Instagram