High Quality Land Training: Dynamic warm-up exercises

Six exercises to ensure that you’re warmed up and ready to row before you get in the boat or onto the rowing machine!

These exercises are an ideal way to start a land-training session focused on developing movement range and control.

1. Dynamic hamstring stretch

• Lie on your back with one leg straight and one leg bent and held towards the body with your hands behind the thigh.
• Repeatedly extend and lower the leg up and down from the knee.

2. Squat to stand

• From standing, reach over and hold onto your toes.
• Keeping hold of your toes, drop the hips down into a squat position.
• Move up and down between those two positions.

3. Thread the needle

• Start on all fours.
• Slide one arm across the floor underneath the body, and then back the other way and reach the arm up in the air.
• Move dynamically between these two positions.

4. Adductor stretch with rotation

Start kneeling, with your hands on the floor in front of you. Slide one leg straight out to the side of your body. Reach forward and round, taking your arm across the top of the bent leg and underneath your other arm. Then bring your arm back to the other side of your body, rotating the shoulder and arm into the air. Move dynamically between these two positions.

5. Extended glute stretch

• Start on all fours on the floor.
• Bring one leg flat across the body and slide the other leg back so it’s straight behind you.
• Extend your arms out in front, lowering the hips and torso towards the floor.
• From there, slide the arms back and lift your torso from the floor and then lower yourself back down, moving dynamically between those two positions.

6. Hip flexor stretch

• Lie on a bench with both legs bent at 90 degrees.
• Pull one knee towards your chest and hold.
• Let the other leg drop towards the floor (keeping it bent) and raise back to the start position, moving dynamically between those two positions.

Thanks to Alice Baatz for demonstrating these exercises when she was a member of the GB Rowing Team and to Lee Smith at EIS for his technical expertise.

Photos: Dianna Bonner.