#50 Rowing Strength with Blake Gourley

Check out this week's podcast episode featuring Blake Gourley. With a Masters Degree in Sports Performance, 12+ years of experience in competitive rowing, 10+ professional certifications, and several published articles under his belt, Blake's goal is to help as many rowers as possible.  For the past 12+ years, he has been working with clients ranging from high-performing athletes with no limitations to clients transitioning out of injury. He strongly believes that no matter where you are currently, there’s always a way to improve. You aren’t broken. Blake has held internships with Stanford Sports Performance and Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning (voted the #1 gym in the USA). He spent 9 years coaching high school rowing and was the Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Santa Clara University Men's Crew Team for 2 years. He is currently the Injury & Performance Management Consultant for the Los Gatos Rowing Club, and a board member & associate professor for the Personal Training Certificate Program at West Valley College.   In this podcast we discuss: 00:00 - Intro 02:59 - Competitive rowers - A growing demographic 05:30 - Rowing applications - Sculling and Sweep 08:48 - Programming for rowing clients 12:04 - Stick Mobility for improving rowing pelvic positioning and stroke 13:59 - Rowing - much more than an upper-body exercise. 15:08 - Measuring leg strength as a performance indicator 16:56 - Coordination 19:28 - Grip strength and rowing technique 26:15 - Tips and advice for beginner gym rowers 28:28 - Proper rowing back positioning  29:22 - Foot sequencing for efficient rowing 31:06 - Recommended strokes per minute ranges 32:48 - Breathing patterns and bracing 35:32 - Testing anaerobic capacity on a rower 36:32 - End range rowing mechanics 37:49 - Current projects 38:57 - Recovery   More from Blake: https://www.instagram.com/rowing_strength/ https://www.rowingstrength.com/ https://scienceofrowing.com