Strength training on a RipRow?

Hi Lee

I am a female rider on the wrong side of 40 with total hip replacement and an arthritic left shoulder just rediscovering the trails again. I have discovered some massive imbalances and what let’s me down is not cardio ( easy to improve) but strength, mobility and skill- I’m looking at the RipRow as a functional tool to learn the movement patterns that I need to nail in safety and then build strength and speed into these movements with less overall impact than smashing trails ( and embedding poor form) and less dislocation risk than heavy deadlifts . My question is do you typically replace traditional strength training with this or would you use in addition to say deadlifts, KB swings etc and how would you incorporate workouts into a training block- ie have you experimented with different sessions targeting strength over speed and visa versa during day a training block and using these to achieve different outcomes?

Would love to know your thoughts.

By the way, i have your latest book and I keep rereading sections all the time. I am still a low intermediate but it’s certainly helped me progress a bit. Unfortunately, my brain steps still steps in and puts the brakes on far too often!

thanks
Anna

Hi Anna,

Thank you for reaching out.

Most people replace their strength training with RipRowing. A few still mix in some traditional strength work, but that’s for hardcore folks who are very strong, and generally not in the riding season. I for one do not strength train when I’m RipRowing on a regular basis (which is what I’ve been doing on lockdown).

Yes, you can tweak the protocols to focus on endurance, strength or speed/power. I’m leading group RipRow workouts every M,W,F on the RipRow Facebook page. These are full on, big workouts. Each one has an endurance component, a strength component and a speed component.

For example, a workout might include:

Endurance – Tabata intervals x 5 sets at medium resistance

Strength – 3 sets of 10 at heavy resistance

Speed – 25 reps as fast as you can on one-minute intervals at light resistance

This page has tons of RipRow workouts. Check out the Lockdown Workouts to see what we’ve been doing lately. Like I said, these are huge, full workouts. If you want to do shorter workouts, you can do half of a lockdown workout. On Day 1 do endurance. On Day 2 do strength and speed.

I hope this is helpful. Please ask any other questions you have.

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Lee