Tag: Rowing

  • You’re getting priority!

    You’re getting priority!

    My next course is about to open for enrolment.

    I’m really excited to let you know, my flagship course, How to Create Your Annual Training Plan, is ready to go live! I have opened the course exclusively to you, before it opens to the public on Friday, 6th of November. The course will be open for a limited time, and for a limited number of people, so get your spot before the course officially opens. 
    Click here to purchase the course. Special coupon code EARLYBIRD30

    In addition to the course materials and downloadable tools, there will be three Live Zoom classes with Bill and former students from the Faster Alumni, exclusively for course delegates.

    Here’s what’s included in the course;

    • Exclusive access to the Faster Alumni Group on Facebook, to share ideas and cover questions with past students. This group is only open to Faster students
    • Three Live Zoom Classes to review the course together with the course community. Classes will be recorded for playback
    • Access to all the online learning modules via the Teachable platform
    • Downloadable tools and protocols on how to test your performance
    • Dynamic and Maximum strength plans
    • Access to Tips & Tricks – Ideas & Inspiration from our advisory panel of experts
    • PDF downloads of studies on the best approaches to training 
    • Guidance on how to train from the world’s best coaches, scientists and masters athletes – period!

    Access to the entire course and all the online learning modules is $287, but I’m giving you 30% off when you enrol before the course opens on November 6th. Just use one of the limited the coupon codes EARLYBIRD30 at the checkout, and you’ll receive your discount.

    Click here to purchase the course. Special coupon code EARLYBIRD30

    Here’s what one student shared about his experience in the course.

    “What I learnt from this course opened my eyes to what I was truly capable of and transformed the way I now train and prepare. I used to go fast, yet never knew if I was really training the right way. Since I have done the course, I now KNOW what I need to do to reach my potential. I don’t train any more than I used to, yet I am going faster on the ergo and on the water. I can better plan my training to achieve balance with my family and the business that I own and operate. I highly recommend this course to anyone that wants to train smart vs. just training harder all the time.” 

    J Van Vulpen, The Netherlands

    Click here to purchase the course. Special coupon code EARLYBIRD30

    If you’ve been waiting to see what you’re capable of, today’s a great day to begin. Hope to see you inside,

    Bill and the FASTER Team

  • Faster Podcast – Conversation with Istvan Nemeth – Bont Rowing

    In this episode I connect with Istvan (Steven) Nemeth of Bont Rowing. Istvan, is a masters rower and cyclist, Director at Bont Cycling & Bont Rowing, workaholic, designer of Bont Cycling and Bont Rowing shoes. Bont Rowing is committed to producing the world’s best rowing shoes. Built around innovation, research and passion for the sport of rowing. Bont rowing shoes are used by World Champions at the elite and masters level, as well as many National and University crews. 

    • Importance of shoe fit
    • Why anatomic shape of the shoe is so important in power transfer
    • Correct foot stretcher angle
    • The importance of materials for high-performance

    I personally use and recommend Bont Rowing shoes, especially the PBR1 with the BOA dial system. I have used Bont Rowing shoes to win the last 3 Swiss Masters Single sculls titles, multiple long distance time trials, including the 2019 MMC Silver Skiff International time trial regatta.

    Exclusive offer from Bont Rowing to my newsletter subscribers and Masters Rowing Group on Facebook. You will get 20% off all Bont Rowing shoes purchases when you use the discount code at checkout. To access the discount code, subscribe to my newsletter or and go to my Gear of Choice page.

    https://anchor.fm/s/1f7219c8/podcast/rss

  • How to hydrate for rowing

    Podcast interview with Andy Blow from Precision Hydration.

    In this episode, Andy and I cover the topics related to hydration for masters rowing, and answer questions from the Facebook Masters Rowing Group. Click here to join the Masters Rowing Group on Facebook.

    • How does hydration affect cramping
    • What to drink, how much and when
    • What to drink for training
    • How does hydration affect blood volume and performance
    • How do I know how much I sweat and how much salt I need
    • How caffeine affects performance and dehydration

    Andy has a few top 10 Ironman and 70.3 finishes and an Xterra World Age Group title to his name. He founded Precision Hydration to help athletes solve their hydration issues. He has a degree in Sport and Exercise Science and was once the Team Sports Scientist for Benetton and Renault F1 teams.

    Exclusive for Faster Podcast listeners, you will get 10% off your order of electrolytes that match how you sweat, at precisionhydration.com. All you need to do is enter the code FASTER10 at the checkout to get 10% off your order.

    Exclusive for Faster Podcast listeners, you can book in for a 20-minute call with one of the PH team to discuss your hydration strategy and to ask any questions you might have by clicking here.

    https://anchor.fm/s/1f7219c8/podcast/rss

  • What business leaders can learn from one of the world’s most successful rowing coaches.

    What business leaders can learn from one of the world’s most successful rowing coaches.

    Building high performance teams with Noel Donaldson, former Head Coach and High Performance Director of Australian Rowing and New Zealand Rowing.

    The last time Noel and I spoke on the Podcast, we talked about the evolution of rowing across the last 30-years and the success habits and behaviours of winning crews do. With Noel’s success in building winning teams, I thought it would be nice to have a conversation with Noel, to understand his approach to building world champion teams and what business leaders can learn from this approach.

    Want to have a chat with me about transforming your business or high performance coaching? Let’s connect on WhatsApp.

    Chat on WhatsApp
    https://anchor.fm/s/1f7219c8/podcast/rss

    Want to have a chat with me about transforming your business or high performance coaching? Let’s connect on WhatsApp.

    Chat on WhatsApp

  • Conversation with Edouard Blanc – Head Coach, Swiss Rowing – Faster Podcast

    Conversation with Edouard Blanc – Head Coach, Swiss Rowing – Faster Podcast

    I am excited to reconnect with Edouard today, and to hear what he has been up to since we last spoke in April this year. I’ve been looking forward to this for some time. It’s not often, one has an opportunity to gain insights, into a world class team, and in this episode, Edouard share with us, how the Swiss Rowing Team has adapted to the changes in the World Rowing and Olympic schedule.

    In this episode, I catch up with Edouard on three things:

    1. What has he been focussing on with the Swiss Team, since we last spoke?
    2. His plans for Tokyo
    3. His thoughts on technique and coaching technique

    My guest today is Edouard Blanc, Head Coach of the Swiss Rowing Federation.

    https://anchor.fm/s/1f7219c8/podcast/rss

    Want to have a chat with me about your goals or high performance coaching? Let’s connect on WhatsApp.

    Chat on WhatsApp

  • Training Update Week 38 Final Week Of Preparation

    Training Update Week 38 Final Week Of Preparation

    Last week, was the start of my taper for the Swiss Champs. Good solid week of volume and intensity. The club moved to a small lake, for the final preparation days. We are so lucky to have this lake so close by. It’s sheltered and ideal for race training.

    Introducing more and more race like intensity, and the volume is dropping. Lots of race simulations with other crews and scullers. Fine tuning the start and first 250m. Sessions included 750m, 500m and 250m intervals at or above race pace.

    Testing of Bont’s new rowing shoes with the BOA dial went well. I really like the fit, and subjectively, feel more ‘planted’ and connected to the foot stretcher. I like the wrap around feeling, the BOA system provides. I also made some adjustments to my seat pad. Fixing it to the boat seat with some double sided velcro. This saves time faffing around with the positioning, and avoids any chance of the seat moving. You can join my Facebook page to watch the overview.

    Precision Hydration sent me some of their hydration solutions to test in training. I did the online sweat test, and then a few days later received a pretty cool package in the mail. So far so good. I don’t think I’ll change my routine in the last days, yet I certainly will test their electrolyte solutions, leading up to the Silver Skiff in November.

    To summarise, the volume is down and intensity is the same. The final days leadings into the Swiss Championships on Friday, will see less and less volume yet maintaining the intensity. If you’d like to know my what I do to taper down and be ready on race day, you can purchase my ‘Ultimate Race Week Plan’, an online course that will teach you everything I do to prepare myself and my athletes to go Fast on race day.

    Click to see course

    Race day is the opportunity for you to bring all of your training and hard work over the weeks and months to perform at your best. The Ultimate Race Week Plan, will help you to avoid common mistakes, that can end up destroying your race day performance. Simple mistakes, like training too hard or not enough, or not knowing how to warm-up correctly that can be avoided when you know what to do. When you don’t, they can be incredibly frustrating.

    You will learn tried, tested and proven processes, from the world’s best sports scientists and trainers, on what needs to be done in the week leading up to race day for Ultimate Performance on the day.

    • Understand why the taper is so important, what to do, when and how.
    • Learn how to plan your workouts day by day, leading up to race day.
    • Know what to do the day before, so that you are fresh and ready to race.
    • How to warm up and prime your energy systems.
    • How and when to fuel for your best performance.
    • Know what you need to do after the race to recover, and be ready race again.

    This course can be completed in an hour. Is full of videos and easy to follow guides. It is suitable for anyone that will be racing on the ergo or at a regatta and wants to know what they need to do to be prepared.

    I personally use the Ultimate Race Week Plan for all of my major races, and with my athletes, with great success. I look forward to you enjoying the same level of knowledge and awareness, to take your racing to the next level.

    Click to see course

  • Things I’m testing out

    Things I’m testing out

    Precision Hydration: So after a whole heap of time sweating on ergos and bike ergs over the lock down period, I started to do some research on hydration and the impact on both training and racing performance. I came across a company called ‘Precision Hydration’ via a sports science podcast, and I just did their sweat test. Will let you know how this goes, my sweat test results, and what this means for me.

    Bont PBR1 Rowing shoes: Received a pair of Bont’s new rowing shoes this week. Excited to try them out, especially to see how they feel compared to their other models, and how the BOA closure system goes in the rowing environment. I’ve used the BOA closure system on cycling shoes and winter sports. Let’s see how this goes.

  • Training Update – Week 35 – 3 Weeks To Go!

    Training Update – Week 35 – 3 Weeks To Go!

    Nice to have a recovery week. Time to recover from a big block of volume in the last two weeks, as well as to allow the body to ‘super-compensate’ and build on the hard work done.

    So in a recovery week I normally drop down to about 8-9 hours of volume, yet maintain the intensity. At this part of the training plan, I am actually increasing the intensity. The ‘bread & butter’ workouts start to ramp up with 5 x 8-minutes at 92% continuing, and I added in 2 x (5 x 1-minute) at race pace and some Tabata* intervals on Saturday to compliment the 2 x 8-minute ‘warm-up’.

    Finished the week with a nice long 90-minute Z2 ergo, whilst watching the first National Regatta take place in a wet and windy Luzern.

    Feeling good about entering the third last week before the main event. The entire squad has taken a jump forward in speed. I attribute a lot of this to the ‘lock-down effect’ of more aerobic base work, along with the time to really focus in on the small technical details. The work with the biomechanics, using the video for coaching review and self coaching review, has made a big difference. I noticed this in the practice starts. The squad is way more consistent, in the start sequence. Each of them are moving the boat forward with intent, and transitioning well into race pace. Great to see.

    Looking forward to this week, and slotting the training in and around work.

    *These intervals are named after the Japanese exercise physiologist Izumi Tabata.

  • Conversation with Greg Benning – Faster Podcast

    Conversation with Greg Benning – Faster Podcast

    My guest today is well known in both World Rowing, US Rowing and business. He is a competitive master-level rower, with 19 wins at HOCR, 4 course records.  7 wins at SilverSkiff.  Half dozen FISA Veteran or US Masters Nationals with 6+ wins/regatta. He is the Vice Chair of US Rowing, captained the 1984 crew at the University of Pennsylvania, former President of Cambridge Boat Club and co-founder of the Boston rowing Federation. He is a highly successful Boston-based investment banker and an avid saltwater fly fisherman. My guest today, is Greg Benning.

    This podcast is brought to you by High Performance Coaching in business and sport with Bill Chambers.

    https://anchor.fm/s/1f7219c8/podcast/rss
  • Training Update – Week 34 – 4 Weeks To Go!

    Training Update – Week 34 – 4 Weeks To Go!

    Wow. What a big week,following a big week of both volume and the introduction of more high intensity. It’s always a fine balance of when to introduce high intensity, and how to introduce the intensity. I have found that I respond best to a 4-week block, two to three session a week is enough, and just enough that I feel that I have done a big effort, yet not so much, that I’m in a deep hole after the session. It’s a fine balance, and another reason why ‘cookie cutter’ programs from magazines and books, can negatively impact your season, unless they are treated as a guide. A tip is to observe your morning resting heart rate (MRHR). I will post a short article on my approach to this simple protocol that can really help you to understand your fatigue and readiness in less that 30-seconds.

    So this week, I spent considerable time on the bike, on the ergo and fortunately also on the water. Two high intensity sessions this week. 4 x 8-minutes @92% peak HR, with 4-minutes rest, and then on Sunday morning, 5 x 1-minute on 1-minute off. This last one is a great speed work out, and although the heart rate may not respond so fast within the minute, the power and intensity is there, and the cumulative effect over time builds up.

    Over the weekend, we spent time on a smaller lake near the Swiss French/German speaking border, working on technique, technique, technique. I am always impressed what our coach, Urs Graf, can find for us to improve. It’s a continuous learning mindset and approach. Fitted this all in around Zoom calls with Mick Miller on High Performance Mindset (check the other post) and calls with athletes around the world.

    So to summarise the week in numbers:

    • 12.5 hours
    • 890 TSS
    • 120k on the water/erg

    This week is a recovery week. Treat your recovery as seriously as your training. Time for the body to assimilate the training stress and adapt. Maintaining the intensity this week, and the following week will be super-compensation.

    Have a great week!