Lightweight: Make the Most of What You've Got
Author Brendon Burns in bow seat, with his crew at Virginia Tech.
As a six-foot tall athlete with a slim 145-pound frame in my early 20s, I thought that I had some audacity to enter into the world of competitive rowing while I was a Virginia Tech student. Let’s face it: the best rowers are taller, with more muscle tone (but not muscular), and have noticeably thick “swole” thighs, the product of seasons or years of training and conditioning.
I may have had the advantage of not being able to put on weight very easily, but I felt outclassed by the collegiate athletes I was racing. I’ve had those Open and Club Fours and Eights races where my boat finished dead last, or struggled to finish a few entries away from the last place. The problem with such races is that there are teams that have advantages and disadvantages with the makeup of their individual rowers to the point a team’s name is as intimidating as the rowers themselves.
Lightweight rowing, however, allowed me the chance to muster the strength I had against those of similar weight classes, and offer me the best evaluation of my rowing strength. Lightweight rowing events were created simply for that reason: there are plenty of athletes who fit the category, and who have lesser chances of successful competition against a boat full of more “built” or “heavier” athletes. The category made my racing ability more “fair,” even though I would still continue to race in Open and Club events throughout my collegiate rowing career. I was always the bow seat in those boats, and obviously, my weight played a huge role in that, especially when I was in a boat filled with 200-pound athletes who could easily pull 6:30 2Ks. Of course, in those situations, it’s just as easy to ponder, “What am I contributing to this lineup?”
There are two types of lightweight rowers: there are those born with the body type, which very much describes my own build (the heaviest I’ve ever been able to accomplish is 153 pounds!). Then there are those who are slightly over the 165-pound maximum of the category, but who compete for the weight loss simply to be a more formidable asset to the boat, among other possible reasons (also to fill up a lineup, if needed).
I was born for the category. My weight-to-power calculation was always one of the highest on my team due to my body size, though it didn’t equate to the fastest erg times, or the most durable anaerobic threshold. But the results in a race were fairer: 1st place at John Hunter? Still one of my best achievements. Our lightweight women’s team was even more successful: they won 2nd at Dad Vails in 2008, and were ranked 8th nationally, with a strong head race season the following autumn, particularly at Head of the Hooch, finishing 1st. Those two seasons were the highlight of the lighweight program with Virginia Tech rowing, however. After the autumn of 2008, the lightweight program lost half of its rowers, resulting in the end of the program itself. Only in select races in the years thereafter did the team enter a lightweight fours event, albeit with less successful results. The problem in that situation was a decreased focus on lightweight training, and as a result, we couldn’t grow as athletes in a particular lineup of lightweights.
“Feeling intimidated, anxious, or nervous at the starting line of a race is heavier than adding an anchor to the boat and dragging it those 250 strokes of a 2K.”
The training was hell, and as a lightweight rower I felt a personal obligation to step up my own training even more to prove I could be a competitive athlete. My novice year of rowing spent more time focusing on long distance pieces, even through sprint season is in the Spring, and I felt that still prepared me better than full-fledged sprint pieces. It’s all about the mental approach just as much as it is the actual cardio endurance. My final two years on the team, I spent about 4-6 days a week in the gym doing additional workouts. That first year, I spent that time weight lifting, as well as track running and biking. The final year, I gave up on the “bulking” and focused entirely on cardio: swimming was my choice for most of that time. No matter what I did, I kept up my goals and my hopes that keeping my lungs active would pay off on the race course. Little did I devote in my collegiate career, however, to the mental power behind the sport: the “I can” thoughts. Feeling intimidated, anxious, or nervous at the starting line of a race is heavier than adding an anchor to the boat and dragging it those 250 or so strokes of a 2K. The power that “I can do this” can bring to your racing is much stronger than you think it would be. Thinking positively has been rhetoric in my coaching since, for all rowers, particularly on race day.
Lightweight rowing should give anyone that fits the category more ease in proving himself or herself as a formidable and competitive rower, but it’s no less easy than any other category of rowing. There always looms the “weight factor,” which has become more controversial in time, since lineups are always based around the “average” of the boat…that means having a light coxswain as well! It requires more obsession about your overall conditioning and more caution about your dieting. Thusly, this event can be highly emotional and become more temperamental (I’ve personally been witness to others’ breakdowns over weight gain in this category). Those fears aside, and all criticisms about the category dismissed, those who can row in the lightweight entries should feel particularly strong about being in an event that allows them an opportunity to put forth their strength. It is one of the “rarer” rowing categories, which can be a negative at times, considering that there is less competition available. However, larger teams are usually the only contenders that put forth the lineups, thus giving you the opportunity to challenge yourselves. With such a weight class, you can be granted more accurate statistics against those other teams. Although I stress lightweight rowing requires more motivation than any other rowing category, if you have the motivation to be strong and to be the best you can, you can theoretically achieve your goals with this sport!
Brendon Burns, a 2008 graduate of Virginia Tech University, a former varsity & head crew coach at American University, and former Lead Coach for DC Strokes Rowing Club's club program.