Knowing the numbers. Numbers tell the truth and DO NOT lie. Its important for me as your coach and for you as a fitness enthusiast to know where you sit. This was performed in our group class Southwest Active, so it helps me with directing the program. Here are the benefits of looking at numbers:
- See where you sit
- Know what to improve
- Understand what needs to be done in training to achieve your goals
- Learn more about yourself
Analyzing the data:
With the 30/30 row test, it was assumed that the effort was 100% and there was no gaming the test. Some of the data points could be inaccurate if your rowing technique isn’t up to par and you have little experience on the concept 2.
The demand of the test is pretty simple, but very challenging. With the prescribed 30 sec of 100% there is bound to be some fatigue within the 4 sets. Everyone responds to the 30 sec of work differently, this is why I am writing this piece. To gain an understanding of where you fit. If you can’t remember your score – check the picture out.
With 30 sec of maximum effort work there is very little time to recover with 30 seconds of rest. Therefore if you started out strong and felt like death the last two sets, that is QUITE normal. Here are the scores broken down into some generic categories of where you likely fit.
A) If you rowed your first set or two in a high meters range IE 175-190m for males and 160m + for a females then dropped down 20+m. You are considered powerful and don’t have the recovery ability between efforts to maintain a similar score every set. Something to consider – really focus on breathing and having a I AM GOING TO get better at aerobic work attitude. If you are on individual design you would be doing very LONG aerobic pieces with plenty of recovery in between efforts.
B) If your scores looked like this: 155 152 150 150 – this means you have a very high aerobic potential (this would be most likely be a females score). This individual would benefit from becoming more powerful and being able to turn the rower over faster. But the aerobic potential and recovery is there.
C) If you scored lower than 150meters for all of your sets (females) if you were a male and struggled to get ANY set over 150 meters -means the following as well -> A) the test wasn’t VERY HARD and B) you probably just need to get STRONGER and more POWERFUL overall. You becoming stronger will improve your ability to “go there” so to speak. You will have a greater ability to produce power and really go deep on this test, as you just didn’t have the strength to produce power. Important to note we had 30 individuals do this test and 6 of them were male.
Also important to note, if you dropped down by 15-20+m in your 3rd and 4th set compared to your first set you need to continue improving on your recovery between efforts. IE – all the MAP work we do in our group classes. Whether its on the rower, air bike or your doing burpees and wall balls, strive to improve your movements yes, but focus on your breathing. Remember a RELAXED face and body is one that is breathing and in control of what they are doing. This all comes with experience and improvements in your capacity.
This was great to go through and look at everyone’s scores. In summary, this just means that we need to continue to work on exactly what we are working on. This is NOT by any means an end all be all to our fitness testing, it is just ONE test. However after going through the data, it makes me realize that in order to get more out of this test, as a whole we all need to be stronger and more powerful, it also would help if you were all 6feet+. ;).
One thing A LOT of you should be proud of is the CONSISTENT efforts on each set – you know how Sara and I always talk about being sustainable and consistent. Well the aerobic work, conditioning and training is paying off, because there are some very impressive scores on the sheet.