Cyclists: Rowing could be the secret to unlocking your potential.

Cyclists, like rowers, represent some of the fittest endurance athletes on the planet. And while many cyclists subscribe to the philosophy that, when it comes to building ability, there is no substitute for time in the saddle, that may not be strictly true. Cycling is a fantastic, non-impact, endurance exercise, but too much time in the saddle for sport-specific conditioning can be detrimental. From excessive quad dominance, trouble maintaining good posture, and a lack of upper body strength, to physical and mental burn out - mono-discipline training is rarely a good idea.

It's the reason a growing number of cyclists and their coaches are looking to other forms of exercise to complement and diversify their training, with many turning to rowing as one of the most effective cross-training alternatives on offer.

With almost all the forward momentum in cycling coming from the muscles below the waist, pedalling leaves the core, trunk and back with little to no training stimulus.

Any physiologist will tell you that a healthy athlete is a balanced athlete. Rowing calls on almost all of the body’s major muscle groups to complete each stroke, with the most work done by the quadriceps and lower body, which should be music to a cyclist's ears. Rowing offers an all-body workout that also targets your cycling-specific muscle groups with a surprisingly similar leg movement.

It is a popular misconception among those who have never rowed that it is predominantly an upper-body sport. It's all too easy to focus on the oar handles being drawn by the arms towards the body at the end of each stroke, but that is precisely what it is - the end of the stroke. The arms simply finish the job the legs started, carrying through the momentum of a powerful leg extension that accounts for 85% of the total power and mimics the downward pedal stroke in cycling.

If you need any further convincing, perhaps nothing highlights the interchangeability of rowing and cycling better than the numerous examples of high-level athletes who have crossed over between the two sports, often to great international success.

In December 2020 German Olympic rower Jason Osborne shocked professional cyclists by sprinting to victory in the first-ever men’s eSports Cycling World Championships, staged on Zwift. Osborne made light work of professional riders with Grand Tour victories and cycling World Championship titles on their palmarès. The 26-year-old, who is a former rowing world champion and competed in rowing at the 2016 Olympics, was in fact racing from the German rowing team’s training camp in Portugal as he prepares to compete at Tokyo this summer. Despite his unbridled commitment to rowing training, Osborne’s ability to harness his rowing power when cycling on Zwift proved decisive.

In another impressive example, in 2020 the New Zealand double Olympic gold medallist rower Hamish Bond notably won the national championship title for both rowing, and cycling, all in the same week, beating several professional world tour cyclists in full-time cycling training at the time. It was Bond’s first - and only - time cycling in anger that year.

British rower turned cyclist Rebecca Romero famously won world championship titles in both rowing and then cycling, and competed in both sports for Great Britain at the Olympics, winning a silver medal for GB in rowing at Athens, then a gold medal in cycling for GB just four years later at Beijing.

One thing each of these athletes has in common is that their success in cycling was preceded by years of rowing. And the benefits work both ways. You will rarely find a high-level rower that doesn’t include cycling in some form, either outside or in the gym, in their weekly training. Many Olympic rowing teams have been known to spend weeks at a time on cycling-specific training camps in the off-season.

So if you are looking at taking your cycling to the next level, or simply want to add some variety to your training, why not take a leaf out of the professionals' book and look to include some indoor rowing in your training regime? It can be especially effective if you are short on time. In terms of energy expenditure, 30 minutes of rowing can be worth more than double that on the bike.

Keen to give it a go? We have a wealth of free resources to get you started, from correct rowing technique to example workouts, videos and drills. Just head to our sister site howtorow.com. Who knows, you might be a natural.