Rowers tend to have very high level of VO2 max, but they definitely not a climber types - they are freaking huge with a lot muscle mass. Combine this with extreme pain tolerance and you will have perfect “diesel” types riders. Of course it is hard to avoid genreralisation but there are some examples of ex-rowers with huge FTP (from american crit scene you have great example of Brennan Wertz (from Mike’s Bikes - guy that destroyed Nate and Jonathan during TT, he can put around 480W for an hour).
Rowing is extremely hard and demanding sport that is meant to kill you and simply if you combine huge aerobic potential, high VO2 max and muscle mass you will get great domestique rider that can put insane amounts of watts.
I’d suggest curious folks review some rowing technique videos.
They have a deeper, fuller utilisation of the glutei at a much higher resistance for enough reps at long enough intervals to put a much higher net load across all of the systems: aerobic, anaerobic, psychological. The psychological stresses are not to be underestimated because it’s even more boring than cycling IMHO.
It’s hilarious running with rowers though because they generally have a long bouncy strides at low stride rates. It feels like gliding alongside someone walking/bouncing on the moon.
In addition to all the aforementioned rowing benefits, I’ve seen how being a high level rower gives you epic posterior chain strength.
Guy I worked out with a few years ago had been a college level rower - although it was 20 years later he still had crazy deadlift strength (for reps) for his size and weight.
Blew my mind how he was 40lbs lighter and 10 years older than me but could out-rep me on a 300lb bar all day every day
I was a lightweight rower in University 25+ years ago, rowing in an eight. I’m nothing special, lightweights are not massive, but I wonder whether another factor that may push some rowers to great heights comes from how the sport forces to you work together. You just can’t give up when the oxygen deficit hits. You are a literal cog in the machine. Every movement needs to be synchronized. For me this meant that at the end of an intense bout on the river, I had a distinctive pins and needles feeling in my brain. This is something I have not really experienced on a bike, even in a paceline. Of course, now I am also older and wiser!
I think there’s a ton of selection bias happening.
Not that the impression is incorrectly created by a few biased samples, but that generally folks who are ex-rowers have been greatly selected for size and absolute vo2max.
There are no hills on the water and the increase in boat drag due to weight doesn’t scale like total power, so bigger / more watts is always better. To make the boats, you’re always selecting the max power applied to the boat (technique matters a lot) for ~6 minutes. So, if you don’t compare favorably to other 6’3"+ folks in absolute vo2max, relatively quickly you’re no longer calling yourself a rower.
Also, rowing seems to get one exceptionally well aquainted with hurting.
