4 Skills for Women Rowing Sports

Women's rowing is a diverse sport. Competitive rowing can be done in teams, pairs or individually, and there is an even greater range of possibilities when rowing for fitness or recreation, including different types of boats and ocean versus river. However, there are certain physical requirements consistent across the discipline. But each can be developed through training.
Cardiovascular Fitness
According to "Crew: The Rower's Handbook," anyone willing to work hard and get in cardiovascular shape can become a strong rower. And you don't need a boat or water to get started. Running is an effective, accessible form of cardio, but you can get even better results by using a variety of exercises. Bicycling will help build leg power, while elliptical training or cross-country skiing provides beneficial total-body workouts.
Upper-Body Strength
Upper-body strength is vital for a woman rower. Insufficient strength makes women, and their teams, less competitive, according to "Rowing News." Rowing itself builds upper-body strength, particularly in the back, forearms and biceps. You can enhance the benefit of rowing and build explosive strength through gym workouts focusing on exercises such as the bench press, lateral row, bicep curls, triceps extensions, chinups and pushups.
Leg Strength
You might not immediately associate rowing with leg strength, but it is one of the most demanding lower-body exercises. "Sports Medicine" says competitive women rowers have unusual leg strength compared to other elite athletes and that women have comparatively stronger legs than male rowers. To achieve powerful legs, you should include aerobic exercise like running, vigorous hiking or Nordic skiing with lower-body work such as squats, lunges and plyometrics.
Mental Skills
To excel at rowing, women need mental agility to go with their physical strength. According to "The American Rower's Almanac 1997," women rowers who took the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator test scored high for intuition and thinking. This means they were most likely to apply logic and objective reasoning, and consider theories and possibilities. This may be related to the need for women rowers to act intuitively in competition to avoid obstacles or overcome challenges, and also to understand the logic and reasoning behind team training and discipline.