Improving at any sport comes down to a simple principle: your body adapts to repeated stress. To get fitter, stronger, and more capable, you need to give your body a training stimulus often enough that it has a reason to adapt.
Training once or twice a week is certainly better than doing nothing. It can help maintain a reasonable level of fitness and keep you active. However, progress is often slow because the stimulus simply isn’t frequent enough. If your goal is genuine improvement, whether that’s in rowing, running, cycling, or strength training, consistency across the week is key.
Rowing is somewhat unique because it combines cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, strength, and technical skill. The rowing stroke is a movement pattern that improves through repetition. The more often you practise it, the more efficient and automatic it becomes.
Regular exposure to the rowing machine doesn’t just improve your technique. It teaches your body how to move more efficiently, recruit muscles more effectively, and generate power with less wasted effort. For most people, noticeable improvements in technique, fitness, and strength begin to appear when they consistently train three times per week.
This is where the compound effect starts to kick in.
The biggest gains we see at CrewClass often come when members add a third session each week. It might sound like a small change, but the results are rarely small. That extra session creates enough training frequency for your body to start adapting continuously. Instead of taking one step forward and half a step back, you’re building on previous sessions and creating momentum that compounds over time.
In simple terms, you’re no longer just exercising — you’re training.
There is also a significant mental benefit to training regularly. When you row three times each week, you become more comfortable being uncomfortable. You start to recognise how your mind reacts when fatigue sets in and develop the ability to keep pushing when things get tough. Training becomes part of your routine rather than something you have to motivate yourself to do every time.
Once you reach that three-session range, several positive adaptations begin to occur. Your aerobic system becomes more efficient, meaning lower heart rates at the same pace and improved endurance. Your rowing technique becomes more automatic. Muscular endurance in the legs, glutes and posterior chain improves. Recovery between sessions also gets easier as your body adapts to the workload.
This philosophy sits at the heart of the CrewClass system. Rather than doing the same workout over and over again, our training is designed to develop different aspects of rowing fitness throughout the week. Some sessions focus on aerobic development, some target power and speed, while others challenge your ability to sustain hard efforts for longer periods. Together, these sessions complement one another, creating a balanced training approach that drives continual progress.
For the vast majority of people we see in class, three quality sessions per week is the sweet spot. It’s enough frequency to create meaningful adaptations while still allowing plenty of recovery and flexibility around work, family and life.
Stick to the CrewClass system, trust the process, and stay consistent. Do that for six weeks and you’ll be amazed at how much stronger, fitter and more efficient you become on the rowing machine.
Now yas know. Go forth and multiply.
