A practical guide for upgrading practices, land training and more

Consistently executing an effective training plan is the most impactful way a coach can develop their athletes. What would it mean to you to get 10% more out of every practice.

CrewLAB is a versatile platform that organizes information for teams, encourages athletes to journal training thoughtfully, and creates a culture of uplifting accountability.

Let’s look at how specifically teams are making every day more productive with CrewLAB. Note the tools work best when you use them all, but even trying out pieces can go a long way.

Scenarios covered

1. On or in the water training
2. Land training, cross training
3. On your own training
4. Competitions
5. Winter and Summer breaks

We’ll first cover some initial setup that makes this all even easier.

Initial setup to make everything easy

1. Program in your recurring weekly schedule
2. Ensure your entire roster is in the system and coaches have the right role
3. Tell athletes that you expect them to journal daily and log workouts. Pro tip: get all the athletes to hook up the Garmins, Apple Watches, and Concept2s.

1. On the water training

1. The week of the practice, update the event with details for the session
2. Make lineups based on attendance and send them out to the team
3. Record videos and tag athletes. Leave specific feedback on the videos with a voiceover or text.
4. Encourage athletes to be thoughtful with their journaling
   • Captains, coxswains, leaders can log results for their whole squad
   • Athletes should individually add commentary to each session
5. Read the reflections and analyze the data that flows in automatically
6. Share your thoughts in the comments, in the chat or athlete profiles

2. Land training, cross training

1. The week of practice, update the event with details for the session with a screenshots or words
2. Encourage athletes to be thoughtful with their journaling
3. Read the reflections and analyze the data that flows in automatically
4. Share your thoughts in the comments, in the chat or athlete profiles

3. On your own training

1. Ensure that the event has enough information for the athlete to do it without you
2. Without any effort from you, you can follow who has or has not completed the assignment
3. Encourage athletes to be thoughtful with their journaling
4. Share your thoughts in the comments, in the chat or athlete profiles

4. Competitions

1. Put all of the logistics, hotels, event links, etc. into the event
2. If it’s a subset of the team, make a new chat channel just for the competition
3. Encourage athletes to be extra thoughtful with their journaling. Have them answer three questions. What went well? What didn’t go well? What can I do different next time?
4. Record, tag and add notes to videos of the athletes racing
5. Share your thoughts in the comments, in the chat or athlete profiles

5. Winter and Summer breaks

1. Empower captains to take the reins to motivate their teams over break
2. Communicate your intentions for the team over break and create prizes for achieving those ends
3. Work the captains to break the team up into balanced squads. You want to spread out the outgoing personalities and the big trainers so that the competition stays close
4. Let the training challenge run and enjoy the energy built for you
5. If allowed, occasionally jump in there and stoke the competition or praise the efforts

Getting Started with Digital Rowing Training Tools

The most successful rowing programs integrate these management strategies gradually, starting with the components that address their biggest current challenges. Whether you’re looking to improve on-water technique feedback, organize land training more effectively, or maintain team connection during breaks, these systematic approaches can transform how your athletes develop and perform.

Ready to optimize your rowing program? Start by implementing the initial setup steps and gradually expand to include all five training scenarios for maximum impact on your team’s development.

Start CrewLAB free now