Bert Leah: I recently came across a 1997 Concept 2 magazine with a page called 'How To Train For A 2,000m Indoor Rowing Race' that gave details for the usual full range of UT2, UT1, AT, TR & AN pieces [Utilisation 1, Utilisation 2, Anaerobic Threshold, Oxygen Transportation and Anaerobic respectively]. As a point of interest I compared these with the same training information contained in the more recent Indoor Rowing Training Guide.I was surprised that there are quite significant differences between the above two programmes, with these being centred around the length (time) spent on each piece and also on the total time of pieces in the same workout. Despite these differences, stroke rates and pulse rate ranges are the same.The exceptions to this are the UT1 and UT2 sessions that are virtually identical. In the AT (now sometimes referred to as LT I believe) there was a noteworthy difference. In the 1997 magazine (1997) the individual pieces were of either 20 minute or 12 minute durations as against 6 minutes in the Indoor Rowing Training Guide (IRTG). Overall times for the two workouts in the 1997 magazine are 60 minutes and 36 minutes as against 24 minutes and 18 minutes in the IRTG but both groups are working at identical stroke rates. Such a big difference seems to indicate a possible change in philosophy for AT training.The situation is similar for Transportation with individual piece timings at 10, 5 and 3 minutes (1997) as against 4 and 2 minutes (IRTG) and overall total training times are 40, 25 and 18 minutes (1997) against 12 minutes (IRTG) - again at identical stroke rates.Similarly the AN pieces are longer (1997) but with a more equal overall workout time for both the 1997 and IRTG sessions.I wonder whether these differences are based on individual opinions or are they a reflection of changing knowledge by research and experience over the years.In a similar vein, the ways suggested for selecting the right steps for the Step Test differ substantially and produce differing times for each step, even using the same race time for each assessment. In the IRTG the last step is flat out as opposed to the earlier publication.Terry O'Neill: The 1997 programme I suspect was lifted from the US rowing training programme. The programme in the Training Guide was written by me and was developed from a training guide I had written for rowing clubs. It varies from an on water programme, and therefore the 1997 one, because the loading on the machine is different from a boat. The cost of effort is greater on the machine and I have tried to factor this into the sample programmes; as far as I know, the Training Guide is the only document written specifically for the rowing machine.As you know, heart rate increases with work intensity almost linearly and the increases in training times in my programmes follow an inverse curve. In other words, at the highest intensity the time of maximum effort is 1.5 - 2 times the duration of the target time while at the lowest intensity the duration goes up by 10 - 15 times. If you work in distances, then the target is 2,000 metres but, as I work in time, I have a nominal 6 minutes as the base time for my programmes.For a lot of people, 6 minutes is much too quick for 2,000 metres but, even if your 2,000 metre time is 8 minutes, the training requirement changes are insignificant. As far as the step test is concerned, the original step test was designed to estimate VO2 max from a sub maximal test. The British Olympic Medical Centre refined this to the four minute steps while directly monitoring O2 consumption. The four minute flat out at the end of the step test is a good predictor of your 2,000 metre time and the 20 second and five strokes test are all in line with BOMC protocol.The Training Guide sets out to explain training principles so individuals can prepare a programme specifically for themselves. The training sessions are only examples but I know that a lot of people just follow them. Although this is not a problem, one of the basic principles of training is that the training programme should be designed to fit the individual needs of the athlete and so they may not be getting the best from the time invested in training. Of course, this only becomes significant at a very high level and anyone following the programmes in the guide will still show a significant improvement in their fitness.