I have always had reservations about the training benefits of long low intensity training. I accept that it does have a role in a training programme to combat over-training, developing technique and recovery from injury. I have been heard to say that for the training benefit it yielded, UT2 was not worth getting out of bed for. This of course did not endear me to the advocates of the mind-blowingly boring training programmes that are popular at the moment. So it was with great interest that I came across an article in US Rowing by the well-respected Professor Fritz Hagerman that confirms my long held views. I have pulled out the salient points but for the full article go to http://www.usrowing.org/itemdisplay.asp?id=1134Our studies of rowers over the years have not shown that aerobic capacity benefits from long, medium to light, steady-state rowing of several kilometres at relatively low stroke ratings and blade pressure. We have accumulated extensive longitudinal oxygen consumption data on rowers at all competitive levels ranging from National and Olympic Team members to Concept 2 ergometer research subjects who were introduced to rowing for the first time as participants in several of our studies conducted over a period of almost 40 years. We can report conclusively that rowing continuously at low work intensities for 60 - 90 minutes has very little effect on maximal aerobic capacity. VO2max seems to improve significantly only if there is a major challenge to both transport and utilization (cardiovascular-respiratory and skeletal muscle) systems. This means working at 80 -90 % of maximal aerobic capacity which translates into a heart rate range of 150 -170 beats per minute if maximal heart rate is 190 beats per minute. It appears that if improvement of aerobic capacity is the training goal, then the training stimulus must significantly load the cardiovascular-respiratory systems.If a rower wants to improve aerobic capacity that applies to 2K racing then rowing continuously at a high intensity for no longer than 10K at a time will provide the best stimulus.