Pilates guide
Pilates can be useful off-water conditioning for rowers: it trains the trunk to stay steady while the hips and limbs move, plus hip range for the catch, glutes, hamstrings and the upper back. No trial has tested Pilates in rowers, and no core programme has been shown to prevent back pain, so it supports your rowing and strength training rather than replacing them.
This guide covers where rowers get hurt and why (the low back, the ribs, knees and wrists), what the trunk and core trials show, what World Rowing and British Rowing advise, juniors, a 25-minute class, and the warning signs, including a rib that hurts more to breathe.
In 153 Australian international rowers, the low back was injured most often, but rib injuries cost the most training. Rib stress fractures affect about 8 to 16% of elite rowers over a career. Knees and wrists come next.
We found no trial of Pilates in rowers, and no core programme has been shown to prevent back pain in rowers. Pilates is conditioning that sits beside your rowing and strength training.
World Rowing's summary of the 2021 expert consensus asks for at least 130 degrees of hip flexion, full knee range, flexible hamstrings and good endurance in the trunk muscles, especially the back and buttock muscles. Rowers without back pain tip the pelvis forward at the catch.
World Rowing's summary says static exercises such as planks are unlikely to help and favours dynamic trunk exercises, while British Rowing asks for core and trunk strength and endurance. Pilates moves that keep the trunk steady while the arms and legs move fit both (our reading).
Lower-back bending at the catch increases as rowers tire, and more on a fixed rowing machine than in a boat. Stop a set, or a piece, when your posture goes.
Pain at the side of the chest that gets worse with deep breaths, coughing or rolling over in bed may be a rib stress fracture: see a GP or physiotherapist early.
The low back was the commonest injury site in Australian international rowers (84 of 270 injuries over 8 seasons), in junior world championship rowers, in masters internationals (about a third of injuries) and in UK club rowers. Over a year, 53% of New Zealand international rowers had back pain, and World Rowing says about 2 in 3 adult rowers have back pain each year, against about 1 in 3 people in the community.
In the Australian team, chest wall (rib) injuries took the most training time; women had 1.4 times the men's risk of them and half the men's risk of low back injuries. Rib stress fractures affect 8 to 16% of elite rowers over a career, about 2% of university rowers and 1% of junior elite rowers, and in the Australian team a fracture cost a median of 69 days.
The knee came second in Irish and masters internationals, and in juniors the knee and then the forearm and wrist came after the low back. Feathering the blade, especially in cold weather, can inflame the tendons where they cross in the forearm above the wrist (intersection syndrome), which affected about 5% of one elite squad over 3 years.
83% of injuries in the Australian team and 74% in juniors came on gradually from overuse, and UK club rowers had more injuries in land training than on the water. So build land sessions, Pilates included, up gradually too (our reading).
At the catch, the knees bend to about 110 to 120 degrees and the trunk leans forward about 30 degrees; the drive starts with the legs, the back swings through and the arms finish. World Rowing asks for at least 130 degrees of hip flexion, so the lean can come from the hips rather than the lower back.
Each stroke loads the spine while it is bent forward, hundreds of times a session. The lower back nears the end of its bending range at the catch, bends more as you tire, and more on a fixed rowing machine than in a boat, and the forces on it reach several times body weight.
Rowers with back pain had larger, more active back muscles than rowers without it. The back muscles hold the spine steady in the early drive, and the tummy muscles work mostly late in the drive.
A rib stress fracture is an overuse crack, usually in ribs 4 to 8 at the side of the chest. Experts link it to the pull of the serratus anterior (a muscle on the side of the ribs) against the external oblique (a tummy muscle), long pieces on the rowing machine, big changes in training, and eating too little for the training.
Off-water conditioning on a mat: the trunk staying steady while the hips and limbs move, hip range and hinging, glute and hamstring strength, upper-back extension and rotation, and shoulder-blade control. British Rowing keeps rowers 15 and under to core, trunk and conditioning work, and a Pilates class fits that. It doesn't replace rowing, strength training or managing your training load.
Classical Pilates has a rowing series on the reformer: seated arm exercises (Into the Sternum, 90 Degrees, From Chest, From Hips, Shave and Hug) at an advanced level, and other schools have similar back rowing series. They train the arms and posture; they aren't rowing training (our reading).
We found no trial of Pilates in rowers. A review of 12 Pilates studies in athletes, mostly mat Pilates for 4 to 14 weeks, included none in rowing.
In college rowers (34 analysed), core endurance training twice a week for 8 weeks improved side-bend endurance but none of the performance tests, including 2,000 m time. In 26 elite rowers, a trunk stability programme (perturbation-based training) improved back-related disability by about 5 points out of 100 but not pain, in a study that wasn't randomised. In 28 rowers aged 12 to 13, loaded trunk training improved 700 m time more than body-weight trunk work (5.3% against 2.7%), with no group that skipped trunk training.
Across trials, strength training improved rowing performance by a small amount and leg strength a little more, against other training. The legs give about 45% of the power on the water, the trunk about 32% and the arms 23%, so Pilates doesn't replace strength training.
Across 31 studies in athletes, trunk training improved sport-specific performance by a moderate amount, but an earlier review found trunk strength gave only limited gains in athletic performance.
In long-lasting low back pain, exercise lowers pain by about 15 points out of 100, and Pilates helps about as much as other exercise (low-quality evidence); mat and equipment Pilates both helped. NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) recommends group exercise, including mind-body approaches, and the NHS says Pilates may help ease back pain. Our Pilates for back pain guide has more.
In 36 adolescent rowers with back pain, a cognitive functional approach (physiotherapy that retrains how you move and works on worries about pain) lowered pain while rowing by 2.4 points out of 10, without changing back muscle endurance. In a small study of 10 elite rowers with back pain, Nordic hamstring curls lowered pain.
World Rowing's summary of the 2021 consensus says "There is no one proven way to prevent back pain in rowers". The consensus says prevention and management "should include education on risk factors, rowing biomechanics and training load".
"The range of a rower's hip flexion should be at least 130 degrees, knee range of motion should be full, the hamstrings should have good flexibility and the muscles of the trunk should have good endurance, particularly in the back and buttock muscles."
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World Rowing's summary of the consensus says "Static exercises such as 'planks' are unlikely to help", favours dynamic trunk exercises, and adds that "it is likely that good trunk muscle endurance will help maintain good rowing technique". British Rowing's youth guidance and a US sports medicine tip sheet still recommend core and trunk work in general terms. Our class uses moving trunk work and short side planks.
Lower-back bending at the catch increases as you tire, and more on the rowing machine than in a single scull (4.4 against 1.3 degrees in one study). Rowers without back pain kept a neutral or forward-tilted pelvis at the catch and moved more at the hips. World Rowing links machine sessions of more than 30 minutes without a break to more back pain, and a US sports medicine tip sheet advises limiting machine pieces to 30 minutes.
Previous back pain was the one significant risk factor across 10 studies, with 2.65 times the odds of another episode. Training volume, sweep or sculling, and sex weren't significant in that analysis, though single cohorts linked more hours and more machine training with back pain, and former college rowers who started before 16 or did machine sessions over 30 minutes had more. Junior sweep rowers who changed side had more sudden back injuries.
"For most rowers, their back pain is not serious", World Rowing's summary says, and former elite rowers had no more back pain than non-athletes 10 years on. The consensus advises early unloading from what aggravates it, pain control and exercise, then a gradual return.
No one has tested whether Pilates prevents back pain in rowers, and no core programme has been shown to. What the experts agree on: use your hips at the catch, build the endurance of your back and buttock muscles with moving exercises, manage your training load, and stop a piece when your posture goes.
It usually affects ribs 4 to 8 at the side of the chest. The pain builds with rowing and gets worse with coughing, deep breathing and changing position, including rolling over in bed.
Dr Anders Vinther, a physiotherapist who researches rowers' ribs, told World Rowing that "the largest risk factor for rib stress injury remains big changes in training". A review of 17 studies found the evidence on risk factors weak. In 25 New Zealand elite women rowers, 64% were eating too little for their training, and lightweight women with rib pain had lower bone density in the spine.
Suggested measures include strengthening the serratus anterior and the legs, hip and lower-back flexibility, rowing machines on slides, and calcium and vitamin D. None has been tested, as our rowing guide says. Shoulder-blade moves such as scapular push-ups work the serratus anterior, but that's our reading, not proof that they prevent fractures.
Rib stress fractures generally heal in 6 to 8 weeks if they're found early, and a review reported 4 to 6 weeks of lost training. Follow your physiotherapist or medical team: our rib injury guide gives the stages, with breathing and small, comfortable movements first, and planks and push-ups from about 4 to 6 weeks.
In 20 elite rowers, 85% had a cam-shaped hip (extra bone where the ball of the hip meets the thigh bone) and 95% had labral tears on scans, but only half had groin pain. Don't force hip range: pain at the front of the hip or in the groin at the catch needs a physiotherapist's check (our suggestion).
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The joint behind the kneecap takes heavy loading in rowing, and raising the foot stretcher reduces how far the knee bends at the catch. Our knee pain guides have more.
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Pain in the forearm a few centimetres above the wrist that comes on with feathering, especially in the cold, can be intersection syndrome. In Pilates, use fists or your forearms in weight-bearing moves while it's sore.
British Rowing's guidance is "J15 and under and older rowers new to strength training to be core/trunk & conditioning only", and juniors 14 and under scull only on the water. It also says "The stage at which rowers become tired, where technique and posture fluctuate, is where the rower is most prone to injury". A Pilates class counts as core and conditioning (our reading).
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"Good posture and control of the pelvis and spine is required, using deep core and trunk muscles", and "Good flexibility is strongly encouraged". It also asks for a low drag setting on the rowing machine for beginners and juniors, gradual progression, and other sports alongside rowing.
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In one survey of school rowers, 94% of boys and 78% of girls had had back pain. Adolescent rowers with back pain stayed closer to the end of their lower-back bending range for longer. A junior whose back pain lasts more than a couple of weeks or stops them training needs a check (see the warning signs), and our Pilates for teenagers guide covers growing bodies and strength training.
Trunk training twice a week, 30 to 40 minutes a session, for 8 to 10 weeks in adult rowers, and twice a week for 6 weeks in young rowers.
Our editorial starting point:
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Steps 1 to 4 are the move page's instructions; step 5 is our reading of World Rowing's advice on hip flexion and the finding that rowers without back pain tip the pelvis forward at the catch.
See the movement on the 3D figure: Hip-hinge practice
2 sets of 6 bird dogs each side with 5-second holds are from our Pilates for cyclists class; 2 sets of 8 dead bugs each side from our skiers' and swimmers' classes; 50 beats of the hundred and 8 single-leg stretches each side are the move pages' doses (or within them); 2 side planks of 20 seconds each side, knees down to start, and 2 sets of 10 Pallof presses each side are from our strength workout for rowers. Keep holds short and move with control.
3D demoBird dogBeginner · No equipment
3D demoDead bugBeginner · No equipment
3D demoHundred (Pilates)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg stretch (Pilates one leg stretch)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSide plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoHalf-kneeling Pallof pressBeginner · A band + An anchor point8 hip hinges, and 30 seconds each side of the hamstring and hip flexor stretches, are from our strength workout for rowers; 5 knee folds each side and 8 slow 90/90 switches sit within the move pages' doses. Keep your pelvis level and your lower back still as the hip moves.
3 shoulder-bridge kicks each leg, 6 single-leg kicks each leg and 8 side kicks each side are the move pages' doses (or within them); 6 single-leg bridges each side are from our Pilates glute workout. Nordic curls are optional for experienced rowers: 3 sets of 5 twice a week is what a small study in rowers with back pain used, over a short range at first (our suggestion).
5 swan lifts, 2 sets of 20 seconds of swimming, 5 lateral breaths with your hands on your ribs, and 5 to 8 slow breaths at each spot on the foam roller are the move pages' doses (or within them); 5 of each Y-T-W shape are from our climbers' and tennis players' classes; 10 scapular push-ups, 6 open-book rotations each side and 15 band pull-aparts from our strength workout for rowers. Check with your doctor before the foam roller if you have osteoporosis.
3D demoSwan (Pilates swan dive)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSwimming (Pilates)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoProne Y-T-W raisesBeginner · No equipment
3D demoScapular push-up (push-up plus)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSide-lying open bookBeginner · No equipment
3D demoLateral breathing (Pilates breathing)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoBand pull-apartIntermediate · A band
3D demoFoam roller thoracic extensionBeginner · A foam rollerLeave out the roll-up, teaser, neck pull and the rolling moves (rolling like a ball, seal and open-leg rocker), and hinge from your hips. Skip the segmental roll-down if bending forward brings on leg pain.
Keep the swan, swimming and single-leg kick small, or do more bird dogs instead.
No loaded or deep twists or side bends (the saw, criss-cross, mermaid, side bend and hip twist), and no planks, push-ups, scapular push-ups or Pallof presses until your physiotherapist agrees, usually from about 4 to 6 weeks, as our rib injury guide says. Don't lie on the sore side, and don't roll a ball or foam roller over the ribs. These changes are our suggestion: no Pilates guidance covers rib stress injuries.
Use fists or your forearms in weight-bearing moves; the forearm plank keeps weight off bent-back wrists.
Not needed: World Rowing's summary of the consensus says static exercises such as planks are unlikely to help. Keep side planks short.
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Avoid deep rounding of the back under load. Keep a long spine and hinge from the hips, as our rowing guide says; our Pilates for osteoporosis guide has more.
Start with our 25-minute class for rowers. The strength workout for rowers is the gym side, the rowing machine workouts suit indoor rowers, and the Pilates for back pain class suits a sore back.
A 25-minute mat Pilates class for rowers: hip hinging and hip range for the catch, moving trunk endurance, glutes, hamstrings, upper back and shoulder blades.
25 minBeginner19 movesNo equipmentA 50-minute strength session for rowers: back squats, Romanian deadlifts, chest-supported rows, push-ups, side planks, bird dogs and Pallof presses.
50 minIntermediate15 movesCardio machine, A bandA 25-minute beginner rowing machine workout: set the damper, learn the stroke one part at a time, row three easy rounds of 4 to 5 minutes, then stretch.
25 minBeginner4 movesCardio machineA 25-minute first interval session on the rowing machine: a warm-up with two accelerations, then 20 seconds hard and 1 minute 40 easy, 6 rounds building to 8.
25 minBeginner3 movesCardio machineThe McGill big three for the core: curl-ups, side planks and bird dogs, each held for 10 seconds at a time in falling sets of 5, 3 and 1 reps.
12 minBeginner3 movesNo equipmentA gentle 15-minute Pilates-based routine for ongoing low back pain, built from neutral-spine moves with options for backs that dislike bending or arching.
15 minBeginner10 movesNo equipmentA 25-minute Pilates class for cyclists: back extension, trunk endurance, glutes and side hips, upper-back rotation and the neck, the opposite of the bike.
25 minBeginner17 movesNo equipmentA 25-minute dryland Pilates class for swimmers: shoulder-blade control, trunk endurance, back extension, hips and rotation, built for loose shoulders.
25 minBeginner16 movesA wallA 20-minute Pilates routine for posture: breathing, head and shoulder-blade control, back strength and upper-back mobility, with no loaded rounding.
20 minBeginner13 movesA wall, A bandWe don't have a rowing plan yet. The beginner strength programme suits adult rowers new to lifting. The workout plan for teenagers suits juniors, but British Rowing keeps rowers 15 and under to core, trunk and conditioning work.
A 12-week beginner barbell program: squat every session, alternate bench and row with press and deadlift, and add weight each time until it stalls.
3 training days50 minBeginner3 days a weekA 12-week workout plan for 13 to 17 year olds: technique first, then light weights, 2 or 3 sessions a week around sport and school, at home or in a gym.
3 training days40 minBeginnerThese match our rowing, rib injury and back pain guides. In the US, call 911 where this page says 999.
Call 999 if:
British Rowing's safety alert on indoor rowing says: "If you do not feel well then do not exercise. If something is making you feel unwell then stop doing it."
Call 999 or go to A&E (accident and emergency) straight away for severe difficulty breathing (gasping, choking or not able to get words out), a chest that feels tight or heavy, pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck and jaw, lips or skin turning very pale, blue or grey, or sudden confusion. If you're more short of breath than usual, or your heart is racing, fluttering or skipping beats, contact NHS 111.
Pain at the side of the chest that builds with rowing, or hurts when you breathe deeply, cough or sneeze, needs a physiotherapist or doctor early, before it becomes a fracture. Our rib injury guide has more.
Rib pain with no injury that builds up with rowing, golf or other training: see a GP. It may be a rib stress fracture.
After a fall or blow to the ribs, call 999 or go to A&E if breathlessness or chest pain gets worse, you have pain in your tummy or shoulder, or you cough up blood.
Call 999 or go to A&E: loss of feeling or numbness around the genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changes in genital sensation during sex or problems with erections or orgasm, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These are signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently. Don't drive yourself.
Call 999 or go to A&E: back pain with chest pain, or back pain that started after a serious accident, such as a car crash.
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Same day (GP or NHS 111): back pain and you feel hot, cold, shivery or generally unwell, or severe pain that starts suddenly or is getting worse quickly.
Same day: leg weakness that is getting worse.
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A teenager in a sport that arches or twists the back, such as gymnastics, dance, diving, volleyball, cricket fast bowling, baseball pitching, weightlifting, football or rugby, with back pain that lasts more than a couple of weeks, is worse arching back or stops them training: get it checked by a GP or sports physiotherapist. It can be a stress fracture in the spine.
Low energy intake harms bone in women and men, and it's a suspected driver of rib injuries. See your GP, and eat enough for your training.
With a rib injury, follow the rib injury guide's stages, don't lie on the sore side, and stop any move that makes the rib hurt to breathe. With back pain, keep moving within comfort and favour the direction that eases it. Stop a set when you can't keep your back long (our suggestion).
The NHS advises getting advice from a healthcare professional first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or have recently had a heart attack or an operation.
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Strength training improves rowing performance, while core endurance work improved trunk tests but not 2,000 m time. British Rowing treats trunk work as support for posture, alongside other training.
"There is no one proven way to prevent back pain in rowers." Rowers with back pain have larger, more active back muscles, not weak ones, and a programme that eased young rowers' pain didn't change their back endurance.
World Rowing's summary of the consensus says static exercises such as planks are unlikely to help and favours moving trunk exercises for the back and buttock muscles. Other rowing sources still recommend core work in general terms.
Back pain is common in rowers, but former elite rowers had no more back pain than non-athletes 10 years on, and "For most rowers, their back pain is not serious".
Not for the lower back at the catch: it already nears the end of its range there, and rowers with back pain stay nearer that end and round more. The range you want is at the hips and hamstrings.
No prevention study has found an effect; big changes in training are the biggest risk.
Mat and equipment Pilates both helped back pain, and most Pilates studies in athletes used the mat.
It can be useful conditioning: it trains the trunk to stay steady while the hips and limbs move, plus hip range, glutes, hamstrings and the upper back. No trial has tested Pilates in rowers, so it's an addition to rowing and strength training, not a replacement.
Nobody has shown that any core programme prevents it. What the experts recommend is using your hips at the catch, building the endurance of your back and buttock muscles with moving exercises, and managing your training load.
Moving ones that build endurance in the back and buttock muscles, such as bird dogs, dead bugs, bridges and Pilates swimming, rather than long planks. Short side planks and Pallof presses suit sweep rowers too.
It hasn't been tested. Core endurance training improved trunk tests but not 2,000 m time in college rowers, while strength training does improve rowing performance.
Once or twice a week, on lighter days, is a sensible start; this is our suggestion. The trunk training trials in rowers used twice a week for 8 to 10 weeks.
Short planks are fine, but World Rowing's summary of the expert consensus on back pain says static exercises such as planks are unlikely to help, and favours moving trunk exercises. Other rowing sources still recommend core work in general terms.
Only gentle parts at first: breathing and moves that don't twist, side-bend or load the ribs, and not lying on the sore side. Follow your physiotherapist's return plan; our rib injury guide has the stages, with planks and push-ups from about 4 to 6 weeks.
The rowing series is a set of seated arm exercises on the reformer in classical Pilates, with names such as Into the Sternum, From Chest and Shave. It trains the arms and posture; it isn't rowing training.
Back pain is common in rowers, but former elite rowers didn't have more back pain later than non-athletes, and most rowers' back pain isn't serious. Previous back pain is the biggest warning sign of more to come.
World Rowing suggests at least 130 degrees of hip flexion, full knee range and flexible hamstrings. Rowers without back pain tip the pelvis forward at the catch and move more at the hips.
Yes. British Rowing's guidance is that rowers aged 15 and under do core, trunk and conditioning work rather than heavy strength training, and a Pilates class fits that.
For a rib that hurts more to breathe, cough or roll over in bed, back pain that lasts or keeps coming back, or wrist or forearm pain with feathering that keeps coming back. Back pain with numbness around the genitals or bottom, weakness in both legs, or bladder or bowel changes needs 999.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
