Orangetheory 500m Row: Strategy, Experience & Template

Today, we’re going to talk about the Orangetheory 500-meter row benchmark. Rowing is indeed a physically demanding cardio activity that engages your entire body.

The Orangetheory 500-meter row benchmark is a challenging yet rewarding experience. And 500 meters may seem like a tough distance to row because it’s a sprint. During the 500-meter row, you’ll need to give it your all, using every major muscle group in a sprint lasting around a minute and a half to two minutes.

Ok.

Instead of starting off with full intensity and losing momentum as you near the end, let’s adopt a strategic approach to finish strong and confident.

Let’s start.

Let’s break down the Orangetheory 500-meter row benchmark!

The 500-meter row is divided into manageable chunks.

First 100m: The first part to focus on is the initial three strokes. These should be powerful and definitive, setting the tone of your effort. Post that, the first 100 meters should be about finding your rhythm. Maintain a stroke rate lower than your initial three strokes but still relatively high, ideally around 28 strokes per minute.

100m- 400m: By the time you’ve covered the first 100 meters, you should have established a steady rhythm. Now, between 400 meters and 100 meters, concentrate on your stroke fundamentals and rhythm, ensuring each stroke is efficient. Practice the concept of ‘power patience patience’, meaning exert power on the drive back and practice patience on the recovery phase.

Remember, being patient doesn’t mean slowing down too much. Even at high rates, you can practice patience while emphasizing control.

Last 100m: The final 100 meters is where you sprint. Although you’ll be quite tired at this point, it’s crucial to keep your rowing fundamentals in check. Increase your stroke rate slightly while maintaining the same power on the drive back, but recover a bit faster.

According to physics, keeping the same leg power but recovering faster generates more power, which will help you get more out of the last 100 meters than the middle of your row. This will enable you to cross the finish line with full speed and confidence, feeling powerful about your rowing capabilities.

Remember, breaking down your 500-meter row into these parts allows you to approach it with the right mindset and intensity. This strategy will help bolster your confidence and make the most of your workout. So, get ready, give it your best shot, and make that 500-meter row happen. Have a great workout!

Orangetheory 500-Meter Row Benchmark Times

My coach who talked about it said to aim for 2:00-2:30 and less, of course, depending on your fitness/rowing abilities, so I’m just making my personal goal 2:00 and seeing where I land since it’s my first time!  Then I did it at 1:56 and next I was down to 1:37 and I’ve done it 4 times. Now I am trying for under 1:30.

What Is a Good Time for a 500-Meter Row? The answer is wide. Your height, weight, strength, and VO max all play roles. Your time will be exceptional to you specifically. It’s a benchmark to measure your progress in fitness, so it is only significant to you.

So, everyone will have different times. Do set your Personal Record (PR) and improve every time, and remember that 1 second is better than your last Personal Record.

How Do You Crush Your Record or Make a New Record on Orangetheory 500-Meter Row?

First things first. If you’ve taken this class before, if you’ve done this benchmark, go to your Orangetheory app. Find your old benchmarks under the 500-meter row benchmark. Take a look at the time that you got previously and take a look at your best time, okay? Set a goal for yourself immediately. We either want to match that time or beat it this time around. If it’s your guy’s first time, we’re just going to have some fun. We’re going to go play-by-play here, okay? So, sitting down on my rower. You guys, for things first, you want to make sure that your feet are nice and snug into those foot plates, okay? So really pull it tight. This is just going to help you move back and forth more efficiently, okay? 

Second, first ten strokes is where we get the water moving, okay? So those gotta be powerful here. Driving through the heels all the way up. Set that split time up to where you want to see it. Okay? So count it out to ten. Once you’ve reached that 10th stroke, take a look at your split time, okay? The next ten strokes, you want to see how well you can maintain that time, okay? We tend to a little gassed up early on so we might not be able to maintain what we produce in the first 10 seconds okay so then after that halfway point at about 250 meters establish whether or not you need to maintain what you’re holding put a little bit more energy through those heels or back off a little bit to find your goal okay whatever you see in that upper right hand corner is what the time you’re going to finish in finally when you get to that final 150 meters you guys all out okay don’t think just row remember we’re working to that finish line to sprint to the end don’t look back have some fun okay and we will see you guys. Let’s get it.

Orangetheory Coach Piper

How Do You Maintain Ideal Rowing?

Orangetheory 500m Row Benchmark Days Experience and Template:

Happy benchmark day! Today is the lung burner – the 500m benchmark row, one of the nastier benchmarks in OTF’s repertoire. It’s not relatively short enough to do an all-out but not long enough to treat as an endurance row. Today is a switch template, so you will get plenty of time to warm up ahead of the row.

I’ve written this as if you were starting on the treadmill. In this case, you start with a little power block to get the legs moving. I’m not quite sure why OTF gets you to do so many all-outs today; I kind of don’t want to do full speed before the benchmark and post-benchmark. My legs are pretty short, so I couldn’t run properly even if I wanted to. After this little block, you continue the warm-up on the floor with a short row and a couple of exercises.

You then head back to the treadmill for some run/rest work whilst the floor starters are doing their benchmark. We were told to run this at a push pace but the coach told the next group (who finished their benchmark) to do all outs so I have just marked this down as a tread for distance. Once this is over, then you are down for the benchmark row. Only one attempt to do the benchmark today, so there is no “rowdemption”. Make sure you are strapped in tight; we had one person lose a shoe in their row attempt today! No PB for me today; I was 0.1 of a second off matching it.. never mind, I was happy with the consistency.

The last tread block is a power block with six all-outs and a minute of walking recovery in between. Legs had recovered by this time, so I’m happy to go a bit faster here. The last floor block has step-ups, chest flys, torso rotations, and side plank pendulums. Bench hop overs to finish, and you are done.

2G Template

Tread Block 1

• 45 sec base to push
• 30 sec WR
• 45 sec push
• 30 sec WR
• 45 sec push to AO
• 30 sec WR
• 45 sec AO
• Transition to floor

Floor Block 1 – 4.5 minutes

• Buy-in: 250m push row
• Circuit:
  • 10 x bridge
  • 10 x TRX high row
• Transition to treadmill

Tread Block 2 – 4 minutes

• 160m (0.1 mile) tread
• 30 sec WR
• Repeat until time and then transition to rower

Row Block – 4 minutes

• 500m row
• Check time
• Recovery row til time and then transition to treadmill

Tread Block 3

• 1 min AO
• 1 min WR
• 1 min AO
• 1 min WR
• 45 sec AO
• 1 min WR
• 45 sec AO
• 1 min WR
• 30 sec AO
• 1 min WR
• 30 sec AO
• Transition to floor

Floor Block 2 – 9.5 minutes work & rest

• 6 – 10 each x full step up, rest
• 6 – 10 x chest fly, rest
• 8 total x seated torso rotation
• 8 each x low side plank pendulum with kick stand
• Repeat until finisher: 30-sec bench hopover (AMRepsAP)

3G Template

Tread Block 1 – 4 minutes

• 0.1-mile tread
• 30 sec WR
• Repeat until time

Row Block 1 – 4 minutes

• 500m row
• Check time
• Recovery row until time

Floor Block 1 – 4 minutes

• Circuit:
  • 8 x bridge
  • 8 x TRX high row
  • 8 x Chest Fly

Tread Block 2

• 1 min AO
• 45 sec WR
• 1 min AO
• 45 sec WR
• 45 sec AO
• 45 sec WR
• 45 sec AO
• 45 sec WR
• 30 sec AO
• 45 sec WR
• 30 sec AO

Row Block 2

• 300m push row
• 10 alternating side lunges
• Repeat, reducing row by 50m for 5 rounds
• Row until time

Floor Block 2

• 6 – 10 each x full step up, rest
• 8 total x seated torso rotation
• 8 each x low side plank pendulum with kick stand
• Repeat until finisher: 30-sec bench hopover (AMRepsAP)

Note that the templates are provided as an example and may vary between different Orangetheory Fitness studios, and these templates were collected from Reddit.

Why Are You Rowing?

• Rowing is the ultimate calorie burner.
• Proper rowing efficiency engages over 80% of the muscles in the human body.
• Rowing is a low-impact exercise that can accommodate various fitness levels.
• The water rower is the #2 best low-impact, highest-calorie burning form of exercise.
• The water rower is used during an Orangetheory workout to Build strength and power – power that is produced primarily from the legs.
• The foundation of rowing is efficiency or engaging muscles appropriately, generating more power using less effort, which includes proper form and muscle engagement.

Conclusion

Orangetheory 500-meter row benchmark is about personal growth and pushing your own limits. It’s about the journey towards fitness, where every second shaved off your previous record is a victory. So, get on that rower, set your goals, and make that 500-meter row happen. And most importantly, remember to have fun and enjoy the workout!

Get More Info:

• Orangetheory Hell Week 2023: Experience, template of last year
• What Is the Orangetheory “Catch Me If You Can”? -Tips & Guide