Are lightweight rowers expected to be taller? I always see a ton of heavies on the shorter side, but I’m 5’9″ and a lightweight so would I probably need to gain some weight?
Lightweights are actually shorter than most heavy/openweight rowers simply because it’s harder to be that tall and maintain a lightweight’s body weight (130lbs or 160lbs). If you aren’t struggling to maintain your weight, are healthy, and the weight you’re at now is fairly natural for you, I wouldn’t worry about it. The most important thing is that you aren’t taking any extraordinary measures to be at or below the lightweight max. When lightweights are borderline and finally decide that they don’t want to keep trying to maintain 130 or 160lbs, I equate it to their body exhaling a sigh of relief. They’ll gain some weight but it’ll mostly be without any extra effort on their part. Their body essentially does all the work in order to get them up to the weight that is natural for them.
Looking at the lightweights that were on this year’s Olympic team, on the men’s side in the LWT 4- their height ranged from 5’11” to 6’2″ (tall yes, but short in comparison to the heavies who were all 6’5″ and taller). The women only competed in the LWT 2x and both of them were 5’6″.
Hello,
I’m kinda wondering the same thing, I’ve just started rowing, i am about 6ft5, however my natural body weight is 70-71kg. Would i be able to match all the smaller rowers (who have more muscle mass) in terms of performance in the lightweight category?
Hey Kirin! It’s fairly rare for lightweight rowers to be that tall simply because it’s hard to maintain such a low weight on a larger frame. The tallest lightweight that I’ve seen is 6’2″ I think, so being three inches taller than that might make things difficult for you in terms of maintaining a healthy diet while trying to build muscle and keep your overall weight down. Personally I think it might make more sense for you to start participating in a lifting program so you can put on some muscle mass and row with the heavyweights. At 6’5″ you’re right around the height of a lot of the top collegiate rowers (and national team guys) so putting on 10-15lbs could benefit you well in the long run.