Looking Under the Hood of Elite Rowers: Skeletal Muscle Determinants of Rowing Performance

We aimed to identify the physiological and muscle characteristics associated with mean power output in the final stage of a rowing incremental test in elite rowers. Twenty-two national level rowers (n = 9 female) completed the following assessments (i) a 7-stage incremental rowing ergometer test to determine V̇O_2peak, maximal muscle deoxygenation and final incremental stage mean power output, (ii) strength and power, (iii) lean body mass (LBM) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, (iv) lower extremity muscle volumes using MR imaging, (v) muscle architecture using diffusion tensor imaging; and (vi) estimated muscle typology via proton MR spectroscopy. Hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to identify the characteristics associated with final incremental stage mean power output with sex and LBM as covariates. Sex explained a substantial proportion of the variance in final incremental stage mean power output (R² = 0.74; adjusted ΔR² = 0.72; p < 0.001), while inclusion of LBM further improved model fit (R² = 0.87; ΔR² = 0.13; adjusted ΔR² = 0.13; p = 0.006). After accounting for sex and LBM, V̇O_2peak demonstrated the largest independent association with final incremental stage mean power output (ΔR² = 0.047; adjusted ΔR² = 0.047; partial r = 0.60; p = 0.0048), followed by the estimated proportion of type II fibers (ΔR² = 0.035; adjusted ΔR² = 0.033; partial r = 0.52; p = 0.0188). Most other muscle characteristics explained minimal additional variance. Sex and muscle characteristic interaction terms indicated no detectable sex-specific differences in this small cohort. These findings highlight the diversity in the underpinning muscle characteristics and may inform personalized interventions targeted at improving rowing performance.