Imagine a two-time Olympic champion who shattered endurance records, dominated his sport by massive margins, and then published the exact training plan he used to do it. That’s Nils van der Poel. He isn’t a rower—but his brutally effective, elegantly simple philosophy is shaking up how elite coaches think about endurance. If your training program isn’t built on these principles, you might be leaving speed on the table.
You’ve likely never heard his name uttered in a rowing boathouse—and yet, his story may hold the clearest blueprint for the future of endurance success.
In 2022, van der Poel stunned the speedskating world by not only winning Olympic golds in the 5k and 10k, but by obliterating the competition with historic margins. He didn’t credit cutting-edge technology, a secret training lab, or genetic gifts. Instead, he pointed to something far more radical in today’s high-performance world: simplicity.
He released a 60-page training manifesto, publicly and freely, detailing every workout he did in the 18 months leading to his Olympic double. What shocked readers wasn’t just how transparent he was—it was how uncomplicated and different his training truly appeared.
Week after week, van der Poel clocked massive hours of low-intensity aerobic training—sometimes over 25 hours a week—paired with clear rest phases and zero-frills strength cycles. He regularly took two-day breaks to allow full recovery, and even entire weeks off during the season. His use of speed work followed a classic block periodization model: he delayed high-intensity training until specific competition phases, ensuring each physiological system was developed in sequence. This sharply contrasted with conventional models that rely on frequent high-intensity intervals throughout the year. Despite the high volume, his training was not chaotic—it was deliberate, grounded in simplicity, and strikingly different from most elite programs. It wasn’t just effective. It was elegant and unconventional.
Endurance isn’t just a fitness trait—it’s a coaching philosophy. For rowing coaches who want to build fast crews, especially over the long haul, endurance training must sit at the heart of your program. But endurance isn’t built in a single session or even a single season. It requires a system. And that system rests on three key pillars: volume, consistency, and recovery.
These pillars mirror the success of Olympic speedskater Nils van der Poel, who laid out his training manifesto in How to Skate a 10k. His approach was radical in its simplicity—and wildly effective. van der Poel’s program succeeded because it was systematic, transparent, and athlete-owned.
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Pillar 1: Volume
The first pillar is simple to understand but hard to execute: you have to put in the work. Endurance is directly proportional to time spent training aerobically. Nils van der Poel consistently trained 25–30 hours per week, prioritizing low-intensity, high-volume work to build a massive aerobic engine.
In rowing, this translates to long rows, cross-training, and steady state work done with intention. Many coaches make the mistake of chasing intensity instead of time-on-task. But it’s the long rows that create mitochondrial adaptation, capillary density, and ultimately, racing capacity.
Coaching takeaway: Prioritize weekly aerobic volume before layering in intense intervals. Set weekly mileage or time-based goals for each athlete and make them part of the team’s weekly rhythm.
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Pillar 2: Consistency
If volume is the engine, consistency is the fuel. Nothing undermines endurance development more than inconsistency—missed sessions, erratic planning, or unclear communication. Consistency means showing up, even when the sessions feel boring. the weather is bad, or the energy is low.
Nils van der Poel’s training was famously repetitive. He didn’t rely on fancy workouts—he repeated effective ones until mastery. He understood that adaptation doesn’t require novelty. It requires repeatable, sustained effort.
Coaching takeaway: Build a calendar that repeats key sessions and reinforces good habits. Avoid over-programming. Instead, track who’s showing up and how often, and find ways to celebrate consistency as a team virtue.
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Pillar 3: Recovery
The third pillar is often the most overlooked—especially by youth and collegiate coaches. More is not always better. Without rest, volume and consistency just lead to injury and burnout. Recovery isn’t laziness; it’s the point at which adaptation actually occurs.
Van der Poel would take full weeks off during the year and programmed entire multiple days of zero training—even during his biggest blocks. His logic was simple: the body grows when it’s allowed to.
Coaching takeaway: Build in real recovery. Don’t just scale back intensity—insert true rest days. Check in regularly with athletes on sleep, soreness, and stress levels.
Endurance Is Culture
These pillars—volume, consistency, and recovery—align closely with CrewLAB’s mission of building elite team culture through shared accountability, clear communication, and consistent feedback. pillars—volume, consistency, and recovery—only work when athletes buy into the system. That’s why endurance is more than a physiological target; it’s a cultural value. As a coach, your language, planning, and daily feedback shape how your athletes view “the grind.”
Nils van der Poel succeeded not just because of what he did—but because he believed in why he did it. He trusted the process, and he owned it. Great endurance programs don’t feel chaotic or mysterious. They feel steady, grounded, and purposeful. They’re clear, collaborative, and aligned.
Action Step: Set weekly volume targets for your team and build visible consistency by logging workouts and reviewing recovery habits together each week.
When you build a culture of endurance, speed follows.
Appendix: Related Articles and Reference Points
Primary Source:
- How to Skate a 10k by Nils van der Poel (Training Manifesto) — PDF Link
Relevant Endurance Training Resources:
- Seiler, Stephen. "Intervals, Thresholds, and Long Slow Distance: the Role of Intensity and Duration in Endurance Training." (Sports Science Journal)
- Tucker, Ross & Noakes, Tim. "The Physiology of World-Record Performances." (British Journal of Sports Medicine)
- Foster, Carl et al. "Monitoring Training in Athletes with Reference to Overtraining Syndrome." (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise)
Suggested Reading for Coaches:
- The Science of Winning by Jan Olbrecht
- Endure by Alex Hutchinson
- The Coach’s Guide to Teaching by Doug Lemov