20 x 30 Seconds Full Power with a CrossFit Champion

Rowing is not like rowing. This is something I (painfully) learned last weekend during the CrossFit Regionals in Ballerup, Denmark, while I was working out with Mikko Salo and Juha Puonti from Rogue Fitness (manufacturer of CrossFit equipment). Mikko won the CrossFit Games in 2009.
 
As a competitive on water rower, I usually row for 30–45 minutes at low intensity and a heart rate near 145. From time to time I go for 250 or 500 meter sprints for interval work. The workout on the indoor rower with Mikko and Juha, however, was totally new to me: 30 seconds full power followed by 30 seconds rest for 20 repetitions. 

Mikko completed the workout in an average pace of 1:32/500m while both Juha’s and my pace was four seconds slower. It was a painful but great workout with one of the most successful CrossFitters in the world.