It’s eight in the morning on a Wednesday on The College of New Jersey campus. While many of his peers are still asleep in their beds, he is on his way to the gym. It’s a day off from rowing in the early hours of the morning for everyone else, but for Brendan Behrens, it’s leg day.
He calls out to his partner for another 15 pounds of weight to be added to the other end of the bar for his power cleans. “I can throw around a lightweight now.” He says with a chuckle before starting his second set.
Another 30 pounds for the third set, and now he’s starting to push his limits. He struggles to do the first few reps and fails to finish the motion “I still have two strikes left” Behrens says with a smile still on his face. He’s used to pushing himself, but now he’s pushing with a goal in mind; the US Rowing Under 23 National Team.
Earlier in the month, his coach had sent him a link with the qualifications for the team. This included how fast towers were in certain rowing tests. Brendan’s times qualified him as a contender “I know I’m getting faster, so to see I already met the criteria made me want to pursue this” said Behrens. “I think my times are there”
“If you knew his high school you’d know why he’s like this” said teammate Brendan Graf, a novice who just recently graduated from a rival school of Behren’s alma mater, Ramapo High School.
However, his drive to be better starts even before high school, when his parents hired a personal trainer for him in the seventh grade to get him ready to play football. His athletic drive persisted through high school as he continued playing football and was also on the Wrestling and Track & Field teams.
Once he graduated, he found a new challenge for himself and joined the crew team. After beginning his rowing career for TCNJ’s club team in the spring of 2016, Behrens has shown tremendous growth as a rower. He rowed with Nereid Boat Club over the past summer to further his development. Now he’s a national team hopeful.
“Coach thinks I have the spunk and technique,” says Behrens “It’s just about how I stack up against the other guys”
Behrens is positive about his chances, but there are certain obstacles that he faces on the path to his dream team. The first is his height
“I’m a short man in a tall man’s world” says Behrens. On many crews, open weight rowers are an average height of about 6-foot-5, and lightweights average just under 6 feet. Behrens, who will be trying out for the lightweight category, stands about 5-foot-8.
Being shorter means a shorter stroke, and in turn means less time to generate power and move a boat. It’s a sport where every inch matters, but it’s also about what kind of fight a person has in them. Behrens shows that whenever he can.
His second disadvantage is the amount of time spent on the water. Many of the other rowers who will be competing for a spot on the national team will be spending 6 days a week on the water. They will be able to continuously cultivate their technique on the water.
However, because of certain restrictions on time that TCNJ’s crew team can spend on the water, Behrens just hopes to get the “four days on the water that I need.”
At Nereid, there were little to no restrictions, and Behrens could call up a teammate, see if they wanted to go on the water, take a boat out and row.
At TCNJ however, anyone in a boat must be accompanied by a coach, and if a coach is not available, then water time is a no go. Now in the thick of his training for national status, he is limited to going on the water only when the team practices, which is normally four to five times a week.
To combat the lack of time on the water, Behrens has stepped up the workload he does off the water. TCNJ rowers are required to do three workouts. Two on rowing machines, referred to as ergs, and one body circuit.
Behrens usually fits in a couple of lifts into this, and is now adding two extra erg workouts into the mix to help him close any gaps.
“I’m focusing on long steady states to get ready” says Behrens. A steady state is a longer workout held at lower consistent rates. They are a great way to build aerobic strength, which is key to having success in the sport.
“I’ll do coach’s workouts and then do steady states on my own” says Behrens, saying that it’s going to be important to keep up.
“Some of those guys are going to have insane wattages.” Says Behrens, however, he remains positive about his chances.
In the lightweight category, the only boats that have Olympic categories are four person boats. Behrens believes he can make it onto an eight person boat. “I think I can sneak my way onto the team that way” he says with a slight smile. In the face of a challenge, sometimes that itself is the best way to push forward.
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