How Many Calories Does an Olympic Rower Eat in a Day?

Olympic rowers eat a lot. Training can run to several sessions a day, and the energy cost is large. The numbers you see online are rough, so treat them as an illustration and not a target.

What is reported

Heavyweight elite rowers need several thousand calories a day. A World Rowing coaching paper reports a study of elite rowers trying out for a national team in 1987, which estimated average daily energy output at about 4,700 kcal for the men and 3,200 kcal for the women, with intake close behind. The same paper puts a single training session at about 1,000 to 2,000 kcal. Lightweights and coxes eat far less, and the amount varies with the training phase, the sex and size of the athlete, and the time of year. There is no official figure, and any exact number should be seen as an estimate.

Why they need so much

• Training volume is high, often two or three sessions a day. Our page asking whether Olympic rowers are the fittest athletes looks at what that workload builds.
• Large bodies and a lot of muscle burn more energy.
• Fuelling and recovery have to keep up with repeated hard sessions.
• Rowing uses large muscle groups for long periods, so each hour of steady rowing costs a significant amount of energy. For another measure of what that work does, see Olympic rowers’ resting heart rate.

How it varies

Athlete	Why intake differs
Heavyweight man	Large body, high volume, so highest needs
Heavyweight woman	High volume, smaller body than men on average
Lightweight	Must hold a low weight, so intake is carefully managed
Coxswain	Much lower training load and body mass
Off-season or taper	Lower volume means lower intake

Intake is also not constant through the year. In a heavy training block, rowers may eat as much as they can manage. Before a race, they may reduce volume and ease off on the largest meals.

What they eat

The pattern is the same as good everyday eating, in larger portions: plenty of carbohydrate (rice, pasta, potatoes, oats), protein at every meal, fruit and vegetables, and snacks between sessions. Elite squads usually have dietitians who plan intake for each athlete. A sample day might include a large breakfast before training, a snack between sessions, a big lunch, an afternoon snack, a proper dinner and a bedtime snack, with fluids throughout.

Eating that much is a skill. Many elite rowers find it hard to get enough food in, and rely on energy-dense foods and drinks. They are not following a restrictive plan.

Lightweights

Lightweight rowers have to meet weight limits and manage food carefully. This can be risky if it is not supervised, and it is an area where professional guidance matters. Rapid weight cutting, crash diets or fluid restriction can harm health and performance. If you are considering racing at lightweight, speak to a coach and a dietitian.

Signs of under-fuelling

Even for elite athletes, eating too little is a real risk. Warning signs include persistent tiredness, frequent illness or injury, poor sleep, low mood, slow recovery and, for women, missed or irregular periods. These can point to a problem called relative energy deficiency in sport. If you notice several of them, tell your coach and speak to a GP or sports dietitian rather than waiting for them to pass.

What it means for you

Your needs depend on your size, training load, age and health. Copying an Olympian’s diet could mean eating far more than you need or not enough of what you do. If your aim is definition rather than fuelling heavy training, read whether rowing will get you ripped. If you are unsure, speak to a GP or registered dietitian. Our practical guide to hitting your daily calorie count and the nutrition hub offer sensible habits, and the Olympic rowing hub has more on the elite side.