UT2 Training

By the Watta Team · Updated

UT2 Training: UT2 training is low-intensity aerobic rowing at 55–65% of 2K power — heart rate 60–70% of heart-rate reserve, 18–22 spm — and it forms the foundation of a rower's endurance fitness.

What is UT2 Training?

UT2 — Utilisation Training 2 — is the lowest intensity band in the training system British Rowing and most European federations use, and the one that should carry the bulk of a rower's weekly volume. In numbers: 55–65% of your 2K power, 18–22 spm, and heart rate at 60–70% of heart-rate reserve by the Karvonen method — Zone 2 on the same five-zone scale the Watta app uses to label a piece. For a rower with a 7:00 2K that is 2:01.2–2:08.2 per 500m; for a 190 bpm max and a 50 bpm resting rate it is 134–148 bpm, which is 71–78% of max HR — worth knowing, because plans written against max heart rate rather than reserve quote a higher-looking percentage for exactly the same effort. Sessions run 40–90 minutes, and elite programmes put 60–80% of total volume here. The physiological return is mitochondrial density, capillarisation, fat oxidation and cardiac stroke volume: adaptations that take months and that harder training cannot substitute for. The practical test is conversation — if you cannot speak a full sentence, you have left the zone. The most common failure is not doing too little UT2 but rowing it too fast, at which point it becomes UT1 (1:55.6–2:01.2 for the same rower) and stops delivering either the base adaptation or the recovery.

Formula

UT2 watts = 2K watts × 0.55–0.65 · UT2 heart rate = resting HR + (max HR − resting HR) × 0.6–0.7

How Watta Uses UT2 Training

Pair a heart-rate strap to the PM5 and photograph the summary screen: Watta reads the average heart rate off the photo along with the split, rate and duration, and labels the piece by the zone its average fell in. Over a base block that turns "I did my steady state" into a count of how many sessions actually landed in the zone. The Effort Score credits the length of the work too — Work Output scales with the logarithm of duration — so a long easy row is not scored as though nothing happened.

Further Reading

Frequently Asked Questions

What is UT2 in rowing?
UT2 stands for Utilisation Training 2, the lowest of rowing's five training zones. It is long, easy rowing at conversational pace — 55–65% of 2K power at 18–22 spm — and it builds the aerobic base that every harder session draws on.
What heart rate should UT2 be at?
60–70% of your heart-rate reserve (Karvonen), which is Zone 2. For a rower with a 190 bpm max and a 50 bpm resting rate that is 134–148 bpm; with a 185 max and a 60 resting rate, 135–148 bpm. Against max heart rate instead of reserve it works out at roughly 71–78%.
What split should I row UT2 at?
55–65% of your 2K power, converted back to pace. A 7:00 2K gives 2:01.2–2:08.2; a 7:30 2K gives 2:09.9–2:17.3; an 8:00 2K gives 2:18.5–2:26.5. The older rule of thumb — 2K split plus 20–25 seconds — lands in the same place. The UT2 pace calculator does it from your own 2K.
How long should a UT2 session be?
Thirty minutes is the shortest piece worth calling UT2; most programmes prescribe 40–70 minutes, and a base block often includes one session of 75–90. What matters is weekly time in the zone rather than the length of any single row, so three 40-minute sessions and two 60s are interchangeable.
Is UT2 the same as steady state?
In everyday use, yes. Strictly, steady state is the broader term for any continuous piece at a held intensity, which can include UT1; UT2 names the specific low-aerobic band. If a plan says "steady state" with no zone attached, UT2 is what it means.
What is UT1 vs UT2 rowing?
UT1 is the next band up — 65–75% of 2K power at 22–26 spm, where lactate begins to rise. For a 7:00 2K, UT2 is 2:01.2–2:08.2 and UT1 is 1:55.6–2:01.2. Both belong in a programme, but UT2 should be much the larger share: the classic error is rowing every easy day at UT1, which accumulates fatigue without earning either the base adaptation or the recovery.
How many UT2 sessions a week?
Three to five for most rowers, alongside one or two harder sessions — the polarised pattern that 60–80% of volume at low intensity implies. Recreational rowers almost always need more UT2 and fewer middling-effort sessions, not the reverse.
How do I know if I am rowing UT2 too hard?
Heart rate above the top of your reserve band for more than the closing minutes of a long piece, a split that keeps landing in the UT1 band, or failing the talk test. A 5–10 bpm drift across an hour is normal cardiac drift and is not the same thing as going too hard — do not chase the split down to compensate for it.
Does UT2 make you faster if you never do intervals?
It raises the ceiling that intervals then exploit, and for a rower who currently does only hard sessions, adding UT2 is usually the single largest available gain. But a 2K is not purely aerobic, and a programme of UT2 alone leaves the top end untrained. The standard answer is roughly 80% UT2 and 20% hard work.
Can I do UT2 on a BikeErg or SkiErg?
Yes, and mixing machines is a good way to accumulate volume without the repetitive load. The heart-rate band transfers directly, because it is a fraction of your own reserve. The split band does not: BikeErg pace is on a different scale entirely, so use heart rate and the talk test there.
Is zone 2 the same as UT2?
Effectively, yes. UT2 is 60–70% of heart-rate reserve, which is Zone 2 on the five-zone Karvonen scale. The difference is the language: UT2 is the name rowing coaches use, and it comes with a split band (55–65% of 2K power) and a rate (18–22 spm) as well as a heart rate.

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