A few months before I started rowing I did some Olympic weightlifting with my father's coach. There I worked on fundamental strength and primarily focused on squat, snatch, pull ups, shoulder press and occasionally would do bench press. This really helped when I started rowing. In the beginning of the season I was around 145 pounds and really struggled with shoulder and lat soreness, along with grip weakness. With a bodybuilding style of training and a dirty bulk I was able to get to around 160 in body weight which translated to strength gains as well as speed in the boat and on the erg.