diff --git a/pkg/workload/ycsb/ycsb.go b/pkg/workload/ycsb/ycsb.go
index 10e8a08671a3..e8f3bb4ef2c7 100644
--- a/pkg/workload/ycsb/ycsb.go
+++ b/pkg/workload/ycsb/ycsb.go
@@ -368,21 +368,11 @@ func (g *ycsb) Ops(
 	if err != nil {
 		return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
 	}
-	db, err := gosql.Open(`cockroach`, strings.Join(urls, ` `))
-	if err != nil {
-		return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
-	}
-	// Allow a maximum of concurrency+1 connections to the database.
-	db.SetMaxOpenConns(g.connFlags.Concurrency + 1)
-	db.SetMaxIdleConns(g.connFlags.Concurrency + 1)
 
-	readStmt, err := db.Prepare(`SELECT * FROM usertable WHERE ycsb_key = $1`)
-	if err != nil {
-		return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
-	}
+	const readStmtStr = `SELECT * FROM usertable WHERE ycsb_key = $1`
 
-	readFieldForUpdateStmts := make([]*gosql.Stmt, numTableFields)
-	for i := 0; i < numTableFields; i++ {
+	readFieldForUpdateStmtStrs := make([]string, numTableFields)
+	for i := range readFieldForUpdateStmtStrs {
 		var q string
 		if g.json {
 			q = fmt.Sprintf(`SELECT field->>'field%d' FROM usertable WHERE ycsb_key = $1`, i)
@@ -392,22 +382,14 @@ func (g *ycsb) Ops(
 		if g.sfu {
 			q = fmt.Sprintf(`%s FOR UPDATE`, q)
 		}
-
-		stmt, err := db.Prepare(q)
-		if err != nil {
-			return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
-		}
-		readFieldForUpdateStmts[i] = stmt
+		readFieldForUpdateStmtStrs[i] = q
 	}
 
-	scanStmt, err := db.Prepare(`SELECT * FROM usertable WHERE ycsb_key >= $1 LIMIT $2`)
-	if err != nil {
-		return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
-	}
+	const scanStmtStr = `SELECT * FROM usertable WHERE ycsb_key >= $1 LIMIT $2`
 
-	var insertStmt *gosql.Stmt
+	var insertStmtStr string
 	if g.json {
-		insertStmt, err = db.Prepare(`INSERT INTO usertable VALUES ($1, json_build_object(
+		insertStmtStr = `INSERT INTO usertable VALUES ($1, json_build_object(
 			'field0',  $2:::text,
 			'field1',  $3:::text,
 			'field2',  $4:::text,
@@ -418,31 +400,20 @@ func (g *ycsb) Ops(
 			'field7',  $9:::text,
 			'field8',  $10:::text,
 			'field9',  $11:::text
-		))`)
+		))`
 	} else {
-		insertStmt, err = db.Prepare(`INSERT INTO usertable VALUES (
+		insertStmtStr = `INSERT INTO usertable VALUES (
 			$1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10, $11
-		)`)
-	}
-	if err != nil {
-		return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
+		)`
 	}
 
-	updateStmts := make([]*gosql.Stmt, numTableFields)
+	var updateStmtStrs []string
 	if g.json {
-		stmt, err := db.Prepare(`UPDATE usertable SET field = field || $2 WHERE ycsb_key = $1`)
-		if err != nil {
-			return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
-		}
-		updateStmts[0] = stmt
+		updateStmtStrs = []string{`UPDATE usertable SET field = field || $2 WHERE ycsb_key = $1`}
 	} else {
-		for i := 0; i < numTableFields; i++ {
-			q := fmt.Sprintf(`UPDATE usertable SET field%d = $2 WHERE ycsb_key = $1`, i)
-			stmt, err := db.Prepare(q)
-			if err != nil {
-				return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
-			}
-			updateStmts[i] = stmt
+		updateStmtStrs = make([]string, numTableFields)
+		for i := range updateStmtStrs {
+			updateStmtStrs[i] = fmt.Sprintf(`UPDATE usertable SET field%d = $2 WHERE ycsb_key = $1`, i)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -483,12 +454,62 @@ func (g *ycsb) Ops(
 	}
 
 	ql := workload.QueryLoad{SQLDatabase: sqlDatabase}
+	var db *gosql.DB
+	const connsPerDB = 1000
 	for i := 0; i < g.connFlags.Concurrency; i++ {
+		// Give each ycsbWorker worker its own SQL connection and prepare statements
+		// using this connection. This avoids lock contention in the sql.Rows
+		// objects they produce.
+		//
+		// Additionally, create a new sql.DB for every connsPerDB connections. Even
+		// with each worker having its own connection, there is some lock contention
+		// between connections from the same DB (see DB.addDep and DB.removeDep), so
+		// this avoids additional lock contention when the load generator uses many
+		// concurrent workers.
+		if i%connsPerDB == 0 {
+			db, err = gosql.Open(`cockroach`, strings.Join(urls, ` `))
+			if err != nil {
+				return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
+			}
+		}
+		conn, err := db.Conn(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
+		}
+		readStmt, err := conn.PrepareContext(ctx, readStmtStr)
+		if err != nil {
+			return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
+		}
+		readFieldForUpdateStmts := make([]*gosql.Stmt, len(readFieldForUpdateStmtStrs))
+		for i, q := range readFieldForUpdateStmtStrs {
+			stmt, err := conn.PrepareContext(ctx, q)
+			if err != nil {
+				return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
+			}
+			readFieldForUpdateStmts[i] = stmt
+		}
+		scanStmt, err := conn.PrepareContext(ctx, scanStmtStr)
+		if err != nil {
+			return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
+		}
+		insertStmt, err := conn.PrepareContext(ctx, insertStmtStr)
+		if err != nil {
+			return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
+		}
+		updateStmts := make([]*gosql.Stmt, len(updateStmtStrs))
+		for i, q := range updateStmtStrs {
+			stmt, err := conn.PrepareContext(ctx, q)
+			if err != nil {
+				return workload.QueryLoad{}, err
+			}
+			updateStmts[i] = stmt
+		}
+
 		rng := rand.New(rand.NewSource(g.seed + uint64(i)))
 		w := &ycsbWorker{
 			config:                  g,
 			hists:                   reg.GetHandle(),
-			db:                      db,
+			conn:                    conn,
 			readStmt:                readStmt,
 			readFieldForUpdateStmts: readFieldForUpdateStmts,
 			scanStmt:                scanStmt,
@@ -515,7 +536,7 @@ type randGenerator interface {
 type ycsbWorker struct {
 	config *ycsb
 	hists  *histogram.Histograms
-	db     *gosql.DB
+	conn   *gosql.Conn
 	// Statement to read all the fields of a row. Used for read requests.
 	readStmt *gosql.Stmt
 	// Statements to read a specific field of a row in preparation for
@@ -755,13 +776,40 @@ func (yw *ycsbWorker) scanRows(ctx context.Context) error {
 	})
 }
 
+// stdlibTxnAdapter is copied from github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach-go/v2/crdb.
+// TODO(nvanbenschoten): the type should be exported or we should expose a way
+// to pass a *sql.Conn to crdb.ExecuteTx.
+type stdlibTxnAdapter struct {
+	tx *gosql.Tx
+}
+
+// Exec is part of the tx interface.
+func (tx stdlibTxnAdapter) Exec(ctx context.Context, q string, args ...interface{}) error {
+	_, err := tx.tx.ExecContext(ctx, q, args...)
+	return err
+}
+
+// Commit is part of the tx interface.
+func (tx stdlibTxnAdapter) Commit(context.Context) error {
+	return tx.tx.Commit()
+}
+
+// Rollback is part of the tx interface.
+func (tx stdlibTxnAdapter) Rollback(context.Context) error {
+	return tx.tx.Rollback()
+}
+
 func (yw *ycsbWorker) readModifyWriteRow(ctx context.Context) error {
 	key := yw.nextReadKey()
 	newValue := yw.randString(fieldLength)
 	fieldIdx := yw.rng.Intn(numTableFields)
 	var args [2]interface{}
 	args[0] = key
-	err := crdb.ExecuteTx(ctx, yw.db, nil, func(tx *gosql.Tx) error {
+	tx, err := yw.conn.BeginTx(ctx, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	err = crdb.ExecuteInTx(ctx, stdlibTxnAdapter{tx}, func() error {
 		var oldValue []byte
 		readStmt := yw.readFieldForUpdateStmts[fieldIdx]
 		if err := tx.StmtContext(ctx, readStmt).QueryRowContext(ctx, key).Scan(&oldValue); err != nil {