Category: Rowing

College Rowing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Ohio State Engineering + Rowing

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During the two and a half years I was at Ohio State (my junior and senior years of college), all of my physics and math classes were in the engineering building. During one of my physics classes our TA, who was a mechanical engineering grad student, brought up fluid dynamics and rowing and I swear, I have never paid more attention to a math/science-related discussion in my life.

As the rower in the video said, there’s a lot of engineering in rowing so if you’re good at math and science it’s definitely a major worth looking into. Once you graduate you could always translate it into a career with any one of the boat-making companies if you wanted to stick around the rowing world.

Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hi! So I recently started rowing not to long ago, as I just did two weeks of long skinny boat camp. But as I was rowing I kept getting told not to over compress at the catch. Also to relax my shoulders. I am short, only 4’11 and I talked to the coach about coxing (my sister is a captain) in high school and he wants me to row first. Do you have any tips I can take from the rowing? Also how not to over compress at the catch? Thanks! I love your blog!

…long skinny boat camp.

I’m 4’11” too and while I never actually rowed, our coaches did take the coxswains out for a spin a few times to give us a chance to see what it was like. One of the things they told me before we even got started was since I was the shortest one it was going to be important that I not try to match the length of the other coxswains by lunging or over-compressing at the catch. That’s the first thing I’d recommend – don’t try to be as long as the other people in the boat because you’re not gonna be. Over-compressing means that instead of stopping with your shins in line with your ankles and your butt a couple inches away from your heels, you’re catching with your knees out over your toes and your butt as close to your heels as it can get.

Another way to think of it is instead of your hips/butt being behind your shoulders, they’re under them. One way to break the habit of over-compressing is to teach yourself what the proper catch position feels like. This tends to be a lot more effective when you’ve got another person to watch your form so grab your sister and have her watch you take a couple strokes on the erg. Sit in the proper catch position for a couple seconds and memorize what it feels  like – where are your legs, arms, back, etc. Flip between that and an over-compressed position so you can feel the difference between the two, then take a couple strokes, making sure you’re staying super conscious of where your body’s at as you come up the slide. If you find you’re still having problems though, you can put a piece or two of tape on the tracks and then if you feel the seat run over them you’ll know that you’re coming too far up.

With relaxing your shoulders, you’ve just gotta remember that when you’re holding tension in your muscles like that everything is going to move slower and not be as fluid. Every so often, take a deep breath and just let your upper body relax. Make sure you keep your grip on the oar loose too. Use your common sense – you want to find a happy medium between a death grip and no grip at all. The tighter your grip, the tenser your shoulders are going to be.

As far as things to take away … don’t focus on trying to perfect your stroke, rather just work on getting the basics down as far as the proper motions and body positions go. From there, just listen to everything the coach is saying (to you and whoever else is in the boat) with regards to technical critiques (since those are things you’ll need to be able to once you start coxing) and make sure you understand why he’s saying that, what part of the stroke it applies to, and how the boat changes (aka how does it feel) after the correction is made.

Related: At Masters’ Regionals this weekend we were having a discussion on if it is important for coxswains to have time rowing. Not just on the erg, but on the water as well. What do you think?

I talked about the whole “coxswains rowing before they cox” debate in the post linked above so make sure to check it out as well. It might also give you some ideas for how you can apply your time rowing to coxing.

Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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At Masters’ Regionals this weekend we were having a discussion on if it is important for coxswains to have time rowing. Not just on the erg, but on the water as well. What do you think?

I’ve touched on this a couple times before but yes, I do think it’s important for them to get on the water/erg but how I think it should be approached is typically very different than how rowers and other coaches think it should be. I think it’s pointless to make coxswains row competitively for a season or two or train them as if they’re rowers because … they’re not. If you look at the average person who’s targeted to be a coxswain when they’re in high school, they’re usually very small kids. We’re seriously like the runts of our age group. Putting us in boats with “normal” sized kids and trying to teach us to row rarely accomplishes anything because the size and strength just isn’t there. I’ve talked to a few coxswains about this and I agree with what they’ve said about how psychologically it can be pretty damaging for them, mainly because of how obvious it is that they’re “weaker” in comparison to the other kids. It can be (and usually is) very intimidating for them. It’s also really hard to go from being portrayed as the weak kid, even if it’s not done intentionally, to suddenly being the kid with all this responsibility and who’s expected to step up and be a leader. Trust me, I’ve had to do it before and it’s rough. Some kids have an easier time with it than others but if you want to know a great way to kill a kid’s confidence right off the bat, that’s how you do it.

Like I said, I do think that coxswains should have the opportunity to get on the water to row but I think it should be done separately from the team’s regular practice. The further into the season you get the less important it is (in my opinion) so I would try to get them on the water (or in the tanks) during March-April before the competitive season begins. (Before that I’d spend time with them on the ergs doing stuff similar to what I’d do on the water.) Ideally I would like to get them out at least once every week or two for 30-45 minutes after practice, preferably in fours if we can. Initially the goal would be to teach them what the stroke feels like with an actual oar and how it’s different from being on the erg and then as we progress I’d want them to focus more on consciously feeling what their body is doing as they go through the recovery, catch, drive, and finish. I think teaching them to feel what all that (the body, the boat, etc.) feels like at various points during the stroke, both when they’re doing something correctly and when they’re not, helps teach them the boat feel that they need to have as a coxswain, in addition to helping them communicate more effectively with the boat when they’re trying to elicit a change.

Even if you’re not entirely sure what the issue is you can still say something like “I was having a similar problem getting the blade out cleanly at the finish the other day but what worked for me was making sure I stayed tall throughout the drive instead of sinking down into my hips as I got closer to finish. This gave me a little more room to tap down so the blade wouldn’t get caught in the water. Next time think about keeping your core tight and the low back muscles engaged so that you stay upright as you press back. [Etc. etc. etc.]” That’s a pretty basic call to make and it’s very likely that most coxswains would know to say something like that whether they’d rowed or not but having the personal experience to back it up adds credibility to the call and lets your crew know that you’re making extra efforts outside of your usual responsibilities to learn more about what they’re doing so you can communicate with them better while you’re at practice (and ultimately be a better coxswain).

Once I think they’ve got a good handle on what the stroke should look like, feel like, etc. then I’d start taking them through some of the drills we do and getting them to understand that this is the purpose of the drill, this is how it’s done, this is what we’re looking for when it’s done correctly, etc. Basically anything I’d want them to know about the drill I’d go over with them while they’ve got an oar in their hands. Similarly to what I said up above, I think this just helps them better communicate with the rowers what they want to see happen, what change needs to be made, etc. The knowledge and understanding they gain by doing it themselves is ultimately what the coach should be after (vs. trying to perfect their technique and make them row like actual rowers). For me personally, I’m a really hands on learner. I can grasp concepts pretty easily if you explain them to me but if you show me and let me go through the trial-and-error process of getting it right on my own, that’s what really solidifies it for me. That’s how I learned a lot about the drills we used to do – I’d get on the erg with my coach for 5-10 minutes and go through it with him so I knew what it should look like, what I should be looking for, etc. when we were on the water.

Rowers talk a lot (incessantly would probably be more accurate…sorry guys) about wanting coxswains to understand what it feels like to row but what they usually mean is they want them to know what it feels like to row when lactic acid is wreaking havoc on your muscles. I can appreciate that but at the end of the day I think it’s more effective to teach the coxswains one-on-one(ish) about the stroke, the drills, and the general technique things that they should be looking for, pointing out, and correcting when necessary. Putting them in a boat, giving them an oar, and saying “here, now row with these people that are six inches taller and twenty-five pounds heavier than you” is about as helpful as saying “steer straight and don’t hit anything”. Rowers and coxswains are two separate entities so you’ve got to coach them as such. When coxswains are in a boat trying to row I’m not so much trying to coach their bodies as I’m trying to coach their brains, if that makes sense. With rowers it’s all about the bodies because their role in the boat is physical. A coxswain’s job is mental, thus that’s what you’ve got to coach.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Can you explain the term “rowing it in”?

Sure! When you hear someone say you’re rowing it in, what they mean is that you’re starting your leg drive before you’ve locked the blade on to the water. Starting the leg drive before your blade’s in means that you’ll miss water at the catch, have a shorter stroke, and generate less power on the drive (since your blade isn’t in the water for as long as it should be). Something to remember is that getting to the front of the slide isn’t what signifies that it’s time to change direction, rather it’s the blade catching the water. Lock the blade then go with the legs.

Another thing that can contribute to missing water is diving at the catch. This tends to happen when you fail to set the body angle early enough. By the time you reach half-slide you should have all the body prep you’re going to get otherwise what ends up happening is you get to 3/4 slide and end up throwing your upper body forward to get more reach (or rather, the amount of reach you would have gotten had you set your body angle at the right time). This effects several things within the boat, including where your blade is when you go to start the drive. Throwing the body tends to push the hands down towards your feet, which in turn lifts the blade up. If your blade is higher than it needs to be above the water (i.e. six inches or more…) then you’re going to have difficulty staying on time with everyone else and going straight to the water. If you’re not going straight to the water then you’re missing water.

If you’re a coxswain this can be tough to see from where we’re sitting but the easiest way to tell if someone is missing water is to look  at the angle of the oar shafts. A good catch angle from our perspective is about 45 degrees, give or take. Anything less than that and they’re likely doing one of the two things I described up above. Sometimes I’ll poke my head out of the boat if we’re not doing pieces to see if I can spot the problem but if I can’t I’ll make a couple calls to that individual about going straight to the water, getting it right in at the catch, etc. and then talk to them/the coach about it more whenever we stop.

“In” vs. “On” vs. “Over”

Coxing Rowing

“In” vs. “On” vs. “Over”

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Even though I know I’ve mentioned this in passing, I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually explained the concept of “in” vs. “on” vs. “over”. It’s an important one to know and understand because executing one over the other can have an impact on what you’re crew is doing (and not always positively either).

IN

This is probably one of the top three most common calls we use. “In two” is used to tell the rowers when to do pretty much everything from add in to power 10 to weigh enough.

Related: All about power tens

When you say “in two”, what you’re really saying is “two strokes from now, do whatever it is I’m telling you to do“.

In the context of coxing, the stroke begins at the catch (whereas in terms of technique it begins on the recovery) so that’s where you want to call the two strokes that signal when the rowers should do whatever you’re telling them to do, that way everyone does it at the same time. For example, if I’m coxing a crew and I want to add a pair in, here’s what would happen:

“OK let’s add bow pair in in two…” I would start this call when they’re at the catch and finish it just as the hands start to come away (aka over the full length of the drive) or when they’ve just about got their hands fully extended. I’m not rushing the words out but I’m not saying them slow as molasses either.

“That’s one…” ‘That’s’ is said just as they start to square the blades up over the last three inches of the recovery and ‘one’, obviously, is said right at the catch.

“And two, on this one…” ‘And two…’ is said during the same part of the stroke as ‘That’s one’ and ‘on this one’ is said over the last 3/4 of the drive. As I’m saying ‘on this one’, that’s when bow pair should be preparing to come in. Prior to all this when I make the initial call, they should sit back at the finish so that as I finish saying ‘and two’ they can start coming up the slide with everyone else in preparation for the next stroke.

This next part is where people get tripped up. When I say “in two” I’ll count out two full strokes and then when I would say “three” if I were still counting, that is where bow pair’s blades enter the water. Occasionally I’ll see rowers try to come in right as the coxswain says two and it ends up throwing everyone off. Wait two full strokes THEN come in.

The main purpose of “in two” is to act as a preparation call – you’re telling the rowers they’ve got two full strokes to get ready to do something before they actually have to do it and then right on that third stroke, that’s when the magic happens.

ON

This is the simplest one. “On” is typically called as “on this one”, meaning the catch immediately following this call.

It’s typically used for one of two reasons – you’re with an experienced enough crew that the prep time that comes with “in two” isn’t necessary or you’re in a situation where you don’t have time to spare and whatever needs to happen needs to happen right now because “in two” would be two additional strokes too many.

When I make this call I usually say something like “let’s go on this one“, where ‘let’s go’ is said as the handle is coming into the finish, ‘on this one’ is said on the recovery, and the “this one” I’m referring to is the catch immediately after that recovery.

What you’re doing is eliminating the two strokes of prep time that “in two” gives you, although you’re not eliminating it completely. The latter half of the recovery coming into the catch serves as the prep time in this case, which is why it’s important that you don’t rush out your instructions as “getreadytogoonthisone” because all you’re doing is catching everyone off guard and ensuring that you’re only gonna get 7 or so good strokes out of the 10 you just called for.

The only time I’d say this call wouldn’t be advised is when you’re trying to go up/down on the rate by more than 2-3 beats. You can easily get that in one stroke but if you’re trying to go from your start to a settle or your base pace to a sprint the rowers, particularly the stroke, is gonna need more time than that. During a race if you see a crew walking right through you, “in two” isn’t an appropriate call because that’s two strokes you’re giving up where you could otherwise be trying to counter their move. Same goes for pretty much anything that happens within the last 250m of the race – it’s all gotta happen on this one.

OVER

This is is the Gretchen Wieners of coxswain calls – totally misunderstood, undervalued and always trying to make something happen that is never gonna happen (unless executed properly, of course). The thing with this call is that one of two things usually happens: coxswains don’t know it’s an option so they don’t use it at all or they call for it but treat it the same way they do “in two”.

“Over” is what I like to call a progressive call – when you call for it, what you’re saying is “There should be small incremental adjustments happening on each stroke of the X number of strokes I called for. When all the strokes are completed we should have achieved whatever the initial call was asking for.”

Another way to say that is that you want to see something happen over the course of a couple strokes instead of on one specific stroke. If that still doesn’t make sense, look at it in terms of wave summation (not the actual physiology behind it, just the picture) – with each stimulus there’s a gradually greater response. That is what you’re looking for when you call for something to happen “over” a certain number of strokes.

When you use this one, you’re using it in conjunction with “on”, not “in”. Calling for something to happen over X strokes in two is wrong. I use this call primarily to bring the rate up or down and for miscellaneous technique things. If we’re rowing at a 28 and I want to take the rate to a 34, this is how it’d sound:

“OK we’re at a 28, let’s go to a 34 over three … on this one…” This call usually takes me about a stroke and a half to say if I say it exactly like that, which I normally do. I’ll say ‘OK we’re at a 28′ on the drive and ‘let’s go to a 34 over three’ on the recovery of the first stroke, followed by ‘on’ throughout the drive (I’ll draw it out to sound like “onnnn“) and ‘this one’ as the hands come around the turn at the finish.

“That’s one…” ‘That’s’ is said on the last three inches or so of the recovery (about the time when they start to square up) and ‘one’ is said right as they catch. When you’re bringing the rate up it happens on the drive, not the recovery so you should feel a difference on this first catch and drive. The next catch and drive you should feel a little more oomph and then a little more on strokes 2 and 3.

If you’re starting at a 28 and you’re shooting for a 34, ideally the rate would come up like this: [stroke 1] 29, [stroke 2] 31.5, [stroke 3] 34. Give or take half a beat or so that’s about where you wanna be when you’re bringing the rate up six SPM. In order to get the rate where you want it to be, you’ve got to communicate with your stroke seat and tell them the rates so they know how much more to bring it up in the X number of strokes they have left. Since I’m calling the stroke number at the catch, I’ll call the stroke rate at the finish so it sounds like “That’s one 29, two 31.5, and three 34, that’s it…”.

All of the above would also apply to bringing the rate down. During a race, if I see that the rate has jumped a couple beats then I’ll call for them to “lengthen it out over two on this one” while making leg calls on the drive and relaxation calls on the recovery.

The reason I get so specific is because “bring it down” says and does nothing. The biggest problem that arises from that call is some people will do it, some won’t, and whoever does do it won’t do it at the same time. By saying “over two” that tells them they’ve got two strokes to adjust the rate and “on this one” tells them when I want everyone to start making the adjustment. It’s also important to say the stroke rates here too so the stroke knows where he’s at and where you want him to be.

With technique, I’m usually calling for something related to posture. In particular, if I notice the rowers are starting to get tired, the strokes are a little sloppy, the boat feels heavy, etc. then I’ll say “OK over the next three let’s sit up on the seats and sharpen the catches … ready, now.” Following that I’ll make any relevant calls (“light on the seats”, “pop make it light“, etc.) and then after the three strokes are done I’ll say something like “yea, that’s it” to let them know that I feel the changes they made and to maintain that going forward.

The problem with “over”, as I mentioned in the beginning, is when coxswains call for it and then treat it like an “in two” call. This typically has to do with the rowers not understanding the difference in terminology, which is why it’s important that you explain to them what your calls mean. The most common thing I see is coxswains calling for the rate to come up over three or five and nothing changing until stroke two or four. Remember, it’s incremental. Each stroke should be a little bit more than the other. What the “more” is depends on what you’re asking for.

Now that that’s all been explained, I recommend finding a video that shows a straight on view of the boat so you can see everyone’s catches and practice making these calls. This one would be a great one to use – just mute the audio so you’re just focused on the blades.

Another thing you can do is get on an erg and go through all these motions yourself at varying speeds so you can get used to calling them at different rates. Practicing during the winter if you’re calling a practice is also a good time to work on this. Even if you’re not calling something, you can still watch the rowers and go through the calls yourself in your head.

Don’t get frustrated if you end up confusing yourself a few times either – I definitely did. I think it’s good to actually sit down and think about this stuff though so that you’re actually aware of how you’re calling it and when your making each individual call. I know it might seem silly and/or pointless but it is worthwhile in the long run because it helps you develop consistency in the timing of your calls (which translates to better timing and efficiency within the boat) and comes in handy when you have to explain to novices how to do this. If you know every. single. detail. and actually understand why you do things the way you do them, not only will you be able to explain it better but you’ll also set a good example for the other coxswains.

Image via // @stephenjones_

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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I am about average height for a rower but I have really small feet (like a size 6) and almost all of the shoes in the boats we have are size 12. Some I am able to tighten so it’s not too bad but in some of our older eights and fours its almost impossible. There have been several times when my feet have come out because they are not secure. Do you have any ideas of how to fix this?

Ah yes, the plight of the small-footed rower. (I can wear a size 2 in kids shoes so I sympathize with #smallfeetproblems.) The few times that I’ve gotten in a boat to row I’ve taken two pairs of extra socks that I have in my car and stuffed them up in the top of the shoe. It’s not the best solution but it’s not the worst either. I’m going to defer this question to the rowers out there though because outside of just dealing with it, I genuinely have no idea what you could do in this situation.

Help us out, guys – how do you deal with shoes that are too big for your feet? Is it just a matter of “sucking it up” or is there an actual tried-and-true solution?

College Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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I’m a junior in high school and I am starting to look at colleges. I am 5’3 and around 125 pounds. I currently row and would like to continue into college. Is it more realistic for me to try to row lightweight or maybe cox for a men’s team? Thanks!

This is one of the rare cases where one option isn’t necessarily more realistic than the other. They’re both equal in that respect but my initial thought is to say look into coxing because I think you’d have more opportunities (and options) if you pursued that over rowing (and you’re the perfect size for it). I spent some time though going through the roster lists of a couple of the lightweight programs across the country and just based on that small sample size, you could probably row lightweight if you wanted since your height matches (or in some cases, is taller than…) some of the rowers already on the team.

If the schools you’re interested in have a lightweight program or have at least fielded a lightweight 8+ in the last 2-3 years (with decent results), contact the coach. Same goes for men’s programs as well. Like I said, I think you’ll have more options if you choose to cox for a men’s team but you could easily do both depending on what the schools you’re looking at offer.

Q&A Rowing Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

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How do you deal with being burned out when you can’t take a break? We only have one race left but it’s not for another couple of weeks and I can’t bail on my boat because 1. WTF bailing on your coaches/teammates isn’t an option and 2. we don’t have any suitable alternates. I love rowing I’ve just been going nonstop for so many months that I physically and mentally need a hiatus. Is it just a “suck it up” type deal or a mental block that I can bypass?

I think it’s both – if you know you can’t take time off and there’s no one suitable to replace you then your only option is pretty much to just grit your teeth and HTFU. I think it’s also something you can … maybe not bypass completely but something you can at least work towards coping with, if that makes sense.

From my experience, the best thing you can do is tell your teammates. There’s four or eight other people in the boat with you and they all, theoretically, have your back. If you’re getting to the point of being over it to the max, tell them that you need some encouragement or a rousing pep talk or something to help you get your head back in the game. A couple of us did that my junior year and it resulted in all of us going on an impromptu trip to get slushies after practice and have a major bitch fest about pretty much everything we all had going on. (If I remember correctly, we were there when they closed which meant we sat there for probably close to five hours.) I think unbeknownst to each other, to varying extents we were all burned out on crew, school, college stuff, the SATs/ACTs, etc. and the thing we all really needed (in addition to getting away from the boathouse for a bit) was to know that we weren’t the only ones feeling like that. For the next two weeks or so, even though we were all scattered amongst the 1V, 2V, and lightweight 8+, we were able to give each other quick words of encouragement on the dock, in between pieces, etc. Not only did it help us stay focused but it also helped push us through that mental block, even if it was only for 2-3 hours a day for the last couple weeks of the season.

This was one of the moments where I really appreciated my teammates because I remember a couple of them saying things that I absolutely needed to hear … I just didn’t know it until they said it. We all admitted to not wanting to say anything to anyone because we didn’t want to be that person that seems like they’re not fully invested in the boat but it ended up being really good that we did. Like I said, your teammates should have your back and they should be supportive of you through good times and bad so hopefully if you bring this up with them they can give you some words of advice that’ll help you get through the next couple of weeks before your race.

If all of that isn’t an option, do your absolute BEST to only think about crew when you’re at crew. When you’re at home, at school, eating lunch, on the drive to the boathouse, walking through Target, etc. keep your thoughts on anything but rowing. Let your friends and family know that too and ask them to respect the fact that you’re feeling kinda burned out and only want to talk about/deal with crew between the hours of 3-5pm when you’re at practice. When you’re there, then like I said early, grit your teeth and suck it up for those couple of hours and then as soon as leave turn the crew part of your brain OFF.