So lately our varsity eight hasn’t been having the best time on the water and we found out yesterday what was causing the majority of their problems: the rib in the boat where 5-seat’s rigger attaches is broken due to being way overtightened over the years. This contributed to a lot of the set problems because … physics. I didn’t get to hear the full explanation because I was trying to do something else but suffice it to say, a broken rib in the boat pulls the rigger lower on that side, changes how force is applied through the water, and makes it very difficult for that rower to get their blade out of the water, amongst other things. Until we can get it fixed, we had to put the 5-seat rigger on port and move the 4-seat rigger to starboard, so we’ve got a weird bucket rig configuration going on in the middle of the boat.
We got this particular shell in 2004 when I was a junior, so it’s only 10 years old and the hope is that it lasts a couple more years before the team’s gotta buy a new shell. They just bought two new Resolutes within the last couple of years but that isn’t something that we (or most other teams) can afford to do on a regular basis, which is why taking care of the equipment is so important.
When you put your riggers on, only tighten the bolts finger tight, meaning no tighter than you can naturally turn them with your fingers. Your coxswain or coach will then go through with the wrench and tighten them more if necessary. There’s a lot more to the rigging of a boat than just tightening a few nuts and bolts (check out the “intro to rigging” tag for more on this) and if something happens where they end up too tight or too loose, the integrity of the entire shell’s rigging could be compromised, in addition to the height, pitch, spread, etc. of that individual seat.
Below are a couple pictures I snapped yesterday before we went out that show what the rib should look like (the first photo) compared to what the broken one looks like (middle two photos). You can see how it’s buckled from someone getting a little too aggressive with their wrench. The fourth photo shows a rib that hasn’t broken yet but is getting close because of the same thing.
Take care of your equipment and make sure you spend the time showing and explaining how the riggers should be put on to the new people at your club.
Hi! My coxing has gotten to the point where I can see the technical problems in my rowers, but sometimes I’m not sure how to call a correction on them. For instance, I know if someone is skying at the catch I can call the boat to focus on direct catches and “hands up at the catch” and things like that for stability…but there are others I’m less sure about. Would you please touch on good ways (positive reinforcement, they hate the word “no” in the boat) to call for the following problems in a rower?
Yanking at the finish
Swinging early
Rush on the last 1/3 of the slide (and she doesn’t respond to ‘patience up the slide’)
Inside arm bent
Washout (I know one call is to ‘lean into the rigger at the finish’ but is there anything else I can say?)
Drop-off in power due to lack of focus (focus calls help her, but I can’t do that every minute)
Thank you so much for your blog! I started coxing this year and this has been my go-to resource for improving, watching videos, and asking questions!
I’ll give you some pointers and things to look for but you’re on your own with working it into calls for your crew. It’s no fun for anyone if I do all the work (although feel free to email me with whatever you come up with and I’ll definitely give you some feedback). The best way to figure out what calls to make is to learn as much as you can about technique and then tell the rowers exactly what they’re doing vs. what they should be doing if what they’re currently doing is wrong. Until you have a thorough grasp of all the technical aspects, it’s better/easier for everyone to just explain it in it’s entirety during practice before chopping it all up into smaller, more monosyllabic calls. Plus, it reinforces for both you and the rowers how the stroke should look and feel.
Pretty much all of these are better to understand when you can actually show the person what you mean so try hopping on the erg with them or grab one of the better technical rowers on the team to help demonstrate what you mean. Unless you’ve got impeccable technique yourself, I would get a rower (or your coach) to assist you. If you get a coach to help you (which I would recommend over a rower but it’s your call), talk to them beforehand and ask them to let you explain everything and not to interject unless what you’ve said is 100% completely wrong. This gives you an opportunity to test your own knowledge and abilities to communicate that to your rowers without having someone else jump in, cut you off, or undermine you. This is also a chance for you to assert yourself and let your coach know that you’re trying to use this as a learning opportunity too so that they understand why you’re telling them to not try and take over what you’re doing. (Key word here is assert yourself. Most coaches are totally cool with backing off in situations like this but you have to let them know that’s what you need them to do.)
Doing this really helped me when I was learning how to spot technique errors when I was a novice. Afterwards, my coach and I would go over what I said together and they’d give me feedback on what/how I explained something, if I left something out, if there was a better or more efficient way of explaining something, etc. While I was explaining it though, if I made a mistake they let me make it because that helped me learn a lot better than if they constantly butted in and corrected me. Letting me explain things on my own, make mistakes if necessary, and then talking with me about it afterwards also helped me build a lot of confidence in what I was doing. If I knew I was going to have to explain something differently to my boat as a result of explaining it improperly the first time, I’d just tell them that I made a mistake earlier and this is what you actually need to do. Making mistakes is a natural part of the process when you’re learning something new so it’s OK to make them as long as you make an effort to not make the same ones again.
Yanking at the finish
Finishes are like relationships: you can’t force them, you’ve just gotta let it happen. Remind the rower(s) that the majority of the power on the drive should be coming from the legs (via the quads and hamstrings) and that the acceleration that occurs should be smooth and consistent. The legs and hands should be in sync so once the first part is completed, the back and arm motions should be seen as a continuation of the leg drive, not separate movements, if that makes sense. When you’re yanking the handle you’re separating the back and arms from the legs. What tends to happen when you have a jerky finish like that is you complete the first half of the drive (legs flat, back perpendicular to the hull, arms still out straight) and try to get the same amount of power out of of your back and arms that you got out of your legs, which isn’t possible thanks to the smaller muscle groups of the upper body.
The second half of the drive usually looks something like this as a result: pulling the handle up (creating an arc-like motion) instead of straight into the body (thus burying the blade deeper than necessary, making them think they’re doing more work than they actually are) and finishing the stroke in their lap (resulting in them washing out and having an incomplete stroke).
Try rowing with the inside arm only if you can; it’s pretty much impossible to keep the blade completely submerged and yank it into the finish if you’re only rowing with one arm. Another thing you can do (this is actually probably the better option) is to get on the ergs and pull up the force curve on the monitor (just press the “change display” button until it comes up on the bottom of the screen). I don’t recall if PM2 monitors have this so this may only work if you’ve got the newer PM3 or PM4 ones. If they’re yanking the handles they’ll see their force curve will have two peaks instead of one. You can see in the photos below what that’ll look like. The way they change this so that it shows only one peak is to adjust where and how they emphasize their legs, back, and arms.
Swinging early
I don’t know if you mean swinging on the drive or swinging out of bow so I’ll start with out of bow. I really don’t know what to say about that other than to just pay attention. Watch the shoulders of the person in front of you, anticipate (key word there … anticipate) their movement, and match their timing. You can usually see this if you watch their oars on the recovery – they move faster than the one(s) in front of them. Since the body swing comes after getting the hands away I’d also remind them to control the hands coming out of the bow and match them to the speed of the boat.
If you’re talking about swing on the drive, they’re opening their backs up early. This means they’re trying to use the backs before their legs are completely flat. This usually results in them laying back too far, rushing out of the finish (because they have to come up so much farther than everyone else), and not getting the bodies set on the recovery.
This was happening with one of my novice rowers last week. Her problem was that she’d have good body prep on the first stroke but as she was coming into the catch she’d let her butt come under her shoulders instead of keeping the shoulders in front, which meant that at the catch her upper body was perpendicular to the boat (as opposed to being at an angle with the body over). From the catch, she would push off and at half slide start to open her back, which would then make it hard for her to get her legs down with everyone else because the weight of her upper body moving towards the bow (plus the run of the boat) was pushing her butt, which is on wheels, towards the stern of the boat.
One of the things I told her was to imagine a brick wall at the end of her slide (not the end of her stroke, the end of her slide). As you go through the first part of the drive with the legs, you want the part of your body that hits that wall first to be your butt. If your shoulders hit it first then you know you’re opening up too early. The shoulders must stay in front of your butt (and over your quads, if that’s easier to visualize) until the leg drive is completed. Reminding them to engage their glutes (aka squeeze their butt) on the drive has also been something that’s helped some of the rowers I’ve coxed. If you sit in a pseudo-catch position right now and squeeze your butt you can kinda feel your core (abs + low back) tighten as well. Tight core = better posture = stronger back = less likely to open up early.
Another thing to focus on is direct catches. If you dive into the catch (hands physically down by your feet) your blade is going to be way up in the air, which means that when you push off at the catch there’s no resistance to keep you from opening your back up. Timing is key here, as is keeping the hands up and level on the recovery. When the slide is about an inch or so away from the catch, that is when you should start lifting the hands to put the blade in the water. If you don’t start lifting the hands until you’re already all the way up your slide, you’re gonna be late, you’re gonna miss water, and you’re probably gonna open the back too soon.
One of the issues that people tend to have with this (or as a result) is they think of the stroke as being a pulling motion rather than a pushing motion. I know we use the word “pull” a lot when trying to explain certain things but pulling really only applies to the very last part of the stroke (with the arms). The majority of the stroke happens because you’re pushing off with your feet. If you’re pulling on the handle right from the start you’re not getting any suspension (or hang) on the handle. In order to do that you’ve got to have the shoulders forward and your back supported (no slouching, sit up tall, contract your core, chin up, shoulders firm but relaxed). This allows you to push the boat rather than pull the handle.
One of the drills that really helps with this problem is rowing with the feet out. If you’re opening up the back early it is highly unlikely bordering on impossible that you’re maintaining any connection with the foot stretchers, which means that if you open up the back before you’re supposed to you’re going to fall backwards and into the lap of the person behind you. Rowing with the feet out (during warmups is a great time to do this) forces you to really think about the sequencing and not shifting your weight before you’re supposed to. The reverse pick drill is another drill that focuses on the sequencing on the drive – legs only, then legs and back, then legs, back, and arms. For someone opening their back early, your focus is going to want to be on emphasizing those first two progressions.
The other thing you can do to help them understand the concept of suspension is to get on the erg with them and have them come up to the catch. (Make sure they’re where they need to be and are in a good position – if they’re not, correct them.) You then go stand directly in front of the erg and grab a hold of the handle in between their hands. (Brace yourself against the erg if you need to but make sure you have a firm grasp on the handle.) On your call, tell them to drive back (not all the way, just the first inch or so) and feel the resistance you’re putting on the handle. What should happen is they should feel their weight come just slightly off the seat. That is the hang you’re looking for on the water. If you have mirrors in your boathouse, set the erg up parallel to them so you can watch their bodies and ensure that they’re driving back properly.
Rush on the last 1/3 of the slide
Pause drills. I did this with the eight I took out the other day for like, 30 minutes and I swear it made such a difference with their slide control. We did a two-part pause at hands away and 1/2 slide and started off doing it by pairs, then fours, then sixes, then all eight so that each group could get a sense of what the recovery should feel like without being rushed up the slide by another group.
Starting with the pairs let me focus on the individuals and (attempt to) correct whatever I was seeing that was contributing to them rushing the slide. It was honestly much (much muuuuch) more of a focus issue than it was anything else (as it is most of the time) but breaking it down and really forcing them to think about getting the hands away together, coming up the first half of the slide together, stopping at what is actually half slide (not 3/4 slide or full slide), having room to come the rest of the way into the catch, and doing so in a controlled manner was really the most effective way I think we could have gone about it. We spent a good amount of time finding where 1/2 slide is (never as far up as you think it is) and that helped a lot.
Talk to your coach and see if you can spend some time doing this during practice. Since he’ll have a much better view of the bodies and slides, listen to what he says (since you can’t see either of those things) and try to work the things he’s saying to the rowers into the calls you make. If you know specifically who the girl is that’s rushing, don’t be afraid to specifically call her out and say “Amanda, I need you to focus on slowing your slide down on the recovery between hands away and the catch…”. The calls I tend to make for stuff like this are “control”, “patience”, “relax”, “feel the recovery”, “stay long”, etc. but when it comes to fixing specific problems I just repeat whatever I’ve heard the coaches say since I can’t see anything that’s happening with their bodies or slides.
This isn’t something you should have a call for, it’s just a bad habit that needs to be broken. The only way to do that is to explain why they shouldn’t do it and then show/explain what they should be doing instead. Some coaches actually do teach you to row with a bent inside arm, which I don’t understand at all (please explain down in the comments if you do), but I’ve never had a coach teach my crews that and the coaches I’ve worked with that have taught that have gotten in such hot debates with the other coaches over whether it’s effective or not that, at the end of the day, it’s really just not worth it.
If you think of the arms as an extension of the oar handle, a bent elbow disrupts the transition of the load at the catch (resulting in not-as-strong of a hang). In order for you to have a good hang at the catch and not end up with elbow tendonitis later on in the season, the arms need to come away and get completely outstretched before the bodies come over and then stay that way until the final part of the drive when you bring the handle in. If, on the flip side, they’re having trouble getting the arms out with everyone else on the recovery, a) they need to practice everything at a slower pace so they can get the proper sequencing down and b) they need to be quicker (obviously … it’s really that simple). (Those things might sound counter-intuitive but I promise they’re not.)
Having the arms bent (on either the drive or the recovery) puts you in a vulnerable position too because it makes you less stable against anything that would offset the boat. One of the things I worked on with a four I took out yesterday was keeping the arms straight because whenever the boat would go offset it was partially made worse by one of the rowers having bent arms that would buckle as soon as the boat started tipping. This caused her hands to collapse down into her lap nearly every time which then exacerbated the set problems. Once we corrected the bent arm issue, the set problems were somewhat alleviated. It didn’t fix them but it definitely made a noticeable difference.
Washing out
This goes hand in hand with what I said about at the beginning about yanking the handle. If the rowers are washing out, they’re not finishing with the handle high enough on the body, rather they’re finishing with it in their lap. This is easily noticeable because there will be a lot of whitewater being thrown around as their blade comes out and the boat will likely tip over to that side a bit as the hands and rigger are forced down. They’ll also most likely have a shorter stroke than everyone else, leading to them extracting the blade early.
One of the ways I’ve explained it while coxing is that they’re pulling the blade down instead of through the finish. I tell them to make sure they keep the outside elbow up throughout the drive and through the finish, while focusing on using the lat muscles to draw the handle in to the lower rib. Another thing I’ve said (when all the “technical” rowing explanations aren’t working) is to imagine someone you really, really, really don’t like sitting directly behind your outside arm. Every stroke you take, your want your elbow to be up high enough for you to be able to elbow that person in the face. In order to do that, you’ve got to pull straight through, not down, and with a solid amount of force. I don’t know what it is about that analogy but it has helped fix so many problems related to washing out.
If after working on their finish position, drawing through, etc. you still notice the rower having a problem, talk to the coach about maybe looking at the rigging at that rower’s seat. If it’s rigged too high (less likely) or the pitch is off (more likely), that could be contributing to the problem. Work on technique first though before looking into this.
Drop off in power due to lack of focus
Yea, I lack the patience to constantly try to draw a rower’s focus back into the boat. Some coaches and coxswains are like “whatever, it’s part of the job” but I am so. not. one of them. If I have to say it more than once or twice in one practice (or every day, if it’s a habitual thing), I very sternly remind them that I am not there to babysit them and they either need to get their eyes and head in the boat or get out.
Even with novice crews, I get that you’re young and new to the sport and whatever but still, this is a skill you need to work on. I can’t (and refuse to) be held responsible for your inattentiveness. I’m not going to spend my time constantly telling you to keep the pressure up, stay focused, etc. when there are umpteen hundred other (more important) things I need to be paying attention to. The rowers can hear me telling that person to match up with everyone else too so it’s very likely that they’re going to start getting annoyed that this same person is constantly finding things outside of the boat more worthy of their attention. That’s happened before and trust me, you would much rather me harshly tell you to pay attention than have seven rowers get on your ass about it.
If I notice that it’s a continual problem with one specific person then I’ll pull them aside after practice, ask them what’s going on, and reiterate that I can’t constantly be telling them to stay focused and match the pressure of everyone else. I try to remind them that I’m not trying to be a bitch about it but they’re really not leaving me any option, especially if something has already been said to them multiple times. One on one conversations like that have always been more effective in my experience than any random call I could make in the boat.
If you’re getting tired midway through practice and that’s why your power is dropping off then you need to start running, biking, lifting, etc. on your own time to increase your cardio base and overall strength. If your power is dropping off because you’re getting bored or whatever, sorry but I don’t know what you want me to tell you. I explain too that there’s a reason why I’m always talking when I’m coxing and that’s to keep the rowers engaged and focused (I’ve found with my boats that the less I talk, the more unfocused my crews become). They should be listening to what I’m saying and evaluating themselves, what the boat is doing, etc. on every stroke.
I’ll also ask them if there’s something specific that I can say to help them refocus and over the next week or so, if I notice them starting to fall off or lose their focus, I’ll say something like “Allie, lemme feel that drive, big push, refocus heeere annnd send … good, now let’s maintain this pressure, making sure everyone is equally contributing to the boat speed, no passengers, pick it up and send…”. A huge part of being a rower (and coxswain) is understanding the concept of personal responsibility and this is one of those things that falls under that category. You either get it or you get left behind but in the end, whatever you do is your choice.
I recently had an anxiety attack in the boat (they didn’t notice and it was still safe). Part of the reason may have been because I’m not sure what to say. I’m good at short calls but as a junior coxing adult men (average age 45) I lack the confidence to make long calls and exercises that weren’t given to me. Do you have any suggestions of calls I could start with? We have been focusing on control on the slide and finishes. 🙂 Thank you!
Regardless of whether anyone noticed or not, coxswains having an anxiety attack in the boat isn’t safe, no matter how minor it is. It’s just not. I have anxiety (and panic attacks) too so I know it’s not something you have a lot of control over but that’s part of the problem – you don’t really have any control over what’s happening, which is also what tends to exacerbate some people’s anxiety in those situations, and it can leave you feeling distracted, dizzy, etc. (neither things that you want your coxswain to be feeling ever).
I’ve heard several stories from coaches about people having panic attacks in the boat and it can go from relatively minor and “I’m OK *deep breath* I’m OK…” to pretty serious and “We’ve gotta get him/her outta the boat now” (which they’ve gotta try to do while the person is sitting there having a combined panic/asthma attack). It’s just not something that you want to risk have happening, for the sake of that person especially, but also for the rest of the crew. You also don’t want to have your entire practice derailed either because of it but most people tend to not want to say that out of fear of being seen as “insensitive” to the issue (even though that’s a legitimate concern).
Not to minimize your situation but if you’re having an anxiety attack in part because you’re not sure what calls to make, as a coach, that would make me question your ability to handle being a coxswain in general or at the very least, your ability to cox a masters crew. Before you do anything else though I would really advise you to talk with the coach of that crew (if you haven’t already) and let him/her know that coxing them is intimidating to you and either figure out a plan for the two of you to communicate more on the workouts or to find another coxswain who can handle working with them. Jumping from coxing high school crews to masters can be tough at first and not everyone is cut out for it. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad coxswain or anything if you’re not but if it’s becoming too overwhelming to the point where you’re having a panic attack (or multiple attacks) while you’re on the water over something as simple as making calls, you really owe it to them to relinquish the seat to someone who is better equipped to cox them.
As a junior, assuming you’ve been coxing for three years now, you should have a solid arsenal of calls and drills in your back pocket that you can pull out if/when you need them. The coach should obviously let you know what he wants to do that day but he shouldn’t need to spoon-feed his coxswain every workout he wants done, drill he wants called, or call he wants made. If that’s what he has to do he might as well take out coxless small boats.
I’m not sure if by exercises you meant the actual workout or drills so I’ll try to hit both of those. Workouts are completely dependent on your crew’s training plan for the week (assuming you have one). When in doubt if you aren’t given a workout to do with them or you’re sent off on your own and told to put them through something, just do a long steady state piece, particularly if you’ve been focusing a lot on technique lately. 2×20, 3×15, at 18-22spm etc. are good ones to do.
As far as drills go, double pause drills are great for slide control (I like to pause at hands away and 1/2 slide) as are exaggerated slides, assuming your crew is skilled enough to row with good technique at borderline-obnoxiously low stroke rates (think 12-14spm). Catch-placement drills are another fun drill to do that help work on slide control. The main focus is on catch-timing (hence the name) but moving the slides together on the recovery is obviously a pretty big part of that.
When I make calls for the recovery/slide control, I like to draw out whatever I’m saying and get them to match their recovery length to the length of whatever I’m saying. I’ll say “relax”, “control”, “smooth”, “long”, “patience”, etc. for about three strokes, which gives the stroke a chance to match up his slide speed with my voice and for everyone else to fall in line with him. From there I’ll call it like that as I need to. The biggest thing I try to remind them of is that in order to have any forward momentum, they’ve got to have good ratio. You can’t have good ratio unless you’re patient on the recovery.
Another thing to remind them is that on the recovery they shouldn’t be pulling themselves into the catch or really doing that much work at all; all you’ve gotta do is let the boat run under you. If you looked out of the boat at the shoreline while on the recovery it should almost look/feel like you’re not even moving because you’re letting the boat do all the work.
For the finish, it depends on what you’re working on – clean releases, getting a good send at the end of the drive, etc. For clean releases, simple square-blade rowing is probably the most basic drill you can do because all you’ve gotta do is apply weight with the outside hand to extract the blade. You could also do this with the outside hand only if you wanted. Posture is critical when working on finishes too so make sure that’s something you’re making calls for.
Another drill is rowing with feet out since you’ve gotta have a solid finish with the arms to help you maintain your connection to the stretchers on the last part of the stroke. It’s not strictly a “finishes” drill but my coaches have always used it to help enforce good finish posture in my boats when we’ve been working on that part of the stroke. If you’re working on building power throughout the drive and finishing the stroke off with the max amount of send, you could do half-pressure catches building into full-pressure finishes. Not only does that work on quick catches but it also helps them feel the acceleration on the drive, all culminating in a full-pressure finish.
Since were still waiting for the river to be ice-free, I’ve been thinking about what I need to work on when we get back on the water. I’ve decided that coxing steady state pieces are harder for me to cox. I think it’s because I don’t want to talk to much but I’m also scared of not saying enough or being too repetitive. Do you have advice for coxing steady state workouts?
The first thing you’ve gotta do is talk to your coach and figure out what he wants to do that day. If you go out with the intent of coxing a 4x2k like I’ve outlined it down below but then find out that that’s not what he wants to do or he doesn’t know that’s what you’ve got planned then both of you are gong to be thrown off, especially you. Always communicate ahead of time and say “I saw we were doing X today and I wanted to know if you wanted me to run the workout in a specific way or if it’s OK if I do my own thing with them” … and then give them an idea of how you’ve planned it out. Get their input and be flexible. More often than not over the years if I’ve asked to run it on my own I’ve been allowed and the coaches will only chime in if/when they’re seeing something that I’m not or can’t. It’s a good way to establish yourself in the boat and with the coaches so I encourage you guys to try that the next time you go out for a steady state row.
Steady state pieces, despite occasionally being boring, tend to be some of my favorite on-the-water workouts because there’s a lot of flexibility when it comes to how to cox the rowers. I think you also have to not be afraid to just be quiet. That’s one of the hard parts about coxing is learning when it’s appropriate/necessary for you to talk and when it’s appropriate/necessary for you to not talk.
If we’re doing a particularly long piece, like 30-45 minutes of low-rate rowing, there are periods where I won’t talk for 2-3 minutes, sometimes up to 5 minutes, at a time. This gives the rowers an opportunity to focus on themselves, their own technique, finding and maintaining a rhythm within the boat, etc. without me chirping in their ear. It also gives me a chance to focus on my steering (which I’m always working on, regardless of what the workout is) and the blades. I usually try to watch for basic technique stuff unless there’s something specific I’ve been told to watch for, but I also like to challenge myself a bit and look for things that are naturally tougher to see from the front vs. from the side (such as rowing it in, washing out, etc.). I also like to guess what the hands/bodies are doing based on what the blades look like.
Whenever we stop for a water break or to spin I’ll go through everything I saw and ask the rower or the coach if they noticed that they were dipping their hands, lunging, rowing it in, etc. and see if I was right with what I deduced in my head. It’s a weird game I play with myself but it’s helped me so much over the years. I practically taught myself everything I know about technique by doing this. I’ll also talk to the coach and say something like “I saw X happening with [rower’s] blade so do you think saying something like [call] would help or is there a better way to address that?” I like doing this on the water if I can vs. off the water and away from the rowers because it lets the rower I’m talking about hear directly from the coach what I could/should say in that situation so that when they hear it again, they’ll know what I’m referring to. I also think it makes me look good because it shows that I’m not just along for the ride and even though I’m not saying anything, my brain is laser focused on what’s happening in the boat. Making myself look good is low on my list of priorities but it’s still a priority.
One of the best ways to break up a long steady state session is to do something like what I detailed in the post up above, that way it’s organized and you’re not just making random calls and going through the motions with no objectives or goals. I usually only do this if we’re doing 2x30min, 3x20min, etc. but you could do it with distance pieces if you wanted. If we’re doing something like 3x6k, 4x2k, etc. then I’ll cox them a bit more like we’re doing an actual piece, if that makes sense, while still focusing on just a few specific things. I like to break each individual piece into smaller chunks (i.e. 1000m) and focus on one or two things before combining everything we worked on in all of the previous pieces in the final piece.
On the “coxing intensity scale” where 1 is talking normally to your crew between pieces and 10 is a race, I’m usually around a 6 (relaxed but focused tone) for the majority of whatever we’re doing. I’ll bring it up to a 7.5 when emphasizing a particular technical point during a drill or calling 5s, 10s, and 20s during steady state so that the rowers stay engaged and alert (and I don’t get bored). During steady state, when it comes down to the last thousand meters or two minutes or whatever I’ll try to cox it a little more intensely (somewhere between an 8.5 and a 9) to help them push through to the end.
What helps with avoiding repetition in your calls is knowing your crew, the things they do well/need to work on, and the individual tendencies of your rowers. This requires you to be actively paying attention to what they look like on the ergs, what their blades look like on the water, what your coach is saying to them, etc. Sit down with the coaches before practice too and pick their brains about the rowers and what they’re seeing from the launch. If you’re coxing experienced rowers that were with a different coxswain last year, talk to that coxswain and get any info from them that you can about their tendencies, the calls they made for them, etc. A pretty solid understanding of all aspects of technique is crucial too. You should also get input from the rowers about what they want to focus on that day. Don’t confuse that with giving them options though because that’s not what you’re doing. They should know based on the last few practices what they need to work on individually and/or as a crew. (It should go without saying but all of this should be written down in your notebook too.)
Hi Kayleigh! I have an issue. One thing that coxes and coaches mention quite a bit during pieces, either on the erg or the water, is breathing. I know a lot of people like that, however whenever breathing is mentioned I start thinking about it and my breathing pattern gets screwed up and I have trouble breathing for a few strokes, which in turn screws up my rowing. I don’t want to keep having this problem however I don’t want to say something and be *that* person, especially since I’m new to my team.
Keep it simple – inhale on the recovery, exhale on the drive.
Most of the time coaches and coxswains talk about breathing because it’s an easy thing for rowers to forget to do. Plus, if everyone is inhaling and exhaling at the same time it can help to establish a rhythm in the boat. And, on top of that (but less importantly), it sounds really cool. Not getting caught off guard by them saying something about it really comes down to just being focused on what you’re doing and training yourself to not be so easily distracted. How you go about doing that is up to you. I don’t think it’s an uncommon problem though … I think I’ve known at least 2-3 people at each place I’ve coached that have had the same or a similar problem. If you ask your coach they can probably give you some advice too – that is their job, after all. If you don’t ask, they can’t help you. As a novice you get a pass for not knowing certain things because you’re new so how/why would you know them. You’re only that person if your question is out-of-this-world stupid or the answer is really, really obvious, neither of which apply here.
Hey! So last year I didn’t make a varsity boat though my ergs scores are very good, my technique was very bad. We just had our first day of practice of the season today, and I have another season and summer training under my belt now though, so I was hoping things would go better. But I seem to be having a lot of technique problems again. When your erg scores are bad, you just pull harder (though I’m worried I can’t repeat my erg scores from last season), but fixing technique isn’t concrete so it’s a lot harder to learn for me since I don’t really have a good sense of hand eye coordination and the smaller details of the stroke just seem so much for difficult for me than others. I mean, a lot the brand new freshmen yesterday already seemed better than me!!
Fixing technique issues can be really tricky because once you’ve developed a bad habit it takes twice as long (or longer) to break it. I was having a similar conversation with someone at practice today and what I told them was that it requires a frustrating level of concentration on your part because you’ve got to think about what each part of the stroke is supposed to look like and then consciously think about what your body currently looks/feels like in comparison. (If you’ve got some video of yourself rowing you can compare it to videos like the ones linked below too.) It helps if you can have a coach or experienced rower/coxswain sit with you for a bit before or after practice while you erg to give you some feedback on what you need to work on but at the end of the day it all comes back to you being willing to self-critique and force yourself to make the necessary changes.
If you know you’ve got specific issues that are really apparent when you’re on the water, talk to your coach/coxswain about that and have them watch you/your blade for a few minutes so you can get some direct feedback from them after practice on what you need to work on. Coxswains can usually tell a lot about your body just based on what your blade is doing so ask her what she’s seeing while you do your warmup or are rowing steady state. Work with her too and let her know that it’d be really helpful for you if she could work in a couple calls that relate to what you’re doing, even if it’s a just a simple reminder like “hands up at the catch”, “sit tall”, etc.
Comparing yourself to the freshmen isn’t going to do anything for you. Who cares if they pick it up quickly or not? Focus on yourself. You’ll be a lot more satisfied at the end of the season when you realize you focused your energy on the right things (like training) instead of on something dumb like worrying about other people being better than you.
I’m a college freshman, last semester I was one of the top rowers on the team, over winter break I tried to keep in shape but I was having back and knee pain so it was minimal. I came back slightly out of shape but got back into the rhythm. This semester has been a lot more competitive as far as erg scores and recently I’ve been having more knee pain. I’ve been going to the athletic trainer but they’re not 100% sure what it is, but they think it is my meniscus. There are days when I can’t erg because of the pain so I’ve been on the bike. When I do erg my scores are really bad (bad for me). It gets me really frustrated and I’m letting this injury get to me. I get flustered over bad workouts and it kills me inside when I can’t erg. I want my knee to get better, but I don’t want to take time off and fall behind and not make the 1st boat. It’s especially important this year because we’re going to Women’s Henley this summer. Any suggestions on getting over this mental block? (PS I was never told not to erg, so it’s not like I’m working out against what I was told to do.)
I sympathize with being injured and not being able to work out and I get how frustrating it is psychologically when you know you’re capable of performing better but what I don’t and never will understand – and this goes for everyone – is why athletes refuse to take the time off to let their injuries properly heal before they start trying to work out again. What is logical about pushing through an injury, being 50% all season, and then having to take off more time later when you could take the time off now, come back at 90-100%, and be in a much better position to contend for a spot in the top boat? There’s not always going to be an answer for every ache and pain and usually in those situations when the doctor says the best thing you can do for it is to rest, he’s not blowing you off or giving you some bullshit answer. That really is exactly what you need to do. Just because you weren’t told not to erg doesn’t mean you should keep doing it.
If it is your meniscus, being on the bike is just as bad as being on the erg or going for a run. I’ve had a dislocated knee before and have dealt with years of pain as a result. It was always thought that I’d partially torn one of the ligaments and my meniscus but since they were very minimal the doctors said they’d heal themselves and I’d be fine without surgery. The pain started acting up again pretty badly two years ago and I also thought it was my meniscus that was the issue. With all the traveling, walking, stair climbing, getting in and out of boats, etc. that I’d been doing it seemed like a legitimate possibility that I might have irritated it in some way.
When I went to the hospital to have it looked at, the two doctors I spoke with both told me to avoid anything outside of normal activity that could aggravate it further, which included biking since bending my knee (even slightly) was excruciating and it was thought that if I did have a torn meniscus that biking could tear it more if the already-torn flap became caught in the joint (which would then lead to a locking of the knee, which is when the torn part is caught in the joint and doesn’t allow the knee to straighten all the way).
The issue isn’t that you’re letting this injury get to you … the injury is getting to you because you’re not taking any time off. This isn’t a “mental block” situation. You can want your knee to get better all you want but until you suck it up and realize that that means no erging, no biking, no nothing until you figure out exactly what the issue is, you’re going to keep experiencing the same physical and mental pain that you’re dealing with right now. Do you honestly think that you or anyone else is 1st boat material when you’re not 100% anyways? I wouldn’t even consider putting someone in the first 8+ if I knew they were injured, regardless of how minor or severe it was. If you’re not 100% you can’t give 100%, simple as that.
I’ve said this a few times already to other people and I’ll say it again: there are few things within this sport that piss me off more than people who don’t take care of themselves, regardless of whether it’s conscious or not. Why does it irritate me so much? Because it’s not all about you. If one person is injured, the other eight people in your boat all might as well be injured too. Ignoring your injury and thinking you’re “pushing through it” for your teammates is bullshit. Ignoring and pushing through it so you can be in a good boat is even more bullshit. Anyone that needs me to explain why that is should seriously reevaluate your definition of what a team sport and team player is.
One of the questions that I’ve gotten most frequently is about summer camps for this year. I’m going to start working on that stuff over the next week and hope to get it all up by mid-February-ish. I’d like your help though! Last year a lot of people (mainly parents) asked my opinion about various programs and for most of them, I knew nothing. I think it’d be good to include some anecdotes about the experiences other people have had, that way people can get a real idea of what the program is like and whether or not it’s worth the money.
If you’ve attended a summer camp at a university or done a summer-long program like Penn AC, Vesper, or the USJNT (dev camp included), send me an email (rowingandcoxing@gmail.com) and let me know the following:
Which program you attended, where it was held, and how long it lasted (i.e. One week-long camp at XYZ University in [city, state]).
Pros/cons – what did you like and/or not like (preferably one of each so as to keep it fair)
Was it worth the money?
Would you recommend it to other people?
What was your biggest takeaway from the program, i.e. what was the biggest/most helpful thing you learned
Extra special bonus points for programs aimed at coxswains, programs held outside the US for the non-US readers, and programs not on the East Coast. I always get questions for programs in the Midwest, on the West Coast, etc. and have a hard time finding stuff or knowing where to look since I’m on the East Coast. If you’ve gone to any of these email me!!
Everything will be anonymous as usual so no need to worry about your name being attached to anything once I get it up. There’s no limits on length either so don’t feel like you have to leave anything out. For the parents that read this, feel free to email me too and let me know from your perspective what you thought of the camp that your kids attended. Thanks for your help!
So I have a question. My rowers are asking me to take power 10s basically every 20 ish strokes. It seems excessive to me but I feel like I should follow their request. What do you think? Thanks!
My first question is why are they asking you to take them every 20ish strokes? I’d figure the answer out to that first before deciding whether to acquiesce their request or not. I’ll agree that that does seem a bit excessive but if you’re doing it during practice, say during a steady state piece or something, then I think it’s fine. On occasion I’d do that with my eights when we were doing longer pieces to break up the monotony – they wouldn’t just be power 10s though, they’d be 10s for something, but hopefully that part’s obvious.
During a race, yea, that’s pretty pointless. When you do any kind of burst the output is typically expected to be just a bit above normal compared to the rest of the race. If you’re rowing at 96% as your “baseline” then the 10s or 20s you take, assuming you use them sparingly and strategically, should be able to be right around 98%. If your base is 96% and your consistently taking 10s/20s then right around 750m in you’re going to stop feeling any difference in power between your base and the bursts. Around 1250m you’ll start to feel everything falling off and nothing will be as powerful because they essentially wasted their energy and spun their wheels in the first half of the race.
Talk to them and figure out why they want you to call 10s so often and then decide from there. Just because they’re requesting something doesn’t mean you have to do it. Life’s full of little disappointments like that. If you don’t think it’s an effective use of your time though then tell them why (you can use what I said up above if you want, just don’t just say “no, that’s dumb, shut up and row”). It’s also possible that they’re asking you to call power 10s because they don’t think you’re talking to them enough or giving them enough feedback while you’re rowing and since power 10s are an easy “go to” thing to tell the coxswain to do, that’s what they’re doing. Regardless of what it is though, you need to communicate with them and figure out why they’re asking for this, why they think they need it/what they think they’re getting out of it, and then decide if it’s a worthwhile use of your time. Talk to your coach too if you’re unsure. They know your crew better than I do so they’d be able to say “yea, they need some practice taking some hard strokes when they’re tired (like they will be during a race)” or “no, that’s not what they need to be doing, rather you should have them do something like this instead: _____”.
