My coach always emphasizes a quicker leg drive. I can get them down fine without it being a problem but sometimes I try to go quicker than normal on the leg drive and it doesn’t seem AS powerful. Why? Is this cause I’m not getting enough pressure behind the blade? Is there any way to improve on this?
The way I’m picturing it is you’re shooting your slide and then trying to use your upper body to get the oar through the water. This would make it feel less powerful since you’re using the smaller muscles of the upper body to get the oar through the water instead of the larger muscles of your legs. This is something I’ve noticed a lot of rowers do when coaches tell them to focus on a quicker leg drive – they shoot their butts back, which results in a lot of wasted energy since you don’t have those strong quad and hamstring muscles to pry the boat out of the water right at the catch. Shooting your butt can also sometimes cause you to miss water, so not only are you losing all that leg power, but you’re also losing the top part of your stroke, so instead of your stroke being 100%, it’s about 45%.
To fix this while still getting that quick leg drive, work on connecting the leg drive to the handle. Having a direct catch and getting the blade in the water before the wheels change direction will really help with this because you’ll have some resistance to work against as you start your drive.
When all else fails, have a serious talk with yourself while you’re in the boat. Think about the effectiveness of your body vs. the speed of the boat – what do you need to do/change/improve so that you are maximizing your body’s effectiveness to increase or maintain the speed of the boat? Ask your coach if he/she can take some video of you and then go over it with you and your coxswain after practice one day. Actually seeing yourself row and having your coach be able to point things out to you will make it a lot simpler for you to visualize what they’re trying to say. Having your coxswain there will also help her understand what the issue is so that she can be conscious of it and remind you of what to watch for (or encourage you when she notices improvement).