As I’ve been talking to coxswains and listening to recordings I’ve been thinking that it’d be worthwhile to explain power tens in a bit more depth so you have a better idea of what they are, what they aren’t, what their purpose is, etc. Having this understanding will, hopefully, make them a more efficient part of your race plan/strategy as we head towards the peak of racing season.
Power 10s are strategic bursts that you take during a race. 99.8% of the time they should be called for something if you want to achieve maximum effectiveness. Giving each one a purpose gives the rowers something to latch on to, for lack of a better term, whereas just calling a plain “power 10” isn’t likely to make them do anything different than they were before.
Power 10s are also one of (if not the) biggest misnomers in the sport of rowing. We call things “power 10s” even when they’re not strictly about power because there aren’t really any other words for them. I’ll also call them “bursts” if I’m taking a 5 or something short and sweet like that. I’ve actually been trying to get away from calling them “power” 10s and instead just say “gimme 10 for…”, “let’s take 5 for…”, “get ready for our 20 at 750m…”, etc. The reasoning for that is because when I take a 5 or 10 for leg drive (i.e. power) I don’t want the word “power” to be diluted because I use it for every other move/burst I take even when they have nothing to do with power.
What power 10s aren’t
Power 10s are not something you should just randomly call during a race because you think that’s what you’re supposed to do because you’ve heard other people do it. You’re less likely to get a response from your crew in terms of power, effort, etc. if you just yell “power 10” and start counting.
Does a power 10 have to be 10 strokes?
No. Obviously if you say “power 10” then you should call 10 strokes but you can do other variations too, like 5, 15, or 20. If you call anything more than ten strokes, make sure you’re separating them into chunks of ten rather than counting the whole thing sequentially – i.e. a 20 would be two sets of 10, counted out “…8, 9, 10, 1, 2, 3…” rather than “…8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13…”.
Similarly, a 15 (also known as a “5 and 10”) would be counted out as five strokes followed by ten strokes. Usually if I call something like this I’ll actually count the five strokes down as a way to build into the ten strokes, which I’ll count up like normal – i.e. “…3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3…”.
Do all of those have the same purpose/mean the same thing?
No. This is how I usually (not always but ~90% of the time) treat each burst:
5-stroke burst
I tend to call a 5-stroke burst for things related to technique (i.e. sharpening up the catches, holding the blades in through the finish, smooth/even power on the drive, body swing/length at both ends), posture (i.e. supporting the bodies, staying tall, relaxed upper body, eliminating the tension), internal focus (i.e. rowing our race, establishing/re-establishing the rhythm, individual responsibilities), or other miscellaneous things like breathing, commitment, legs, etc.
10-stroke burst
I call 10s when I want to take seats (no more than two, maybe three) or walk on another crew.
15-stroke burst
15s are the overlooked middle child of power bursts. I don’t call them very often but when I do it’s because I’m trying to kill two birds with one stone. Like I mentioned before, I almost always count the five strokes first (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) followed by the ten (1, 2, 3…) because I like the “prep/build” period that those five strokes give you.
The only time where I would do the opposite is coming into the sprint where you would typically build for a few strokes coming into it anyways. In that case I’d count the ten first followed by the five, which would act as the “five to build” where you’d be bringing the rate up.
20-stroke burst
20s are strictly for making big moves on another crew or walking on/through the field. These should be used sparingly during a sprint race (once is sufficient, twice is enough, three is too many) but you can usually get away with maybe three or so during your average-length head race.
How do you count out each one?
This is mostly a personal preference thing with some input from the rowers on what they like best. This is what I was taught and also what makes the most sense to me so it’s what I do and teach. During a normal 10 or 20 during a race, I count up (1, 2, 3…). If I’m building into the sprint or prepping them for a big move/shift, I count down (5, 4, 3…). If I’m counting down the last [however many strokes] to the finish line I count down (10, 9, 8…). If I’m calling something “in two” I count up (1, 2…). Occasionally I’ll say “in two … in one…” but normally if I’m not just saying “on this one” I count up.
Again, this is mostly a personal preference thing but this is how I try to call them in race situations. During practice you can be a bit more lax if you want unless you’re doing a piece or something simulating your race, in which case you’d want to call them like you do during a race. This helps familiarize the crew with how you do things so there are no surprises on race day.
5-stroke burst
“Aaron, blade in right at the front end, direct to the water. Let’s take 5 to sharpen ’em up together, ready, now. Sharp, send … sharp, send … sharp, yea Aaron … together … sharp, yea there we go! Grab the water and send…”
10-stroke burst
“Alright, two seats down on UVA, I got Adrienne on their 3-seat. Let’s take ten to get even, get it on the legs and through the water … on this one. Power through, power through YEA TIGERS, 3 walking, 4 1 seat down, 5 here we go, jump send, jump half a seat, 8 reel ’em in, 9 big legs, 10 EVEN! Sitting coxswain-to-coxswain, stay solid with the legs and move now…”
15-stroke burst
“Coming up to the bridge, 400m to go, let’s sit up, take a deep breath, and get ready to take 15 into our sprint – first 10 for commitment on the legs, last 5 to build the rate up – ready to go in 3, in 2, in one, COMMITTTTTT … 1 together, 2 drive it down, 3 send it out, 4 send it out, legs keep the length, legs BOWBALL, legs push ’em back, 8 ready to build 9 we move together, 10 here we go, NOWon the legs, together 34.5, together 35, punish them 36, last 250 breathe … go now!”
20-stroke burst
“Sitting in second, 8 seats up on Cal, 3 seats down on Stanford coming into the third 500. Let’s get our minds ready for the 1000, shift that focus internal and get ready to move. We’re taking seats – no mercy. Ready to go in 3 … in 2 … in 1, get on it and ATTACK! Gimme that bow ball, 2 yea Tigers, 3 chaaa, 4 chaaa, jump send ’em back, jump send ’em back, 7 BOWBALLLLL, 8 finish them, ready to move we’re one seat down, up 2 to get even, HERE WE GO NOW, send it out, 2 walking, 3 YEA, 4 half a seat, get it yea, EVEN yea, stay on it send, leeegs send it, 9 half a seat up, 10 YEA TIGERS! One seat of open on Cal, got the stroke of Stanford. Sharp with the catches, our bow ball stays in front. Stride it out to base … on this one, length and power, length and power…”
Where and how often should you call for a burst?
Read the post linked at the beginning on where to call them (there’s a bit of strategy definition in there too) and the post linked below for some thoughts on frequency. If you twisted my arm and made me give you a number of how many bursts you should take over the course of 2000m, my gut reaction would be to say a max eight. That includes one 20 (your “big” move), two or three 10s, a couple of focus 5s, and whatever build you do into your sprint (if you do one).
For 1500m, I’d say six total (one 20, a couple 10s, and maybe one or two 5s) would be sufficient. You don’t want to burn your crew out by calling ten after ten after ten and you most especially do NOT want to that coxswain that counts every single stroke of the entire race.
The bottom line is to call and use these bursts responsibly. Rowers, don’t be afraid to talk to your coxswain too if you have concerns over their use of them since feedback on stuff like this is much appreciated.
So, I have been coxing for two years, and really enjoy races. However as it’s regatta season coming up, I need a bit of advice on race. How much do you want to be talking in races? My rowers said they want me talking constantly, but my coach advised not to because the rowers usually end up blocking it out. Also, do you have any calls you find really motivate your crew? I don’t want to just be reciting calls without them meaning anything but then I don’t know what to fill the gaps with. We have had loads of really successful coxes from our club so I’m under lots of pressure to be good! :/ Also, sorry I know this is a lot, but I am 5’3″ and weigh 105lbs, is this too big or heavy for a junior 14s coxie? Thanks a bunch, love this blog!
In terms of how much you should be talking, always go with what the rowers ask for. I talk pretty consistently when we’re racing or doing pieces because I don’t feel like there’s any reason why I shouldn’t be. If the rowers want/need you to always be talking, then that’s what I do. In my experience my crews have told me that even if they aren’t specifically processing some of what I’m saying, my voice and how I’m saying what I’m saying is what’s keeping them engaged and their focus in the boat.
I really cringe when coaches tell coxswains how to do stuff like this because so often it comes from their own personal experience as a rower and is based off of what they didn’t like about their coxswain. That’s fine but … your experience isn’t everyone else’s. The same applies to me though too – what my crews have asked me to do might be different than what your crews want you to do.
The best thing you can do in situations like this is to take into consideration the advice you get from outside people (your coach, me, etc.) and then go straight to your rowers and say “Re: talking while racing, I’ve heard X and Y … which applies to us?” and find out straight from them what they want. Communication is key!
Regarding motivating calls, check out the post linked above. This is another spot where you should talk with your rowers and ask them what would really get them going during a race. Don’t over think it because the most effective calls are usually the simplest ones. Several of the recordings that coxswains have sent me lately have included really simple calls that just relate to their school/team, such as “Yea Tigers!”, “Go Big Red!”, “Here we go, Huskies!”, etc. When you’ve got time, scroll through all the coxswain recording posts and look at/listen to some of the calls I pointed out.
As far as your height/weight goes, you’re five pounds under the minimum of 110lbs – you’re fine. That’s probably the most common size for female coxswains so no, it’s not too big or too heavy.
The biggest thing that I noticed in this recording was that he used a lot of basic calls but never actually said anything to the rowers (except on like, two occasions) or made a call about their position on other crews. It was mostly a good example of how some coxswains go out with this “tunnel vision” mindset where they execute the race plan and kinda ignore/forget about everything that’s happening within their own gunnels or in the lanes around them. He also did a lot of counting and counting down to things that didn’t really need countdowns. I like the “in 2 … in 1…” countdown but is that really necessary just to note the 500m mark? It wasn’t a bad piece overall though – how he said his calls almost made up for the fact that he was saying a lot without saying much at all. The best part of the race by far though was that turn through Strawberry Mansion. If you’re a Philly coxswain, definitely take note of that execution.
At 1:11 when he says “back it in”, make sure you’re not making catch-specific calls like that midway through the drive of that stroke. You don’t have to say each stroke number when you’re counting out a five or a ten so if you call your strokes at the catch (like you’re supposed to) but have a catch-specific call to make, just replace that number with your call. You could also say “back it in, one … back it in, two“, etc. and say the number of the stroke you’re on at the finish. Point being though, don’t make catch-specific calls at any point other than the catch, otherwise the effectiveness of that call is lost. Same applies to finish-specific calls.
Other calls I liked:
“At the wire, you’re bringin’ the fire…”
George Washington University vs. Holy Cross 2014 GW Invite MV8+
At the start you hear Connor say “when they say our name, bury ’em…” with regards to getting the blades fully buried before the start. Watching crews lock on and lock in right at that moment is pretty cool. The point of doing this, regardless of whether you do it when you hear your name or when they call attention, is that it helps ensure everyone’s blades are in the water and in the best position to allow them to take a powerful first stroke. It’s something worth practicing though because sometimes people get a little too aggressive with it and jerk their hands up, which throws the boat off, causes them to dig too deep at the start, etc. This is also why I like that “sharp and shallow” call he makes because it’s a good reminder to keep the catches on point without lifting the hands too much.
Listen to the slide speed during the starting 20 between 0:40 and 1:10, then listen to it right at they transition into their settle at 1:11. You can actually hear the slides lengthen out. Between that and the sharpness of the catches throughout the piece, this race is so satisfying to listen to. A few strokes later at 1:39 he says “about half a seat down, no worries…” in the most chill tone, which is exactly how you should tell your crew you’re down, particularly at the beginning of the race.
I’m a huge fan of how he makes that “long, rhythm…” call at 1:45. Rhythm in rowing means that the crew is relaxed, they’ve got good swing, they’re getting good run, and they’ve just got a smooth, consistent flow going. One of the best ways to tell if your crew has a solid rhythm is to feel the boat and then look at the stroke rate. Does it feel like you’re rowing at the rate your cox box displays? If it feels like you’re rowing lower than the displayed rate, that’s usually a good sign that your crew’s got a good rhythm.
Another thing you can do to gauge your crew’s rhythm is to watch the shoreline. (This is best done during practice.) If the crew is moving well together and not rushing then you should notice that on the recovery you stay in relatively the same place in relation to something on shore. You only surge forward on the drive. If you ever get a chance to ride in the launch, pick a rower and watch for this. If you’re feeling like the boat is being rushed or like there’s no consistency in motion between the rowers, a call like “long, rhythm…” (spoken in the same way Connor said it) is a simple and to the point call to make. It’d also be a good call to make coming out of the start and into your settle as a way to help establish the rhythm following the frenzy of your high strokes. In order for a call like this to actually get the message across, it’s important that during practice or off the water you communicate with them what rhythm actually is so that they know the “deeper meaning” behind the call you just made. Practice is the time to do the explaining and clue them in to what your calls mean, that way during races you can be short and to the point in order to keep them engaged and sharp.
At 2:36, I like how he jumped on the opportunity to move and made that “now we walk” call. Whenever you’re down on another crew, if you take a five or ten for something you should always be watching to see if that burst resulted in you walking on the other crew, even if that wasn’t your original intention. If you do gain on them, capitalize on that and immediately say “even”, “gained a seat”, etc. followed by something like what he said here: “now we walk”. These opportunities are rare and fleeting over the course of a 5-7 minute race so when they come up, don’t miss out on them.
“They came out too hard, now we punish them” – this is another opportunity that you can capitalize on if you’re paying attention. If you notice a crew go out hard and fast, you’ve gotta make a judgement call: do you push your crew to keep up and risk burning them out too early or do you wait for the other crew to crash and burn so you can (hopefully) walk through them with a strong finishing 500? If you wait and see the other crew starting to fall off pace, jump on it immediately. They made a mistake, now’s your chance to burn them. Bonus points if you lock eyes with someone in the other boat when you tell your crew they came out too hard – trust me, it’s a whole new level of (twisted) joy you have to experience to understand.
Another call that I thought was smart/good was the “internal now” call. If you’ve been making several calls in a row about other crews, following them up with something “internal” helps bring the focus back to you guys. He makes a similar one a little bit later where he says “focus on me, not on them”, which is particularly useful if/when you see rowers looking out of the boat. (That should be a cue though that if they’re looking out of the boat they’re probably trying to see where the other crews are so you should give them a position update if you haven’t done so in awhile.) Also with regards to internal calls, with the “one bad stroke, get it back” call, regardless of why it was a bad stroke, move on. Make this call to keep the rower(s) present and focused on the strokes ahead, not the ones (s)he’s already taken.
Last thing – at 3:28 he says “we gotta keep moving”, which I think is one of those calls that sometimes we know we need to make but aren’t sure if we can or should make because it’s demanding and coxswains don’t always feel comforting demanding their rowers do something. Your job though is to execute the race plan and strategize in real time what the crew has to do to finish ahead. If you find you’re just sitting on a crew (not giving anything up but not taking anything either), get aggressive and make a call to recommit, get the catches in, and drive the legs. Don’t let the crew settle for anything because you never know when the other ones are going to make a move and surge ahead.
Other calls I liked:
“Sharp and shallow…”
“Ready … steady … now!”
“They’re fucking toast!”
You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.
Hey! I’m a novice coxswain and yesterday we had our first race which we lost by a lot. I struggled with trying to motivate my boat when we really didn’t have a chance of coming back. I could tell everyone felt pretty defeated and I didn’t know what to say to keep them working hard. Do you have any advice on what sort of calls I can make if this happens again? (Fingers crossed it doesn’t)
Check out the two posts linked below. The first one is a video from the Harvard, Penn, and Navy race from last spring and the second is a question about coxing off of other boats when you’re doing pieces at practice. Both touch on similar issues of one boat being way ahead of the other(s) and ways to deal with that as the coxswain.
The toughest thing is not letting what you’re seeing come across in your tone of voice. If the rowers start to detect any sign of defeat in your voice it’s going to change the entire attitude of the boat. It can from “yea, we’re in this!” to “screw it, why bother” in a very short period of time if you’re not careful. Don’t start getting overly-motivational because that just makes it obvious that you think they have no chance but on the flip side, don’t get completely dour or silent either.
I was fortunate enough that I was only in this position maybe two times that I can remember and the thing that I told my crews both times was that regardless of where we finished, we were going to cross the line looking, acting, and rowing like a first place crew. Being down in a race is no excuse for letting your technique get sloppy or your attitude to become “woe is me”. Losing a race and having a bad race aren’t synonymous – you can lose and still have a good row. The crews that are ahead should always be just the tiniest bit afraid that you could come back on them at any given second. It doesn’t matter if you’re in first place or fifth place though, you should finish the race rowing as hard and as well as you can.
This is where intrinsic motivation is so important because, like you said, it’s easy for a coxswain to just run out of things to say to keep their rowers going. The rowers should have their own personal reasons for being out there (that their coxswain doesn’t know about) that they can rely on for motivation when they need a reason to keep going. I would try to remind the rowers in close races or races where we were down a few seats (particularly in the 3rd 500) to think about why you row … what do you do it for? … and then we’d take a BIG refocus 5 for that. I wanted to be able to feel their motivation in those five strokes. This would always gain us back a couple seats and from there, I’d cox them like normal until we crossed the line.
The best thing you can do is to find something that will put a bit of energy back in the boat and then capitalize on that. There is no “magic call” for this and it’ll very rarely be the same thing between boats – it’s gotta be completely unique to each crew, something that you only know because you know your rowers and what drives them. They key is remembering that all you’ve gotta do is ignite a spark and let the fire follow. Once you see the fire in your rowers, fuel it like you would during any other race.
Another thing I’d say to them is something our coaches said to us after a particularly rough practice and before all of our races: who do you row for? They’d ask us two to three times, louder and more aggressively each time, WHO DO YOU ROW FOR? My interpretation of that was that they were always reminding us that what we’re doing is bigger than any one individual. You’re rowing for each other, your teammates, and for the pride you have in your program. Pride and dignity should be two huge forces that drive your crew and you want to be able to cross the line with both of those things intact regardless of where you finish.
Talk about the importance of mental toughness with them too. Remind them that just because there’s a voice in your head telling you there’s no point in continuing to row hard doesn’t mean you have to listen to it. Also remind them that the other four or eight people in the boat aren’t giving up, which means they can’t either. The only time you should ever assume anything during a race is that you’re the only one doubting yourself. Always assume that the other four or eight people are 100% confident in your abilities as individuals and as a crew. That should be enough to change your mindset really quick.
Finally, talk to your crew about your race and find out what they were thinking, how they felt, and what you could have said to keep them going. Get their feedback and use all of that to help shape your calls for next week. Whenever you feel them starting to slip off the pace (this applies to practice too), use what they said to you about your last race to keep them going hard in this race.
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.
Australia 2011 Rowing World Championships A-Final Lightweight M8+
This is a style of coxing that is so completely unlike what I’m used to that I don’t think I can give a good critique of it. The calls are a lot choppier than the “American” style and he’s so much more silent during the actual race, primarily during the first 500. There’s definitely a time and place to be quiet but I don’t think during a 2k is it. You can hear his tone and energy ramp up as the race goes on, although he does get a little shout-y as they come into the last 250m. You can justify that to an extent because they’re so tight with the Italians but that serves as a good reminder that even in the high-energy parts of the race, it’s important to maintain your composure.
Other calls I liked:
“Breathe in our rhythm…”
“Transition legs to bodies … this one, now…”
MIT Lightweight 8+ 1997 Eastern Sprints Heat
They start polling the crews around 3:00 into this recording. Instead of saying “Attention, go!” like we’re used to though they do the countdown start and follow it up with “Are you ready? Go!”, which I’ve never actually heard at the start before.
This is probably one of the most straightforward races I’ve ever listened to. It’s a good example of the whole “do everything right, no one will notice, do something wrong, everyone will notice” thing that is one the main tenets of coxing. Nothing really stands out because he just does his job and says/does everything he needs to do … which honestly, is exactly what you want. We always listen to these recordings and point out the great, the good, the meh, the bad, etc. and I’d say this definitely falls under “good” but in the most unobtrusive way, which is totally fine. Basically what I’m saying is that not every recording has to have some amazing call or move or thing that we point to and use as the defining feature of what makes that audio good. Sometimes they can just be “good” because the coxswain executed the race plan for the full 2000 meters with good energy, good tone, and good awareness of what was happening around him.
You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.
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.)
Hey! So during races, do you think it’s acceptable to yell to your own crew that “the other coxswain is swerving and looking nervous” or something like that? Is that abusive to the other lanes? And also to say for instance “lane 1 is gone, they are dying”. Are those decent calls? Thank you!
I’m definitely the kind of coxswain that gets way too much pleasure out of messing with other coxswains and crews but I do think you’ve gotta draw the line somewhere. There’s a difference between saying “5-seat’s not getting her blade in” and “their coxswain can’t steer” because saying something about their coxswain steering just seems like a cheap shot to me. Whether or not it is, I donno, but it’s probably just because I’m a coxswain that I think it’s not OK to say something like that. I wouldn’t say it’s abusive but in terms of good sportsmanship I think it’s questionable.
Plus, you’re the only one that’s going to care about whether or not she’s steering straight. If you say that during a race the rowers are probably just going to think “HA sucks for them” (if they think anything at all) but not really do anything different with their own rowing, whereas if you say “5-seat’s not getting her blade in” you can follow that up with “let’s take 5 for sharp catches to show ’em how it’s done”. When I’ve noticed other coxswains swerving a bit I just keep it to myself but commit extra hard to steering as pin-straight as possible for the next 10-15 strokes. Depending on how much the other coxswain’s steering is off it can be an easy way to grab a seat on them.
I do think it’s OK to say something about someone in another crew looking nervous because if you can see them looking out of the boat at you or you can hear the coxswain saying something about you guys coming up on them, trying to make a move to hold you off, etc. you’ve already started to break them. From there it’s up to you to capitalize on that. If you listen to this recording around the 1:30 mark you’ll hear the coxswain say they’re going to go off the other crew’s move. That can be huge for your crew if you call for them to take a move like that. Knowing that the other crew is already nervous that you’re breathing down their necks is just a nice psychological boost on top of all that for your rowers. Same goes for saying stuff about other crews fading.
All in all, I think whether or not they’re decent calls comes down to how you say them. If you’re saying “her steering sucks, their bow seat can’t row for shit, etc.”, that’s not OK. That’s just poor sportsmanship. Instead, phrase them in a way where you’re not sparing their feelings (because let’s be honest, where’s the fun in that) but you’re still getting the message across that you’ve found their weakness and now you’re going to exploit it.
Dartmouth University 2011 Eastern Sprints Lightweight 8+ Heat
One early takeaway from this recording is how quickly and seamlessly he gives their position on the crews around there – “half a length up on Cornell, holding our margin on Princeton”. The easiest way to make communicating that information to your crew as effortless as he did is to know who’s in your race (duh/obviously) but if you’re a novice coxswain who isn’t used to racing six crews across, a simple hack is to write the crews (in lane # order) on a piece of electrical tape (with a Sharpie) and tape it above your foot.
Around 4:20ish you can see that Princeton’s already taken the rate up and Dartmouth … hasn’t. Their coxswain called that lengthen 10 and then the “big focus 5” (personally I think those should have been switched) and seemed to completely miss Princeton taking it up until they were already a few strokes into their sprint and had started to full even. They still won the heat and obviously that’s the most important thing but you’ve gotta make sure that you’re not so focused on calling moves that you forget to look at what’s happening around you, especially in the last 500 (or 300, in this case).
Other calls I liked:
“That’s it Dartmouth…”
“Grip and breathe…“
“Keep your focus internal, they’re not taking seats any time soon.”
Dartmouth University 2011 Eastern Sprints Lightweight 8+ Grand Final
Following the previous recording, this is the grand final from Sunday afternoon.
His intensity is great and like all good coxswains, it’s not about what he says but how he says it. His calls are sharp and concise and the tonal changes in his voice really emphasize what he wants his crew to do. That is the ultimate takeaway from this recording. He also tells them exactly where they are on the other big players in the race, as well as how far into the race they are time-wise. As they’re walking through Yale during the sprint you can feel the energy he’s bringing through his calls and that’s what you want at the end of the race – gun to your head, if you’ve gotta pick one spot in the race to pour your energy into, it’s right there in the last 500.
At 1:30 they’re through the 500 and practically four boats across when you hear him say “swing it and go, pry those puddles, take one seat…”. Take one seat. This is a great move because it’s a small, achievable goal for the crew and when the crews are that tight, walking up or back one seat on the field can be a huge difference maker.
Other calls I liked:
“There’s blood in the water, you’re hungry for this win…”
“Stomp on them, go…“
You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.
