Tag: coxswain

Coxing High School Q&A Training & Nutrition

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Hey! I love your blog. I have a couple of quick questions.

1) I have been rowing bow (port) in our starboard stroked bow-loader four boat. When ever we start to row and get to the drive part of the stroke my left ankle keeps cramping up and I was wondering if you had any way to stop this from happening?

2) Like I said before, I row bow and because our coxswain doesn’t have a cox box, nobody but me can hear her when she is facing forward (the way she is supposed to be looking) so she often turns towards us and the coach keeps telling her to turn around, but then the problem is that nobody can hear her. The girl who coxed this boat last season was really good at projecting her voice but the new cox is not. Do you have any advice for her?

3) I was looking at your what to wear blog posts and I was wondering what you think rowers should wear in the rain?

4) I hate running, I always cramp up two steps in and can’t breathe by the thirty second mark. My coach is really into running and running stairs. I don’t want to be that person who doesn’t run with everybody else because I don’t like it, but do you have any advice about making running less painful?

5) What is a good snack to have right before practice if it starts at 3 or 4 and goes till 6, but lunch is at 11:30? I always get so hungry right in the middle of pieces!

Sorry this is so long! Thanks!

The only thing that I can think of that could be causing this is the position of your foot stretchers. If the angle is too steep or too shallow then that could be putting a weird amount of stress on your tendons, causing your ankle to cramp up. I’d mention it to your coach and see if he can look at the stretchers to see if that’s the problem. If it’s not then it’s probably a flexibility issue. You should be stretching before practice for at least 10 minutes so if you’re not I’d start doing that, even if it means doing it on your own. Ankle pushes are a stretch our guys do that might help – it’s basically a mini-squat where you stand on one leg and bend your knee about 30 degrees or so until you feel a stretch up through your Achilles before pushing back up. (If you don’t have very good balance you can find a wall to put your hand(s) on to help keep you stable.)

Your coxswain needs a cox box. Obviously it’s not your responsibility to make that happen but seriously, I really don’t understand how coaches can send coxswains out without one and think they’re going to have a worthwhile and effective practice, let alone a safe one. Telling everyone to just listen is all well and good until you factor in the noise from the oarlocks, the boat moving through the water, the slides, the launch, the wind, car traffic, etc. Being in a bowloader also presents the issue of the coxswain’s voice not going straight at the rowers (like it does in an eight) which makes it even harder for them to hear what they’re saying. Even a perfectly silent crew would have a hard time hearing their coxswain in that situation. It’s not safe being out without one, plain and simple. To answer your question, the only advice I have is to find a cox box. I know that’s not the most helpful answer but that’s really the only solution to the problem.

When you’re rowing in the rain you’ve basically gotta accept that you and your clothes are going to get wet no matter what (which really isn’t that much different than a normal day on the water…). As long as you’re not wearing cotton, which is pretty much the worst thing you can wear while rowing regardless of the weather, you can pretty much wear exactly what you’d wear on an otherwise “dry” day. If you’ve got a splash jacket that you can throw on to at least keep your core warm and mostly dry(ish) then that’s a good thing to do if you know it’s going to be raining during practice. Like I said though, unless it’s just sprinkling it’s not a matter of if you’ll get wet but when.

It sounds like you’re just out of shape. (I only say that because I know I’m out of shape and that’s how I feel too.) It’s just like steady state on the erg though, the better developed your cardio system gets the “easier” it is. You’ve just gotta push through it and keep going. Feeling winded is obviously a natural side effect of being out of shape (even people who are incredibly fit get winded at the start if they haven’t worked out for a week or two) but it could also be a result of asthma (speaking from experience, this is the worst…). Even if this isn’t something you’ve been diagnosed with before it’s worth checking in with your doctor just to be sure you haven’t developed it. I had several friends in high school who were all incredible athletes but all developed some form of asthma that wasn’t diagnosed by their doctors until they started training for crew.

I used to always leave a box of granola bars in my car that I could grab before practice so if you’re a fan of Clif bars then I’d definitely recommend buying a box or two and stashing them in your car, your locker, etc. so you can grab one before you leave school or on your way to practice. Bananas, PB + apples, a bagel, yogurt + fruit + granola, etc. are all tasty options too.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Okay so I just need someone else’s opinion other than my coaches and rowers. So I am a dude coxswain for a girls boat for all 4 years of high school, but now I feel like they don’t respect me anymore. They don’t listen when I say hands on or they complain and talk back. We did awful in our first race and now I don’t know what to do. The guys are begging me to cox them and they are winning races. Do I stick with the girls and finish off my high school career or go for the gold with the guys?

Being a guy that’s coxing girls is tough no matter how long you’ve been doing it. I’m curious why things have suddenly changed in your last season together though. I assume you’ve tried talking with them one-on-one or as a boat to figure out what’s going on … ? If not I’d get on that. You need to figure out what the actual problem is, the part you’re playing in all this, etc. and start fixing it like, ASAP. The problem you’ve got is that with a month and a half (give or take) until the end of the year it would look kinda shitty if you suddenly jumped ship and left them for the guys team. On the flip side though, it’s not worth it for you to keep coxing them if the relationship is beyond repair, so to speak, and you (potentially) have a better shot at having a good season by switching over. (Obviously it’s not fair to the rowers either if things aren’t working out – they deserve a chance at a good season too.)

One thing you have to be careful with (and something that might be alienating you from the women, which is why they’re not listening to you) is getting too caught up in the “grass is greener on the other side” mentality and making it super obvious through your attitude that even though your body is in their boat, you’re not really all there because you’d rather be with the guys. If they hear the guys “begging” you to cox them and you not saying “sorry, I’ve already got a boat” that’s gonna make them question your loyalty and in turn become less loyal towards you.

This is definitely a tough decision but I think the deciding factor is going to come down to you having a conversation with your boat and figuring out whether or not you can all work together to finish out the season. Hopefully everyone is just stressed and there isn’t a bigger issue bubbling away under the surface but you won’t know unless you ask. You also have to consider whether or not there’s a coxswain on the women’s side that can replace you. My guess is if there isn’t and you decide to switch your coach/rowers will be super pissed (which may or may not bother you) for leaving them hanging. If you’re in a position where there’s someone who can easily transition into your boat and after talking with your rowers things don’t look like they’re going to improve, talk it over with your coach and see what your options are. If there isn’t someone that could take your place and cox that boat at an equal or higher level than you currently are then you should really consider sticking with them and working out whatever issues you’re having. Unless you’re planning on coxing in college and really need the time/experience in a boat that runs like a well-oiled machine, I think it’s better to stay with the women. You have to think about what you want out of your last season but you also have to consider what’s best for the team and unfortunately those two things don’t always line up.

Keep in mind, my answer is based only on what I assume is a very small part of much larger story. If I knew all the details my opinion might be completely different. I just think that given the short amount of time that is left in the school year and the fact that you’ve already spent four years together, it just makes sense to work out whatever issues you have so you can make your boat go fast. That doesn’t mean you all have to like each other, just that you have to respect what each person is bringing to the table. If you feel like you’ve lost their respect, figure out why/how and start doing something different.

Seat racing coxswains

Coxing Racing

Seat racing coxswains

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I’m not a fan of seat racing coxswains. There are just way too many variables and you can’t quantify it the same way you can with rowers but despite all that, there are still coaches out there that do it. It’s one of those things that you’ve always gotta be prepared for just in case it happens to you but if you’re doing everything you’re supposed to be doing, you’ll never be caught off guard if your coach decides that a coxswain seat race is needed.

Related: Can I just flat out ask my coach for a coxswain seat race? How do I go about asking such a question?

I was going through some of my saved posts on Reddit the other day and came across this year-old reply that I’d written to a coxswain who was asking for advice on how to deal with being seat-raced. They said that they felt like an underdog compared to the person they were up against (who was a year older than them) but that they felt capable of beating them and wanted to know how to get the coach to look past their age so they could have a shot at the eight.

Related: Words

For those of you that are going up against someone more experienced than you (hell, even if you’re going up against an someone who is equally experienced), I implore you to read this first paragraph down below and really take it to heart because a) you need to hear it and b) if I’ve learned anything through this blog it’s that it’s unlikely anyone else is going to say it to you and be as straightforward about it. We’re two weeks into racing season and SRAAs, Youth Nationals, conference championships, IRAs, and NCAAs is going to be here before you know it. You want that top boat? Stop talking about how bad you want it and start doing the shit you need to do to entice your coaches to give you a shot.

“Fuck age, seniority, being an “underdog”, etc. Do not use that an excuse. Those things only become factors if you pay too much attention to them and let them become factors. Cox your race and let the other coxswain(s) cox theirs. If you think you’re capable of beating them, do it.

The coxswain who is smart, confident, strategic, resourceful, commanding, authoritative, aggressive, and respectful of the competition will earn the seat in the 8+. Steer a smart course and know what you need to say to get the most out of your rowers. This requires you to interact with them in order to find out what makes them tick. Pick their brains off the water so you can get in their heads on the water.

Oh, and don’t assume that this seat race is the only thing your coaches are looking at. They’ve been watching you since Day 1, the first day you showed up to practice when you were a novice, to see how well you interact with your teammates, what your presence on and off the water is like, if you command the respect of your teammates through your actions, how well you understand the technical side of rowing, how effectively you communicate what you want/need to happen, etc. The seat race is only a piece of the final puzzle.

Saying you want it isn’t enough. I have to be able to look at you and feel how bad you want you want that top 8+. Give your rowers a reason to want to pull hard for you. Don’t half ass anything. Make your intentions known from the first day of practice that you want that top eight and you’re going to work as hard as you can to get it. Do this without being a cocky, over-confident douche. Seat racing isn’t just something you can get in a boat and do. You’ve gotta prep for it just like you do any other race. Put the effort into perfecting your steering, working on your calls, getting feedback from your rowers and coaches after practice, etc. and then go out and execute when it’s time for your race. Get off the water knowing and believing that you couldn’t have done any more or any better than you just did.

Do all of that and your coaches might give you a shot.”

Rule #1: never refer to yourself as the underdog. Let other people say that about you but know that the minute you say it about yourself you’ve already lost. It absolutely drives me nuts when I hear people talk down about themselves like that because if you aren’t even confident in yourself how is that supposed to inspire me to be confident in you?

Image via // @rowingcelebration

Coxing Q&A

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If I am 5’5 and 115lbs but bound to keep growing because I am a freshman in high school, is it worth it to keep coxing girls? I have coxed for a couple months and I absolutely loved it. I was thinking I could keep coxing girls for a couple years and then maybe switch to boys if I get too tall/heavy. Would it be better to row? I really really love coxing, especially for races, but I would like to do something that I can continue through high school and I don’t know if coxing is it.

Every coach is different and they want different things when it comes to their coxswains (here’s an example from a question I posted last night…) so your best option is to talk with your coach and see what they think. You could probably cox men or women at this point but if you have a good rapport with your coach and like coxing your current team then I’d stick with them. If you decide as you get closer to making college plans that you want to keep coxing after high school then look into coxing on a men’s team.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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I was a coxswain for the fall season for high school novice crew because I was coming off surgery but I ended up falling in love with coxing. My rowers (one in particular) told me off a couple times for not doing anything and I talked to her about it and she stopped after I started doing the erg workouts with the team. I did the workouts with the rest of the team before we got on the water this spring but then my coach told me that I was too tall to be a coxswain any more. I am 5’3-5’4isn but I am still growing. I kind of want to go back to coxing but I don’t know how to tell my coach that and I don’t want to take the possibility of coxing a boat away from anybody else.

There are few things I understand less than the decision-making process of most coaches when it comes to choosing their coxswains. Nearly every female coxswain I’ve known (regardless of whether they’re coxing men or women) is between 5’3″ and 5’5″.. There’s the odd outlier that’s shorter or taller than that but the average is definitely around there. I don’t know why your coach thinks that’s too tall. If you really want to get into it, height doesn’t matter at all for coxing. Does it make it easier to cox when you’re short? Duh – have you seen the seats we sit in? Does it make more sense for someone who needs to hover around 110lbs/125lbs to be on the shorter side? Yes. In the grand scheme of things though, as long as you’re close to racing weight and are a good coxswain, your height should literally be the farthest thing from your coach’s mind. (Just look at male coxswains – our male coxswain is 5’6″, I know two other guys who are 5’8″, the V8+ coxswain at Northeastern is 5’10”, the national team coxswain is 5’9″…)

If you want to keep coxing then meet with your coach and make your case. Highlight the stuff you think you’ve done well and have improved at since you started and why you think you would be a good addition to a boat this season. Keep it simple. If your coach is open to giving you another shot, have at it. If he’s still stuck on the idea that you’re too tall then see if you can compromise and be a “spare” coxswain on days when someone can’t make it to practice, is sick, etc. A lightweight rower I know who started out as a coxswain for three years in high school did that last year when he was recovering from a shoulder injury and it helped his team a lot since they were short on actual coxswains.

Coxing Q&A

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What are some “rhythmic calls” you use? I know ones such as hook, send and catch, send but I was wondering what others are used.

I’m a big fan of taking a “swing three” or a “swing five” and saying “long swing“, “surge  long“, swing through“, “long rhy-thm”), etc. I think it’s important to pick one call and stick with it for the duration of the three or five strokes just because I feel like it helps get everyone moving together better/faster than if you were alternating between two or three different calls on each individual stroke.

Most of my rhythm calls also specifically include “swing” or “rhythm” in the call. I don’t tend to look at “hook send” or “catch send” as rhythm calls but they can definitely work that way, although I think the rhythm part of it is secondary or tertiary to catch/finish timing and/or acceleration.

Related: Hello! Sorry if this is a dumb question but I was wondering, what does it mean when coxswains say “cha”? Thank you!

Another good rhythm call is “cha”, which I talked about in the post linked above. As I said in there, it’s not one of my most used rhythm calls but it really has started to grow on me over the last year or so. Some coxswains say “cha” or “ja”, others add “ssshhhh-uh” to the end of their calls (this is what I do) but it all accomplishes the same thing.

College Coxing How To Novice Q&A

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Got 2 very different questions:

1) How would you describe the difference between a good men’s coxswain and a good women’s coxswain?
2) I’m going to be head of coxswains this fall – we call the position the Cox-Coach – so I’ll be in charge of cox education, both for novices and varsity. I’m already asking for input from our current coxswains and rowers, but here’s my question for you: ideally, what would week one look like in the training of a novice college coxswain (before ever going out on the water), and what are specific ways to help continue coxswain education long term?

Thanks!!

I’ll use our coxswains as an example for your first question because we just went over their evals from spring break today and it’s fresh on my mind. We have two women and one guy that make up our team of coxswains – the guy is a senior, one of the women is a junior, and the other is a freshman. All three of them are very good but what separates the guy from the girls (and why our team tends to favor him for racing) is his style of motivation. When we’re doing hard pieces he’s very loud, aggressive, raw, and in your face (you’ll see this when I post the videos I took last week). One of the rowers commented on his eval that he’s very good at getting them focused on pulling hard and winning but on the flip side he tends to only focus on rowing hard instead of first getting the individuals and crew as a whole rowing well. Basically his forte is that testosterone-backed style of motivation that just comes a lot more naturally to men than it does to women.

Alternatively, both the women bring a very calm energy to the boat. They can get aggressive when they want/need to but it’s a more calm motivational style that you typically associate with women. The energy they bring to the boat as described by the rowers is a more practical energy that they use to get the crew rowing well and swinging together. Having primarily coxed women in school this is definitely how I’d describe several of my friends. Personality-wise they tended to be a little more quiet and reserved off the water than others of us and that was reflected in their coxing style on the water. One thing I think we (and most women’s coxswains I know) were all really, really good at though was getting inside our rowers heads in that sick way that only women can do to each other. (I know some of you will know exactly what I mean by that too.) In my experience both with the men’s crews I’ve coxed and with coaching these guys, they all definitely prefer the more raw, in your face style whereas women’s crews don’t respond nearly as well compared to the calmer, more tactical approach.

So, I guess to answer your question … even though the answer is completely subjective based on each individual crew … what I think it comes down to is their style of motivation. Women’s coxswain also have to be a little bit better at how they phrase things and their approach to motivating certain personalities since in general women are a little more sensitive on that front compared to guys. The guys on our team probably wouldn’t blink an eye if our coxswains told them to stop being little bitches but if you said that to a women’s crew it probably wouldn’t go over as seamlessly. If anybody has any thoughts on this definitely feel free to share down in the comments.

For your second question, I think the first week should be spent just getting them familiar with the program and how things are run. Off the top of my head that’d most likely entail giving them a complete tour of the boathouse so they know where they can find things, where things are stored, which boats/oars are used by which crews, what the procedures are for various things (for example, how to notify someone that something isn’t working or needs fixed – we have a system for this at our boathouse where the rowers/coxswains/coaches fill out a slip that details whatever the issue is and then we attach it to a clipboard outside the workshop), etc.

Also introduce them to any relevant people, such as other coaches (it’s so awkward not knowing the other coaches and then having to awkwardly introduce yourself like, a week later…) and your boatman, if you’re lucky enough to have one. Boatmen can be a coxswain’s best friend (they always have spare wrenches which is great when the rowers lose yours … or in the case of our coxswains, drop them in the water three times in one week) so it’s worth it to get acquainted with them early on.

I’d also spend a day going over how your coaches run practice (what’s the standard “formula” look like – i.e. our practices start out with one or two drills that double as the warmup followed by pieces of some kind (the bulk of the workout) and ending with paddling/light steady state back to the docks) and what drills you typically do and how to call them (don’t get too into detail, just give them a brief “drills 101” overview). And then obviously you should also spend a day going over the different parts of the boat, how to work the cox box, how the steering system works, how to get the boats from the racks to the water (and back), and anything they should know about the water you row on (traffic pattern, shallow spots, areas to avoid, landmarks, etc.). The last two days of the week I would bring them out on the launch so they can observe practice themselves and see the thins you described about the waterway (traffic pattern, landmarks, etc.).

If you really want to go the extra mile, write all this down and give it to them in handout form so they can read it and not have to try to memorize everything you’re saying. Bonus points if you include labelled maps and diagrams since visualizing things tends to be a lot simpler and easier to understand than reading through dense paragraphs of notes.

As far as continuing coxswain education long term, making yourself available is definitely one of the most important things you can do. I don’t want to take too much credit for the improvements our coxswains have made this year but I think part of it goes back to them knowing that whenever they have questions or want to go over something I’m always available (and if I’m not, I’m always willing to make time outside of practice to talk). The more available you make yourself the more likely they are to ask questions or for feedback and in turn the better they’ll get. This might mean having regular “office hours” where you hang out at the boathouse for an hour each week and if someone has something they want to talk about, that’s their time to do it, or it might just be you putting out a general reminder, such as “I’m always free before/after practice, hit me up if you wanna talk”. Do what works for you.

Related: Coxswain evaluations + my system for organizing them

Doing coxswain evaluations on a regular basis is also important because feedback from the rowers is critical in terms of know what’s working and what isn’t. Outside of that I don’t think there are any specific things you really need to do. I’ve done regularly scheduled meetings (usually on a weekly basis) in the past but it’s not always necessary so this year I’ve kind of adopted the whole “we’ll meet as a group if we need/want to and if we don’t, we won’t” mindset, which has worked fine for us. Like I said though, the biggest and best thing you can do is just making yourself available for when questions arise or they have something they want to discuss with you. It’s a really simple thing to do that can make a world of difference in the long run.

The Language of the First 500

Coxing Drills Racing Rowing Technique

The Language of the First 500

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A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to go to the What Works Summit that’s hosted each year by the IRL program at CRI. The theme this year was “The First 500” and each speaker created a presentation that related in some way to that theme. For the most part I’m writing everything below as it is in my notes so while I’ve completed some of the thoughts, some of it is still in shorthand.

The first presentation I went to was given by Yaz Farooq, current head coach of Stanford’s women’s program and former national team coxswain in the 90s. She spoke on “the language of the first 500”,  managing the transition strokes, and knowing how to balance focusing on your speed and communicating your position relative to the other crews.

Breaking down the start from a language perspective

What does the start look like and what are it’s core components?

Start sequence to get out of the blocks → high stroke sequence → lengthen → lengthen again to base

The first lengthen is what you might know as the “settle” but as Yaz said, most programs are starting to move away from calling it that and instead are focusing more on calling it the “lengthen” or the “sub-lengthen”. The thought behind this is you’re not really settling so much as you’re trying to maintain as much boat speed as possible while transitioning to a more sustainable pace. It’s one of those subtle changes in language that, in theory, has a more positive effect on the psychology of the crew. (Regardless of whether you use “lengthen” or “settle” though, pick one and stick with it.)

How do you break it all up?

Based on strengths/weaknesses of the team, how well they handle the high strokes (i.e. how efficient they are at high rates), and how powerful they are.

Scripting out the starting sequence

First and most importantly, have a plan and map it out. This is the only area of the race that is really worth scripting (in addition to maybe the sprint depending on how your team approaches it).

How many strokes do you need to get off the line, how many high, how many to lengthen, how many base, etc.

Assign key words – these are things the coxswain would say to reinforce the rhythm and make sure it’s as effective as it can be. They key here is to have technical themes assigned, possibly emotional or philosophical themes based on team beliefs that the crew can lock into. Instill these themes throughout practice so coxswains can set up attacks with key words/phrases that reference each theme (without monologuing). Having key words/phrases attached to each theme results in no confusion and everything is clear because it’s been practiced daily.

When possible, reinforce the rhythm with your voice to support it and/or get it to where it needs to go. For a standard five stroke starting sequence (1/2, 1/2, 3/4, full, full):

Squeeze, direct, build, lengthen, full

Grip, lock, lock, lengthen, full

Complete, direct, grip, lengthen, full

Drills to work on the start

These drills, if done with multiple crews, should be done leapfrog style so each crew can watch/cheer for each other. Remember to be patient when something isn’t working. Talk it out with your crew until you find what works for you. I always talk with my stern pair first when something doesn’t work but it’s important to make sure you talk with the entire crew and consider/incorporate everyone’s feedback into whatever changes you make.

Stroke-by-stroke start drill

The goal is to perfect the sequence and bladework.

First stroke done from a dead stop.

Stroke 1 + 2 done from a pause.

Strokes 1 + 2 + 3 done from a pause.

First five done from a pause.

First ten done from a dead stop.

The first stroke is heavy but you get to keep perfecting it and improving the strokes by doing them one at a time and building up through the entire sequence.

Example: If your start is the standard “half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full” followed by high strokes…

Half stroke done from a dead stop. When this stroke is done, pause at half slide. Hold the pause long enough for the crew to collect themselves and the boat to set up but don’t hold it forever. Two seconds or so max.

Half, half done from a pause. Again, pause at half slide when finished.

Half, half, three-quarters from a pause. Again, pause at half slide when finished.

Half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full from a pause. Let it run when finished, balance the boat, weigh enough, and check it down.

Half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full + first five high strokes from a dead stop. Let it run when finished, balance the boat, and weigh enough.

4-6-8 drill

Starts are done by 4s, 6s, and all 8. Goal is to learn how to use your legs and complete each stroke. The boat is heavier when rowing by 4s and 6s so you don’t want to wail on the oar right away otherwise you won’t be able to hold on to the water and ultimately your strokes will be short and ineffective.

Example:

Stern 4 goes through the starting sequence (just the first five strokes). When finished, let it run, weight enough, and check it down.

Bow 4 ”               “

Stern 6 ”               “

Bow 6 ”               “

All 8 ”               “

Square blade starts

Goal is to complete the strokes. Can do the entire starting sequence straight through or do each stroke individually as with the stroke-by-stroke start drill. Best to start off stroke-by-stroke and then progress to doing them straight through the further into the season/more experienced you get.

Striking a balance between speed + rhythm and position

Ultimately what you’re shooting for (as the coxswain) is striking the right balance between getting your crew off the line effectively and letting them know where they are relative to other crews.

How much time do we spend focusing on boat speed/rhythm and how much on when/how to communicate the crew’s position?

It depends on the team and skills of the coxswain. If it’s the early part of the season or your coxswain is a novice, focus solely on execution. This may evolve throughout the season though.

Example: At the beginning of the season, Stanford coxswains don’t tell positions until they lengthen to base so everyone can focus on nuances of each phase of the start. By NCAAs the coxswains will communicate as much info as they feel is relevant at the time but the focus remains on the execution of each phase of the start.

Managing the transition strokes

The goal when transitioning from your starting pace to base pace is to maintain boat speed and keep the intensity on while getting the rating down to a more sustainable number. One of the most important parts of managing the transition strokes efficiently and effectively is to set them up and call them consistently. Find a set of calls that work for you, your crew, and what you’re trying to accomplish and then stick with it.

The “traditional” thing to do when calling transition strokes was to lengthen in one beat but now it’s becoming more common to transition over 3-5 strokes depending on how much the rate is coming down. A good habit for coxswains to get into is to say the rate as you’re lengthening, especially early on in the season. (This isn’t as necessary as the season progresses but ultimately it’s dependent on what the crew wants/needs. Personally I think it’s something that’s important to do regardless of what part of the season you’re in but it all goes back to what will help the crew the most.)

Good calls for this part of the start are “push the spacing” or “push the puddles” because it’s something the rowers can both feel and see.

Practice the transitional cues during practice so when anxiety takes over (during their first big race, at the national championships, etc.) you can use those calls as  a fall back that they can rely on to be part of your plan in order to get everyone focused in on the same thing and moving/transitioning together.

Make it clear to the crew that they have to establish a solid base rhythm before the coxswain tells them where they are, that way they’re not tempted to rush the transition to base just to find out where they are. It’s important for the coxswain to reinforce and make sure they get to a sustainable base rhythm that mimics what you’ve practiced and worked on so the crew’s not distracted. You’ve got to establish the rhythm before relaying information, not the other way around because otherwise it becomes about the other crew and the people in your boat/their rowing gets frantic.

What should you look for when looking for a “solid base rhythm”?

When you practice your base rate during practice the rowers would know to a certain extent how it should feel based on the coach and coxswain’s feedback. This includes hitting a certain split (i.e. your “sweet spot” when everything just seems to naturally fall into place and come together), feeling like you’re able to get to full slide (coxswains, this is where it’s important to communicate with your stern pair so you can find out if this is happening or not), the stroke is leading the rhythm and everyone else is following and supporting it (again, talk with your stroke…), each end of the stroke is clean, and the rhythm has that “swing” feel to it rather than a “back and forth” rhythm.

Image via // @ryanjnicholsonphoto

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches Technique

Question of the Day

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My coach who used to cox used the phrase “tuck up those finishes” when we were out on the water and I was wondering what that meant?

I’ve never heard that specific phrasing before (it sounds British…?) but my guess is they’re saying to make sure you’re pulling in high and tight, meaning you’re pulling into the right spot on your ribcage (the high part) and that you’re pulling the handle all the way in (the tight part, aka you’re not going down and away when the handle is still six inches away from your torso). That’s total speculation though so I’d ask them before/after your next practice what they meant by that. It’s always better to ask the person who said it (if/when you can) since they’ll be able to tell you exactly what they mean and how it applies to whatever was happening when they said it.

Coxing Q&A Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

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Hey! I am a women’s coxswain. I weigh like 116ish pounds depending on the day. I want to lose a couple pounds and I know I can do it healthily. The problem is that I can’t find a way to lose it. I eat very healthily and I exercise pretty regularly, but I always stay around the same weight. Any suggestions?

That’s your body’s way of telling you to stop because you don’t have any excess weight to lose. If you already eat a fairly well-balanced diet and work out on a regular basis then your body fat is probably at a reasonable enough level that there’s nothing extra to get rid of. The minimum is 110lbs, you’re at 116lbs … your weight is fine if that’s what your concern is. I honestly wouldn’t worry that much about trying to lose a few pounds and instead just keep eating healthy and working out when you can.