Tag: drills

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Pick Drill (Normal + Reverse)

Coxing Drills Technique

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Pick Drill (Normal + Reverse)

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Previously: Rush(ing) || Body angle

What part of the stroke/stroke cycle does it refer to

The pick drill targets the sequence of movements on the recovery whereas the reverse pick drill targets the sequence of movements on the drive.

The normal pick drill goes like this.

Arms only → arms + body (→ quarter slide) → half slide (→ three-quarter slide) → full slide

The reverse pick drill is equally as simple and goes like this:

Legs only (→ top quarter/”first six inches”) (→ top half) → legs + back → legs + back + arms

In both of those, the parts of the stroke in parentheses can be included but typically aren’t part of the default drill (which includes the parts not in parentheses).

What does it mean/refer to

The pick drill is  one of the most used and basic drills that you’ll call. It’s purpose is to break the stroke into its various components and build upon each one until you’re taking normal strokes at full slide. Even though it does a good job of walking you through the stroke sequence (which makes it great when you’re first teaching novices how to row), it’s more commonly used as a warmup on the water than an actual “drill”.

We tend to think of drills as having a specific technical focus and that’s where the reverse pick drill comes in. It’s purpose is to focus on the drive sequence and is typically used when you have rowers who are shooting their slides or opening their backs too early. Since it isolates each part of the drive (legs –> back –> arms) there’s a lot of emphasis on making sure you’re going through the sequence in the proper order, i.e. not opening the backs before you start the legs or breaking the arms while you’re still on the drive.

Whether you do the drill on the square or feather is up to you/your coach and can be dependent on the conditions or skill level of the crew. When given the choice I rarely do the entire drill on the feather  and instead go through it entirely on the square before adding the feather in during the full-slide strokes. Occasionally I’ll do arms and arms + body on the square and the rest on the feather but that doesn’t happen too often. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the reverse pick drill done on the feather so I would stick with staying on the square when you do this one.

Relevant calls

Calling these two drills is literally – LITERALLY – the simplest thing you will ever do as a coxswain. Can you count to 10? Congrats, you can call the pick drill. You can read all about how to do both in the post linked below. It goes into plenty of detail which is why I’m linking it instead of writing it all out again.

Related: How to call a pick drill and reverse pick drill

Outside of a few calls here or there I don’t talk much during the pick drill. I’ll talk marginally more during the reverse pick drill but with both drills I feel like the rowers need to concentrate more on what they’re doing without the distraction of me talking in the background.

Most of the calls I make have to do with pivot and timing (as necessary). Right after adding the bodies I’ll remind the rowers to “lead with the hands”, “pivot from the hips”, “keep the bodies tall”, “swing through”, etc. to remind them to get the bodies over before they catch.

Related: Top 20 terms coxswains should know: Body angle

With timing, I tend to notice more issues pop up once the slides are added since everyone has a different sense for where quarter, half, and three-quarter slide is (more so with younger crews than experienced ones) and that can affect when they catch. In that case I’ll watch the blade angles (as I mention below) and tell them to adjust their position based on how sharp/shallow the angle is to the boat (“Ryan, your blade angle is a little too sharp for quarter-slide. Shorten up the slide a bit on this next one…”). That usually fixes the timing issue without me even having to mention it but if it persists then I’ll just tell them they’re early/late and make any additional calls related to that as needed.

The takeaway from this is that you want whatever calls you make to be relevant to the drill you’re doing. If I noticed someone’s timing was off while doing the pick drill it wouldn’t be very effective for me to just say “you’re early/late” because that doesn’t address the root cause of the problem. If they’re late, watching the blade angles and making sure they’re at half-slide and not three-quarter slide (which makes their recovery longer than everyone else’s –> catching later than everyone else) does address the problem.

What to look for

Some of this is touched on in the “how to” post linked up above but what you’re looking for has less to do with what the rowers’ bodies look like (that’s a secondary concern) and more to do with whether or not they’re completing each part of the stroke in the proper order.

In the boat it can be tough to see what they’re doing since this isn’t a bladework drill so it would be useful to watch them go through this sequence from the launch or while they’re on the ergs/in the tanks so you can see what exactly it should look like. This also means that you have to go off of blade angles to determine if someone is too far up/too far back at each position. The sharper the angle of the oar relative to the boat the closer they are to full slide and the shallower the angle the closer they are to the finish/their seat is to bow.

Arms

You are only using your arms. Don’t cheat and incorporate the shoulders/upper back. Start by sitting at the finish, blades fully buried, bodies stable and in the layback position. The hands will press down and come away with the handle and then when the arms are fully extended you’ll “catch” and “drive” using just the arms to pull the blade through the water.

Arms + body

From the finish, the hands lead with the bodies following by pivoting from the hips while the legs stay flat. You should feel a slight pull in the hamstrings as you swing forward (more or less so depending on how flexible you are). This “pivot from the hips” is important because that’s where your swing comes from, not from the low back. Back and shoulders stay flat here, chin stays up. Once the arms + body are fully extended (again, this will be dependent on how flexible you are), you’ll catch, swing back with the bodies, and finish with the arms.

Quarter/half/three-quarter slide

These are much easier to visualize than they are to explain over the internet so check out these videos of the national team to get an idea for what each slide position should look like. Try to spend time on the erg in front of the mirror so you can see/feel for yourself where each one is too. (None of these videos are actually of the pick drill, they’re just to give you an idea of what each position looks like.)

In the first video, note the difference in how far the knees come up when they transition down from full-slide. Same in the third one, look at how they’re just barely NOT at full-slide. There’s still another inch or two left for the wheels to come up.

Full slide

This is where it all comes together and you’re just taking normal strokes. Here the focus should be on maintaining the sequencing from the earlier parts of the drill. Timing, as a byproduct of proper sequencing, is something you should also watch for.

During the reverse pick drill you start with “legs only” so the arms stay extended and the bodies stay pivoted forward as the legs come down. You can see what that looks like in the video below. (There’s also video of what the drill looks like start to finish in the “how to” post.)

There’s a tendency when doing this drill, as you can see in that video, to finish “legs only” sitting up straighter than you should be, as well as to finish “legs and bodies” by just barely breaking the arms. Neither of these are that big of a deal so unless they’re really obviously opening the backs or breaking the arms, it’s not something you need to call out. And again, it’s not something you’re likely going to be able to see anyways unless you’re watching the drill from the side.

Effect(s) on the boat

If the sequencing on both sides of the stroke is correct it will help you establish a sense of timing and rhythm within the boat.

Related posts/questions

How to call a pick drill (and reverse pick drill)

Reverse pick drill progression + what “bob drills” look like This video (taken from the launch) is of part of the eight’s warmup during our spring break training trip.

Hi! I tried looking online about my “problem” and I couldn’t find much so here I am, looking for some help! My coach always tells me that I “open” the body too early at the catch/drive. I don’t understand what he means because every time I try to correct it, I’m wrong. Do you have any solution that could help me? Thanks a lot.

Hi! My coach has been telling me the last couple of sessions that I’m opening up too early (both rowing and sculling). He says to imagine that I’m pushing my knees away from my chest rather than moving my chest away from my knees. I understand what he means and can feel that I’m doing it now but there is some mental block between that and actually fixing the problem. Do you know any other way I could think about it or what I could do to try fix it?

To see all the posts in this series, check out the “top 20 terms” tag.

Image via // @rowingcelebration

Coxing Drills Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hi, I’ve heard people talking about builder 15s but I’m not quite sure what they are. Do you think you could clarify upon what those are? Thanks.

Builders are short little bursts of 10-15 strokes that increase in rate each time you start a new burst. They can be half-slide or full-slide and are usually done at rates 28+. Sometimes they’re included in race warm-ups but I’ve primarily seen them done as a “drill” at the end of practice. I can’t remember specifically what our builders in the spring looked like but I think it was something like 15 half-slide builders at 32, 34, 36, 38, and 40 with 10 full-slide firm-paddle strokes in between each set. The purpose as I’ve heard it explained is to simply get the crew used to rowing at higher rates. With the half-slide builders (or occasionally, quarter-slide…), you’re a little more perpendicular with your body than you otherwise would be which means your catches have to be that much sharper and you’ve gotta be more aware of the boat’s speed so that you’re matching it instead of just moving on the slide with total reckless abandon. Ideally all that would transition to your full-slide strokes too once you lengthen back out.

In my experience, every coach I’ve had/worked with has explained and executed builders in their own slightly different way so it’d definitely be worth your while to ask your coach how they approach them and what their goals are for doing them. From there, assuming you’re a younger coxswain, you can talk  with the older coxswains on your team to get an idea of how to call them and what to watch/feel for.

Drills Rowing

Reverse pick drill progression + what “bob drills” look like

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The reason I posted this was mainly to show you what the reverse pick drill looks like if you’re unfamiliar with it, what bob drills look like, and to give an example of what one of our warmup drills are.

Related: What are stationary drills? How can there be drills if the rowers aren’t rowing? What are some examples?

We did this by stern 6, bow 6 (who the video features), and finished up with all eight, which is typical of all of the drills we do. This was from Thursday morning of our spring break trip (check out that sunrise in the background and the gorgeous flat water…) and we had a different lineup than we’d had the rest of the week because two guys were rowing on opposite sides and two guys who row in the V4+ were subbed in to give two other guys a break.

Related: How to call a pick drill (and reverse pick drill)

One of those guys had to sit out because a cut on one of his fingers got infected, causing that finger to swell up to roughly double the size of his other fingers. Pro tip kids, keep your wounds clean. So, if you’re wondering why the rowing looks … sloppy … that’s a large reason why.

Drills Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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What are stationary drills? How can there be drills if the rowers aren’t rowing? What are some examples?

Stationary drills are just drills that are done when the boat isn’t moving. They’re good to do if/when you’re waiting for your coach at the beginning of practice or just have time to spare in general.

Catch placement drills (also known as roll ups) are one of the most well-known and basic stationary drills. (I talked about them a bit more in-depth in the fourth paragraph of this post.) The rowers start at the finish with their blades buried then tap down, come up the slide to the catch, and drop their blades in without actually taking a stroke. The purpose is to match up the timing on the slides, when the blades enter the water, and the motion of taking the catch. Here’s an example of what it looks like.

Another common one is bob drills. These can get pretty frustrating the more people you have doing it but they’re good for getting people to think about having level hands at the catch and maintaining pressure with the oar against the collar (the thing that keeps the oar shaft from sliding through the oarlock), in addition to the obvious focus on timing.

Related: Reverse pick drill progression + what “bob drills” look like

You can either do these at the catch or finish too. All you do is sit at full compression at the catch or in your normal finish position, starting with the blades squared and buried, and tap them in and out of the water. The bobs have to be confident and deliberate otherwise the boat will just crash over to one side. If you follow the movements of the people in front of you instead of anticipating them then that will also mess things up.

Drills Ergs Novice Rowing

Video of the Week: Biomechanical analysis of the rowing stroke

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This is a great video for novice rowers and anyone that’s looking to improve their technique (both on the erg and the water). It goes over each of the four parts of the stroke and describes what they should look like from a mechanical perspective and then transitions into a critique of her own rowing on the erg. From there it goes over some drills to highlight some of the technical changes she wants to make.

Something she does that I’d probably recommend you not do is be so bouncy with the hands through the final part of the finish and the beginning of the recovery (when the hands are coming in and moving away from the body). A lot of the time people confuse matching the speed of the hands to the boat’s speed with just throwing their hands away from their bodies as fast as they can which results in that super bouncy, ripcord-like motion she’s got going on. I’ve always been taught (and seen other coaches teach) that this isn’t the correct way to approach the finish/start of the recovery but every coach does things a little differently so make sure you understand the style that your coach is trying to develop before making any drastic changes your own rowing.

Outside of that I think this is a great video. Coxswains, this would be a good video for you to watch too, especially those of you who are new to coxing, so you can start to understand the stroke a little bit better. Since you physically can’t see what they look like when you’re on the water it’s important to have a good understanding and visual image of what the bodies should ideally look like during the catch, finish, drive, and recovery so you can make the appropriate calls if something with their bladework indicates that something is off with their body mechanics.

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

Drills Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

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Hi! My coach has been telling me the last couple of sessions that I’m opening up too early (both rowing and sculling). He says to imagine that I’m pushing my knees away from my chest rather than moving my chest away from my knees. I understand what he means and can feel that I’m doing it now but there is some mental block between that and actually fixing the problem. Do you know any other way I could think about it or what I could do to try fix it?

On the erg or while you’re warming up on the water try to spend a couple minutes doing some reverse pick drill stuff. This will help you segment your legs and back and really force you to think about your sequencing (aka legs first, then the back, etc.). Ideally you should do this in front of or beside some mirrors when you do it on the ergs that way you can actually watch yourself; this can help a lot with the “mental block” issue because being able to see what you’re doing can/will help a lot in allowing you to actually visualize where the block is happening with regards to your body movements.

Coxing Drills Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

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Hey! I cox a HS women’s bow loader 4+ and after looking over some footage from our past regattas, my coach noticed that many rowers are “missing water” and not getting the oars enough behind them enough at the catch to produce a maximum length and power stroke every time. She asked me to try to make calls and to focus on things that will help get the length behind them, and also to have them think about rotating out towards their rigger at the catch. Would you be able to clear what she means up for me, and possibly demonstrate the way something like this would be called? Thanks!

Normally whenever I get questions I’ll read through it and automatically think “Oh OK, all you’ve gotta do is X, Y, and Z”. First thing I thought when I read this was “your coach only realized after watching race footage of multiple regattas that the rowers weren’t getting a long enough stroke?” … l donno, I guess that just seems like a pretty obvious thing that you’d be working on during practice vs. only recognizing it after the fact.

Related: Can you explain the term “rowing it in”?

Anyways, to break down what she’s saying, “missing water” as we know means that they’re not getting the blades locked on to the water before they start the leg drive. This is also sometimes referred to as “rowing it in” although you’re not always necessarily rowing it in when you’re missing water. In this case it sounds like the biggest issue contributing to the missed water is not getting enough length, which is actually a pretty simple thing to fix. Being in a bow loader makes it really hard/nearly impossible for you to see this though because unless you’re sitting up and actually turning around to look at the blades (and offsetting the boat in the process), you’ve really only got the bow man’s blade (seen mostly from your peripheral vision) to go off of in terms of seeing whether or not they’re making the necessary changes. You can make all the calls you want but it’s really up to your coach(es) to address the root issue and work on it during practice. I’ve found while coxing that a lot of coaches don’t get that for some reason and I’m really not sure why… (and, to be honest, it really contributes to how much of a bitch it is to cox bow loaders).

The best analogy I’ve heard when it comes to explaining rotating out towards the rigger came from Holly Metcalf, who’s the head women’s coach at MIT. (She coxed my masters 8+ for a bit when I first started coxing them and, more impressively, was 2-seat in the first women’s 8+ to win gold at the Olympics at the ’84 games in Los Angeles.) The way to think about it is to think of what your upper body is doing when you’re throwing a frisbee. The way to get the flattest and longest throw is to keep your arm flat and rotate ever so slightly from the core. The same applies to rowing. To get the longest stroke possible you don’t want to dip your hands or raise them up because that’s going to mess with the trajectory, so to speak, of the blade, which is going to result in a shorter and less powerful stroke. It’s definitely something that’s much easier to understand if you can demonstrate it vs. just saying it but if you do understand what I’m saying then by all means, show ’em how it’s done.

If I were in your position I’d do three main things:

Start adding pause drills to your daily warm-up.

The goal is to emphasize getting the body prep early so you want the pause to be at bodies over. You also want to reiterate that by the time they get to this point, they should have their bodies as far forward as they’re gonna go in order to get as long of a stroke as possible. I usually like to remind them that they should be feeling a bit of a stretch in the hamstrings, in addition to telling them to keep in mind that they shouldn’t be lunging, rather they should be pivoting from the hips while keeping the back flat and the core tight. If you can, I’d recommend going over this on the erg with them before you go on the water so you can show them the difference between how they look vs. how you/your coach wants them to look. Do this for 10-15 strokes per pair (stern pair, bow pair, middle pair, outside pair) and then if your crew can handle it (you be the judge) for 10-15 strokes by all four. Remind them that it should feel different than what they’re used to doing and make sure that your coach is watching you so she can give them feedback on what it all looks like. That’s kind of crucial…

Make a list of all the “length” related calls you can think of and carry it in the boat with you.

I can’t remember what I did this for but I did something similar in college for whatever technical thing we’d been working on that week and it was great because not only did it give me 20-some different ways of saying the same exact thing but also because I had it right in front of me for an entire week of practice so I didn’t have to wrack my brain for things to say. (It also gave me an excuse to not write whatever paper I was supposed to be writing for my philosophy class.)

Get the footage from your coach and go over it.

Take notes on what you’re seeing – what looks right that you can use for positive reinforcement and what doesn’t (individually, as pairs, as a crew, etc.). With the stuff that looks right, why does it look right – what are they doing well here? Even though you know they’re not getting their full length, how do their catches look? What about their posture? Are they finishing clean? Stuff like that. Same goes for what doesn’t look right. You already know length is an issue but why? Can you see specifically where they’re doing something that would contribute to that? Go through the stroke, look at each part of it, and take notes on what you see. You really can’t be too specific here but try to avoid writing something down just for the sake of saying something. If possible, try to do this with your coach so you know exactly what she’s looking at with respect to the length issue and so you can take her exact words in the boat with you and use them. (If you can get the video on your laptop but can’t go over it with your coach, feel free to email to me and I’ll take a look at it.)

As far as how I’d call something like this, I’d mainly try to focus on incorporating basic “reminder” calls into your regular coxing (“remember to get the bodies set before the knees come up”, “45 degree angles between the blades and the boat”, etc.) and then whenever you’re doing short pieces, if you’re not given something specific to do, make the majority of your calls about finding that length. When I do this I like to focus on the technique that leads to the rowers getting long so that I’m not harping on one thing over and over but the general idea of what we’re going for is still obvious.

Coxing Drills How To Q&A

Question of the Day

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Really quick question. How do you call switches between pairs/fours when you’re doing a pause drill. I find myself saying, “in two stern pair out, 5 and 6 in… uhm… I mean… just switch here” when they hit a pause and it’s awkward for me and my rowers. I don’t know what else to do though. Ideas?

Great question! I typically do one of two things:

The first is I’ll call for the switch while the rowers are on the pause. No “in two” or anything like that, I’ll just hold that pause a second longer and say “stern pair drop out, 5 and 6 in on this one … and row“. This is the quickest, simplest option and the one I do most often.

The second is really difficult to explain in writing without video or something to show you what I mean so hopefully this makes sense. For this one, I’ll do the usual “in two” thing and have the rowers switch on the pause. It’s essentially the same as the first option except you’re counting it out and giving them a bit more prep time to come in. This is usually how I call it:

“OK, let’s go two more pauses and we’ll have stern pair out and 5 and 6 in.
[Stroke]
[Pause hands away]
Row, that’s one… (said during the rest of the recovery)
[Stroke]
[Pause hands away]
Row, that’s two, on this next pause
[Stroke] stern pair out, 5/6 in (said on the drive)
[Pause] stern pair out…
Ready … row.”

The second one isn’t nearly as tough to call as it looks/sounds, it’s just tricky to explain without a visual. Since I’ve prepped them beforehand I very rarely have to tell them to switch on the last pause (where it says “stern pair out”) – they just do it because they know that’s when they’re supposed to come in/go out. Sometimes I’ll say this pair in or this pair out as a quick reminder but I never repeat the whole “X pair in, Y pair out” again because it takes too much time and, to be honest, I’ve already said it twice and adequately prepped you to come in. If you mess it up, it’s on you for not paying attention. After that switch on the pause though I will say “ready…” before continuing on with the drill, just to give the pair coming in an extra second to get situated.

You probably know this already but for those who don’t, one thing that is really important to establish early on is how you’re going to call the switches and when the rowers should come in. This can be something you determine with your coach (on land) or on your own but it needs to be communicated to the rowers so they know what’s going on. I pretty much called it how I wanted and adjusted as necessary when my coaches wanted to switch things up – their main concern was the rowers coming in on time and doing the drill properly so how I called the transitions wasn’t an issue as long as it was clear and easily understood by the rowers. When I was first starting out if it looked/sounded like things were getting a bit confusing they’d stop me and say “maybe try calling it this way and see if that makes it easier…”. I did that a couple of times until I figured out what worked best for me.

Anyways, if I know we’re doing pause drills that day then I’ll say something after we finish the warmup or right before we start the drill about how I’m going to call it, usually something like “OK so when we do the pause drills, this is how I’m going to call the switches. [Briefly summarize…] If you’re switching in then you should come in on the pause and then pause with everyone before I call ‘row’. (Basically you’re starting and ending the drill on the pause, regardless of whether you’re coming in or out – you don’t have to say this but sometimes it clarifies it if there’s still someone who doesn’t understand.) Everybody good?”. I usually only explain it in that much detail at the beginning of the season or if I’m with a boat I’m not used to coxing. Otherwise I’ll say something simple like “remember to switch on the pauses, listen for the call…”. Just make sure that whatever you do, you’re consistent. Don’t change things up mid-drill because that can/will confuse people.

Coxing Drills Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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What checks the boats run? Recently in our octo the run of the boat is checked but I don’t know how to prevent it and what to call to make it better. Thanks love this blog, so helpful! 🙂

For those that don’t know, an octuple is an eight rigged with sculling riggers so that each rower has two oars instead of one. They’re raced very infrequently in the US because they have the ability to move way too fast to be considered safe.

Related: There’s a lot of like, I don’t know how to describe this really, lurching in the boat? Because I think the girls slide forward to fast and that makes us go back instead of forward if that makes sense. how would you correct this? Thanks!

Check out the post linked above – it’s definitely the most “in depth” one I’ve written in regards to check, what it is, and what drills you can do that help the crew work towards eliminating it. It’s not something you can directly prevent – the best thing you can do is explain the concept of ratio, why it’s important, etc. since it seems like the lack of ratio is your biggest contributing issue right now. As far as calls go, simple/obvious ones like control, relaxed, long, etc. that really focus on and emphasize slide control on the recovery would be good to incorporate while you’re working to figure out what the underlying technique issues are.

I’d also have your coach watch from the launch to see if he/she can pinpoint any individual issues that are contributing to the boat feeling checked, as well as who specifically is rushing the slides or whatever so that you can direct some of your calls directly towards them. Talk with your coach after practice and have them go over in a bit more depth what they saw so that you can understand what you should be on the lookout for (individually and with the whole crew), in addition to having them go over some drills that you can do with the rowers either on the warmup or when you’re just sitting by yourselves that can help the rowers (either as individuals, pairs, etc.) work towards gaining a little more control on the recovery.

Related: 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?

We had this issue earlier this season with one of my boats so we did some double-pause drills one day during practice, which seemed to help a lot. (I talked about this a bit in the post linked above in the “rush on the last 1/3 of the slide” section.) I would try incorporating that drill into your warmup (when rowing by 4s or 6s) and really emphasize slow slides coming into the catch on the last part of the recovery. Another thing is making sure the rowers have got their full body prep by the time they reach bodies over (there’s a reason why that stage of the stroke is called bodies. over.) since not having the bodies prepped can lead to them throwing their chests forward on the last inch or two of the slide to get all the length that they should have had half a stroke sooner. The “throwing forward” of the body weight also contributes a lot to the boat feeling rushed and checked, especially if you’ve got more than one person doing it.