Tag: drills

How to Call a Pick Drill (and Reverse Pick Drill)

Coxing Drills How To Novice Rowing

How to Call a Pick Drill (and Reverse Pick Drill)

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Previously: Steer an eight/four

The pick drill

A pick drill is a fairly basic warmup (probably the most basic) that involves transitioning through each part of the stroke. It helps to isolate the recovery and the drive, as well as help the rowers with body preparation. The goal is to build one upon the other until you eventually get to full slide, where you can feel all four parts of the stroke flow together.

To start, have the rowers sit at the finish, blades squared and buried. The first part of the drill is “arms only” so if you’re doing the drill by 6s, you’d say “Stern 6, sitting ready at the finish, blades buried … arms only, ready row” and then have them row with arms only for however many strokes you choose. The standard number is 10 but with short, choppy strokes like this, sometimes I’ll extend it to 15 or 20 when there’s time. If you were doing 10 strokes, on stroke 8 you would make the call for the first transition, which is to arms and bodies. The reason it would be on stroke 8 is so that when you’ve completed “in two”, you’ll have rowed ten strokes. 8+2…get it? Don’t be that coxswain that says “10 strokes each” and then ends up doing 12 or 15 or 32. Believe it or not, rowers can count too and if they start to catch on that they’re doing more strokes than you’re telling them to do, that can lead to some not-positive feedback on your coxswain evaluations.

When I make the transition to arms and bodies, I usually say “alright, let’s add the bodies in two … that’s one … and two, on this one“, where “one” and “two” are called at the catch and “on this one” is called at the finish of “two”.

After arms and bodies comes half slide. Same call as before – “half slide in two … one, two, on this one“. Some coaches will have you do 1/4 slide after arms and bodies but more often than not this is skipped in favor of going straight to half slide.

Following half slide is full slide, which is the last part of the drill. When we go to full slide I remind the rowers to lengthen out and not shorten the slides up since the previous three parts of the drill involve either no slide or shortened slides. “In two, let’s lengthen out to full slide. That’s one … and two, on this one, stay nice and looong, catch send…” By drawing out the word “long” it almost forces the rowers to utilize the full length of their slides before they get to the catch. “Catch” is short and annunciated so that they don’t liken the long slides to a sluggish catch. Similarly to 1/4 slide, sometimes coaches will throw in 3/4 slide before going to full. Again, it’s up to you.

With the pick drill, it’s important that the rowers actually do each part of the stroke that you’re telling them to do. It’s broken down for a reason. I’m very hypersensitive to this because it is such a pet peeve of mine but there are few things in rowing that piss me off more than when I or another coxswain calls for “arms only” and you see the rowers rowing with arms and bodies. Drives. Me. INSANE. “Arms only” means “arms only”!! In the boat this is difficult to see from our vantage point but on the ergs it is definitely something we have the power to put a stop to. Don’t let the rowers cheat and use their shoulders either – on the first stroke of the drill to get the boat up and out of the water, fine, acceptable, but after that … arms … ONLY!!!

The reverse pick drill

A variation of the pick drill that your coach might have you do is called the “reverse pick drill”. This is a great drill for isolating each part of the drive and teaching rowers to not do one thing before the other (i.e. don’t bend the arms before the legs are down, etc.). Although it can take some time to explain, this is a great drill to do with novices due to their penchant for trying to open their backs while still on the drive and so on.

This drill, like the regular pick drill, is best done by 4s or 6s but you can do it by all eight if you want – just make sure the rowers keep it balanced otherwise it’s gonna be tough to execute. Starting with whatever group of rowers you choose, have them row with JUST the legs. Just the legs, contrary to what some rowers think means rowing with just. your. legs. No arms, no back, just. the. legs. This means that your upper body should still be reaching forward and your arms are still extended. The ONLY thing that happens between the catch and the first part of this drill is that your legs go down. The call to start this would be “Stern 6, sitting ready at the catch, blades squared and buried … starting with just the legs, ready row.” When I do this drill, for legs only I tend to do 10-15 strokes total.

Following legs only is legs and back. After the leg drive, you’ll open the back but keep the arms extended straight out – the arms are the final part of the stroke, which we haven’t gotten to yet. When you see it, this part of the drill tends to look very rigid due to the fact that the arms are still straight. When calling for the addition of the backs, say “in two, let’s add the backs, that’s one … and two, on this one, legs swing…”. Occasionally I like to say “swing” just to remind the rowers to pivot from the hips and open the backs up. After doing however many strokes without the backs, sometimes they’ll not lay back as much as they normally would; saying “swing” just puts the bug in their ear so they’ll do it from here out.

The final part of the reverse pick drill is to add in the arms and row normally. Up to the point, the arms have been extended straight out, so the call will go something like “in two, let’s add in the arms, we’ll go in one … and two, now accelerate it through … accelerate through, that’s it…”. Legs and legs + backs reiterates hanging off the handle and not breaking the arms early so once you do add the arms in you wanna make sure they’re accelerating the weight through the drive and all the way into the finish.

Below is a video that gives a good demonstration of the reverse pick drill and what it should look like.

 Image via // @mahe_ld

Drills Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Since my 8+ rushes so much and doesn’t row together, I thought that rowing with closed eyes might help them. I talked to my coach about it today (like you suggested!) and she said it would be best incorporated in the warm up or rowing back to the dock. How should I go about calling this for my rowers? Like I don’t want to freak them out or make them hate me. What if they cheat, open their eyes, and it won’t help them? I mean, I won’t be able to see if they do….

I like to do this as part of my cool-down as we row back to the boathouse. Sometimes I’ll do it in between pieces too to get the crew to focus on feeling the boat, particularly if the previous piece felt rushed.

They’re definitely not going to hate you and it won’t freak them out. As long as you explain what you want to do, they shouldn’t have any reason to worry. If you just randomly call out “OK everyone, close your eyes” then yea, they might wonder what you’re talking about but if you explain ahead of time why you want to do it, what the benefits are, etc. then they’ll be more open to it. I’ve been with experienced crews long enough that I just tell them we’re going to close our eyes and row for a bit and no one says anything about it.

When I first started doing it in high school, I told my crew either on land or during the warm-up that I wanted to try something new that might sound unconventional but I thought it’d help with the various things we’d been having trouble with. They all trusted that I knew what I was doing, so I didn’t encounter any resistance or anything. When I call for it now, I usually say something like “OK, so we’re gonna close our eyes and row back to the dock … everyone take a deep breath … and let’s close our eyes on this one. Keep the bodies loose, relax, and just feel the boat.” It all sounds very meditational but it really does help the boat flow better.

If they cheat and open their eyes, honestly, that’s their problem. You’re not there to be their babysitter (although that’s what it feels like sometimes). There are times when you have to just go with the flow and trust that your coach and/or coxswain is telling you to do this because there are benefits to it, even though up front you might not see what they are. I’ve encountered people like that they think “oh this is stupid, I’m not doing it.” I’ve been that person too. When I’ve had them in my boat and they make it known that they think whatever we’re doing is pointless, I just say to them “Look, everyone else is going along with it. If you want to be that person that doesn’t do it, fine, but know that you will be known by the rest of us as the person in the boat who only does what they want instead of what is best for the crew.” It definitely gets you a pissed off look in response but no one wants to be that person so eventually they’ll get on board. It’s not your job to go down the line and make sure everyone’s eyes are closed. If they trust you, they’ll go with it.

Coxing Drills How To Q&A

Question of the Day

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Transitioning by fours in an 8+ always confuses me. I know you start with stern four, then stern pair out, then three four in, but what’s after that? Who goes in and out in what order? Thanks!

It’s actually pretty simple because there’s only two pair switches you need to make to get between stern, middle, and bow four. Once you’re done with bow 4 it’s only a matter of whether you’re continuing rotating through the fours again or going to 6s or all eight (in which case, the addition of the rest of the pairs is self-explanatory).

Coxswain skills: “So, what did you see?”

Coxing How To Novice Rowing

Coxswain skills: “So, what did you see?”

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This is one of my favorite questions to ask coxswains. Most see four or eight oars and … that’s about it. When their coach asks them what they noticed during that last piece there’s usually a second or two where they try and think of what to say before giving a super vague answer that sounds something like “Um … the boat wasn’t set and timing was off.”

Remember, we’re the liaisons between the rowers and the coaches. It’s our responsibility to convey what’s happening in the boat so that the coaches know what’s working, what’s not, what they need to spend time focusing on, who needs some extra individual attention, etc. Specifics are what drive our sport. If you say “the boat wasn’t set”, I’m going to respond with “OK, why? What side was it down to? When did it go offset? Was it offset at certain points in the stroke or for the entire stroke? Did you make a call for a correction? Do you know how to correct it? Etc., etc., etc.” THOSE are the kind of observations that make you an invaluable asset to your crew.

When you’re in the boat you should constantly be observing (and feeling) what’s going on and relaying what you see to the rowers. Your eyes should never stop moving. Before you tell the rowers what you see, make sure you understand what you’re seeing. Don’t tell them something you yourself don’t understand. If you see something that seems off but aren’t sure how to relay it to the rowers, say “Hey Coach, I noticed XYZ but I’m not sure what that means or how to fix it”.

One of the best ways to be able to see all of this is to watch video of your crew rowing. This allows you to see the entire eight from the side, which isn’t a view coxswains often get unless they’re in the launch. By observing the crew from the side, you can see what the timing on each side looks like, what the rower’s bodies are doing, where their hands are, if their chins are up, etc. The bodies aren’t something we can see in the boat, so if we can study them externally we can start to develop a better sense of each of our rower’s tendencies. If your coach is able to ride behind you and can get an shot of all eight rowing, you’ll be able to see the timing of the entire crew even better.

THE SET

If the boat isn’t set, ask yourself the following questions. See if you can figure out why it’s not set based on your observations. Don’t assume that it’s offset just because of the handle heights.

When the boat’s not set, is it always down to the same side or does it go back and forth between starboard and port?

Is it off on every stroke or every few strokes?

At what part of the stroke is the boat not set? (Catch, release, recovery, etc.)

If it’s offset on the recovery, is it at the beginning when the rowers first move their hands away or later when the bodies extend? When moving hands away, are the hands and arms moving in an arc instead of straight away? (This is easy to determine based on whether or not the oars stay at the same height off the water the whole way through the recovery.) When the upper body pivots at the hips and moves forward, make sure the hands aren’t dipping at the catch (skying the blade). If the blades are dragging across the water, the hands are too high and need to lower a bit.

If it’s offset at the catch, it’s typically caused by uneven catch timing (everyone entering at a different time) or hands dipping down towards the feet. If the hands are dropping it could be because the heads/upper body are dropping.

If it’s offset at the release, the timing of the release may be off or the oar may be being buried too deep. They’ll know if it was buried too deep when they catch a crab.

Does it start as a slight lean and then all of a sudden drop down at the catch or does it remain steadily offset throughout the whole slide movement?

Are port and starboard exerting equal pressure or is one side pulling harder than the other? This will be one of the easiest things for you to notice since it will effect the steering.

Are everyone’s heads in the boat, with their eyes and chins up?The slightest turn of the head can offset the boat which is one of the main reasons why the rowers are constantly reminded to keep their heads in the boat and their eyes forward.

TIMING

Timing can be a tough thing to see at first, especially in an eight. You have to use your peripheral vision in order to see all eight blades at once, which can be awkward sometimes since it involves staring almost directly at your stroke’s chest.

Is everyone catching, squaring, and feathering at the same time? Point out who is late/early on each part and try to get everyone in unison. If they’re late at the catch, remind them to start squaring up over their knees so that by the time they’re at the catch all they have to do is drop the blade in. Make sure they get the handle down and the blade out BEFORE they feather.

Are the other seven (or three) rowers following the stroke? Is the 7-seat (or 3-seat) picking up the stroke’s rhythm and translating it back to the rest of the crew? Periodically ask the stroke how it feels. If he says it feels rushed, remind everyone else to match the hands, shoulders, and slides as they come out of the finish and if necessary, call for a ratio shift.

Is everyone moving at the same speed? Watch for oars flying back and then waiting at the catch, going slow during part of the recovery and then speeding up at the end, etc.

DRILLS

When your coach gives you a drill to execute with the boat, focus on the purpose of that drill and what the rowers are trying to accomplish. For the most part, this should be the bulk of what you’re critiquing. If you’re not sure what you should be looking for with each drill, ASK. If you do a drill incorrectly, not only are the rowers going to be annoyed because they’re not getting anything out of it but the coach will also be too because you wasted valuable time.

HANDLE AND/OR BLADE HEIGHTS

Is someone skying their blade/dragging it across the water consistently? This goes hand in hand with the set. If you notice this, tell the rower, pair, side, etc. what you see and how to correct it.

PRESSURE

Occasionally your coach might ask “how’d the pressure feel on that piece?” It’s important that you be honest, especially if you’ve been given a specific pressure to row at for the piece. You’ll quickly learn what your rower’s half, 3/4, and full pressure feels like, so if it doesn’t feel like they’re rowing at the specified pressure, don’t be afraid to ask for more.

Also know when to tell them to back off the pressure, if necessary. Warmups are not the time to be rowing at full pressure, so tell your crew to stop showing off and instead focus on what you’re telling them to do. I’ve found through coaching that this is most often the case when you’ve got a boat full of high school guys who just recently started rowing; experienced rowers don’t tend to have this problem.

Image via // @ellendemonchy

Drills Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Hi there! I have the unfortunate issue of missing water/not getting my oar completely buried before my drive. My knees go down faster than the rest of my boat, and it’s hard on the timing especially when I’m stroking. Why is this happening? I know how it should feel like on my legs if I get the full drive (it’s more pressure, it’s like how strokes feel on an erg), but my hands don’t seem to get it. What are some things I can do? Thank you in advance.

When you’re missing water or not getting the blade buried before the drive it usually means that you’re starting your leg drive before you’ve unweighted your hands at the catch – this is also known as shooting your slide. Doing this will cause you to miss water and only take half or three-quarters of a full stroke, and/or in some unlikely cases, catch a crab. Novices tend to not focus on applying pressure through the water, but instead focusing on how much “effort” they’re exerting. You’re probably feeling something in your back and thinking that you must be putting a lot of effort into the stroke when actually all you’re doing is working your back more, making it tired more quickly, and translating that tiredness into perceived effort. Solution? Effort AND focus. Legs, back, arms. Try doing the reverse pick drill to work on isolating each part of the drive.

With regards to getting your legs down faster than the rest of the boat, you are definitely shooting your slide (see above). At the same time though, your boat has to follow you. If they’re significantly behind you in timing, that is their issue to worry about, not yours. Everyone needs to get the “one part drive” thing down and once everyone has that concept mastered, stroking should be a little easier.

It sounds like you know the different parts of the stroke, you just need to slow it down and concentrate on each part individually. Don’t try and master everything all at once. Work on the leg drive and once you have that mastered, add the back. Once you’ve got that down, add the arms. Talk to your coach and see if maybe he/she can record you while you’re in the boat one day and then go over the video with you to point out what you’re doing wrong and where/what you can improve. I think actually seeing yourself is the best way to make corrections. You can hear people say you’re doing something but you don’t really understand it until you see it for yourself. If you can erg in front of or beside a mirror, that would be helpful too.

Coxing Drills Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Hi there!! I’m a fellow coxswain for my university’s junior varsity team but I’m fairly new at being a cox. My rowers tend to be sloppy with their catches and releases, they also skip their oars on the water when they feather, and start losing energy during their 6th out of 8th 13 stroke cycle. Do you have any advice I can use? I really want to help them but they’re just so stubborn sometimes, argh! Thanks for any help!

When you notice the strokes starting to get sloppy, pay closer attention and see if you can figure out when it starts. Are they sloppy all the time on a consistent basis or is it only during the last 20 or 30 strokes of a long piece that they start to get sluggish? Ask your coach what he/she sees and make note of it. Ask the boat when they start to notice it. When do you notice it? This can help you with the calls you make to correct it. If they’re being sloppy right from the get-go then it’s usually a focus thing but if they’re getting sloppy towards the end of a piece, they’re usually tired and that’s why their technique is starting to falter.

You want to get the catches in at the longest part of the stroke – do they know where their longest point is? A good trick to helping them get that length is to have them sit in the boat (while you’re on the dock) fully compressed at the catch. Then take a regular drinking straw and tape it to the gunnel. It gives them a point to aim for on every stroke so that they know when they hit that straw, they’ve reached their catch, so all they need to do is lift the hands and drop the blades in. I’ve also had coaches put tape on the tracks so that when the rowers feel their seat hit that bump, they’ll know they’ve reached their full compression/max length.

Catch placement drills are great for working on the timing of catches. Basically, you call the catch, usually starting from the finish, and the rowers go to the catch, the goal being to all enter the water at the same time. They do NOT take a full stroke…they only go to the catch. Once they’ve gone to the catch you can say “Ok, back to the finish” and they’ll pull their blades out of the water and go back to the finish. This drill is stationary, so you should not be moving. When you do this drill, listen for that “plop” sound when the oars enter the water. That’s going to tell you more about what the timing is like than just watching the blades. Have the rowers listen for it too.

Here’s an example of how its done.

Another thing is to make sure they’re not starting the legs before their blades are in the water. If the blades aren’t in before the legs go down, not only are you missing a ton of water but you’re also going to have a really sloppy entry. Call the catches for five to ten strokes (going off your stroke’s oar) and then start transitioning the call to “lock, sssend” or “push, sssend” where the “lock” or “push” is that point when they all enter the water and the “sssend” is on the recovery after they’ve taken the stroke.

To clean up the releases, remind them to squeeze into the finish, meaning to keep pressure on the drive through the WHOLE stroke. Releases get sloppy when the pressure comes off coming into the finish. Calling for an acceleration into the finish (starting the catch at 50% pressure, finishing at full pressure or something along those lines) forces them to get good layback and work on clean extractions. Also remind them to tap the handle down. I don’t know why so many rowers forget to do this and then complain about not being able to get their oars out of the water. If you’re not tapping down, the boat’s going to go off set and you’re going to have a harder time getting it out because you’re trying to move the handle away at the same height you’re drawing it in. It doesn’t work like that.

Going off of that, the set will effect the cleanliness of the catches and finishes too. Remind them where their handle heights need to be and where they need to pull into (typically when laying back properly, the belly button is where they should be pulling into).

If their blades are dragging on the water this is almost entirely a handle heights issue because it means the oar handle is being carried too high. Tell them on the next stroke to get their HANDS down (make sure they know the difference between their hands and the blades – you have no idea how many people don’t recognize the difference) and lift the blades off the water.

On strokes where the boat is set and all the blades are off the water, point that out and say “Yea guys, that’s it … did you feel how smooth and clean that stroke was? THAT is what we’re going for.” If you show enthusiasm when they do something right it shows them that you’re paying attention, you’re invested, and you see the changes they’re making. They’re much more likely to respond to excitement like this vs. negative comments like “Come on guys, this looks terrible. Get the hands down and stop dragging the blades.” It’s easy to get frustrated but you have to quell that frustration in order to help the boat get better.Challenge them – “How many strokes can we go with the hands down and blades up? Let’s go for 5 strokes.” If you can get five strokes, great – next time go for seven. If you present them with a challenge, most likely they’ll accept it.

Remind them of the simple physics of rowing – every time their blade drags across the water, they’re slowing the boat down. The reason you feather the blades and keep them off the water is because it slices through the air and helps the boat maintain the speed you just created on the drive. If your blades are on the water, you’re creating a lot of unnecessary drag and the energy you just put into the drive to build the speed up is partially wasted if you’re just going to slow the boat down on the recovery.

Losing energy towards the end of long/hard workouts isn’t uncommon but they just have to stay focused and not just go through the motions when they get tired. The more steady state you do the more your endurance will improve but that’s only gonna take you so far. The focus and intent has to be there too. They can’t be stubborn – remind them of that. If they truly are committed to the sport, to individual improvement, and to helping the boat get faster, they’ll put their stubbornness aside and listen to you and your coach. Humility goes a long way in the sport of rowing. Talk to the rowers and find out from their perspective what is happening in the boat. Have your coach video you one day and then spend some time going over it with your crew. Point out different things to them so they can see what they’re doing. They might not realize that they’re doing something wrong until they actually see it.