Tag: foot stretchers

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Footboard

Coxing Rowing Technique

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Footboard

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Previously: Rush(ing) || Body angle || Pick drill || Suspension || Skying the blade || Quarter feather || Pin || Run || Lunge || Washing Out || Missing water

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

The footboard itself obviously isn’t part of the stroke but it plays an important role on the recovery, at the catch, and at the finish.

What does it mean/refer to

The footboard, also known as the foot stretchers or just “stretchers”, is generally considered to fall under the “rigging” umbrella since it’s an adjustable part of the shell’s structure. (You can read more on its relation to rigging in the posts I’ve linked down below.)

Relevant calls

The calls you make here aren’t going to be strictly about the footboard, rather they’re going to be with how the body interacts with it at certain points throughout the stroke.

Recovery: “Stay light on the feet”, “No weight on the legs/stretchers on the way up…”, etc.

Second half of the recovery: “Transfer the weight to the toes…”

Catch/drive: “Stomp…”, “Legs…“, “Kick…”, “Drive…“, “Push…”, etc.

Finish: “Maintain connection through the feet…”

What to look for

As the coxswain, the things you notice about the footboard are most likely going to come in the form of something being off with the rower’s catch and finish angles. If they’re too sharp or too shallow then you’ll want to ask them if they’re getting to full compression (or if they’re over-compressing if the angle is particularly sharp) and then have them make an adjustment towards the bow or stern as necessary from there. Same goes for if/when you hear a lot of banging with the slides at the catch or finish.

In the 13 years I’ve been coxing I think I’ve only seen my coaches change the angle of the foot stretchers maybe two or three times, all to accommodate rowers who had very poor flexibility. It’s not something you’ll encounter that often but when you do it’s good to have a general idea of where they should be and how each positioning can effect the rower’s stroke. The general range is 38-42 degrees, with a shallower angle allowing the rower to have better compression and a steeper angle allowing you to drive with more force (although you’ll be sacrificing some of your length since you won’t be able to get to full compression as easily). If you have the chance to watch or help your coach rig the boats, talk to them about the placement of the stretchers and the angle at which they’re set.

Effect(s) on the boat

From a rigging perspective, if the footboard’s angle is too steep or too shallow then the angles of your catch and finish will be impacted. You might also need to move them towards either the stern or bow of the boat if you find yourself hitting the front stops (move to bow) or the back stops (move to stern).

From a rowing perspective, if you’re losing connection with the stretchers at the finish or not transferring your weight properly at the front end then you’ll be limiting the power of your stroke.

Related posts/questions

An Introduction to Rigging, pt. 4: Rigger Height and Work Through

Adjusting your foot stretchers

“How to set your footboards…” via USRowing

The other day our coach had all of us move our foot stretchers all the way forward on the tracks. I was wondering what the benefit of doing this is?

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?

Hey Kayleigh, I was hoping you could lend some advice on spacers, the correct positioning of your body in relation to the pin, and how to change these things either before you are out on the water or while you are out on the water. I was told that when in doubt to take a spacer off… is that the rule of thumb? It is different due to the type/make of the boat? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Question about the foot plates on the ergs – what number do you find it’s best to keep them on? Is there a standard it’s “supposed to” be at or is it best for each girl to change them for herself? What do those numbers even mean?

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

Image via // @reginaems

How To Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Adjusting your foot stretchers

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Adjusting your foot stretchers seems like it’d be a really simply thing to do – and it is – but without fail someone always manages to just completely screw it up and either rip out the entire footplate, lose a wing nut, or both (and 50% of the time one or both of those things happen when you’re on the water.) The most important thing to remember is to not remove the wing nuts when you loosen them – just keep them on the bolts and only loosen them as much as you need to in order to move the stretchers.

Related: Adjusting the seat tracks

Varsity rowers and coxswains, this would be something worth going over with the new novices on your team if it’s not something your coach hasn’t already mentioned or shown them.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hi! Do you know where to buy spacers? Also, do you happen to know the size of the wing nuts that are used on foot stretchers? Thank you.

Check out the manufacturer’s website for whoever makes your boats. In their online stores (i.e. Vespoli, Resolute) you should be able to find spare washers for pretty cheap.

The wing nuts are all M5s as far as I know, at least with Resolutes. (What that equates to in imperial units (i.e. for Vespolis), I have no clue. It should be easily Google-able though.) Anyways, I wouldn’t buy those on your own, just ask your coach if he can find you a spare set or two so you can have them if you need them. There’s always some lying around the boathouse so it shouldn’t be too hard to find some. (Same goes for the spacers too, to be honest.) The priority though regarding parts you should carry with you lies with the riggers – spacers, washers, nuts, and bolts … and more spacers.

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.

Q&A Rowing Technique

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The other day our coach had all of us move our foot stretchers all the way forward on the tracks. I was wondering what the benefit of doing this is?

Trying not to overthink this too much but my guess is that your coach is just trying to have everyone get a sharper catch angle since adjusting the stretchers has a much greater effect on the catch than it does the finish. The closer to the stern your feet are the closer to parallel the oar will be at the catch and the more shallow of a release angle you’ll have (it’ll be nearly perfectly perpendicular to the boat compared to being at a 20 degree angle or so otherwise).

Just going off what I’ve picked up from coaches and boatmen in the past, I think he’s probably just trying to avoid rigging seats individually (be that out of laziness or because of some other reason, I don’t know). If a longer catch angle is what he’s going for though, I’m not sure if this is necessarily the best way to approach it, although I guess if you’re all novices (and/or short…) then it could be a temporary thing as you work on developing better flexibility and mobility throughout the fall/winter. Still, if he’s trying to go for uniformity with one aspect of the stroke the catch isn’t what he should be going for, it should be the finish since you don’t have to contend as much with individual flexibility issues, amongst other things.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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I am about average height for a rower but I have really small feet (like a size 6) and almost all of the shoes in the boats we have are size 12. Some I am able to tighten so it’s not too bad but in some of our older eights and fours its almost impossible. There have been several times when my feet have come out because they are not secure. Do you have any ideas of how to fix this?

Ah yes, the plight of the small-footed rower. (I can wear a size 2 in kids shoes so I sympathize with #smallfeetproblems.) The few times that I’ve gotten in a boat to row I’ve taken two pairs of extra socks that I have in my car and stuffed them up in the top of the shoe. It’s not the best solution but it’s not the worst either. I’m going to defer this question to the rowers out there though because outside of just dealing with it, I genuinely have no idea what you could do in this situation.

Help us out, guys – how do you deal with shoes that are too big for your feet? Is it just a matter of “sucking it up” or is there an actual tried-and-true solution?

Q&A Rowing Technique

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Hey Kayleigh, I was hoping you could lend some advice on spacers, the correct positioning of your body in relation to the pin, and how to change these things either before you are out on the water or while you are out on the water. I was told that when in doubt to take a spacer off… is that the rule of thumb? It is different due to the type/make of the boat? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Changing the positioning of the spacers effects the height of the oarlock, which will then correspond to how easy or hard it is for you to get your blade out of the water. To adjust the spacers, all you’ve gotta do is pull them off (which takes some muscle) and reposition them either below the oarlock to add height or above the oarlock to lower the height. This is how it’s done across the board, regardless of the type or make of the boat. I’d recommend doing it on land, if you can, when the oarlock itself is dry. It’s much easier trying to get them off when the boat’s not tipping to the side and your fingers aren’t wet and slippery. Doing it on the water pretty much guarantees you’ll lose one if you do manage to get it off and unless your coach or coxswain has spares out with them, you’ll be stuck rowing with the oarlock lower than you want it. I’ve never heard the rule of thumb about removing spacers and couldn’t find much when I Googled it so that might just be what your coach has found worked best in his/her experience.

Where your body is in relation to the pin (aka your catch angle) relates to the positioning of your foot stretchers, your flexibility, and your skill level. Whenever you hear someone talking about rowing through the pin or rowing through the “work”, what they’re referring to is where your hips and seat are in relation to the pin when you’re at full compression. You want to make sure you’ve achieved your full body angle ahead of the pin so that when you reach full compression, the relation of your seat to the pin is accurate. When you’re sculling I think you’re supposed to be even with the pins but with the larger sweep boats you’ll typically go a couple centimeters past that (a couple being 1 or 2cm). If you’re (excessively) in front of the pin then you’re going to have a very steep catch angle, which is going to cause you to have mostly ineffective stroke due to the excessive load you have to contend with. It also puts a lot of unnecessary stress on your low back. If you don’t reach full compression then you’re going to be behind the pin and have a very shallow catch angle, which is also ineffective since you’re not loading the blade enough.

Regarding your foot stretchers, if they’re too far up (closer to the stern) then you’re likely to be too far in front of the pin and if they’re too far back (closer to the bow) then you’ll be too far behind it. If that’s the issue then you can easily fix that on the water by removing your feet, loosening (but not removing) the wing nuts, and moving the stretchers forwards or backwards. You can do it on land too if you’ve got the boat upright in slings. I wouldn’t recommend trying to do it with the boat on the racks because there’s always that risk that you’ll loosen everything too much and the stretchers will fall on your face.

Q&A Rowing Technique

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Through the drive are you meant to push away with the whole foot? When I drive I tend to just drive with the front part of the foot. I’ve tried using my whole foot but it feels really strange.

When you get to the catch, the only part of the foot that should be on the stretchers are your toes and the top part of the foot. If your whole foot is on the stretcher it means you aren’t fully compressed, which means your stroke is going to be short and not as powerful.  If you have really good hamstring flexibility then sometimes you can be fully compressed while still having your feet flat against the stretchers but that’s not a super common thing.

Related: Question about the foot plates on the ergs – what number do you find it’s best to keep them on? Is there a standard it’s “supposed to” be at or is it best for each girl to change them for herself? What do those numbers even mean?

You want to feel your heels come up as you come into the catch so that when you start the drive you can push them down and against the stretcher – hence why rowing is more of a “pushing” sport than a “pulling” one. This is also why coxswains tell you to “stomp”, “feel the connection”, “connect and press with the toes”, etc. The only time you should have your whole foot against the stretcher is when you finish the leg drive (when the slide stops) and start the recovery (before the slide starts).

Ergs Q&A Technique

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Question about the foot plates on the ergs – what number do you find it’s best to keep them on? Is there a standard it’s “supposed to” be at or is it best for each girl to change them for herself? What do those numbers even mean?

Where your feet are placed on the erg make a huge difference in your technique and power output. When I explain this to novices, I tell them to think about what their feet look like when they go up on their toes or for girls, what it feels like when you’re wearing heels. Where your foot bends below your toes (on the balls of your feet), that’s where you want the strap to be. This allows for the most natural movement as you come up to the catch. If the strap is above that (over your toes), it’s not helping you out at all and can actually lead to you over-compressing (meaning your knees are in front of your ankles, which is an entirely separate issue). Over-compressing means that your legs won’t activate immediately at the catch and you’ll end up becoming fatigued faster due working harder than you have to.  You always want your toes to be in contact with the foot stretchers, and having the strap too high (meaning the number is set too low) prevents that.

On the flip side, having the number too high will put the strap down over the center of your foot (closer to your ankle), which is extremely uncomfortable. I don’t even know how people can row like that and not assume it’s wrong. This prevents your heels from coming up as you move on the recovery (at the very least it doesn’t let them come up enough) and doesn’t allow you to get fully compressed at the catch, which means your stroke is short and you’re not generating as much power as you otherwise would. It can also lead to a lot of lunging, because if you can’t get all the way up the slide you might compensate by trying to reach farther than you normally would to increase the amount of length you’re getting.

The shorter you are, the higher the number will be. The taller you are, the lower the number. I’ve seen some guys who row with it on 1 or 0 with no problems. It’s both a personal preference and … not. The strap has to be on a certain part of your foot in order for your stroke to be correct but the number that the stretchers are at is different for everyone. There is no “standard” so each rower should set their feet themselves just like they would in the boat.

I’ve never really looked into it so I’m not positive what the numbers mean but it might be how many inches of shoe is left over once you’ve adjusted it … but that’s a total guess that could be completely wrong.