Tag: qotd

Novice Q&A Rowing

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My coach has enlisted the help of the rowers who’ve finished their last season at school to help with a learn to row program for the new recruits. We’ll be taking them out in quads for a couple of weeks. Do you have any advice on how to teach them to get the basics down? My learn to row experience is just a big blur now!

Start small … and then back up from whatever you think “starting small” is and start even smaller. The first few times you go out, I would do nothing but catch placement from each position (just tapping down from the finish to start, moving to arms, arms and body, 1/2 slide, then all the way to the catch). Teaching them to tap down first and figure out what their hands have to do to in order to get the blade to respond will help you out a lot, and at the same time will demonstrate how important it is for the boat to be set. Make sure you spend some time going over that as soon as you get on the water, preferably before you even start rowing if you can. Have the ports push their hands all the way down, then have the starboards do the same. Make them figure out what they have to do in order to set it up instead of you telling them. I find that makes the concepts stick better, even if in the moment you feel like an asshole for not just telling them what to do. Once they understand that concept, move into tapping down, figuring out how the oars work, etc. Once they’ve got that figured out, start doing pause drills. Start with a double pause, then go down to a single, and then to straight rowing. I’d stick with just pairs for all of this to start until everyone is reasonably comfortable before you move on to having all four row.

Biggest suggestion is to just be patient. It’s what I have to remind myself every time I’m with novices because at this point, this stuff is so “auto-pilot” for me that I don’t even think about it anymore. You’re going to think that getting the hands away before the legs come up is like, “duh!”, but they don’t get that yet, so you’ve got to take the time to explain it while not going too crazy.

Have a plan of what you want to do before you get to the boathouse. Don’t be overly ambitious either. Think about their skill level and the amount of time you have. If you notice you’re not going to get through everything you had planned, don’t worry about it. Don’t suddenly start trying to rush through things because that’s when people get frustrated and accidents happen.

Crack a few jokes, throw in a few analogies and metaphors, and just make it fun. Obviously the environment in serious but you can still keep the mood light and relaxed. Have a good time with it and don’t take anything that happens too seriously.

Coxing Q&A Racing

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What are some short little phrases I can say in between counting numbers in the starting sequence/power 10s/focus 10s, etc?

Listen to practically any recording I’ve posted – you’ll get some great ideas from there.

Other stuff you can say … the stroke rate and split (if you have a Speed Coach)  are good to say during the starting sequence, particularly if there’s a specific rate/split you want to be at. For focus 5s/10s, keep whatever you’re saying related to whatever the focus is. When I do 5 for legs, the only things I say is “legs, legs, legs, legs” between strokes or something similar that relates to pure power. I also like to say “drive”, “send”, “complete”, “accelerate”, and “stay on it”, in addition to miscellaneous stuff like “yea!”, “there we go!”, “walking!”, etc. when I’m calling bursts.

Ergs Q&A Training & Nutrition

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Hi, I have a couple of questions for you! First off, can you please explain to me how the boats/age groups work in the US? We just row in under 15, under 16 etc but what does JV 8 mean? And secondly, do you have any tips for erg workouts during the off season? I’m just going into mine, and 30-45 min. ergs are great but get a bit boring after a while! Thanks. 🙂

I talked about what JV means, as well as the other classifications we typically use, in the post linked below.

Related: What’s the difference between a JV8 and a 2V boat? Or are they the same thing?

For off-season workouts, listening to music (I have a ton of playlists on Spotify), podcasts, audiobooks, or even watching Netflix can all help with the boredom that sets in during long pieces. Try to mix it up though so you’re not doing the same pieces all the time too. 7 x 10′, 2 x 30′, 3 x 20′, etc. are all solid go-to pieces though.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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I’m a lightweight girl rower and our top 4 lightweight girls are doing a quad and I am glad my work has paid off so that I am in it. I have a very good friend on the team who is the girl that I basically beat out for the spot, although everyone says I deserve it over her by a lot. Lately she’s been very nasty and rude, especially to me and makes me feel like I shouldn’t be in the spot. She’s also said she refuses to race because she won’t win. What should I do to make her stop being so mean?

Her bitchy attitude is so not your problem. You should be glad that your hard work paid off and yea, it sucks that you were competing against a friend for that spot in the boat but sometimes that’s what happens. The key to not letting it become an issue is to recognize the fact that you’ve both been putting the work in and ultimately the better rower will “win” the seat. Maturity and respect are also important … and common sense. If she can so easily change her attitude from “friendly” to “nasty and rude” over something so inconsequential, do you really think she’s someone deserving of that spot anyways? Probably not.

If she’s stooping to that level of immaturity by refusing to race simply because she won’t win, her priorities are messed up and that’s her issue to deal with, not yours. If it gets to the point where she crosses a line and your coach needs to be involved, then by all means, talk with your coach, but until then ignore her, worry about yourself, and be the bigger person. You won that spot in the boat. Don’t make your coach question his/her decision by bringing yourself down to her level. Focus on the other three girls in your boat and ensuring that your hard work continues to pay off.

Q&A Rowing

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Can you explain a few terms for me: bucket rigged, bow side, and stern side? And also how do you suggest rigging an 8? Starboard or port rigged? Thanks!

As far as rigging goes, there is no “right” or “wrong” side to rig it. In high school and college, every boat I raced in was port rigged because the women chosen to stroke those boats all rowed on port. The woman stroking my eight right now rows starboard, so we’re a starboard stroked boat. It was a little disorienting at first getting used to everything being on different sides but other than that I haven’t seen any clear advantages or disadvantages to the boat being rigged one side over the other. I think it’s best to determine who your stroke is first before you rig the boat instead of rigging the boat one side or the other and limiting who you can put in that seat right off the bat. It also eliminates having to de-rig and re-rig the boat to fit someone who rows on the other side.

Bucket rigged boats are boats that have two immediate rowers rowing on the same side. So, for example, instead of 5 and 6 being starboard and port, they would both be starboard. I’ve heard it called “tandem rigging” more than “bucket rigging” but both terms mean the same thing. The photo on the right shows a really aggressive example of how you could do this.

There was an interesting article that came out of MIT a few years ago that discussed the different types of bucket rigging. A mathematician was employed by the University of Cambridge to analyze the forces in rowing and he came up with “new” types of bucket rigs that help to eliminate wiggle (surprisingly, that is a technical term). It’s worth a read.

Bow-side is what I think nearly every country except the United States calls starboard. I’ve never heard the term “stern side” but the opposite of bow-side is stroke-side, so I’m assuming maybe that’s what you meant? Stroke-side is the port side of the boat, also a term that nearly everyone but the US uses.

Coxing Q&A

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So my coach (who rowed but was a coxswain for a short bit of time) has been telling me to only steer when the rower’s blades are in the water… I’m kind of confused by this and I’ve never heard of only steering when the blades are in. Any help please? Thank you so much. 🙂

When I first started coxing my coach told me this as well. It basically has to do with the stability of the boat. When the oars are in the water, that’s when the boat is at it’s most stable, so steering has the least amount of effect on the set when you use the rudder then vs. when the rowers are on the feather out of the water. As I got more experienced I tended to do it less and less (because sometimes it doesn’t make sense to only steer when the blades are in the water) but when you’re just starting out and your rowers don’t totally have the hang of setting the boat, it’s a good habit to have.

This is another reason why coaches tell you to tell the rowers when you’re on the rudder, especially during head races, because if you have to go around a hard corner and can’t afford to steer just when the oars are in the water, it throws off the set. Alerting them to the fact that you’re on it can allow them to compensate with their handles on the next stroke.

Coxing Masters Q&A

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I want to try coxing men. Mainly because I know I won’t “feel bad” pushing them to max … and it might be a little selfish, but I want to see what it’s like to go even faster! I’m typical women’s cox size, 5’2 and 112 lbs … will I work? Oh and what’s master’s programs? Like is it for summer/graduates/ex-rowers, etc?

That’s why I like coaching guys – I don’t feel bad at all for how hard I push them. The guys I’ve coached previously all joked with me that I was like a slave driver because I never let them quit but none of them ever complained because they knew they were going to be better for it. It’s not selfish at all to want to be in a boat that goes fast. That’s why I like coxing guys. It’s impossible to explain the feeling you get when you’re coxing a great men’s boat that really knows how to work the water. I don’t think there is a typical men’s size or typical women’s size of coxswain – it’s not like we’re pre-packaged in small, medium, and large sizes (although now that I think about it, maybe we are…) – so yea, I’d say you’d be fine. Minimums for coxswains who are in men’s boats is 125lbs so you’ll have to carry weight with you but that’s like, the most minor issue ever.

Masters rowing is for anyone 24 and older. I think it’s 24. Basically if you’re out of college and not doing high performance or elite rowing, you can be a part of a masters crew. That’s what I cox right now and I like it. The women in my boat have all been rowing for a range of 5-20+ years. Coxswains of masters crews can be any age too, so you don’t necessarily have to cox rowers the same age as you. Your age doesn’t count either when they calculate the average age of the crew (I’m 24 but my boat’s average age is 50). The only downside is that it looks like there aren’t as many regattas to go to because not many have events that are specifically for masters crews. Oh, and races for masters crews are also shorter (1000m instead of 2000m).

Q&A Rowing

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So … why in an eight is 3 seat considered the “worst rower?” Technically they’re still in middle 4 and I just don’t get it. Thanks!

I touched on this in a similar question about 5-seat – it’s linked below. The middle four has ONE job – row hard. They’re usually the bigger rowers of the crew so their only responsibility by being put in the middle is to generate power. That’s not a bad thing. Three seat just happens to be the seat where you have the least amount of impact on the balance of the boat (due to the boat being more stable in the middle since it’s wider), so theoretically you could put your weakest technical rower there and it would have as much of a negative effect on the boat as if they were in one of the other seats.

Related: So what’s the deal with five seat? I’ve heard a lot of jokes where people say five seat is the strongest but one time I was rowing five and another girl on my team goes “hey isn’t five seat the fat person?” Is that true or is it just kinda the same thing as “threetard’?

I think the only reason people think three seat is the worst rower is because they read those boat personality things and take them way too seriously. And by people, I mean novices (sorry guys) who sign up for crew, do some Googling to find out more about the sport, and then get it in their head that that’s the worst seat in the boat and they must suck as a rower if/when their coach puts them there.

Related: Hey, as a coach you might be able to tell me, in a quad how do you decide who goes where? And the same for an eight? Where you’re placed in the boat, should this tell you anything about where you “sit” compared to the rest of the crew?

Assuming your coach actually put some thought into the lineups, each person was probably placed in their specific seat for a reason. Unless you coincidentally display the same kind of personality traits as the ones listed in those boat personality things, they don’t actually mean anything.

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

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Do you have any advice on coxing starts without calling out the fractions or counting out every stroke? They happen so quick that it’s hard for me to squeeze in useful calls for my rowers.

The whole start (starting four or five, high strokes, and settle) takes about a minute (ish) to get through. After that you can make all the calls you want but until that point, executing the start is more important than whatever else you might say. Rather than saying “1/2, 1/2, 3/4, full” and trying to cram words in between each one, pick one or the other to do. Either call the fractions or say something like “pry send, complete, complete, lengthen, full…” but don’t do both. If/when you make calls, they should be short, monosyllabic words that are quick and easy to say. It’s easy to trip yourself up if you try to say too much so just focus on keeping it simple.

If you need some inspiration, listen to the recordings I’ve posted and hear how those coxswains do their starting calls. That should give you an idea of how you might do it.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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I am a coxswain on a competitive women’s varsity team. Today at practice my coach screamed at me for every little mistake I made. Everything from not making my boat turn fast enough (ports were rowing and starboards were backing!) to drifting a bit to the shore side during a piece. After practice she pulled me aside and proceeded to list off every single error I made, I nodded and agreed to make changes and focus more on the water She then was like what happened to your boat today? (Even though we won each 3 min piece by open water) I explained to her what we were working on and how they were responding to my calls. She then said that my boat shouldn’t have been going faster than the other boat but something I did was working and she didn’t understand b/c it couldn’t possibly be that I was a better coxswain. I didn’t know what to say. I feel like she hates me? Should I do anything or just work harder?

What the hell … it couldn’t possibly be because of you?? That’s so rude! I wonder what she would say if someone said when you guys win races this season that it can’t possibly be because of her coaching. I don’t even understand why a coach would say that.

In situations like that, there’s really nothing you can say or do that will please your coach. You definitely don’t have to agree with what they’re saying but you do have to know when to bite your tongue and just say “I’ll keep working harder”. Before you go out tomorrow, gather your boat and have a quick talk with them. Tell them that the coach said something to you about turning the boat too slowly so today we need to work on getting it turned around faster (regardless of whether or not you were actually turning it slowly). Explain to them what your coach said, even if it didn’t have much to do with them, just so they understand why you might seem tense or slightly more pushy to get things done on the water. Ideally they would recognize the issue and work with you to help appease your coach, since you’re an important part of the crew too. Make sure they understand that they need to be focused, on top of their game, etc. when they’re on the water – don’t give your coach any reason to say anything negative to you.

Stay on top of your game too. Don’t let this incident rattle you or make you question yourself. If she keeps doing this, I’d consider maybe having a sit-down conversation with her to figure out what her problem is. If it was just a one time thing, maybe she was just having a shitty day and needed to take it out on someone. You never know. Unless you specifically did something that would give her a reason to be legitimately pissed at you I would just listen to what she said, make note of what she wants you to do better, faster, etc., and then go out and do that at your next practice.