Tag: technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow April 15, 2013

I’m a collegiate rower. I have excellent technique except for one thing – I don’t catch quickly enough. I am in time with the rest of the boat, but it’s the issue of going straight to the water and burying my blade completely before driving with my legs. Most of our boat has this issue. I’ve tried asking coaches how to remedy my issue, but they haven’t given me anything very effective yet. Do you have any advice? Please and thank you! I appreciate it.

The first thing that comes to mind is something as simple as just unweighting the handle. (This may be something your coaches have talked about in the past.) One of the biggest reasons why people are late at the catch isn’t because they’re doing anything wrong on the slide, it’s because they’re lifting the blade in rather than taking the weight off the handle and letting gravity do the work. Gravity will put the blade in at the speed it needs to go in at … anything we do to try make it go in faster is doing just the opposite.

You can’t have a good catch without having good body prep on the recovery, so make sure you’re really focusing on finishing clean, relaxing the upper body, getting the hands away at boat speed, bringing the body over smoothly, and coming up the slide controlled and determined. When you get to the catch don’t think about it – just do it. The more you think the more it messes with your head and the more likely you are to make a silly mistake. Ask your coach(es) and/or coxswains to pay particular attention to your catch timing one day at practice and then ask them for feedback afterwards. Make mental notes of what you did differently compared to before, why you made those changes, and how you think they helped you so you can go over all of that with your coach.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow April 11, 2013

This week I seat raced four times- I’ve been in the 2V, so they seat raced me twice for the 1V. I lost, which is okay, I was happy with the 2V. Then I got seat raced and lost the 2V, and now I’m not boated for this weekend’s race, and probably for the rest of the season. I’m 5’4″, a heavyweight with top 8 time on my team, and my coaches say my biggest problem is that everyone else is just longer than I am. Do you know of ways to improve length? I’m starting to think I’ll never be a decent rower.

This may or may not be adding insult to injury, but I think that’s your coach’s polite way of saying that they’re taller than you and that’s where the advantage comes from. On one hand, strength and flexibility plays a major part in your length but it also comes from how tall you are. You want your reach, catch, and stroke to be as long as possible, which is why you see a lot of insanely tall men and women on the national teams. The biggest thing that will help you in the long run is working on your overall strength (if your team has a lifting program, start doing it) and flexibility (stretch, stretch, stretch, roll out on foam rollers, etc.). The strength part is most likely going to happen before the flexibility does (there’s not much you can really do about that either), but the two together will really help you out. Your height, limb length, torso length, etc. are all things you can’t change so even though they play a big part, it’s not worth worrying about because you can’t do anything about them.

Your hips and shoulders have to work together when you’re trying to achieve good length. Rowers like you who aren’t able to get or be as long as their teammates can make up for that by getting your hips deeper into the catch (not too much though), which brings your upper body forward a little more and allows you to grab a couple extra inches of water. What will allow you to do that is to work on the flexibility of your hips and increasing their overall range of motion.

Once you’ve worked on all of that (fast-forwarding to the fall season) and you know that your technique is good, your strength and flexibility have improved, etc. and you’re still not getting as much length as your coach would like, then he might look at the rigging on your seat. There’s a compromise to this though – changing the rigging, in this case the height and/or angle of your foot stretchers, increases your length but decreases your power output. Your coach would have to weigh the options and decide what he wants from there. Would he rather you be at a uniform length with the other seven rowers or be a little short but still able to get your maximum power output on every stroke? You’ve got one of the top eight erg times though so I don’t know how willing he’d be to compromise that power.

I’m sure you already are a decent rower. It doesn’t take much to be decent but it takes a lot of work (at least on the teams I’ve been a part of…) to be able to seat race for the first varsity boat. Your coach could have told you worse things, like your technique is terrible, you’re a poor sport, etc. but he didn’t. As long as you’re willing to do the work off the water, you’ll be back in a lineup in no time. Like I tell everybody else, don’t let this discourage you – instead, let it motivate you to work harder.

Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow April 1, 2013

So my team has a regatta next weekend and we have only rowed at all 8s like 3 three times since winter training. When we do there is A LOT of check and the boat is really not set. As the coxswain, is there anything I can say to fix this and help get my boat ready for Sunday? Thanks!

There are tons of things you can say but with six days to go before your race, I’m not sure if much of it will have any noticeable impact, especially since you’ve only rowed by all eight three times. Practice, practice, practice is what you need more than anything else.

In this situation, with so little time before your race, I would focus on making sure they understand what ratio is (and making sure you understand it yourself), why it’s necessary, and how it impacts your rowing (both positively and negatively). Your coach will hopefully do some of the necessary drills with them to help the issue, so when you go through them pay attention to what he says to the rowers, the corrections he tells them to make, etc. Everything they say you can repeat to the rowers when you’re on your own with them.

Related: The “ratio” tag

As far as the set goes, for a novice boat I’d say it’s fairly natural for the boat to be unset the majority of the time. That’s just from lack of experience. Remind them how to set the boat when it’s leaning to either side and tell them specifically what adjustments to make. Don’t just tell starboard to raise their hands, also tell port to lower theirs. Don’t tell them to “set the boat” either with no further instructions on who needs to do what. Always tell them exactly what you want them to do. The set is affected by eight million and twelve different things but handle heights is probably the biggest, especially with novices. Remind them of where the handle should be coming into at the finish, that they need to lay back in order to finish properly, to tap down at the finish to get the blade out of the water, etc.

When I’m talking to novices about this I like to tell them to imagine there’s a table sitting across the gunnels that they have to glide their hands across. Visualizing this helps them to not dip their hands and sky their blades coming into the catch. Focus on keeping the handle level, just like you try and do with the chain on the erg. With time and experience this problem will solve itself but for now you’ve just got to be diligent about staying on them about where their hands need to be. As you observe your rowers more and talk with your coach(es) about what you see, you’ll be able to pick out any of the eight million other things that they do that effect the set. From there you can get more specific about what they need to do besides just adjusting their hands.

This whole issue is something that I struggle with explaining to people. As coxswains, we can sit there and tell the rowers everything they need to hear about what’s going on, how to fix things, etc. but there’s only so much we can do. The rowers have to have the ability to do three things: they need the ability (aka skill) to make the change, the ability to focus and implement what you’re asking, and the ability to understand why the change is necessary. Until you have all three of those things, it’s hard to make an impact.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 20, 2013

So basically my erg scores are pretty dang good. But my technique on the water … is interesting to say the least. I really want to improve it and have been trying hard to do so, but with little success. Do you have any advice about on the water sweep technique? Thanks so much!

The best suggestion I can offer is to have your coach take some video and go over it with you before/after practice so you can see what improvements are needed. This will help give you specific things to focus on (i.e. getting your shoulders set by half slide) rather than just hearing “stop lunging at the catch”. You can also use whatever you learn from watching that video to do some research on YouTube, Reddit, etc. to see what others have done to work on the same or similar issues.

Also ask lots of questions – what are you doing wrong, what can you do better, how do you fix it, what needs to change, etc. Communication is key and the better you understand what you’re doing and what you need to fix, the easier it will be to actually make the necessary changes. Talk to your coxswains too and let them know what you’re working on so they can make the right calls to help you stay focused on making and incorporating those changes.

The last thing is to be diligent about your practice. Don’t just do something right for three strokes and then revert back to old habits. You just put all that effort into making the change so why waste it but going back to how you were rowing before? For awhile, the amount of time and effort that it’s going to take to make the change stick will be way more that what it took to learn it that specific skill in the first place, so that’s something you have to accept. Make an effort every day to do it the right way.

Coxing Q&A Racing Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 14, 2013

When during a 2k race should you make a call for ratio? What characteristics/flaws should tip you off that ratio is the necessary adjustment?

Ratio calls aren’t necessarily something that should be part of your race plan. Like, the way you say “we’re taking a 10 at the 500m, 1000m, and 1250m”, you don’t say “we’re taking a ratio shift at 800m”, if that makes sense. The times when I’ve called a ratio shift during a race are usually somewhere between 750m and 1250m. That’s an easy spot for the rowers to get frantic, especially if they’re being passed, or let the effects of fatigue cause their technique to get sloppy. The third 500 is another spot to watch for this and make that call if necessary.

Ratio shifts are just that – they’re shifts to adjust the ratio back to what it should be (2:1) so you shouldn’t call for one unless you have to. This is why communication with your stroke is important because they can feel when the ratio is off since they’ll be getting thrown up their slide. Sometimes you can see it and/or feel it (it’ll feel very obviously like you’re spinning your wheels) but for the coxswain to feel it it’s got to be bad. My stroke and I have a one-word communication system too for when we need to get it back on track – she says “ratio” and I make the call. Simple as that.

For more on ratio, check out the “ratio” tag.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 10, 2013

Are you only supposed to get blisters on your inside hand? I have one on my outside hand on my fingers which has never happened before. I also have a tendency to over grip and feather with my outside hand. Would that have anything to do with it?

I think it’s common to get them equally on both hands although because of feathering they could potentially be worse on your inside one. If you’re over gripping with that outside hand that’s probably going to play a bigger part in it than feathering would. With feathering you’d have blisters on your palms or where your fingers meet your palm whereas what you’ve got sounds more indicative of just holding on to the handle too tight. When you’re out, try to remind yourself to keep your grip loose – you should be able to wiggle your fingers on the recovery and on the drive, you want to feel the weight in your fingers but you don’t want to be holding on to the handle for dear life.

Over gripping your hands usually means you’ve got a lot of tension in your shoulders/upper body too. If you remember, ask your coxswain at your next practice if she can periodically say something to remind you to loosen your grip, relax the arms and shoulders, etc. Also make sure you take proper care of your blisters. Soap, water, and band-aids. It hurts like hell but it’s better for it to sting for a bit than develop an infection later.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 7, 2013

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.

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).

Coxing Drills Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 7, 2013

I say “catch 1, 2” a lot to keep ratio but after the catch when they’re on the recovery, why do I want them sliding back slowly? Shouldn’t that be the quick part when they’re actually taking the stroke? Or maybe my coach likes me to say that just because she still wants us taking it slow?

After the catch … you mean the drive? The drive is when where they’re taking the stroke and the recovery is when the blade is out of the water and they’re sliding forward into the catch. You wouldn’t count out “catch 1, 2…” on the drive though because that’s “fast” part of the stroke when the blade is in the water. Ratio is always 2:1 or 3:1, meaning that the recovery is two to three times longer than the drive.

When you take it slow like that, are you rowing with any kind of pressure? The only time I can think where I’ve had an exaggerated drive instead of an exaggerated recovery is when we’ve done rushed-recovery drills. They work on having quick catches because you’re taking no time on the recovery. The drive, on the other hand, is slow and there’s no pressure on the stroke – you’re basically reversing the ratio, so instead of it being 3:1 it’s now 1:3. Does that sounds like what you’re doing? If that’s not it, then I’m not sure what your coach is having you do. I’d definitely ask for clarification though so you’re sure you’re communicating the right stuff to the crew.

Ergs Rowing Training & Nutrition

Splits vs. Watts: What’s the difference?

By readyallrow March 7, 2013

A few questions have come up recently about splits, watts, and the difference between the two so that’s what I’m gonna go over today.

Splits

Typically the standard unit of measurement on the erg. Splits tell you your speed by displaying the amount of time (in minutes and seconds) it will take for you to row 500m at the pace you’re currently going.

Watts

Measures the amount of pure power you are producing.

Watts, as mentioned above, measures the amount of power you produce on each stroke and can also be an indicator of fitness and efficiency. High watts are often correlated to low splits but the relationship between the two isn’t always one being the product of the other. An example of this is comparing someone who does CrossFit to an elite rower. Both have a lot of strength so theoretically they’d both be able to produce the same low splits. What this doesn’t take into consideration though is their technique, which obviously plays a big part in how efficiently the power you’re generating is applied to moving the boat.

If you want to get an idea of the watts you’re producing, check out Concept 2’s watts calculator. It lets you put in your average split and in turn it calculates how many watts you produce. You can also use it the other way around and determine your pace from your watts. You can also use this watts/pace chart (the second tab under “indoor rowing”) to calculate and see the relationship between the two.

Another thing to think about is weight-adjusted scores. This helps coaches see who is the most efficient at moving their weight. If they put in everyone’s weights and splits into that calculator, they can get weight adjusted splits that they can then put into the watts calculator. This will give them a good idea of how well lighter rowers stack up in terms of power output compared to heavier guys.