#rowperfect

Well the obvious answer is Doh….make the boat go faster than the guy you’ve been switched with is the way to win a seat race.

Seat Racing Athletes

This is a guest post by the LaunchExhaust Blog (sadly discontinued) but you can read the archive here.

Ok, snarky, sarcastic, obvious comment aside, selection time is upon many teams as the spring rolls on. Seat racing, if it hasn’t been used yet, will be used soon by most coaches here in the United States. We like seat racing because it doesn’t involved the mechanical, dry numbers of the ergometer. The coach actually has to think now, putting together the best lineup for the fastest boat, rather than writing Excel tables for tabulating erg scores. In short, rowing adds the “art” that has been lacking through the long winter.

But seat racing means so much, out-weighing most erg scores and other testing numbers collected during the winter, that oarsmen approach “selection week” with dread. Suddenly, one or two short pieces in an unfamiliar lineup mean the difference between first and second varsity seats.

I won’t get into the reasons for seat racing here. I believe it’s the best method for selection of a fast lineup, followed closely by lots of work in pairs. And there are no inside secrets that could help me seat race myself into the American Olympic eight. The training that an athlete brings to the water after the winter heavily influences the outcome of seat racing, and the results from the winter do influence the direct athlete vs. athlete comparisons that a coach looks at.

Five Rules of Seat Racing for Rowing Crew

First law of successful seat racing – Race Day Rules Apply

Second law of successful seat racing – How does each athlete attack racing?

Third law of successful seat racing – Don’t suddenly change your approach to rowing

Fourth law of successful seat racing – Switch quickly and get a few warm up strokes

Fifth law of successful seat racing – We’re all on the same team, people

So, what can I offer here?

Mainly, the mental approach the athlete brings to seat racing day can make a significant difference in how that athlete performs. To bring your best during a seat race and have the opportunity to win, here’s Coach Jay’s advice for winning seat races.

How to win a seat race

First, for everyone on the team, “RACE DAY RULES APPLY”. That means everyone needs a full night of sleep, good hydration and dietary preparation and good health. If any member of the team is deficient in these areas, they should notify the coach before seat racing starts. This is the “First law of successful seat racing”. Because, even if you weren’t raced that practice, but tell the coach that you were racing on 2 hours of sleep afterwards, the coach now gets to throw out all the results he just got, and repeat the whole sequence later. Thanks for wasting that practice. (Now go do a 6k. Grrrrr.) Furthermore, Race Day also means that you have to get your mental “game face” on and face down your nervousness.

Being seat raced is an opportunity for the athlete to be the coach’s complete focus for one, two or even 5 entire racing pieces. As an athlete, you will not get this much attention during a typical practice. It’s your opportunity to shine.

It’s also your opportunity to prove the coach wrong. That strange little hitch in your shoulder at the catch? The technical problem that you’ve been yelled at about for the entire season? Well, it doesn’t matter all that much when you win your seat race, does it? Prove the coach wrong; prove you deserve a seat in the next boat up. Prove that you’re the Alpha Wolf.

So, what is the coach looking for during seat racing?

Other than the obvious results between two athletes?

I would also look at the stroke seats, if I wasn’t sure who would be stroking the various boats. I want to see how well they’re keeping the required rating and how easily the boat behind them follows.

The athletes that are being raced are obviously the center of my concentration. I’m looking for how well they row when under pressure and how they mentally strong they are. Are they looking over? Are they shouting in the boat? Did they give up when their boat got too far down or ease off the pressure when they got too far up? Lots of questions about how the athlete attacks seat racing will directly translate to how that rower will approach real competition. Be aggressive, but mentally strong. This is the “Second law of successful seat racing.“

Seat racing (if the coach has done his lineups correctly) is the closest racing that will happen in practice. For many crews, this is the only opportunity to experience competition before they are putting their uniforms on for the real thing. Will the technique that endless miles in the tanks, on the ergs and on the water fall completely apart when *real* full pressure is required?

Thus, please don’t suddenly change your approach to rowing when a seat racing day gets started. That would be the easiest way to lose the race and drive the coach insane. (I know, short drive.) This is the “Third law of successful seat racing”.

Next, try to meld in to the rhythm of the boat that you are in. The easiest way to win a seat race is to switch into the boat that won the previous race and “get out of the way”. Don’t try to win the race by yourself; this is a team sport, after all and the athlete that adds to the swing of a successful boat will have an advantage. Because of this, time spent on the paddle with your new boat, or even a power ten is key. Make your switch as quickly as you can, get adjusted and go. Those warm-up strokes give the athlete the opportunity to learn the rhythm of their new boat, either helping a struggling boat or meshing into the good swing of a successful boat. Thus, the “Fourth law of successful seat racing” is to switch quickly and get a few warm up strokes.

So, when the practice is over, the athlete must now face the results. Either you won or lost. Was is close? If so, expect that race to be “looked at” again by the coaching staff. We like “definitive” wins; that means we can be reasonably certain about that outcome. Close races leave the coach shaking his head. Now he’s looking at just making a “gut call:” who is better when a seat race basically ties (dead heat)? Good luck with that one, it keeps us up at night.

Coxswains, a word.

Steer straight. Get the boats together quickly. Get the boats lined up quickly. Don’t screw up the timing. Don’t screw up the distance between the boats. Don’t lie to the athletes on how many seats they might be down. (Basically, don’t screw up. The, usual, you know.) Because neither the coach nor the athletes want to re-race because of a coxing screw up.

And for those on the “sideline” not being raced: If you don’t think that we’re watching the entire boat, you gravely underestimate your coach. Yes, we’re concentrating on two rowers, but the quickest way for me to throw out my seat race plan and make a “surprise bow vs three” switch is if I believe somebody isn’t giving their best effort, or worse, is trying to throw the results. We’re all on the same team, people.

And that is the final lesson of seat racing.

Further reading

Duncan Holland’s slides on how to run Seat Racing including the famous ‘spider diagram

The definitive guide to rowing seat racing – a curated collection of articles including should coxswains be raced, junior crew and how not to get shafted at seat racing.

The post How to win a seat race – 5 rules appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

Thanks to Martin Cross who recorded his Best Rowing Moments from 2017

10 – Tom Barras GBR Single Sculler at Sarasota World Rowing Championships 9 – Hungarian 2+ Coxed pair vs Australians – finish at World Champs 8 – Irish lightweight mens pair LM2- Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll sensational high rating 7 – Final of Womens Eights – Romania back on top. Contest of Canada vs New Zealand whose coachDave Thompson moved to Canada and beat them in the last few strokes. 6 – Romanian LW2x sensational finish against the NZL duo of McBride & Kiddle 5 – Australian Mens 4- Fantastic in Poznan and Sarasota dominated their event. Ian Wright coaching then to row very smoothly. 4 – Kerry Gowler and Grace Prendergast NZL W2- when they broke Stanning and Glover’s world best in Poznan 6:49.8 3 – Last 300 meters of the German and Australian Eights Final in Luzern when the AU four went into the eight 2 – Italian M2- sensational race against the Sinkovic Brothers at Worlds rowed them down. 1 – Robbie Manson taking the world record 6:30.74 in Poznan in 1x for New Zealand. The new way to scull!

Martin also did a 11 – 20 moments video

  The post Top Rowing Moments from 2017 appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

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Is it tough to really row slow?

I call it Aerobic Discipline. If so, find out why those low intensity, long distance sessions are a must for your high performance racing months from now.

Today, an e-mail message from a master rower read,

“Marlene, I have done that 90-minute piece on the erg three times now. I have to confess that during the last ten minutes or so I feel like I have to get a life. Does one really have to do this? I know the answer to that. Anyway, I will persevere. Please refresh my memory on the benefits of low and long pieces.”

Curiously, I get more of these e-mails than those bemoaning workouts that can raise enough lactic acid in the blood stream to strip the varnish off your vintage Stampfli single. It is a more formidable task to get masters or juniors to relax and do their base aerobic work correctly than to get them to charge into racing oblivion.

Without the slow rowing there will be no fast rowing later on.

In fact, to do your low intensity work with too much speed is one of the biggest training mistakes made because you deny yourself the true benefits that oxygen utilization contributes to your fitness.

Why long distance endurance training is needed

So I do my best to respond to the message of distress explaining why long, slow distance plays such an important part in getting ready for our events. The majority of your annual training time falls into this category during your preparation phases. In season these practices are sandwiched by oxygen transport and anaerobic work. It builds our capacity to recover from hard efforts; ultimately, how much we can safely do, without overtraining, is limited by our ability to recover.

You might have 20 available exercise hours per week but if it takes you three days to recover from a difficult session your volume must then be reduced compared to taking one day to recover from the same session. When intervals are on the agenda, the amount of recovery time one requires must be factored into the weekly cycle. More significantly, if you are racing several times in one day or over multiple days, the athletes with the best ability to recovery between events will fare better in the final stages of a regatta.

I go on, understand that it teaches your body to utilize fat as a fuel. It boosts blood capillary density in the working muscles for greater oxygen delivery because you are requesting a constant supply of oxygen for a long period of time. It increases the number of the energy-producing mitochondria in the cells. It allows one to maintain longer peak conditioning and creates the conditions to develop technique under concentrated conditions. What could be better? Old timers say, “If you can’t do it slow, you can’t do it at all” and “mileage makes champions”. Yes, if you are not careful, boredom can set in while you are putting in lengthy sessions, so for motivation keep your list of advantages taped to the refrigerator door because you will be getting hungry.

How can I measure my rowing fitness?

The level of aerobic base training can be measured in a few ways depending on your access to lab testing or personal preferences. Ways to define your low intensity rowing or cross-training includes: a blood lactate measurement of 2 Mmol/liter and the athlete’s corresponding speed as determined by lab testing, a heart rate range of 65 to75 percent of maximum, stroke rates between 16 and 22 strokes per minute, boat/erg speed that is approximately 70 to 75 percent of race pace for 2,000 meters, a 500-meter average speed that is 13 to18 seconds slower than your 20-minute trial average 500-meter pace, or a comfortable speed that can be sustained for a one to two hours during which you are able to sing.

You can manipulate your variables by distance, time, set stroke rate, or pattern of changing stroke rate. The volume you choose to do in one session depends on your current fitness level; for one athlete it may mean reaching the 60-minute mark, for another 180 minutes.

Sample long row training sessions

Here are some variations for extended rows: 10 to 20 kilometers or up to 120 minutes at 18 strokes per minute stopping only to turn the boat around and hydrate; 10 to 15 kilometers with stroke rate changes every five minutes at 16, 18, and 20 or including one minute of a drill every five minutes; three sets of 20 or 30 minutes with three minutes rest between at a constant rating of 20 strokes per minute. All these kilometers solidify your technique so remember to concentrate on rhythm, ratio, and stroke efficiency to improve your boat run.

A blend of activities is good for the mind and for developing metabolic qualities in your non-rowing muscles. This is where cross training can fit nicely into a program. But save your upscale workouts, anaerobic threshold or faster, for on the erg or in the boat so they are sport-specific. On days when you want to get outside to do something with friends or just need a change of scenery, you can go for a bike ride, cross-country ski, run, hike, power walk, swim, or play a team sport. If you plan to do your longest session in the gym you can do what I call the aerobic medley. Check out what cardio machines you have available. It could include indoor rowers, treadmills, steppers, elliptical machines, spinning bikes, recumbent bikes, or climbers. If you were planning a total of 80 minutes of aerobic work you could do a steady piece on one apparatus but you have several choices to make the time go by fast and keep things interesting such as: alternating 20 minutes rowing with 20 minutes running on the treadmill; alternating 10 minutes each of rowing, running, elliptical, and spinning; alternating 10 minutes each of the stepper and spinning; or 20 minutes rowing then 40 minutes running then 20 minutes rowing; or include 10-minute segments of mixed calisthenics such as sit-ups, squats, push-ups, or jumpies in your routine.

Variety and purpose makes it easier to comply with these valuable though time-consuming exercise bouts.

Marlene Royle is the author of Faster Masters – the technique self-guided rowing tutorial guides.

Buy the full  Faster Masters membership program –

Watch RowingChat podcast with Marlene Royle

Watch RowingChat podcast with Marlene Royle – Transitioning out of Winter

Buy individual chapters of Faster Masters

The post Do I REALLY need to do long distance training? appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

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And here’s a review from Sudbury Rowing Club who tried the Coxmate Audio amplifier.

Coxmate Audio amplifier

The audio only version obviously does not have a rate meter, but we were doing a UT2 outing with 2 1500m pieces at 28 so my stroke-man had the GPS unit for that outing and I then used it in the pair.

As you know, the Coxmate Audio box has a belt clip, a wrist carrier and an arm band that you can clip the box to. I would imagine that the arm bands could get lost in a club setting. I found mine when I got home, having forgotten to take it off when I switched from coxing clothing to rowing clothing between outings.

The crew reported that the audio is much better than the NK unit we usually use, and that the sound quality was markedly improved.  

However, the charging is fiddly, you have to put two pieces together and then charge. I think that it could be easy to lose the converting piece in a club setting.

Comfort wise I liked the headband set up a lot. I wear glasses and the NK strap set up makes my glasses go wonky, so your setup was much better as it allows room for glasses legs, I would need to experiment a bit more with how to attach the box to myself, but in a bowloader I did feel safer with this than the usual NK system that is stashed in its holder.

Pricewise it is very competitive compare to the NK audio only version and competitive compared to the Cox Orbs.

Coxmate GPS with Audio as an alternative to the NK Coxbox

Regarding the GPS unit. I like the way it attaches to the boat, much easier than the NK Speedcoach foot strap system and therefore easier to move from boat to boat. It is very sensitive on the rate, in that it splits it into decimal points as well as whole numbers. That didn’t bother me but the stroke-man in my 4+ was a little disconcerted by it.

The splits are useful, as is the speed.

I am in the process of trying to convince my club that we need GPS equipment in order to aid us to find out what makes each crew go faster!!

Pricewise it is unbelievably competitive compare to the Speedcoach 2, and it is easier to attach to the boat. The battery lasted for both outings (3 hours in total) and the outside temperature was between 0 and 4 degrees.

Therefore my only slightly negative feedback is that the charging unit needing to have 2 pieces made me worried that the converting piece could get lost, and I was also worried that the armbands may also go walkies – however I also think that I need to experiment with the armband system further.

  Related products

NK compatible replacement microphone

Coxmate GPS 

The post Coxmate Audio review from Sudbury RC appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

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We all want to know the deep secrets of top rowing coaches.  Surely they must do things that “normal” coaches don’t do? Charles Simpson is the co-author of Advanced Rowing and shares his deeper thoughts about rowing, life and how to become a better rower and coach.

Advanced Rowing book

Why did I choose to write this book?

It was clear that many of the world’s best rowing coaches are very happy to share their ideas publically at conferences (e.g. World Rowing Conferences) but:

The presentation details and content were often quite variable

It is hard for many rowers and coaches around the world to access the information, so lots of useful knowledge and experience of top coaches doesn’t reach a wider audience

So Advanced Rowing was a way to systematically capture the ideas of top coaches from around the world in a way that allowed space to give a good level of detail and to do so around key topics:

Training environment

Training and conditioning (including samples of weekly training)

Athlete selection and talent development

Coach and athlete relationship

Technical approach

Support services and technology

Fine tuning for racing

Blue sky thinking

Magic secrets of top rowing coaches

It’s human nature to try and make the complex seem understandable by focusing on the one thing that might explain why one crew is better than another.

It’s understandable why outsiders might think there are secrets, but if you ask top coaches if there are any secrets in what they do – the vast majority will say there isn’t. In truth, top coaches do lots of things very, very well.

Also, top coaches move around from program to program – if there were secrets in their approaches, then these secrets get passed around a lot….

So if there aren’t any magic secrets – why are some coaches so secretive???

Possibly, some coaches lack confidence in their methods – maybe they just are fortunate with recruiting good athletes…..

More likely, there can be a sense of power in creating the impression to outsiders that this team has a something special. We all like a bit of mystery and I think by trying to protect training strategies and athletes erg scores from the outside world it’s possible that athletes within a very closed team start to believe that their coach/system has something magical….So when it comes to race day, those athletes have a feeling that they have something extra in their back pocket…..something more and better than everyone else….it doesn’t matter if it’s make believe….what matters is that the athletes believe it SO then they have an extra layer of confidence……SO some coaches are probably playing on the theme of secrecy to help improve the confidence of their athletes through training and racing….

Once people realise there is far more to know about high level rowing than can ever be hidden, then people can stop chasing shadows and just get on with developing stable training approaches that are effective and time efficient.

Learning rowing coaching from books:

Lots of rowers don’t read rowing books……especially if you remove the biography-type books which are not designed to improve performance

What can readers take away from Advanced Rowing:

It’s possible to reach world class standard even if:

You don’t have great facilities (Denmark Lake Bagsvaard and 2000-m TURNING a coxless four in 16 to 18 secs!)

Sharing a lake and boathouse with lots of other users (Norway, Denmark)

You are NOT a full time athlete…….lots of the top rowers are part time students (esp. using online learning)

Coaches should be clear about their expectations of athletes (e.g. Tom Poulsen’s charter)

Range of cross training (e.g. Dave O’Neill’s running at the start of practice each day; NZ and the use of cycling)

ESPECIALLY finding ways to make the best of the environment and athletes that you have in front of you….

A tangible sense of the quality and quantity of training performed by top rowers.

Comparing national team to club rowers….in many cases the volume of actual rowing is similar…..150 km per week for men’s teams…..(10 to 15 hours)….what may differ is the additional training that full-time athletes especially can do….extra cross training in particular……

Noel Donaldson and building flexibility into the training program

At the heart of the NZ program has been a lot of effort placed on using technology and spreadsheets to log the training of every athlete. The athletes are provided with a Garmin watch to log heart rate, GPS, sleep etc….and this all feeds into software that helps monitor individual athlete training load. 

Once you have a way to track what athletes are doing and to capture their training load, it becomes possible to allow athletes more flexibility in choosing other ways to achieve the training load (e.g. more cycling, running, skiing)

So in Noel’s case….a lot of the flexibility he wants is to avoid boredom and give a sense of ownership

How do we get better at asking questions to develop understanding ???

It’s quite possible that rowers do not actually want to ask questions, at least not those in a team with a coach…….

The power dynamic in teams is such that many coaches want athletes to do as they are told….not to openly question……

So if a rower was to read a book, find some good solid information that could help the team, it may be risky to suggest to the coach that they could be doing something better……It can create tension and a perception of threat to the coach……Some coaches think “ROWERS SHOULD BE SEEN BUT NOT HEARD”…….

In some teams, the US especially, there are team captains to help raise issues and discussions from the team to the coach – this helps

It would be better though if coaches had  more secure evidence-base and answers for their practices…..so I think Advanced Rowing does present a way for rowers and coaches to have a conversation about things that might be worth exploring together….

Art versus Science

The entire season is just one big experiment…..keeping written logs and notes of how a session went is probably a good way to find the balance………

Tom Poulsen says you can use more scientific type approaches such as seat racing BUT he then says one of the lightweights who won gold in 2012 in the 2X came 10th in the seat race rank order…..SO sometimes, he says, the coach must trust their intuition

Don’t get too wrapped up in the science……lactate monitors are helpful BUT it can take a lot of time to get the value out of the information………BIOMECHANICS……..Dave O’Neill says  his mantra every day is “The main thing is to keep the main thing as the main thing” – for Dave, the main thing is the NCAA regatta in May

What would a club coach take from the book?

Avoid the tendency to race too much in training….spend more time building weekly volumes at low intensity (4 of 5 sessions below lactate threshold; so 65 to 80% HRmax.

Seek ways to make the most of your existing opportunities….

Avoid the tendency to think that everyone else has better athletes, better facilities, more money, secrets etc… Advanced Rowing shows that what is common between clubs and national teams is a lot of sustained and sensible training –

STAY CURIOUS AND INTERESTED even as you become an elite coach……

Find stability in what you do…….

ALSO…….ideally ALL coaches would go and spend time with master coaches and this would help them learn their trade…..BUT……in practice…..this is not always easy to do…….especially if you live in a fairly remote rowing community (this was easy in Sydney and South of England) BUT it was hard in the North East of Scotland and Texas……SO…..books written by coaches may well be the best thing to being to sitting alongside a master coach for a season……

Summary of the Chapter themes:

Noel Donaldson – Very organised and disciplined training approaches…..lots of support staff, other coaches and athletes feeding in to the system….Geographical isolation is a challenge b/c it limits their access to top competition……..use of dynamic and static ergs to add variety to training (including Rowperfect).

Johan Flodin – one of two full time national team coaches in Norway BUT they make good use of Olympiatoppen staff and especially cross country ski experts. Take many training camps…..  treat technique on the erg as an important issues (while Noel says he sees the erg largely as a conditioning tool)…1000 hours per year of training and 125 km of rowing average week.

Simon Cox – Swiss (now Czech republic)………..setting up a national team system which clubs buy into……….a centralised system……………working with club coaches/meeting with them………Lots of variety in training location and CC ski camps as well as swimming camps, cycling camps, erg camps (which was partly used to bring on new talent into the national team system)…… Building athleticism into the training of the wider body of rowers in Switzerland (e.g. adding weight training).

Tom Poulsen – View that using weights could have helped him set an even faster world record but only by 1 second perhaps…..Use of weights…………Small centralised system……..willingness to work with local universities to make projects…..limited training facilities……camps……taking boats to Copenhagen harbour…use of both C2 and Rowperfect ergs…..very democratic,…..the lightweights were really left to figure out how to make weight and athletes could be 3.5 kg over the male limit 24 hours pre-race….

Ben Lewis – Talks a lot about what he learned as a rower at Oxford Brookes from Richard Spratley…..developing an ethos of hard work….Helping guys who have full time London jobs to find time for rowing = efficiency in time use…..”row as much distance as possible within the time” – keeping intensity down to hit the weekly volumes……

Dave O’Neill – The coach as an educator – holistic – developing mindset, culture, tradition, being part of a BIGGER Texas project (athletic department) – INCREDIBLE financial resource  – selection is something that is happening every day and he works hard to be transparent to athletes – writing up the results….…..

Mark Fangen-Hall – Fair but not necessarily equal – best boats go the best athletes….elite culture….REWARD EFFORT NOT RESULTS…..weight adjusting erg scores….lots of levels of rowing in the club…..Not seeking to be the athlete’s friend…

The post Magic secrets of top rowing coaches appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

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4 ways to use video with your rowing crews – Part 1

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When planning my interview with Penny Chuter for RowingChat, I wanted to ask her

When watching rowing today, what’s the number one thing you think you’d like to teach athletes how to do better?

We ran out of time during the interview – but I asked her off -air and her answer was instructional.

Teach Scullers how to scull their boats level

The hull of a sculling boat is not symmetrical under the water line if you are not sculling the boat level.  This leads to steering problems and “syncopated scullers”.  I would draw coaches attention to this.  Ensure your crew are sculling in time with each other (not syncopated).  Blades in and out of the water at the same time.  And also check that they are leading out with the left hand and sculling left in FRONT of right (not left over the top of right hand). The photos are Tim Crooks.

Sculling with hands close and left in front of right

Go and watch a regatta and you’ll see so many crews are out of time with each other.  Mostly, this is because the boat is not level.

I experimented with setting the riggers level in my boat and also with setting one side higher than the other.  If you scull with one hand above the other (at cross over) it is impossible to rig out the difference in heights to force the boat to run level.  This is why you have to scull left in front of right.

I found that for a double scull 0.35 cm to 0.5 cm height differential works very well and for a quad scull half a centimetre in height difference between the bow and stroke side riggers.

Why does UK scull left hand leading?

In 1977 I decided the UK would scull a standard technique with the left hand leading.  I went to watch the autumn sculling heads and from observation, saw 60% of scullers had their left hand in front and 40% hand the right hand in front.

My reasoning in choosing left over right is this.  If the left hand leads, the under hand’s task is more difficult.  Because most of us are right handed people, giving the more dextrous task to the right hand is logical.

Why don’t sculling boats run level?

Scullers who “knit” in their pattern of movement draw in with one hand closest to the body and reverse this to push out on the recovery, they lead away with the other hand.

Teaching athletes how to balance the boat with their hands is the key skill.

First look at their knees if one goes down before the other they are not pushing equally on both feet.

If you see their knees wobbling on the recovery to bring the boat level, they should be using their hands to level the boat.

  When sculling the right hand is “in charge” during the drive phase of the stroke.  Especially towards the finish because this hand can lift up to keep the riggers level.  

When sculling the left hand is “in charge” during the recovery phase as it controls the balance.

One of the biggest challenges to level sculling boats are the wrists at the finish of the stroke.  If you have weak wrists and you cock the wrist in order to extract the blade at the finish, it’s hard to lead the recovery with a cocked wrist.  When I wrote the Instructors Award (coach  training), I taught new rowers only square blade rowing for the first three months of learning so that they were confident pushing down on the handle to extract the blade.

A drill to teach this is open palm sculling.

Open the fingers from their grip around the oar on the recovery – then you have to push down with a flat wrist to extract the blade.  If you cock your wrist and open your fingers, the oar handle will float upwards out of your grasp because your fingers are pointing vertically not horizontally.

What I observed is that if the fingers are pointing towards the stern of the boat, there’s a tendency for the wrist, elbow and shoulder to line up behind them all in a straight line, which is what you want.

A more skilled variant of this drill is to open the fingers at the finish on only the lead hand – the left hand.

To lead with one hand you have to make compromises – either by pushing the shoulder forward or slightly rotating the body – Penny says most people use a combination of both.

More photos – Peter Michael Kolbe with “bad” hands.  And several with good hand positions.

Peter Michael Kolbe sculling with poor hand positions

Beryl Crockford and Lin Clark GBR WL2x

  The post One thing to teach scullers to do better appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

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Improving the recovery

Drills and Exercises for rowing – Fingers Flat on the Recovery

One of the best technique improvement methods for rowing, sculling and coxing is video analysis.

It’s simple to get the video – it’s hard to get expert analysis that is actionable.

So Rowperfect’s put together a guide to help you out. Here you will get our top tips on how to take the film, how to interpret and a list of resources which you can read and upskill yourself.

Coaches

The most important thing you need is the best possible camera angle.  Rookie mistakes include taking video which is at an angle to the athlete.  Always, always be 90 degrees square off to the athlete when you shoot video.  Otherwise it’s darned hard to interpret and get the athlete to understand what you are trying to change.

Athletes

Wear clothing that is light coloured and preferably with a stripe down the side from your armpit to your thigh.  Yep, dig out that old tshirt because having a clear point of reference (the stripe) makes it very easy to see which part of your body moves at which point of the rowing stroke.  Wearing black conceals everything and although you may like this, it won’t help you learn what the coach is trying to change.

Coxswains

Yes, coaches MUST video you too.  Take a shot of the coxswain square off in case there’s anything postural which needs addressing.  Then also video the stern of the boat through at least 5 stroke cycles – so you can see when it dips in the water and whether the travel is horizontal or more up-and-down.  Then take a shot of the bows preferably including the bowman’s oar at the catch.  So you can see when the oar enters the water relative to the vertical movement of the bowball at the catch.  Are they simultaneous or sequential?

Coxswain audio recordings are also very helpful.

Framing your video and scenes

Using Video to coach rowing

The RowingRecruiting website has this advice for athletes who have to submit video for university selection.

My recommendation is to have your coach, teammate, or even a parent shoot the video from the coach’s launch and frame these types of scenes:

Profile shot at low rates, with a pair holding the set, stroke rate 16 – 22

Profile shot at medium rates, with a pair holding the set, sr 24 – 28

Profile shot at race pace, all oars rowing, sr 30 -36

Three-quarter view at medium rates, with a pair holding the set

Shot from straight down the stern, where you can see rowers splitting into their riggers. This is especially useful if you’re the stroke seat.

Scenes from different types of boats, even sculling!

Video of a 2K piece on the erg

There’s a lot going on here, but if you can frame each scene, with say between about 20 strokes per scene, that provides a wealth of knowledge about a rower’s technique, flexibility, and rowing style.

Video interpretation for rowing

The only way to get good feedback is FIRST to know what good rowing looks like.  Watch top rowers on YouTube, slow down their video, pause it, look at the body postures at low rate, at high rate – compare the differences.

One key way to asses a whole crew is to look at the gap between each athlete’s head and the next athlete.  Does the gap stay constant, or does it widen and narrow?  If the latter, when in the stroke cycle does it happen and why?

I recommend following Nick Garratt on YouTube – he coaches at Mosman Rowing Club in Australia and regularly uploads video of his crews.  There’s no interpretation, but you see good rowing. His most recent video is of Drew Ginn’s Hand Flow.

Video resources for rowing coaches

Raf Wyatt wrote the ebook How to Video your Rowing Crew

Ben Rodford wrote Video Analysis a guide for Rowers and Coaches – about equipment

Combining your video with data analysis

A curated list of YouTube Rowing videos to share with school rowing athletes.

A single sculler video by Nick Garratt showcasing good video skills

A critique of poor rowing video

Buy video analysis from top rowing coaches around the world – Remote rowing coaching

Get a rowing technique DVD to watch good rowing

The post Video Analysis for Rowing – all you need to know appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

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