Rowingchat

Ways to adjust your stroke to match the boat hull speed. Timestamps 00:45 The boat velocity changes through the rowing stroke cycle and you can feel these changes as you row. 01:30 Efficiency is key This is a measure of the difference between a skilful crew and less experienced athletes. When watching crews in a race you can see some crews just inch ahead of the others. Efficiency is a key to why the best crews do well - they use their power efficiently; they help the boat hull to move through the water with greater efficiency - how do they do this? They manage their body mass well. Body mass is resistance to changes in velocity. This matters because the entire boat is moving forwards all the time (even though you may think you go backwards and forwards on the slide). Because of the sliding seat, the boat hull doesn't travel level, the bow moves up and down through the stroke cycle. 03:40 Maximum Boat Speed Diagram of boat speed through the water (credit British Rowing) https://fastermastersrowing.com/gett

Hear Becky Wilson for an in-depth review of the considerations for the masters athlete in terms of cardiac health. - Understanding your cardiac risk profile - New to rowing or returning after a long break? - How training for sport changes as we age from a cardiac health perspective. - A common mistake many masters athletes make with their training. - Age related adjustments to heart rate with respect to training in UT2, UT1 etc. - Understand and use the Karvonen Method for finding Heart Rate Zones. - Beta Blocked athletes need to do this with their calculation - Is it safe to train/compete after a cardiac event or a diagnosis of a cardiac condition? Download the slides https://fastermastersrowing.com/cardiac-health-and-rowing/

Improve your rowing ratio while lifting in the gym. Timestamps 00:45 Rowing can be improved by strength training Lifting heavy has lots of benefits - today we'll talk about ratio. The contrast between the power phase and recovery phase. How to use this concept of ratio in strength training. 02:00 Improve range of movement As we age we find our muscles and tendons don't have the same range and so our stride gets shorter. Strength training can help improve or maintain RoM. Weight lifting works in two planes - when you lift the weight and when you return it to the start point. Concentric muscle movements are shortening the muscle (as you lift). Eccentric muscle movements are lengthening the muscle (as you return the weight to the start). Eccentric muscle work can help improve your range of movement. Working on this part of the strength lift can use the rowing ratio as part of the movement. 03:45 Ratio in strength training The braking effect that you use as you control the weight in the eccentric lengthening mus

A visual reference to aide adjustments to blade depth. Timestamps 00:45 Low technology solutions for rowing too deep. The tape goes around the oar shaft so that when the oar is under the water at the correct depth and the handle is at the correct height for you to old. Mark exactly where the shaft is level with the water surface. You can do this where the oar shaft is wet if you do this carefully. Measure the spot, return the oars to land and transfer that measurement to all the other oars and put white tape on them too. While rowing you can look sideways at your oar to see if the white tape is going under the water and where in the stroke it goes too deep (and you can no longer see the tape). 03.30 Causes of rowing too deep Usually it's caused by the athlete holding the handle too high. Modern oar designs naturally sit at the correct depth. If you row 'over the barrel' the path of the handle is too high mid-stroke (and usually too low at the finish so your oar spoon washes out). The water is flat and so the

How watching videos of good rowing can help improve your technique. Timestamps 00:45 Using mirror neurons Parts of our brain get activated when watching movement. Researchers noticed monkeys' brains were firing when watching the researchers eat lunch - as if the monkeys were also eating. Mirror neurons help you to understand and internalise actions, emotions and intentions. This is helpful when learning the subtleties of rowing timing points. 03:00 Yawning is contagious When I yawn the chances are you will too. This is your mirror neurons. Dr Laby from Sports Vision researched if you watch correct performances and see the technique being used. He noted that the video needs to be as close as possible to reality. This means you get best results watching at race stroke rates, not slow motion. Try to create a race situation rather than a training row. You need both - understand the movement first and then be able to do it at stroke rates comparable to a race. 05:50 Watching video Find videos online to watch - the

Masters have to pay attention to our range of motion as we age, without it we lose stroke length and raise injury risk. Timestamps 00:45 What this is and how to get more of it. Masters rowing is rowing with compromises - we may be less mobile or carrying old injuries. Our goal is full movement potential which helps our performance - with full range of movement we get longer strokes. Things which limit us are tight glutes, hamstrings or back muscles. Injury prevention gets more important as we age - a good range of motion supported by strong musculature helps prevent injury. Muscle capacity for the rowing movement. It's hard to teach rowing to people who cannot sit with their legs straight, who cannot get into the catch position or whose arm extension is insufficient to get the oar handle around the arc. 03:00 Things to do to improve range of motion (ROM) Active isolated stretching is different from a traditional stretch you get movement more of the time and it's a short stretch and hold. One muscle group w

Looking backwards to go forwards: what rowing taught me about big tech and what big tech taught me about rowing with Matt Brittin. Timestamps 01:00 From schoolboy to the Olympics - from a family of ball sport heros. Matt was inspired by Martin Cross to row to a high level - he was his school teacher. Later he was President of his university club where he led the introduction of professional coaching. 04:00 Rowing teaches skills Matt was running Google in Africa, Middle East and Europe for the past 10 years - he tells a lot of anecdotes about rowing. Steve Gunn (a harsh coach) taught how to take responsibility for what you are doing. Are you a piece of sh*t on the end of the oar? When the mindset is right but the self-appraisal was not. The things Matt learned at rowing were the human things - more useful than Business School, Consultancies and University. I wouldn't be where I am in the business world without the rowing lessons. 08:30 Act like an owner The unique side of rowing is that when I'm seat racing,

Alex Wolf & Sam Dutney in conversation. Two leading thinkers and innovators for masters rowing discuss strength training for masters. The principles around maximal force applies everywhere. Teach athletes how to express maximal force. Learn the ceiling of what you can do. Turn muscles on and off. Practice being forceful really quickly. Building habitual capability. your day to day. Take a small change from what you do now and a little bit more than you can already do. That's enough. Strength training is one of the most potent stimuluses for our health. The only thing which can repair your muscle structure is targeted loading, not rest. The kenee takes a load of up to 2 times body weight for rowers - masters it will be 1.2 to 1.7 times body weight. When squatting the leg is not the limiting factor - the lumbar spine tolerance is the limit. This is not the case in a rowing boat because the forces are horizontal. The 7 stroke max test has a strong correlation to performance. Increasing this has got a 1:1 cor

Defensive protectors for oars and sculls to prevent the paint wearing off and the spoon degrading. Things you can do to preserve the spoons and handles. Timestamps 00:45 Oars get wear and tear You paint the spoons in the club colours and the paint wears in the middle of the back of the oar and the tips of the blades get worn off at the corners (so you no longer have a sharp corner). Defensive protectors for oars Our dock is wood and the surface gets greasy and is a slip hazard. We put non-slip matting onto the dock - water drains through the holes. The brand is Ako Matting and is recommended for ice, snow and water uses. The downside is the surface is abrasive on oars because of the non-slip elements. 03:00 Rules for oars We have a rule that when you land and leave the dock we always put our oars tip side down on the dock. This helps to preserve the paint and stop the wear patterns on the back of the oars. Tips down meant we got wear on the tip of the blade. Croker Oars have tip protectors - little triangle

Ways to improve speed of the oar through the water. Keep the stroke rate the same and increase the speed. Timestamps 00:45 This is a long term project. Less experienced rowers push the oar less hard than the more experienced and you need to train this. Time through the water at stroke rate of 20 is approximately 3 seconds per stroke. Pushing the oar through the water on the power phase takes 1.2 to 1.5 seconds and yet we row with a ratio of at least 2:1 at low rates. Experienced rowers get more rest every stroke. They push the oar with high intensity through the water and so they have more time with the oar out of the water. 03:30 Same rate more speed How to row at the same stroke rate and deliver more force into the boat hull. The key to training this on the erg was to start with a focus point once every 5 minutes for 10 strokes. For ten strokes push harder through the power phase but you're not allowed to take the rate up. This showed us how much harder we could push and how much more rest we got as a res

Three ways to get faster (or avoid slowing down) in training. Timestamps 00:45 Can you increase the average speed of your boat? The net of how fast it accelerates in the power phase and how much it slows in the recovery phase. Our past episode about how to get speed on the recovery https://youtube.com/live/RRF3o7LxNXM 01:45 Row to the Conditions Pay attention to the water surface, to the wind and waves, to the water swirls under a bridge. This allows you to make subtle changes to how your boat is moving. Rowing in a headwind - at the start the waves are highest (they've progressively built up) and these lower as you get closer to the end of 1k. With large waves you cannot rate high. When rowing to the conditions as you notice the wave height reducing, push on and increase the rate by half a point. You can also change the ratio (intensity through the water compared to relaxation up the slide). 04:30 No huge moves If you do a big push the chances are you will suffer a large fall off in boat speed after the pu

David Frost reviews Practical and Personal Looks at Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD) in Master's Rowers - download the additional information link below. Timestamps 00:45 David Frost's journey through CAD Coronary artery calcification - men need checking after age 70 more than women. Even rowers who are known for being stoic - if you feel something in your chest, get it checked out. "You have the coronary arteries of a 92 year old" was my signal that I needed help. The Agatston Score is is a proxy for heart health. 04:30 Five things that cause inflammation - environmental stress - toxins stress - too much sunlight - smoking - exercise Inflammation in your arteries can cause an issue if you work too hard, too fast for too long. 08:00 Rowers have a higher than average incidence of atrial fibrillation (AFIB) Maybe rowers are doing themselves a disservice by training long and hard. What to do about this? 12:00 Heart age vs calendar age There are interesting heart age metrics - pulse wave velocity measure tells h

Three more drills to learn sequentially which will improve your recovery. These will help fix balance issues. Timestamps 00:45 Finesse really helps in the recovery Crew alignment, bladework skills and body movement. The benefit is that the boat slows down less when you achieve these. The biggest gains in boat speed can be achieved here (assuming you aren't going to get much fitter/stronger). By keeping the same peak in the power but slow the boat down less on the recovery, the average speed of the boat each stroke will be higher, and you will go faster. Our teaching method: do one drill and then layer another drill on top of it - making it progressively harder. this allows you to build your skill and also crews of different ability can row together. 04:00 Skimming drill Understand the impact your hands and handle heights have on boat balance. On the recovery - let your oars run along the surface during the recovery. This teaches where the oar handles need to be relative to each other. The water is level - so

How to increase stroke power using three layered drills. Timestamps 00:45 Drills for power These are all part of the Drills Compendium (24 drills + 3 ebooks bundle). Masters rowers tend to row a good leg drive and arm draw but neglect the back swing. The back is crucial to joining the leg drive and arm draw. How to ensure back swing adds to the speed of the boat. 03:15 The body sequence From the catch (where boat is slowest) the stroke power takes the boat to its fastest speed. After the leg drive is half completed you need to start to layer the back swing so it overlaps with the end of the leg drive. Later the arm draw overlaps with the end of the back swing. Learn how to use each body part in turn without dropping boat power at the changeover. 04:30 Body swing only drill This is the least intuitive part! Start with legs straight and arms straight with blade in the water while leaning forwards. Swing your back to take the stroke and take the oars out when your. back swing is completed. Do this square blades

Learn steps towards getting a good catch using drills. Timestamps 00:45 Am I done learning the stroke yet? Asked an athlete.... only once! The catch is challenging to learn - supporting your learning with drills means you can self-coach as well as getting coached. https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/drills/ Michael sends his crews the drills video the night before practice. Athletes need to know what to do in a drill and (importantly) why they are doing this drill. There are two main types of drill - exaggeration drills and isolation drills. 02:15 Handle height This is where learning the catch starts - the height of the handle has to be understood so you know how high/low the handle needs to be. Describe the stroke cycle in high/low handle heights including the "ramp up" towards the catch position. Learn this stationary in the boat. When the oars are flat on the water at the catch, the handle height is the same as when the oars are squared. Teaching how to arrive at this height the drill is "Sla

What you do on the recovery affects what you do on the power phase. Timestamps 00:45 What you do on the recovery What you do as you approach the catch is likely the first thing you do on the power phase. Any errors get transitioned to the next stroke. Three common things happen - shoulder lifting, rushing the slide and the oar going too deep at the catch. 01:30 Shoulder lifting This is putting the oar in the water by lifting your shoulders to feel the oar connection to the water. To prevent this, start at the finish of the prior stroke. By getting the arms/body transition (pre-stretching) correct on the recovery you can improve your catch and remove the shoulder lift. One of the reasons we rock forward later in the recovery is that it feels like you're getting more length. But this makes you focus on the handle so when you take the catch, you're still focused on the handle and so you pull (not push) to make connection with the water. Goal is to connect with minimal body movement - ideally only your knee to a

When racing, how much space do you have in a buoyed boat lane? Timestamps 00:45 Boat lane width How can you fit a wide boat like an eight into a lane and why is it that you still find yourself rowing near the buoy line? An eight is nearly 12 meters long and the rules of racing state that a standard rowing lane is 13.5 meters (44 feet) wide, with a minimum requirement of 13.5 meters for Olympic and international races, though 12.5 meters may be used in special circumstances. The lanes are marked by buoys and must remain a consistent width along the entire straight course. 02:00 Width perception The outboard from your rigger is 2 plus meters at either side. Your boat is about 6-7 meters wide with the oars. This perception problem is aggravated when you think you're closer to one buoy line. Boat position within the lane matters. A toe-steered boat has more control over the alignment but you have to keep the boat straight through the race - there's a tendency to over-steer in buoyed lanes. You have to know wher

The power phase is most effective when legs drive first and back follows yet so few masters rowers do this. Why? Timestamps 00:45 Good power phase requirements The alignment of the womens double in the photo shows that the crew hasn't used their back while having legs nearly straight. Getting into this position requires having shoulders sternwards of the hips at the catch and to use their legs first in the power phase. 03:00 Pulling with arms is easy We have a lot of practice using hands and arms in daily life. We are good at this. At the catch you want to feel the oars loaded up under the water surface. If you pull with your arms you feel this earlier. By pulling with your arms and lifting the shoulders and lifting your chin you feel the workload on the spoon. Rowing is a pushing not a pulling sport in the main. Rowing legs only is 60% of the power; back swing is 25-30% of your power and so your arms add 5-10% of your power ONLY. 06:00 Small muscles v big muscles The rowing stroke uses a range of body muscl

Learn how to back down a rowing boat. Timestamps 00:45 Struggling to learn how to back the boat Blades up or blades down when backing? Different countries do this differently - UK is blades down and NZ is blades up. Blades down rationale - the oar spoon is curved and you want the curve to grip the water and push it backwards. Blades up rationale - the oar has pitch on it from the oarlock tilts the blade - this makes the oar go the wrong way and may cause the oar to dive into the water. My personal view is don’t turn your blades upside down (they are angled and the diving (being sucked down) you experienced is because the pitch / angle of the spoon is designed for the oar the right way up (not upside down). It's simpler to leave the oar blades up - because it's always the same whether rowing normally or backing. 04:00 How to learn backing down Two videos you can use to learn shared lower down. 1 - Start by sitting legs straight and arms straight with oars square and under the water surface. Scullers ensure yo

If your knees don't bend more than 90 degrees, what can you do? Ways to get more reach in the stroke if you have knee limitations. Timestamps 00:45 A 70 year old with osteoarthritis in both knees asks how to get more reach. Recognise where your comfort zone is where you are capable of pushing your limits. As you roll forward into the catch your ankles, pelvis and lower body also need to bend. You can do a functional movement assessment to understand your mobility in those other joints - and whether they can be made more flexible using sports massage, stretching or osteopathy. Functional Movement Assessment - free - https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/functional-movement-assessment/ 03:00 3 ways to get more compression The ideal is to get shins vertical at the catch with your heels lifted, back leaning forwards so your shoulders are sternward of your hips. 1 - Measure the shoe to seat height - typically it would be 15-16 cm for a woman of your height. Increase this to over 17cm by lowering the s