Expert advice from around the world on how to improving rowing technique
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Posts
- Nov 28, 11
Last summer we at Pausarius visited one of the last British sporting bastions that survives the test of time – Henley Royal Regatta. What an enjoyable day! Thanks to everyone that came up to the Concept 2 stand and to everyone who received one of our free download pieces – we hope you have enjoyed the rowing to music experience. We must have chatted to well over 200 people during the day.
Our conversations highlighted a common perception when it comes to training on theergo (which if you didn’t already know is short for ergometer and translates from the Greek – to measure work – work!!??).
As great as the indoor rower is to put in the dry training miles, there were few we chatted to in Henley, if indeed any, hardened ‘on the water’ club rowers who actually seemed to look forward to clocking up the mandatory distances or times on the machine.
As a club rower myself during the time the first indoor rower was made from mainly bicycle parts in 1981 by the Dreissigacker brothers in Vermont, I remember the excitement at the rowing club when the first machines arrived which we hoped might negate the need for long runs on cold mornings or the strapping of lights to the boats to assist us being seen during the early and dark winter mornings on the river. You would have thought the machine would have been a welcome change and become the principle method of improving the cardiovascular fitness of club rowers. Of course, for the most part it is and it does, but rowers still seem to have a love/hate relationship with the ergo.
The theme that came over so strongly in chatting to club rowers at Henley was that anything that can relieve the monotony of long indoor rowing sessions would be most welcome. Well the proof is there – it does!
A naturally occurring phenomena when you are almost forced to focus on the music while rowing on the rower is that of timeshifting. The specific and accurate division of time into seconds, minutes and hours, and its comparative measurement is a relatively recent human invention in our overall evolvement over hundreds of thousands of years. If you’ve had experienced the ‘waiting for a boiling kettle phenomenon’, or the dragging and monotony of a long journey when you are travelling alone with nothing so divert you attention, you’ll know how subjective time measurement can vary.
The perception of time is, of course, subjective. The trouble with the indoor rower is that there is a clock sitting right in front of your face during your sessions. You can’t help but be reminded each second of the pain and discomfort (if you are trying!). Divert your attention on to something other than the timer and your perception of the ‘timed link with discomfort’ can be removed. We usually spend time on the ergo speeding forward to the end, and as we know, the watched kettle always takes longer to boil!
When we focus too much on the time on the ergo and, by doing so, to step into an awareness of it we possibly highlight our discomfort.
Focus on something other than time and we can experience something else – time freedom. But we shouldn’t just look with our eyes and understand with our mind, we must experience it with all the facets of our being; with all our senses, with all our perceptions, our feelings, and our heart. Timeshifting in this respect is greatly aided by music.
So try something next time you climb on your ergo. Push the Performance Monitor forward so you can’t see it. Start your MP3 player with one of our specially written workout pieces and just row with the beat. Without the visible timer, you won’t be reminded where in the workout you are, but you will be guided through a series of carefully designed musical variations in tempo to give you your workout. When you finish, I’ll bet your perception of the timed rowed will be less than it really was. By focusing on the experience of the music you will timeshift your subjective view of how long you have been rowing. I’ve never actually met anyone who said the session seemed longer than it actually was! Worth a try.
- Nov 28, 11
Last summer we at Pausarius visited one of the last British sporting bastions that survives the test of time – Henley Royal Regatta. What an enjoyable day! Thanks to everyone that came up to the Concept 2 stand and to everyone who received one of our free download pieces – we hope you have enjoyed the rowing to music experience. We must have chatted to well over 200 people during the day.
Our conversations highlighted a common perception when it comes to training on theergo (which if you didn’t already know is short for ergometer and translates from the Greek – to measure work – work!!??).
As great as the indoor rower is to put in the dry training miles, there were few we chatted to in Henley, if indeed any, hardened ‘on the water’ club rowers who actually seemed to look forward to clocking up the mandatory distances or times on the machine.
As a club rower myself during the time the first indoor rower was made from mainly bicycle parts in 1981 by the Dreissigacker brothers in Vermont, I remember the excitement at the rowing club when the first machines arrived which we hoped might negate the need for long runs on cold mornings or the strapping of lights to the boats to assist us being seen during the early and dark winter mornings on the river. You would have thought the machine would have been a welcome change and become the principle method of improving the cardiovascular fitness of club rowers. Of course, for the most part it is and it does, but rowers still seem to have a love/hate relationship with the ergo.
The theme that came over so strongly in chatting to club rowers at Henley was that anything that can relieve the monotony of long indoor rowing sessions would be most welcome. Well the proof is there – it does!
A naturally occurring phenomena when you are almost forced to focus on the music while rowing on the rower is that of timeshifting. The specific and accurate division of time into seconds, minutes and hours, and its comparative measurement is a relatively recent human invention in our overall evolvement over hundreds of thousands of years. If you’ve had experienced the ‘waiting for a boiling kettle phenomenon’, or the dragging and monotony of a long journey when you are travelling alone with nothing so divert you attention, you’ll know how subjective time measurement can vary.
The perception of time is, of course, subjective. The trouble with the indoor rower is that there is a clock sitting right in front of your face during your sessions. You can’t help but be reminded each second of the pain and discomfort (if you are trying!). Divert your attention on to something other than the timer and your perception of the ‘timed link with discomfort’ can be removed. We usually spend time on the ergo speeding forward to the end, and as we know, the watched kettle always takes longer to boil!
When we focus too much on the time on the ergo and, by doing so, to step into an awareness of it we possibly highlight our discomfort.
Focus on something other than time and we can experience something else – time freedom. But we shouldn’t just look with our eyes and understand with our mind, we must experience it with all the facets of our being; with all our senses, with all our perceptions, our feelings, and our heart. Timeshifting in this respect is greatly aided by music.
So try something next time you climb on your ergo. Push the Performance Monitor forward so you can’t see it. Start your MP3 player with one of our specially written workout pieces and just row with the beat. Without the visible timer, you won’t be reminded where in the workout you are, but you will be guided through a series of carefully designed musical variations in tempo to give you your workout. When you finish, I’ll bet your perception of the timed rowed will be less than it really was. By focusing on the experience of the music you will timeshift your subjective view of how long you have been rowing. I’ve never actually met anyone who said the session seemed longer than it actually was! Worth a try.
- Oct 10, 11
Boosting your VO2 max for rowing on the erg is absolutely essential if you want to score big in a 2k test. Good 2k erg times depend heavily on having a good VO2 max because during a 2k erg test, you are working near your VO2 max. Sometimes even above.
Imagine being able to boost that VO2 max. How much of a difference would it make to your erg scores?
Let’s have a look.
VO2 max is a measure of your ability to use oxygen. The greater your ability to use oxygen during a 2k erg test, the harder you can pull. While a lot of studies by sports scientists say that it is largely fixed by genetics, they still say that it can be increased with training.
How you can boost it – starting today.
You need to aim to train at an intensity greater than 85% of your VO2 max (92% of your Max heart rate). This training requires a good level of mental toughness and you… must be prepared to suffer to make gains.Session #1.
30 seconds hard, 30 seconds medium
Row at or slightly faster than your 2k pace for 30 seconds.
Then for the 30 seconds medium try to pull 75% of the distance you rowed in the work phase.
So for example say you rowed a hard 150 meters for 30 seconds holding 1:40. You should aim to row around 112 meters in the medium which is in this example is around 2:14
Repeat until you fade or drop more that 2 seconds below your target 2k power.
Session #21 minute hard, 1 minute medium.
This is similar to the 30 seconds workout except you change the work and rest times up to 1 minute.Session # 3
Classic 5 x 3 minutes hard, 3 minutes light.
3 minutes rowing slightly below slower than your 2k pace (remember the goal is to be in a zone above 85% of your VO2 max – which is roughly 92% of max heart rate)
The 3 minute recovery is different to the other rowing intervals. This time you should only float and keep moving – you should only attempt to keep active and row light.
It makes sense to begin with the shorter VO2 max rowing intervals and progress to the longer 3 minute ergs. Also, when you begin on the classic 5 x 3 you should start with 3 x 3 minutes. Then over a few weeks change to to 4 x 3 before graduating to the hardcore to 5 x 3 minutes. This will help you develop naturally and prevent an erg meltdown in your workouts.The classic (5×3 minute) Vo2 Max workout should be used mainly in the early racing season and towards the end of the season. For example you could do a block of heavy VO2 max training 2 times per week for 3 – 4 weeks before your first big race. You would then continue your normal rowing training sessions and reintroduce a short block of VO2 max training 2 – 3 weeks before the most important race of your season.
But you should consider that one of the above sessions may suit you more than the others. You might find that you get better, faster results with say the 1 minute rowing intervals.
Ensure you play around with it and try discover what is right for you. Think also about what session you need and what areas you need to work on. Obviously the shorter intervals require more power but less long endurance and mental demands.
Finally
It’s easy to forget that good erg and rowing technique is as important as physical training.The 30 seconds hard intervals will require you to spend a few strokes getting the fan moving to 2k power. Which is a much greater percentage than you spend getting the fan moving during the 3 minute intervals. Plus if you did 12 x 1 minute intervals, you would have had to move the fan hard (from the start) 12 times (as opposed to 5 times for the classic intervals).
Have this in mind when you are selecting what workout to do. But the bottom line according to the sports scientists is that the classic session still gives the most gains.
Good erg times come with consistent and patient training. Boosting your rowing VO2 max on the erg is a great controllable way to make your goals possible. But be warned, just like the race winning rowing workouts this type of training is extreme to say the least.
- Sep 15, 11
Staying hydrated is particularly important during exercise. Adequate fluid intake is essential to comfort, performance and safety. The longer and more intensely you exercise, the more important it is to drink the right kind of fluids.
Dehydration Decreases Performance
Studies have found that athletes who lose as little as two percent of their body weight through sweating has a drop in blood volume which causes the heart to work harder to circulate blood. A drop in blood volume may also lead to muscle cramps, dizziness, fatigue and heat illness including:
Heat Exhaustion
Heat StrokeCommon Causes of Dehydration In Athletes
Inadequate fluid intake
Excessive sweating
Failure to replace fluid losses during and after exercise
Exercising in dry, hot weather
Drinking only when thirstyHydration Needs for Athletes
Because there is wide variability in sweat rates, losses and hydration levels of individuals, it is nearly impossible to provide specific recommendations or guidelines about the type or amount of fluids athletes should consume.Finding the right amount of fluid to drink depends upon a variety of individual factors including the length and intensity of exercise and other individual differences. There are, however, two simple methods of estimating adequate hydration:
Monitoring urine volume output and color.
A large amount of light colored, diluted urine probably means you are hydrated; dark colored, concentrated urine probably means you are dehydrated.Weighing yourself before and after exercise.
Any weight lost is likely from fluid, so try to drink enough to replenish those losses. Any weight gain could mean you are drinking more than you need.Temperature
Exercising in the heat increases you fluid losses through sweating and exercise in the cold can impair you ability to recognize fluid losses and increase fluid lost through respiration. In both cases it is important to hydrate.
Sweating. Some athletes sweat more than others. If you sweat a lot you are at greater risk for dehydration. Again, weigh yourself before and after exercise to judge sweat loss.Sports Drinks?
Sports drinks can be helpful to athletes who are exercising at a high intensity for 60 minutes or more. Fluids supplying 60 to 100 calories per 8 ounces helps to supply the needed calories required for continuous performance. It’s really not necessary to replace losses of sodium, potassium and other electrolytes during exercise since you’re unlikely to deplete your body’s stores of these minerals during normal training. If, however, you find yourself exercising in extreme conditions over 3 or 5 hours (a marathon, Ironman or ultramarathon, for example) you may likely want to add a complex sports drink with electrolytes.General Guidelines for Fluid Needs During Exercise
While specific fluid recommendations aren’t possible due to individual variability, most athletes can use the following guidelines as a starting point, and modify their fluid needs accordingly.Hydration Before Exercise
Drink about 15-20 fl oz, 2-3 hours before exercise
Drink 8-10 fl oz 10-15 min before exerciseHydration During Exercise
Drink 8-10 fl oz every 10-15 min during exercise
If exercising longer than 90 minutes, drink 8-10 fl oz of a sports drink (with no more than 8 percent carbohydrate) every 15 – 30 minutes.Hydration After Exercise
Weigh yourself before and after exercise and replace fluid losses.
Drink 20-24 fl oz water for every 1 lb lost.
Consume a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein within the 2 hours after exercise to replenish glycogen stores.
- Apr 04, 11
There can’t be many people into fitness and exercise who in some way shape or form haven’t joined an exercise to music class at some time. I know people who attend ‘aerobics’ a few times a week to do their grape vines and the like and have done so for years. Great – but not for me. I tried it once. Liked it, did it again liked it even more. Eventually I started to look a bit coordinated and didn’t stand out too much from the crowd. Subsequently had a go at most forms of exercise to music class. Did spinning, body pump and boxercise and just about everything else for my hips, bum and tum in between. But I got bored! As it seems do many others!
During many years running Instructor Training courses at Leisure Clubs across the UK, I became aware of a frequent migration of exercisers from one class to another when a bit of boredom started to set in. Class success and sustainability seemed to boil down to a two things. The personality and motivational ability of the Instructor and the tangible benefits achieved by attendees over the shortest period of time possible.
So what’s new. Variety is the spice of life and new exercise innovations and class types are happening all the time in the exercise world. But what is actually different? Well I’ve come across one which is quite different. A few years ago I became involved with Crew Class in my capacity as a Master Instructor with Concept2.
Okay, call me biased – this is my bag – but it is different and has a great following. Its different, because no other physical activity undertaken in a class scenario requires quite the degree of coordinated and syncronised timing that rowing with a group of other people in perfect time does as ‘Crew Class’ or ‘Group Rowing’. If people don’t move together at exactly the same time it looks and feels awful. But if they do, it is the nearest feeling to rowing ‘in sync’ in a crew in a sleek rowing shell on the water. There is nothing quite like the tangible synergy of knowing you are in perfect time with the others in the class. It’s a nice feeling!
But, up until recently there has been a problem. The same difficulties of finding suitable music to row to as an individual hold true, but are amplified tenfold when you can’t ‘sync’ the whole class with the music. At best, ‘coordinated effort’ is not the term I would use to describe the visual effect observed when the music just doesn’t keep people together. At worst, it looks like a blindfolded version of the ‘hokey cokey’.
In a group exercise situation, unless the music is perfectly timed with the rowing stroke rate required, everyone will hear, interpret and latch on to the beat that takes their fancy. Music has to be spot on! That is why the music designed for individual rowing is so good for rowing in a group too!
When the additional timing cue of a recognizable beat is coupled with the leadership and control of a good ‘Crew Class’ Instructor, the overall effect is extremely motivational. One of the most frequent comments made by exercisers immediately following a Group Rowing session relates to a ‘timeshift’ that virtually always happens when the senses and cognitive skills required are stimulated by the music, the ‘group effect’ and often by the atmosphere the correct music can induce. The ‘timeshift’ is virtually always experienced as a reduction in the perceived time spent engaged in the activity. Bad news for those who like to spend all their time doing exercise, good news for people like me who have other things to do occasionally!
Rowing in a group is well worth a try if you are looking for something different! Sustainability, and therefore, exercise goals are more likely to be achieved through the use of variable sessions led by a qualified Instructor using variable and progressive music that will add to the experience by creating an optimal exercise atmosphere.
The Rhythm King
- Mar 01, 11
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of fast- and slow-tempo music on 500-m rowing sprint performances. Twenty-two rowers performed 500-m sprints 3 times: rowing without music, rowing to slow music, and rowing to fast tempo music. Strokes per minute (SPM), time to completion, (TTC), and rated perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded.
Although RPE did not differ between the rowing conditions, TTC was shortest in the fast music condition. Further, shorter TTC was observed in the slow music condition in contrast to the control condition, indicating that slow music also enhanced performance. The strongest treatment effects emerged, however, in the examination of the SPM that were significantly higher during rowing to fast music in comparison with rowing to slow music or no music. These results suggest that fast music acts as an external psyching-up stimulus in brief and strenuous muscle work.
- Jan 11, 11
In my last posting I gave an introduction into some of the theories related to using music to enhance rowing performance from both a historical and more current perspective. When considering the best music to listen to – things can become very subjective! Music can never be all things to all people, particularly when it comes to what works best as an accompaniment for exercise, let alone music specifically to row to.
So what are the first things to consider?
Well, lets start with some questions. Will the music make you row faster and further, will it improve your technique or will it simply make the process more enjoyable and thereby increase the chance of compliance to help achieve performance expectations and aims? Well in short yes, it will do all those things for certain people at certain times.Personal Experience
Consider my own experience. I like music and wherever possible try to incorporate it into my life. There is something very natural to me about undertaking almost any daily task being accompanied by some form of music (yep even tried that!) to either motivate me, calm me down, help me sleep, wake me up and sometimes relieve the boredom and monotony of a daily repetitive task.It was pretty obvious to me a few years ago to somehow use music to help relieve the personally felt monotony of sitting on an indoor rowing machine for long periods of time while my backside became numb whilst trying to beat that little pace boat to the end of an imaginary finish line. My motivation to travel further or faster in the confines of my own home was initially only a next best fit after spending a number of years as a rower on real water with real scenery and a real bunch of guys eager to keep in unison to make that boat glide as quickly as possible to beat some similarly lycra-clad grunting guys to the finish line.
When it came to ‘dry training’, although I knew the indoor rower was suppose to be good for me, I often felt there were other less energetic things I could be doing!
Music as the Motivator
Eureka – lets set up the rower near to my music player and blast out my favourite tunes while subjecting my cardiovascular system to the full range of energy substrates it has to offer. As a sports physiologist, I kind of knew what was going on inside my body, but when those energy substrates become depleted, I didn’t care too much which one was allowing me to gasp in my much needed breath and feed my weakening body. Memories of physiology lectures and crebs cycles seemed to be of no consequence or importance now as survival with a degree of decorum and dignity became the motivation.With the advent of the iPod and the great flexibility of where my Concept 2 Rower could be sited in my home in an attempt to provide some welcome distractions, a newfound energy was apparent. But after looking at every angle of my garden from the patio and exploring the numerous combinations of locations to get the best view of the television or best stereo effect from my music players there was usually a degree of familiarity as the reality of simply trying to mask my pain and discomfort struck home.
To compound my problem, my choice of music was initially a ‘best fit’ and always seemed to fall short of seeing me through to the end of the carefully crafted session from my well designed and progressive training programme. Somewhere during the session I was going to ignore the music as the rowing machine’s performance monitor indicated that the pace boat was going to kick my butt into submission again and I would have to ignore the natural latin beats and rhythms of Carlos Santana or thumping sounds of AC/DC.
Onset of the Inevitable
As the successive second digit zeros accompanied the chronological label associated with my time spent on this planet, my hopes of medals at any gatherings of fellow indoor rowers faded and my motivation to maintain the sub seven minute benchmark diminished and was replaced by the motivation to stay reasonably fit and healthy. Thing was, I actually did find the rower was keeping me fit and in a strange sense, I actually quite looked forward to getting on it again once the feeling actually came back into my backside and a day or so had passed since the last session.Altered Mental States
As someone who meditates and keen exponent of the martial art Chi Kung, I often went ‘subconscious’ and relaxed almost entering a ‘zen-like state’ whilst trying to beat that bloody pace boat and often found myself being pleasantly mesmerised by the nature of the rowing rhythm and ratio at a more comfortable pace.I would often find a slower more natural pace that was driven by a more intrinsic motivation that suited my purposes. Should I not just enjoy the pleasure of rowing alongside my ‘digital doppleganger’ rowing partner who had carefully selected from one of my previous recorded sessions and simply enjoy the journey? Well it worked for me and indoor rowing started to take on a very different angle and meaning.
My musical rowing accompaniment changed from being selected from under the heavy rock end of my CD rack to the ‘Ibiza’ section and stuff found in my Café del Mar and Ravi Shankar CDs that only usually came out at night when I was trying to chill out.
The Sports Physiologist View
You can never take the need to measure stuff and the element of healthy competition out of the sports physiologist! My sports science lecturers made sure of that with only neurological surgical intervention being an option to wipe clean my hard drive!My sports science lecturers’ indoctrination of the need to measure, and make my statistical data reliable and valid has always stayed with me. After a few months of really enjoyable ‘meditative rowing’ I just had to measure something and my sub max VO2 was gonna get a full analysis along with my 2000 metre time. Was all this Café del Mar and Ibiza chill out stuff going to be the cause of me slipping into these interesting physiological states known as being a unfit and over weight?
Well actually, no. Surprisingly, I had lost some of my body fat, actually increased my aerobic capacity and could still come in with a sub seven for 2000 metres much to my surprise. When I looked back at the frequency and durations of rowing sessions, I hadn’t actually cut down my time on the rower, although I must say it did seem I had! It suddenly dawned on me that I was enjoying the training more as my mind was focussing elsewhere. The music maybe? I suppose I was doing more of ‘freeform’ or even type of ‘fartlek’ training guided by the music.
Its All in the Timing
I wanted to enjoy the new approach to exercise and training but realised there was a fundamental problem with my favourite music. I wasn’t actually rowing perfectly in time, every time with it! It was just there to listen to and my overall stroke rate determined by the approximate number of beats per minute to the tracks I chose. I did find myself changing the ratio of my drive and recovery rate to suit the music. Sometimes, I must confess, I didn’t display what was considered good ‘rhythm and ratio’. The music simply didn’t work that way. As a musician I realised I ideally needed to be working in 3/4 time as opposed to 4/4 time which most of the music I listened to (and indeed written for exercise) was written in! The nearest I could get to it was a ‘waltz timing’ and that wouldn’t have looked cool to the other members of my family wherever they happened to stumble upon me and my rowing machine in the house at the time. No, I needed the music to be specific to rowing but to my taste too.Faster is Not Necessarily Better
So it seemed that slower music worked for me. But actually, and here is the point – it seemed slower because of the mood the music was trying portray, but I had a number of ‘audible cues’ from which to reference various points in the stroke whether it be the ‘catch’, the ‘finish’ of the stroke or at some point in between such as when my hands had turned around and were stretched forward prior to the recovery phase. Although my favourite rowing music was slower paced than typical ‘aerobics’ or spinning music, the audible cues still allowed a reasonable stroke rate of around 24 – 28 spm.To Sync or not to Sync
Here we are talking about music being used in strict synchronisation with the rowing action and not simply as a background accompaniment. Just having music on to create a motivational atmosphere may actual be detrimental to work output by encouraging poor technique. A regular sound cue must occur at a regular point in the stroke cycle.Logically, a strong ‘cue beat’ should come at the catch or beginning of the stroke but actually it doesn’t really matter. Different pieces of music may influence the rower in different ways so again it can be very subjective. You might ‘latch onto’ a beat at the finish of the stroke. In essence, if it works for you – do that! However, until now, that hasn’t been done at the same point so most music is a ‘best fit’.
The Ideal Scenario
What is really needed is a piece of music that has been written specifically with the above considerations in mind with the time signature correct for the uneven stroke ratio. In addition, don’t be put off by the need for what has been associated with fast paced thumping beats to make you work harder. If the transposition of musical beats per minute can enable between 24 – 30 strokes per minute on the rowing machine, most rowers should be able to keep in time and sync with the music. Now we’ve got something. If the music can now change seamlessly through a range of stroke rates to enable a varied training session in terms of pace and effort for a typical session length of say between 20 and 45 minutes, you don’t have to stop rowing to change your music – just let your virtual musical coach guide you through the whole session! Vary the musical themes and take the rower on a ‘journey’ and you might actually look forward to your butt becoming numb!
- Dec 20, 10
Ready for something new and different? Well don’t hold your breath. Not much is completely new or different.
Most of what we deem to be new, is either just the rehashing of old stuff, bringing old things to people who haven’t seen it before or combining separate old things in news ways. Very few things are new or completely different!
Take music and the physical activity of rowing for example.
Ancient Greek sailors understood the benefits of using music and used either pipes or drums to indicate and maintain the desired stroke rating of their oarsmen. The occasional crack of the whip added a degree of motivation for those who didn’t have an ear for music!
Similarly, the Romans used a ‘Pausarius’ who performed the same task. In times of battle this ‘musical motivation’ was used to get oarsmen to work harder, faster and in particular, in time with each other.
In more recent times, there has been much research into physical performance enhancement through the use of music. It has even been classified by many researchers as ‘ergogenic aid’ with the potential to enhance performance and has been the subject of much research and debate.
Modern day rowing both on water and particularly on dry land with the use of the ‘ergometer’, would seem to be ideally suited to be performed to music. Nevertheless, appreciation and response to musical stimuli can be very subjective, as is the athlete’s rating of their own perceived exertion. So, availability and personal choice of music is all important if it is to enhance performance or even simply make the experience more enjoyable.
The problems with rowing to music.
At first sight it would appear that music and rowing could go well together. Well, actually they do!
The problem is that rowing is like no other physical activity – when done properly it comprises an action in which the work or drive phase is not equal in time to the recovery phase.
In fact the ratio of work to recovery is about 1:2 giving a potential problem to writing music for the activity. The nearest you can get to an accurate musical timing for rowing is more akin to a waltz – not everyone’s cup of tea for a musical accompaniment of an ergo session! Although I have tried it and it works really well for timing if not motivation!
So what about a motivational tempo for cardiovascular activity? It has been suggested that music of about 120-130 beats per minute is ideal for prolonged training. Divide this by four and we have a rowing rating of about 30-32 strokes per minute. The competitive situation will obviously demand ratings in excess of 32 strokes a minute but many indoor rowing training sessions work at much lower stroke-rates than 32. I may not want to waltz but I sure ‘aint gonna smooch!
To Sync or Not to Sync.
Many people who use music to help them through their rowing sessions at some time have tried looking for music that completely synchronises with the rowing stroke – few and far between though, and usually at the expense of good technique. Many have to make do with a strong beat in a piece of music that doesn’t exactly synchronise but is a sort of ‘best fit’.
Ideally, what would be useful then is some specific music being used in strict synchronisation with the rowing action. For it to be motivational and even variable to seamlessly take the rower through the desired phases of exertion variation when required. A sort of ‘Musical Performance Coach’ if you will.
So, a combining of some older tried and tested stuff in a new way and bringing it to people who haven’t seem it before. Now there’s an idea!
The Rhythmking.
- Nov 22, 10
Q. What is the difference between a ‘continuous mix’ and a gapless album?
A continuous mix is essentially all of the individual songs on the album joined together in one long track.
A gapless album has all of the individual songs as separate tracks that allow the album to be played from start to finish without any pauses in between the songs. For further information regarding this Click here.Q. How do I use a Virtual Rowing Coach to help me row better?
A. Good technique is essential if you want to get the most out of rowing on the Indoor Rower. Virtual Rowing Coaches have been specifically written to encourage sound rowing technique by giving the listener recognisable beats at various points of the rowing stroke. As the tempo changes, so you will be encouraged to change your level of workout intensity. The rhythms have been put together to vary over the course of the workout to warm you up, vary the intensity during the main body of the exercise and cool you down without even having to think about it! All you have to do is pick a Virtual Rowing Coach title that gives you the intensity and type of workout you want.Q. What is the best way to get into the rhythm of the music and how do I know which part of the beat corresponds to which part of the stroke?
A. You don’t have to ‘hit’ a particular beat to keep in time – there are actually a number which you can pick up on. The rhythms have been specifically designed to present a number of ‘audible cues’. The best way to get into the rhythm is to start counting in your head “one and two and three and one and two and three”..and so on… Start the stroke at the ‘finish’ i.e. sitting at the back of the slide, legs flat, forearms parallel to the floor with elbows tucked in and the handle against your abdomen. Lean slightly back at about the eleven o’clock position. While still counting the beat in your head, extend your arms forward on the count of one, rock forward from the hips to the one o’clock position on the count of two, now bend your legs so you come up the slide to the ‘beginning’ or ‘catch’ of the stoke so the handle is extended forward at the count of three. Drive with the legs, rock back and put your arms back into the finish position at the count of four. That’s it – one full stoke. Your Recovery:Drive ratio is 2:1 which is ideal. Soon you will get into the rhythm without having to count, but a check now and again is worthwhile to ensure you’re in the right ratio. As you get use to the music you can change the tempo by changing the point on the recovery of the count or simply pulling harder and faster.
In addition to the audible single beat percussion cues, some artists use longer chords to correspond to the drive or recovery phase of the stroke and some use water sounds representing the sound of the oar pulling through the water as an additional cue. This gives further flexibility in finding a way to use the music to guide the rower into hitting the right tempo and timing. Experiment with different timings and see what works for you. You may find the beats of particular percussion instruments works for you over the water sounds. As stroke technique, physiology, biomechanics and fitness levels vary from rower to rower there may sometimes be a need to experiment a little at first to find what floats your boat!Q. How is the music used on the Virtual Rowing Coach tracks different from any other exercise music?
A. As far as we know, nobody has ever produced music specifically for rowing. It’s not easy! Most music for exercise just needs a steady and recognisable beat corresponding to a particular movement such as a step, kick etc. Rowing is more complex than most forms of exercise because the ratio of the two principle movements up and down the slide i.e the drive and recovery phases are disproportionate in time. For good technique, the recovery (moving forward) should be a minimum of twice as long as the drive (moving backwards when the main effort is performed. Most music encourages a 1:1 ratio which is inefficient and encourages incorrect technique. Furthermore, most ‘aerobics type’ music is far too fast in tempo for rowing.
Virtual Rowing Coach has been specifically written with clear rhythms which allows a recognisable beat to be picked up at the major phases of the stroke. When you pick up the beat and time with one of the points of the rowing stroke you can’t fail to row at the correct ratio. With a little practice you can alter the beats by halving the time or speeding up to change the rowing rate and pace.Q. What are the ambient tracks for?
A. In developing the music we were keen to enhance the rowing experience by creating an ‘atmosphere’ in which to take the exercise experience to another level. The ambient tracks are used to either ‘set the scene’ whilst the class is gathering and going through the warm up phase or used to cool down after the main body of the workout. You can actually perform all the major cool down stretches whilst sitting on the indoor rower.Q. Is Virtual Rowing Coach only for group exercise to music sessions in the Gym?
Not at all. Although the music will enhance any group rowing session by giving the Instructor a unique ‘themed’ workout experience for the class, you can listen to the music on your own to get the same benefits.Q. I’ve noticed that you advertise workouts depending on workout intensity, High, Moderate and Low. As we are not all the same, how can the workouts be labelled ‘moderate intensity’ for example be for everyone? Surely it depend on fitness level!?
Good question – you are absolutely right. We use recommended ‘stroke rates’ to determine the workout patterns. A ‘Stair’ pattern will, for example, have a gradual increase in recommended strokes per minute (spm) which correspond to musical beats per minute. The rowing machine will indicate what your spm should be. The fitter rower has the option to ‘pull’ harder however which will increase the work rate and what will show on the rowers monitor as ‘pace’ while still keeping time with the music.
- Aug 22, 10
Mark (known as the Rhythm King to everyone at Pausarius) is the expert behind the training routines and is very happy to answer any questions you might have for him.
He is a fully qualified Sports Physiologist and Psychologist with extensive experience, and has worked with many professional athletes and clients requiring motivation to achieve peak performance and exercise & health goals.
Following a successful Short Service Commission in the British Army, Mark pursued further academic study and qualified in both theoretical and practical aspects of sport and fitness training returning to university gaining an MSc in Sport & Exercise Science where he specialised in sports psychology and physiology, health and fitness assessment and performance coaching. He combines both physiological and psychological strategies to optimise performance which can be applied to a wide range of sporting, sport management and personal coaching scenarios.
Mark developed his Total Motivation concept in a wide range of sporting arenas as well as in personal and business development. He has gained over 25 years experience in successfully applying his principles in fields ranging from Formula One Motor Racing and International Motor Sport, Rowing, Rugby, Football and Endurance Sports.
Mark now works with a range of training organisations and consultancies and is committed to improving individual, team and corporate performance using quality coaching and mentoring principles within a holistic personal development framework.
Please leave your comments in the ‘Leave a Reply’ box below for Mark!
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Posts
- Mar 09, 12
From The Indroduction The Science of Swimming - James Counsilman, 1974 ----------------------------------- The following quotation is taken from the inscription in the foyer of the Science Building of the Seattle World's Fair of 1962: To learn about the world around him, a scientist must ask, observe, suppose, experiment and analyze: In asking - the right question must be posed In observing -
- Mar 08, 12
Goal vs Process Oriented Training By Lyle McDonald http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/goal-versus-process-oriented-training-part-1.html ------------------------------------------ An excellent website that I highly recommend that interested coaches spend some time reading. http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/ Goal vs. Process Oriented Training: Part 1 Although I’m known more for nutrition
- Oct 10, 11
A Coaches Dozen: 12 FUNdamental Principles for Building Young and Healthy Athletes Avery D. Faigenbaum, Ed.D. Larry Meadors, Ph.D. Strongkid.com The College of New Jersey Sports Spectrum Training ======================== Under the guidance of a qualified youth coach, young athletes can learn the technical and tactical skills of a sport, gain confidence in their physical abilities, develop
- Oct 05, 11
USOC Sport Psychology’s “TOP TEN” Guiding Principles for Mental Training By Sean McCann, Ph.D. USOC Sport Psychologist OLYMPIC COACH VOLUME 19 NUMBER 3 ========================================= 1. MENTAL TRAINING CAN’T REPLACE PHYSICAL TRAINING AND TALENT. We haven’t seen any Olympic Athlete who succeeded without doing the physical and technical work, even though we have worked with some of the
- Sep 26, 11
Making Mistakes is Normal Doug Lemov Teach Like a Champion ======================== I think that although the following example refers to classroom teaching it is quite possible to apply the concepts to teaching sport skills to rowers. The emphasis in bold is mine - Jamie ======================== In today's encore excerpt - making errors is normal, and making mistakes is a necessary part of
- Sep 13, 11
Workouts: Why do Rowers Fear the Erg? Sunday, December 19, 2010 Winter Op-Ed from the RowingRelated Editorial Staff http://www.rowingrelated.com/2010/12/winter-workouts-why-do-rowers-fear-erg.html Friend. Not Foe. I am really frustrated by our sport when it comes to the erg being viewed as a torture device rather than a helpful tool that people can enjoy. This negative mindset, which is
- Aug 17, 11
Will G Hopkins, Sport and Recreation, AUT University, Auckland 0627, New Zealand. Sportscience 11, 22, 2007 (sportsci.org/2007/inbrief.htm#FindingOut). Reviewer: John A Hawley, School of Medical Sciences, RMIT University. Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia. Published Aug 20, 2007.
- Jul 20, 11
Nutrition, sleep and recovery SHONA L. HALSON Department of Physiology, Australian Institute of Sport, Belconnen, ACT, Australia Halson, Shona L.(2008) 'Nutrition, sleep and recovery', European Journal of Sport Science, 8: 2, 119 —126 --------------------------------- Abstract Ensuring athletes achieve an appropriate quality and/or quantity of sleep may have significant implications for
- Jul 05, 11
Is Variation In Training Overrated? http://running.competitor.com/2009/08/training/is-variation-overrated_5000 ----------------------------------- The virtue of variation in endurance sports training is often hyped. But here’s why your program may benefit from a little less variation and a little more repetition. Much is made of the virtue of variation in endurance sports training. Heck, I’ve
- May 20, 11
How do you make sure your coaches follow an ethical path? Ask them to each write their own coaching philosophy statement. By Dr. Dennis Docheff Athletic Management, 17.3, April/May 2005, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1703/gpphilosophy.htm -------------------------------- One of your coaches discovers that his best player has broken a team rule. The player remains eligible for
- May 04, 11
RECOVERY FROM TRAINING: A BRIEF REVIEW PHILLIP A. BISHOP, ERIC JONES, AND A. KRISTA WOODS Kinesiology Department, Human Performance Laboratory, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama Journal of Strength and Conditioning Vol 22 Number 3 May 2008 ABSTRACT Athletes spend a much greater proportion of their time recovering than they do in training. Yet, much attention has been given to training
- Mar 23, 11
Crew Selection Author: Kris Korzeniowski (USA) FISA Be A Coach Level 3 ============================ Introduction The FISA CDP courses in Levels I and II attempted to provide a coaching educational package of useful information presented in a simple and practical way. One of the concepts emphasized has been that information obtained from using expensive and complicated equipment, although
- Mar 07, 11
Willing to Win Author: Willi Railo (NOR) From FISA Coach Handbook Level 3 ============================== 1.0 Introduction People usually look on the psychological side of sport as being something abstract and therefore difficult to understand. That is the main reason why they find it hard to do something practical and effective to improve their attitudes to sport. The psychological side of
- Feb 14, 11
Maximise You – 10 Tips for Coach Well Being Ann Quinn (Quinnessential Edge, London, UK) ITF Coaching and Sport Science Review 2010; 50 (18): 3 - 4 ========================== ABSTRACT This article summarises some tips to help you maximise the most important person of all – you, so that you can enjoy the journey to your success both on and off the court. Key words: Coach well being, health,
- Feb 07, 11
Ten things every young (swimming) coach should know By Wayne Goldsmith (a few adjustments to offer Wayne’s recommendations to coaches in other sports) =========================== 1. Learn from the guys (and gals) who have been there The best way to learn is by doing. Next best is to learn by working with those who do the doing. Find yourself a mentor: A senior coach who has experienced the
- Jan 31, 11
Exercise Science and Coaching: Correcting Common Misunderstandings About Endurance Exercise Andrew N. Bosch, PhD UCT/ MRC Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town and Sports Science Institute of South Africa, Boundary Road, Newlands 7700, South Africa. E-mail: abosch@sports.uct.ac.za International Journal of Sports Science &
- Jan 27, 11
A Review of Hydration Douglas S. Kalman, PhD, RD and Anna Lepeley, MS, CSCS, CISSN Strength and Conditioning Journal Vol 32 No 2 April 2010 ======================================================== SUMMARY THIS ARTICLE REVIEWS THE GUIDELINES AND CONSIDERATIONS OF HYDRATION APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS POPULATION GROUPS AND RESPECTIVE CONDITIONS. AN AREA OF INTEREST AND CONTROVERSY WITH HYDRATION IS THE
- Nov 05, 10
So you say you want to win! But have you done the following?: Jamie Croly ------------------------------- 1. Find a good WHY. Decide why you are training. What is your goal or objective at the end of the training/racing? The importance of the Why will be critical in the motivation that you have for your training/racing and therefore how much you commit to it. This has to be a something that is
- Nov 05, 10
Exercise in the heat: Fundamentals of Thermal Physiology, Performance Implications and Dehydration By Douglas J. Casa, PhD, ATC, CSCS From Journal of Athletic Training 1999;34(3):246-252 ----------------------------------------- Objective: To present the critical issue of exercise in the heat in a format that provides physiologic foundations (Part I) and then applies the established literature
- Oct 01, 10
Training for Intense Exercise Performance: High Intensity or High Volume Training By Paul Laursen New Zealand Academy of Sport North Island ----------------------------------------------- Abstract Performance in intense exercise events, such as Olympic rowing, kayak, track running and track cycling events, involves a mix of energy system contributions from aerobic and anaerobic sources.
- Oct 01, 10
Now What? By Vern Gambetta http://www.functionalpathtrainingblog.com/2010/09/now-what.html --------------------------------------------------------- You have max heart rate, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability. You have total distance moved in a practice. You have blood lactate during and post workout. So you have pages of spreadsheets filled with numbers, now what do you do with this
- Oct 01, 10
Exploring the Mysteries of Exercise 12 By Len Kravitz, Ph.D. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/mysteries.html ----------------------------------------------------- Although the benefits of exercise are espoused daily in classes, newspapers, journals and on TV, less information has been dispersed regarding the underlying mechanisms causing these physiological changes. The
- Aug 05, 10
Training Methods and Intensity Distribution of Young World Class Rowers By Arne Guellich, Stephen Seiler, and Eike Emrich From International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2009, 4, 448-460 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arne Guellich1, Stephen Seiler2, and Eike Emrich3 1 Department of Sports Sciences, University of Kaiserslautern,
- Aug 05, 10
Keep It Simple and You Are Brilliant From http://www.functionalpathtrainingblog.com/2010/07/keep-it-simple-and-you-are-brilliant.html ----------------------------------------------------- How many times have we heard coaches evoke the KISS principle, that is not what I am talking about. When I hear KISS I almost take it as an insult, KISS is dumbing down. I have believed for years that
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Posts
- May 01, 12
Why did I win?
I weighed more than Lange and Porter and certainly the rest of the field.
I was the shortest of the medalists.
I was not the strongest on the erg.
It happened because:
Enormous amount of training, without overtraining.
Simple and effective use of the body coupled with a timely catch and a clean square exit of the blade. - Apr 18, 12From slowestTo fasterTo fastest. Olympic gold, Olympic record, 6:44.85The key to very fast rowing, winning Olympic gold, and setting the Olympic record, is to have the blade covered with as much body in the stern as possible. The top two pictures are boats that are scheduled to participate at the London Olympics. The last picture is of me days before competing at the Atlanta Olympics and setting the new record.
I know how to train rowers to set the blade. I always stay positive, I do not use negative language.
La clave para remar muy rápido, ganar el oro olímpico, y establecer el récord olímpico, es tener la hoja cubierta con el cuerpo tanto en la popa como sea posible. Las dos fotos primeras son barcos que están planificados para competir en los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres. La última imagen es de mí días antes de competir en los Juegos Olímpicos de Atlanta quando estableci el nuevo record.
Sé cómo entrenar los remeros para poner la hoja. Yo siempre mantengo una actitud positiva, no utilizo lenguaje negativo.Xenowww.xenocoach.com to beat everybody else, by using digital commentary of individual's rowing technique.www.row2go.com to beat boredom on the rowing machine949-400-7630 - May 06, 12
Is your 2K not good enough? Are you tired of losing? Does your boat feel sluggish? Do you need motivation to train over the summer? Are you searching for better coaching, and proven successful training program?
Look no further!
Join our virtual training camp for the months of June, July and August.
The camp is open to juniors, collegiate, elite, and master rowers. All participants receive an individualized program to achieve their personal goal, which may be: improve the 2K on the erg, row better and faster on the water to succeed at different national championships or prepare for the fall head racing season.
Rowers need to posses a digital camera and have access to the internet with a broadband connection (DSL, cable)
All individual information is kept private.
Participants upload their digital footage of their training on a weekly basis, which will be commented using slow motion analysis, and specific drills suggested.
Throughout the camp, I am available for discussion at all times.
Cost is $750 for 3 months.
You can write to me at xenogorow@gmail.com or call me at 949-400-7630
Join one of the fastest growing communities of indoor rowers at www.row2go.com and become the fastest rower at www.xenorowingcoach.com
Xeno Muller won an Olympic Gold in Atlanta and an Olympic Silver in Sydney, and is the current Olympic Record holder in the 2000m Single Scull. - Mar 29, 12
My name is Xeno. I rowed competitively for 20 years. My greatest achievements are winning gold and silver at the Olympics and setting the Olympic record. As a single sculler, I am one of six who has raced faster than six minutes forty seconds for 2000 meters.
I made a life changing decision a year before the Olympics by moving to Southern California. In Orange County I met my wife. We have four children. Family means everything to me. For business I travel very little, because family is such a huge part of me.
I started my first rowing website in 1998. Because my family's extensive schedule, my goal as a private rowing coach is to be geographically as independent as possible. That is why I love working with my computer and a blazing fast internet connection. Thanks to SKYPE, SCREEN-FLOW, and DROPBOX, I can deliver first class coaching to rowers half a world away. I can coach in five different languages.
One of my strengths as a coach is to identify the smallest yet very important technical deficiencies. What sets me even further apart from 99% of other coaches, is that I know which exercises to pick to correct the tiniest technical issues. I know from personal experience how the muscles feel when the stroke is delivered properly.
Rowers, whom I help, improve their ability drastically. I feel passionate about helping people enjoy the sport of rowing further.
Good night.
Xeno.
www.xenorowingcoach.com for performance rowing
www.row2go.com for rowing machine users who need motivation - Apr 02, 12
Rob and I learned from the great Harry Mahon. We met yesterday at home. We both set the blade at the right time. Addendum 2012-04-02There is no doubt that using the ergometer properly gives a huge advantage to rowers' boat moving effectiveness on the water. The use of the rowing machine for stroke analysis and private coaching is an invaluable tool. As a teenager I was taught by Harry Mahon how to apply power without contracting unnecessary muscles. Using a dynamic rowing machine set up opens the door to great "pushing" and hanging exercises. Yes, the ergometer can be "enjoyed" by coaches and rowers....
I help rowers from all over the world improve their erg score and their on the water rowing capabilities. It goes without saying that rowing on the water is several levels more complicated than rowing the erg.
Key to fast rowing is the placement of the blade in the water in a timely manner with as much of the upper body extended to the stern and the legs as compressed as possible, (in a nutshell :-)).
There is a "boatload" of coaches who believe that a rower with a relatively strong erg score will be a better boat moving asset than another rower with an inferior erg score. This assumption is a total crap shoot. At the catch, when rowing the erg, the flywheel will gain speed as soon as the handle moves away from the cage. However this particular part of the stroke is so intricate, that on the water, the smallest nuance as to how the blade is set, can make a "great" erg score a total boat stopper.
Daily, I work on digital recordings that are sent to me through my Dropbox account. I analyze and comment rowing technique deficiencies and explain which technical exercises to chose and how to feel the right movement. Blade coverage in relation to body position is the key to rowing fast on the water. Without mastering the catch, I would have not won Olympic gold and silver, set the Olympic record, and set a world best time of 6:38 in the single scull.
When I receive a two minute digital recording I can easily spend up to 30 minutes coaching the footage. I enjoy describing the stroke in detail. Rowers understand what they need to do to improve and the changes they make bring remarkable results.Addendum 2012-04-02There is no doubt that using the ergometer properly gives a huge advantage to rowers' boat moving effectiveness on the water. The use of the rowing machine for stroke analysis and private coaching is an invaluable tool. As a teenager I was taught by Harry Mahon how to apply power without contracting unnecessary muscles. Using a dynamic rowing machine set up opens the door to great "pushing" and hanging exercises. Yes, the ergometer can be "enjoyed" by coaches and rowers....
Xeno
Olympic gold and silver medalist, Olympic record holder.
www.xenorowingcoach.com performance rowing.
www.row2go.com digital indoor-rowing workout library.
www.facebook.com/row2go
www.facebook.com/xenomuller - Mar 19, 12
Are you a member of a losing rowing team? Do you w... http://indoor-rowing.blogspot.com/2012/03/are-you-member-of-losing-rowing-team.html?spref=tw
#crew#rowing#concept2
A slow motion stroke study shows technical deficiencies invisible to the coach's eye at normal speed. http://Www.xenorowingcoach.com#rowing#Crew
No competitive rower under the age of 28 should experience plateaus.#rowing#Concept2#crossfit http://www.xenorowingcoach.com
There is no surprise with rowing. Every stroke repeats the same way, therefore injuries are totally preventable in rowing.#rowing
The emotional toll on rowers who get injured from bad technique is devastating and it is the coaches fault.#rowing
Have a look at this narration of the single scull race.#rowing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Ai-Goj9Qw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
If you wonder how you can improve your rowing stroke to produce more power the look at these downloads http://www.xenorowingcoach.com/xeno-muller-rowing-coach/Digital_Training_Downloads.html#rowing#Concept2
I am selling a Hudson T7 double scull. Great for rough water and exploring http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/boa/2911285070.html#rowing - Mar 11, 12
To me it is crystal clear that the aging clock can be slowed down, way down, with the right training plan.
The greatest errors committed for "aging" people who work out and look for greater fitness are: intensity that is too high, too little torque, too little mileage, unknown target heart rate, technique that does not utilize the major muscle groups which restricts range of motion and can lead to injury. - Mar 13, 12Hello Parents,
The right rowing technique is important for great Concept2-2K-scores and success at regattas. However, there is a disconnect between the ergonomically sound technique and an "anything-goes-rowing-technique-as-long-as-the-rower-pulls-as-hard-as-possible-at-every-practice."
These two MRIs are taken from the side above the hip joint and depict spinal discs that have slipped out from between two vertebrae. This is a serious injury, which is very painful to rowers and puts a stop to any type of rowing workout. In addition, sleep patterns are disrupted, and sitting on a chair for longer periods of time becomes torture. Rehabilitating such a back injury can take a long time.Pressure on spinal cord from a slipped disc.
Lower back problems emerge from tight muscles: hamstrings, gluts, abductors, aductors, IT band, and calf muscles. I always check rowers' ability to hinge at the hip joint, how they sit up at the finish, how their legs compress at the catch while observing the position of the feet, and the posture of their backs. The proper rowing technique is easily understood by rowers, coaches, and parents, however, the challenge lays with the fact that juniors are growing individuals, who inherently are victims of the "bone and muscle tug of war." As parents we often hear that kids grow like weed..., and about "those growing pains." These observations underline the importance of constantly checking technique and adjusting exercises which are needed to maintain flexibility.
There is no doubt, that back injuries can be avoided. Parents, rowers, and coaches need to understand that bad injuries in rowing from questionable technique can be prevented. Over the years of Olympic training and coaching, I have never had a back injury. This is not due to "luck". The right technical exercises, X-training, and strength training, engage the hip joint in the rowing movement the correct way, leaving the small of the back supported throughout the stroke.Slipped disc pushes on spinal cord.
As private coach, I receive rowing footage from around the world. I help rowers improve their erg score and on water rowing ability by analyzing their technique and recommending exercises to improve their power application which is directly related to their flexibility.Maximum pressure on lower back which can lead to major back problems.
You can find my services at www.xenorowingcoach.com, you can reach me by emailing me at xenogorow@gmail.comZero heel connection at the finish, puts a lot of strain on the shoulders, and leaves the lower back vulnerable to injury. Such technique leaves glut and hamstring muscles underdeveloped.
Join one of the fastest growing communities of indoor rowers at www.row2go.com and become the fastest rower at www.xenorowingcoach.comA lack in technical check ups leads to unwanted movements throughout the rowing stroke.
Xeno Muller won an Olympic Gold in Atlanta and an Olympic Silver in Sydney, and is the current Olympic Record holder in the 2000m Single Scull. He is also the President of XenoRowingCoach and Row2Go which is quickly becoming THE online community for both indoor and on-the-water rowers providing its members with weekly online workout routines and individualized coaching programs. - Mar 03, 12
Whether you are a coach or a rower of a losing team, why not change your odds and start winning. Let me illustrate this from personal experience. Prior to our freshmen class at Brown University, Harvard dominated the collegiate races. Just because I was not a member of the Crimson crew, I was not going to roll over and die. Luckily we had a great coach, Scott Roop, and rowers like Jamie Koven and few similar chaps from U.S. prep-schools. During our winter and spring preparation, my national team coach form Switzerland, Harry Mahon, came to visit us. He taught Scott Roop and my team members how to set the blade and connect to the leg drive. This became the beginning of 5 years of practically undefeated seasons. By the time we were done with our collegiate rowing careers, we had several bags full of shirts from rowers whom we beat. Your team can achieve the same. For this, your coach has to be open minded, and allow an outside adviser like me to view rowing footage of your team. When a coach does not get outside information, his or her coaching eye becomes stale and does not pick up on subtle and gross technical problems. I have NO DOUBT that underdog rowing teams have more heart at any given time than crews that think that they have it all wrapped up. Don't you hate seeing the same 1% winning the gold medals. You must change this. I can help underdog crews go faster, MUCH FASTER, without taking the limelight away from the coach. As a matter of fact, I don't even want to be mentioned at the medal ceremony or awards banquet. Leave me in the shadows of the unknown, I would love it that much more. Doing my undercover job, from home, and directing motivated coaches and rowers into the fast lane, is a dream come true :-).I am your undercover weapon to row faster, much faster.
Join me at www.xenorowingcoach.com and let's beat the 1% into the ground, and finish them off. - Apr 03, 12
Hello rowers,
Above is a cool clip of our rower Matthew winning CRASH-B. I first met Matthew 2 years ago. He was able to push 6:53 for 2k. After working with him, (him doing all the work, me advising), he ended up winning the hammer last February, by out-sprinting his competition in the final meters, clocking 6:22.1
You can find more information on my coaching at www.xenorowingcoach.com. - May 01, 12
It is a few years back, the year after my father's untimely passing. I did not win the national selection regatta in the single scull, I came in second behind Ueli Bodenman. For the first time in my international rowing career, I had to compromise on how I was going to compete at the world championshipEn route to 6:44.85 current Olympic record and Atlanta Gold.
The year was 1993. As a collegiate rower we had an amazing season racing our Brown varsity 8. We completed a two year undefeated run, including winning the Ladies Plate at the Henley Royal Regatta. But unlike the Olympic year before, I was not able to bring sculling and rowing the eight under one roof.
After 6 weeks of intensive training in the double scull, soul searching, and questioning my existence as a rower, we finished the world championships in 8th place. I was not happy. A few hours after our final, I stood at the base of the grandstand, approximately 150 meters from the finish line, and waiting for the final of the men's single scull to come through. There I stood, with a storm of mixed emotions ripping through my chest. My throat started knotting up. I thought of my father. I thought of my great Olympic run the year before. I remember doing a 1000 knee bends in the forest as a junior. I was meant to be racing my single scull, right there on the race course which I was observing as a SPECTATOR. How could I have let this happen? From a state of mixed emotions, one emotion started rising like a tidal wave... RAGE.
Suddenly, my rage changed into a weird sense of helpless observer, who had a hard time believing that his idol, the German Terminator, was being beaten. Porter, Lange, and Chalupa entered their final 750 meters and were in a dogfight for gold. Chalupa had the lead and lost it to Porter. To my complete astonishment, my childhood hero, Thomas Lange, did not win. Victory went to Derek Porter a tall lean Canadian. He was the one capable of beating Thomas Lange.
Here is the link to the 1993 final.Left to right, Vaclav Chalupa, Derek Porter, Thomas Lange, the next day I met Derek.
The next day, I watched the rest of the finals. As I made my way to the shuttle, I felt a huge relief. Finally, I was taken away from a place that brought so much grief and anger to me. Little did I know that a new personal chapter in Olympic determination was about to begin.
Steps before boarding the bus, I spotted Derek Porter, who still wore his gold medal around his neck. I was excited to congratulate him, because he helped solve the problem of how to beat an idol, even if it was my idol. I stretched out my hand and said: "Derek, congratulations for winning, and you beat Thomas Lange. Finally, someone could beat him, and you are the one who did it, it was incredible." When I said those words, I wore my heart on my sleeve. "Yeah, thanks," was his response and kept on walking. I felt rejected. By instinct, I turned into a first impression character judge, which is truly unfair to Derek. The vibe I picked up from how he responded, fueled my passion for competition and my view of Derek immediately became subjective and thus I felt that he had an air of superiority that to me spelled out: I am superior to you and anyone else for that matter.
My view of his passive response to my "groupie-ish" behavior hurt me deep down. Without knowing it, Porter, arguably, committed the greatest mistake in his single sculling career. As the saying goes, "don't look down to people who look up to you." That day, I was the one looking up to him. It was that moment in my life, as a single sculler, that the final gold medal ingredient found its way into my racer-brain which galvanized my Olympic determination. I took a deep breath, balled my fists as hard as I could. I felt my entire body tightening up as if I was going to be shot at with a canon ball. Aggressive energy started to flow through my veins and just like that the rage of the day before became RAGE of victory.
As soon as I returned to Brown, I started training on my own. I did thousands of bench rows, squats, lat pull downs, horizontal rows, miles on the erg and water. Not one day would go by without me thinking at least twice about that fateful encounter. Not one day would go by without me thinking of my father who did not live to see the day I would win gold. My Olympic goal was set straight in front of me, like a sight on a target. I was on board of an unstoppable freight train, bound to smash a record on Lake Lanier.
At the world championship in 1994 and 1995, I denied Porter entry to the final. At the 1996 Olympics I overtook him in the last 250 meters to win gold and set the current Olympic record. In 1998, I won silver and I don't remember where he ended up. In 1999, I won another silver, he got bronze. In 2000, I was dying in the last 500 meters, but it was over my dead body that Porter was going to beat me. I won silver and he came in fourth.
Since, I have mellowed out a lot, and for the sake of my wife and four children, I am very happy about it.
(Derek, if you read this, in no way do I want to portray you as someone you are not. At the time, I had a lot of personal challenges I had to meet, and the circumstance of our encounter was so unplanned. I am certain that you are a great person.)From left to right, Derek Porter, Xeno Müller, Thomas Lange 1996 Olympics
Join one of the fastest growing communities of indoor rowers at www.row2go.com and become the fastest rower at www.xenorowingcoach.com
Xeno Muller won an Olympic Gold in Atlanta and an Olympic Silver in Sydney, and is the current Olympic Record holder in the 2000m Single Scull.
Link to the Olympic final of 1996 - Feb 24, 12
Remera en primer plano tiene problemas técnicos, mientras la segunda remera muestra una mejor posición- Problemas técnicos a considerar: Probablemente ha oído hablar de “la manera correcta deremar”, sin embargo al ver alguien remar frente a uno, posiblemente se sienta algo intimidadoen tratar de corregirle la remada. Como se puede ver en esta foto, muchas veces se encuentragente que esta combinando el empuje con la jalada. Los brazos se quiebran durante el empuje delas piernas mientras la espalda esta cerca de alcanzar el ángulo del final de la remada. Tampocoes inusual detectar varios empujando con la punta de los pies o finalizando con la rótula delpié. Este tipo de atletas acaban siendo víctimas de una falta de soporte de la espalda baja. Suscodos apuntan hacia el piso, con las muñecas en un ángulo de 90° a sus antebrazos. La espaldaesta cerca del piso mientras el mango del ergo es jalado a la altura superior de los pectorales. Enestos casos es muy raro ver que las rodillas están completamente estrechadas, pero en cambiose encuentran levemente flexionados con los cuádriceps no aplicados. Esta posición final llevaal remero a regresar el mango…. la espalda, y las rodillas a la toma, todo al mismo tiempo. Deesta manera el musculo flexor de la cadera es mal utilizado para levantar las rodillas, lo cual dejatotalmente fuera de uso al tendón de la corva. La preparación de la parte superior del cuerpose retrasa en comparación al tiempo en el que las rodillas se levantan. Esto provoca una paradade las rodillas en el momento de la compresión máxima y esto lleva a alargar el cuerpo superiory la extensión de los codos para alcanzar con el mango la máxima cercanía a la rueda de viento.Consecuencia de esto es que en la remada se contraigan los brazos con una apertura prematurade la espalda, dejando el empuje de las piernas en un segundo plano.Abajo tenemos más fotos con las cuales podemos ilustrar lo que describo arriba.Si eres uno de los remeros en estas fotos, no te sientas avergonzado porque el 99% de losremeros que han participado en el Crash-B comparten tu técnica. Estoy seguro de lo que afirmoporque sé de la experiencia personal el desconecte mental que tienen los entrenadores entre loque es remo en agua y remo en máquina.Esta foto ilustra muy bien la remada descripta arriba. Además no entiendo bien que es lo que está pasando con el pié
derecho.Este es un clara quebrada anticipada de brazos, lo cual retrasa el empuje de piernas, el cuerpo se levanta
anticipadamente, mientras que el talón de los pies aún no ha conectado la pedalina. - Feb 22, 12
Technical issues to consider: You may have heard about "the proper way of rowing" however when you see somebody row in front of you, you may find the task of correcting a rowing stroke a bit daunting. As seen on this picture, very often you find people combining pulling with pushing. The arms bend during the leg drive while the back is close to being in its final finish angle. It is also not unusual to spot many toe pushers, or "ball of the foot finishers." These types of athletes are victim to a lack of support in their lower back. Their elbows point straight down to the floor, with wrists at a 90 degree angle to their forearms. The lay back is almost level to the ground with the handle pulled to the upper half of the pectoral muscle. In such instances it is rarely the case that the knees are fully straight, instead they show a slight angle with a quadriceps that is not engaged. Such a finish position leads the rower to return the handle... the lay back, and the knees back to the catch, all at the same time. In this manner, the hip flexor is wrongly used to lift the knees, which completely leaves out the use of the hamstrings. The preparation of the upper body lags behind in comparison to the timing with the rise of the knees, this creates a stop of the knees at the full catch compression and results in a reach of the upper body and elbow extension to get the handle as close to the flywheel as possible. This leads to an early contraction of the arms with a premature opening of the back, putting the leg drive in a secondary position. Here are more pictures I found to illustrate what I am describing above.Rower in the foreground has technical problems, whereas second rower shows a better hang.
If you are one of the rowers in these pictures, feel no shame, because 99% of the rowers who took part at CRASH-B share your technique. I am confident of my statement, because I know from personal experience the disconnect that exists in coaches' minds between water rowing and erging.This picture illustrates well the above described rowing stroke. Also I am not quite sure what is going on with the right foot. This is a clear early arm draw, which puts the leg drive on the back burner, the upper body is opening early, while the heel has not yet connected to the foot board. This picture I chose not necessarily for the first two rowers. Most of the pictures taken by row2k are in the drive phase so it is hard to find shots on the recovery. Have a look at the rower all the way to the right. He is on the recovery, combining every part of his body to move to the catch. Such a rower creates a rush in a team boat. The fellow in the middle has an early opening of back, is breaking the arms at the same time, and the angle of the upper body is already at vertical which leaves nothing to connect in the last quarter of the leg drive. The young rower at the forefront is gripping the handle in his fist reducing his ability to maximize his effective length at the catch and at the finish.
Join one of the fastest growing communities of indoor rowers at www.row2go.com and become the fastest rower at www.xenorowingcoach.com
Xeno Muller won an Olympic Gold in Atlanta and an Olympic Silver in Sydney, and is the current Olympic Record holder in the 2000m Single Scull. He is also the President of XenoRowingCoach and Row2Go which is quickly becoming THE online community for both indoor and on-the-water rowers providing its members with weekly online workout routines and individualized coaching programs. - Feb 22, 12
- Feb 17, 12
- Apr 04, 12
I was 13 and a half when I started rowing in Fontainebleau, France. As a "cadet" rower, we were asked to join the Friday evening strength training session. The weight room was part of an athletic complex across the street of a famous business school called, Insead. This school attracted well accomplished US rowers such as, Alyson Townley, Chris Carlson, C.B. Sands-Bohrer, Anne Marden, and John Marden. This early US rowing interaction presented me with the opportunity to hold Anne Marden's freshly won Olympic silver medal from the Seoul Olympics in my young hand. It was amazing how big and heavy the medal was. As I held it, I remember looking at it long and hard which gave me the impression that the medal grew larger in my hand. Then a voice inside of me said: "Xeno, you can achieve this, but it is going to cost you, you will suffer." I tightened my jaw and knew that I was in it for the long haul.First day of rowing January 198
As a young teenager I was a fan of movies such as Rambo, Rocky, Commando, the Running Man and a few others staring these actors... I wanted to be as buff as Stallone and Schwarzenegger. Even my father and grandfather enjoyed telling me that a strong body is important in a young man's life and beyond. So it was no wonder that I was given a piston rowing machine and a punching bag for Christmas the year before I started rowing on the water at the Club D'Aviron Fontainebleau Avon. When I first set foot in the gym that Friday evening, all I saw were free weights, a couple Smith cages, and monkey bars... The elder rowers told us to grab four benches that were stacked along the concrete wall. I had no clue what we were going to do with them. Maybe we were going to sit down and talk about what we were going to do. We were told to place three benches parallel to each other and the fourth bench was set on top. Then an Olympic bar was placed underneath the top bench and I was told to lay belly down and grab the bar and start pulling. The date was February 15th, 1985.My dad and I the year before Brown
The company of the bench row lasted 19 years from that evening on. I did bench rows in Fontainebleau, Zurich, Sarnen, Providence, Boston, and Newport Beach. There is no doubt in my mind that this specific exercise brought a huge amount of torque to my sculling and sweep rowing stroke. I excelled at the French national bench row test, which consisted on how many bench pulls with 40kgs one could do in 6 minutes. Years later, I laid there in the gym of the Newport Aquatic Center, my stopwatch already running and placed on the ground right below me, my finger tips hooked around the bar. As the stop watch reached one minute, I began pulling at a deafening pace, literally, because at the end of every pull the Olympic bar hit the metal frame creating a loud bang. I thrived on that ear piercing sound. I felt rage, I was in my element, my mind was screaming to go faster, harder, I wanted to tear everything apart so that my my opponents would get destroyed, they shall regret having chosen to race the single scull. The metallic banging reminded me of a sledgehammer. As I progressed through the six minutes, I increasingly felt my lat muscles pulsate with every draw. My arms became twice as big. Sweat dripped off my forehead onto the floor. I kept counting, I wanted to go farther than 240, which meant an above 40 strokes a minute pace. I kept ramming the bar against the bench. At one minute to go, I demanded that my body released every ounce of energy for the final sprint to complete the six minutes of hell, or was it heaven... That day I pulled my absolute best, 248 draws at age 28, a month and a half before the Sydney Olympics.Shortly before driving to Sydney from Murwillumbah
Join one of the fastest growing communities of indoor rowers at www.row2go.com and become the fastest rower at www.xenorowingcoach.com
Xeno Muller won an Olympic Gold in Atlanta and an Olympic Silver in Sydney, and is the current Olympic Record holder in the 2000m Single Scull. - Feb 15, 12Join one of the fastest growing communities of indoor rowers at www.row2go.com and become the fastest rower at www.xenorowingcoach.com
Xeno Muller won an Olympic Gold in Atlanta and an Olympic Silver in Sydney, and is the current Olympic Record holder in the 2000m Single Scull. He is also the President of XenoRowingCoach and Row2Go which is quickly becoming THE online community for both indoor and on-the-water rowers providing its members with weekly online workout routines and individualized coaching programs. - Feb 10, 12
Hi Rowers and Coaches,
Yesterday as I was communicating with a couple rowers over the internet it occurred to me that I ought to write about chronic problems that I encounter and hear about of technique and rigging issues, here goes:
Scullers and sweep rowers seem to be chronically rigged too far into the stern, which forces an insanely uncomfortable lay back. This leads to washing out of the blades at the finish and contributes to a sore lower back. The biceps are overdeveloped and the latesimus dorsalis underdeveloped. The finish posture leads to a bunched up recovery where arms away is combined with a forward body angle similar to the hunchback of Notre Dame, and a skyward tug of the knees which is solely the result of contracting the hip flexor, totally leaving out the far more important hamstrings. The movement of the seat arrives too early to the end of the track which stops the knees and allows a lurch of the upper body which leads to a drop of the handle height, a late squaring and skying of the blade. In a women's eight, the shoes are usually set too low making over-compressing of the knees likely and perpetuating the lurch at the catch. The leg drive tends to be shortened through the steeper angle at which the legs are at extension because of the low foot board position and over-sized shoes. Men in sweep and in sculling are rigged too low, while women are rigged too high. In sweep rowing, the inboard handle is either too short, or the span too wide. The sculls and sweep oars are held in fists instead of fingers creating blisters in the palm of the hand. Shoulders during the drive look like they are attached to the rower's earlobes. That catch occurs when the boat sits deep in the stern instead of when the hull comes out on its own buoyancy. During the drive the notion of hanging of the leg drive is fuzzy. Hanging does not mean contracting muscles above the hip joint while pushing with the legs. Heels come off the foot board at the finish creating and perpetuating the lack of support in the lower back and the lack of use of the hamstrings to lever the swing of the upper body against the last quarter of the leg drive, which is the most powerful angle, but also the shortest distance the seat travels, creating a drop of the knees indicates the loss of connection between leg drive and upper body swing. Catches are performed with an early opening of the back, clearly showing that the knees/legs are not the primary driving force of the rowing stroke. Arms are used in similar manner as a squirrel holds an acorn, which slows down the extension of the legs and uses up the draw too early in the stroke which then prevents a supported finish position. Foot boards are usually too flat instead of too steep. Larger junior teams spend more time lining the boats up than worrying about training at target heart rate and building torque. Junior teams tend to train too little at the aerobic zone, and too often at and above the anaerobic threshold. Such training leads to injury, mental and physical plateau, an angry coach, because the team is not improving, a dislike of returning to the boathouse, low self esteem. Coxswain are the most underrated assets in a boathouse. If the coach new how to coach, the coxswain would make the coach's life a living dream. Coxswains feel boat and hear what the team is saying without the coach hearing it. The coach is to a crew what a five star general is to an army, therefore the coxswain is a four star general.This is not good enough of a hang either :-)
Ok, got to quit I have a couple stroke analysis to do.
You can find me on www.xenorowingcoach.com and @rowingadviser on twitter. You can row with me at www.row2go.com.
Happy February and know that I am certain that you can go 20 seconds faster on a 2K if you have never been coached by me or have made it to the national team. - Feb 09, 12
Are a parent of a high school student who loves to row? You may be in luck or not...
You are in luck, if your child has a good erg score. A good erg score, a.k.a. fast 2K on a Concept2 rowing machine, makes rowing coaches foam at the mouth. If your child is a girl with a good score, you could get thousands of $ off tuition through a rowing scholarship. For the boys it is a little different. Men's crew at the University level does not receive funding from the athletic department because of title IX. However, a good erg score for a male rower can get him into a great rowing university. The better the 2K the more likely a H.S. student is to be recruited for a university crew program.
If your child's erg score is not good enough yet... you are in luck, because I can help you. If your son or daughter is determined to put in the rowing meters, I can help lower the erg score by twenty seconds depending on how much time is left before applying to a university.
Through superior internet speed, helping rowers worldwide, has become the main part of my coaching business. I receive rowing clips on a daily basis. These excerpts are between 45 and 60 seconds long, taken at 90 degrees, full side view. I complete a slow motion stroke analysis by carefully explaining and graphically illustrate the strong and weak points of a rowers technique. I then explain which technical drills need to be done to improve power application. Each analysis comes complete with a one month training program.
Your child's rowing stroke improves dramatically without pain.
With today's tuition cost averaging $28,000 per year it is an absolute must to utilize a professional stroke analysis, by one of the most successful rower and coach in history.
Learn more at www.xenorowingcoach.com
Sincerely,
Xeno Müller
Olympic gold and silver medalist, Olympic record holder. - Feb 07, 12
I coached a junior today. We did rowing specific resistance work. Without getting into the detail of the workload, a new blog topic came to me: Why stress over rest when the pieces are hard enough.
Once I quit my competitive career and began to coach privately, I started hearing from rowers' hellish stories of interval training with little to no time to rest between pieces. The first few times I heard of these brutal beatings I exclaimed by saying how sorry I was about being subject to such senseless abuse and that it must be hard. Then after hearing such tales over and over, I started growing a thicker skin and simply responded, by saying: "This type of training leads to nothing else but physiological plateau, mental burnout, technical stagnation, and injury; your coach should be beaten (figuratively speaking) and drug behind the coaching launch (also figuratively speaking) for the amount of pain he or she puts you through."Five days before the Olympics
Hard pieces are meant to teach the athlete to move the boat as efficiently as possible through the water no matter what level of pain is felt. Therefore giving a break between pieces that is "too" short sabotages the ability to find maximum efficient speed. Some coaches will argue that the shorter break brings more stress to the rower or crew and makes finding maximum speed in the boat even harder. Yes.., but what does the rower or crew get out of it when they are barely conscience of their movements... the experience of living with pain and keeping the body moving. Well that does not make you win races...
I follow the 100%+ method. No matter how hard or long the pieces are, the rest time is of same length if not more depending on physical distress. My goal as athlete was always to execute my pieces with the best possible technique and greatest aggression. I made sure that I kept full control over the boat and that the blades were set in the water as the hands moved to the stern. It was crucial for me to feel the draw of my hamstrings as I moved the foot board back to my seat. Thanks to the appropriate rest between pieces, I was able to deliver a sound accelerating stroke, a single scull gliding on the water like a skate on ice with puddles quickly passing the stern.
Xeno
I coach rowers worldwide on www.xenorowingcoach.com and make it easy for others to use their rowing machine at www.row2go.com. - Jan 31, 12
Harry Mahon, one of two coaches of the GBR 8+, was my coach. This eight is a beautiful demonstration of how much technique matters. No eight has yet achieved such perfection. Harry Mahon is awesome, rest in peace Harry.Xeno Muller - Jan 29, 12
I found a gem of technical analysis. Thomas Lange was my idol, although the goal was not to row like him, his toughness is what I wanted to emulate. Great athlete he is.
Xeno Muller - Jan 28, 12
Hello rowers and endurance athletes.
Congratulations and thank you for illustrating my first point I am about to make on personality of an athlete or coach. Through your active search, you found me and this article, because you are in search of greater aerobic capacity for either yourself or people you train, which in turn describes you as a motivated individual.
Do rowers and coaches know when to slow down?1996 Olympics, Derek Porter, Xeno Muller, Thomas Lange, Olympic record 6:44.85
In order to achieve maximum results from training, the mind and body need to be in harmony. From personal experience as an Olympic gold/silver medalist and coach I have noticed that athletes too often forget to look for the connection between the two. Such disconnect can be caused from guilt and competitive paranoya of the "what if I don't train..." Athletes are guilty of this as much as coaches. Coaches who don't understand the importance of limiting hard workouts and neglecting to observe the rowers demeanor during and outside of the workouts, fall into a situation in which more injuries appear and morale of the crew becomes gloomy. Slowing down is not in the nature of motivated people it must therefore learned and accepted in order to improve fitness.
Believing that achieving new personal bests is mainly caused when the mind gets stronger... another problem.
I have heard it many times from club and university rowers. As training "progresses" coaches chose to test their crew members to confirm that their training plan delivers better 2K, 6K, and more boat speed. Some of these coaches also tend to favor harder workouts instead of aerobic training sessions. When too few personal bests are recorded the coaches' answer are more high intensity training with team meetings denouncing that the crews are not pushing hard enough and that it is a matter of getting mentally tougher to sustain more pain. For rowers with less coaching interference a similar situation exists. All-out-effort-self-testing becomes a form of security blanket. Unfortunately the blanket is sometimes used in moments of doubt, for example when coming out of sickness such as the flu. In such cases the test which ought to show improvement ends up informing the rower of how much the illness impacted their fitness. More often than not, the result of the test is less than satisfactory and leads the rower down a path of self-doubt mixed with impatience that lead to harder workouts, because of the idea lost time from being ill needs to be made up.
"No pain, no gain, no Spain." Learn from other endurance disciplines, look outside the box.
This was a headline in Sport Illustrated back in 1992 as the world was preparing for the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Rowing is known to be one of the toughest sports and therefore it is easy to imagine that training has to be filled with intensity and pain. Many rowers and coaches believe that rowing success comes from going through hell on water and land. This concept of training is so wrong, it makes me cringe. My coaches' adopted training methods from different disciplines such as cross country skiing, flat water kayak, cycling, and Olympic weight lifting. Learning from mistakes and successes of other successful.
Improvement in rowing comes through a carefully mixed training program that gives the athlete enough time to recover from hard workouts and plenty of aerobic mileage to increase the mitochondria count in muscle cells throughout the body and not just the core rowing muscles. Cross training is crucial to avoid chronic injuries, mental burnout, yet extremely beneficial for total body fitness at the molecular level. As rower, listening to ones body, accepting gut feeling, erring on the side of caution is a better way to becoming a champion. Coaches need to accept that athletes achieve greater performance through mileage and fine tuning, rather then creating a living hell, where mental toughness is the means to an end.Training on Lake Sarnen, Switzerland
Now go and puke your gut out at CRASH-B and its satellite regattas.
Xeno, Olympic gold and silver medalist, Olympic record holder. Row2go, XenoRowingCoach, Digital Workouts. - Jan 27, 12When I receive rowing footage via Youtube or email (up to 50 seconds with iPhone), I complete a slow motion stroke analysis with commentary. I help rowers pick the right technical drill to improve deficiencies in their rowing stroke.
The result is improved power application, greater speed, better boat control, and better erg score, without training harder.
How effective can training be, when you don't know what your weaknesses are and how to strengthen them? - Jan 23, 12
Veo partidos muy reñidos en la tele y se me ocurrió que muchos de estos atletas tienen poco tiempo para recuperarse para la siguiente ronda; especialmente los jugadores que se enfrentan en dobles y singles durante el mismo torneo. Conozco una manera suave para apresurar la recuperación. Pero primero echemos un vistazo rápido a lo que se hace comúnmente.
Dependiendo de la edad y el nivel físico, el tiempo necesario para regenerarse después de un partido duro puede variar mucho entre individuos. Con el fin de "ayudar en la recuperación", la mayoría de los jugadores pasa algo de tiempo bajo la regadera caliente, lo cual en términos fisiológicos se describe como recuperación pasiva. Muy pocos se tomarán un baño con hielo, el cual atrae la sangre a la piel del cuerpo de ese modo sacando el ácido láctico del tejido muscular. Algunos harán tiempo para una sesión de masaje valiosa, lo cual se describe como un método de recuperación semipasiva. Tal vez unos cuantos usarán una bicicleta estacionaria para producir el lactato en las piernas bien torneadas. No tengo duda que un porcentaje de los mejores jugadores usa alguno de estos métodos para sacar ventaja en la recuperación. Aún así uno de los métodos de recuperación activa más eficientes en cuanto al tiempo ha permanecido sin descubrirse en el mundo del tenis, hasta ahora.Xeno Müller, Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, Olympic record holder
Tiempo para presentar el "remo regenerador" de 20 minutos". ¿Por qué un jugador de tenis querría usar el remo para una recuperación más rápida? Para los novatos, el remo es un movimiento soportado por el peso de cero impacto de cuerpo completo que es extremadamente suave en las articulaciones y así facilita lograr una gama completa de movimiento con las rodillas, caderas y tobillos. La parte superior del cuerpo se asegura en la articulación coxofemoral con los hombros flojos mientras que la parte inferior de la espalda se apoya permitiendo que se estiren y contraigan suavemente los tendones, al mismo tiempo la espalda se involucra de manera uniforme durante todo el ciclo de remada. La resistencia suave y gradual de remar es una excelente terapia para el dolor muscular. Remar es un proceso ACTIVO para regenerar el cuerpo.
Existen otros beneficios regeneradores importantes que el remo proporciona, tales como el ritmo de respiración profunda usado para relajar el cuerpo en la recuperación y cómo la aceleración que comienza desde el impulso de las piernas suspendiendo la parte superior del cuerpo desde la fuerza de su esqueleto. El remo fácil también es suave con el corazón debido a la posición paralela del riel al piso y, así, reduce a la mitad el poder necesario para que el sistema cardiaco bombee la sangre a través del cuerpo.
El remo también es un excelente ejercicio de entrenamiento en múltiples áreas. Los ejercicios físicos varían en intensidad y duración. Se sabe que el deporte produce algunos de los atletas más aeróbicamente sanos y mentalmente duros. La adición del remo a la rutina de ejercicio semanal brinda variedad al entrenamiento que, de lo contrario, se enfoca enormemente en estar erguido y poner mayor presión en las articulaciones que ya están puestas a prueba de manera importante a través de los entrenamientos y partidos de tenis.
¡Sería sorprendente para mí ayudar a los jugadores de tenis a usar el remo para mejorar su recuperación y récord de triunfos! Considere nuestro paquete de iniciación de 10 semanas, el cual es excelente para aprender de forma pausada a remar y es perfecto para enfriamientos del tenis y entrenamiento en múltiples áreas.
Xeno www.row2go.com para entrenamientos de remo en línea. www.xenorowingcoach.com para DVDs y coaching privado.
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Posts
- Dec 18, 10
Today I was thrilled to get word from ready Brandy Mulligan that she has begun her own blog all about the erg! It will be great to have another resource for passionate rowers.
Go and check out her work today! - May 03, 10
The key pieces of rowing equipment include far more than a boat and oars today.
Long ago a coxswain might have had a simple cone to focus his or her voice and they might talk into the bottom of the boat in hopes that it would carry their voice to the rest of the crew. Today as the coach on the water the coxwain is an integral part of any crew and the cox box and speakers that ensure precise communications with the rowers is no longer a nicety - it is an essential piece of equipment.
Cox boxes give stroke rate, stroke count and time as well to help the coxswain guide the crew in the perfect execution of a race plan. This of course with its most basic function of voice amplification carrying the coxie's voice to 2-3 or more speakers placed in the boat near the crew.
Nielsen Kellerman have produced the almost de facto standard - so de facto that their name "cox box" is the standard like Kleenex now means tissue to all or rollerblade means in-line skate.
It would be hard for anyone to dethrone the leading company - so many clubs have multiple units and training coxies to use a different brand or even to risk trying another brand with a relatively expensive purchase.
Still, others are trying to bring their game.
NK units don't give boat velocity and supply limited feedback to the coach after a workout or race. Some clubs combine the cox box with another piece of equipment like a speedcoach to get velocity (there is no consensus if these units really are accurate with bigger boats).A company like Coxmate is worth a look. They produce several units - the most sophisticated being the SCT which handles the basic functions but adds velocity with a micro-impeller that is significantly smaller than the NK unit or even a GPS function. It also has a PC link for coach analysis.
in2Rowing made a unit packed with features, including GPS but their web site now says they are shut down "indefinitely." - Apr 22, 10You went out and bought a nice shiny new ergometer. Your rowing machine has been a dream for a while and now you have it at home.Now what?Well, do us all a favour and get some technique help, watch a video or better yet get some instruction – health clubs are full of often perfectly fit folks with the most embarrassing technique. I’d explain it here but you need something visual. Learn a bit and you’ll enjoy your erg. Ignore my advice and you’ll destroy your back, get little from the workout and look, frankly, like an idiot.‘nuff said.This isn’t jogging folks. You don’t get on the erg and shuffle along with little effort. The rowing machine is the ultimate full-body burn-a-tonne-of-calories exercise device. It also isn’t sprinting – the first few strokes will seem easy, especially with health-club technique – but it isn’t. Slow down Charlie – if you sprint your workout will be over in a minute or two at best.No, you need to learn to settle into a hard puling 18-22 strokes a minute rowing workout. Pull hard, then relax. Runners like to work hard all the time. Rowers like to pull and then enjoy a small break as they recover for the next stroke. Enjoy that time!So – sort out your ergometer technique. Learn the basics of pacing and how to handle the low stroke rates of 18-22. Now enjoy the thrill of a long endurance workout.Your first bout on a rowing machine will of course depend on your current level of fitness, but let me suggest that you try to maintain your pace for 10 minutes without stopping. Sounds easy, but if you are learning then it won’t be (see info on pacing and technique).Get that down and extend your time on the machine. 3 x 10 minutes is a good aim or 2 X 20 minutes. The variations are endless - just keep your heart rate up for an extended period of time. No so much that your lungs are searing and your heart wants to blow out your chest wall. Just enough to make talking tough, but not impossible.Later, we’ll give you some tips for maintaining your rowing machine and for changing up your workouts.
- Apr 11, 10
Along with boats, oars are the most basic and important piece of rowing equipment.
Today all oars are constructed from a mixture of carbon fiber and fiberglass, permitting the construction of a lightweight oar with the ability to control important properties, notably the stiffness of the oar.
Sculling oars come in a variety of lengths from approximately 280cm - 295cm or more, with custom options available from leading manufacturers. Sweep oars range from 370cm to 380cm or more, again with custom lengths as well. Today, most oars come with the ability to adjust the length to a degree, typically at the handle.
The "blade" often refers to the part that is placed in the water to propel the boat. While some clubs will invariably still have the older Macon style of blade in their stock the "hatchet" style of blade is used be virtually all competitive crews now. The hatchet blade offers a greater amount of surface area, and it is used with shorter oars as a result. Its center of balance is toward the top of the oar, rather than the middle as in macon oars. Most rowers find them easier to grip the water without technical mistakes. The shaft of the oar is connected to the blade assymetrically - higher up on the blade which minimizes the amount of shaft in the water (which contributes to drag), as well as maximizing the surface area of the balde that can be submerged.
The exact size and shape of the hatchet varies between companies, and individual companies even offer a variety of shapes.
The path of the oar through the water during a stroke is not uniform. The forces applied as a result change throughout the stroke and rowers are also more effective in applying force early and through the mid part of the stroke than in the later part of the stroke. Manufacturers dedicate considerable time and energy to research as the shape of the blade will change how effective it is in each phase of he stroke.
Oar Manufactuers:
Concept II - USA Concept II, maker of the most-used rowing ergometer, also provides the majority of oars used in North America.
Croker Oars of Australia have significant market penetration in North America and around the world.
Empacher - the German boat builder also makes their own oars. - Apr 07, 10
There are several companies of note to look at when you want to purchase rowing equipment, whether it be shells, ergs, oars, or more. We will attempt to put together a comprehensive list of rowing boat builders here. If you have other rowing equipment companies that you would like listed, please contact us.
Rowing Boat Companies
Canada
Hudson Boatworks World and Olympic Championship Racing Shells
Kashper Racing Shells
Levator Boatworks Singles for Every Body
FluiddesignUSA
Vespoli World Class Racing Shells
Pockock Racing Shells
WinTech Racing Win More. Spend Less.
First Boat
Resolute Racing Shells
Alden Rowing Shells Manufacturer of recreational, traditional, and competitive rowing shells, oars, rowing gear and accessories.
Durham Boat Company, Manufacturer of Dreher sculls, sweeps and carbon boat partsInternational
Carl Douglas Racing Shells, UK
Janousek Rcing Boats, UK boatbuilder
Empacher Rowing Shells
Sykes Racing, Australia
Fillipi Design, Implementation and Selling Rowing Boats and Accessories
Is your rowing company not on this list? Send us a note - rowingscience@gmail.com - and we'll be happy to include you! - Apr 07, 10
Thanks to reader Daniel Carvalho of the Galit Club in Portugal sent along a spreadsheet that helps with erg race pacing.
Ergometer Strategy Spreadsheet
He included the following explanation:
The file named Ergometer (did not know what else to call it...) allows us to actually see some interesting details:- The dependence of 500m split (mm:ss,0) and Power (W) (decreasing the 500m split from 2'02'' to 2'01'' is not the same as decreasing from 01'38'' to 01'37'' - Ok, most of us know that. But usually coaches tend to say that heavyweights should be x seconds per 500m faster than lightweights. That is not a reasonable demand since 4s/500m (e.g.) at conversational pace is not the same as 4s/500m when you are pulling hard)
- The most economical power (and 500m split) for any distance is 44W (03'19,6''). I am still surprised by this conclusion (see Power - Split - Calories folder, cells in green) (I used the C2 formulas. Hopefully the calculations are correct.)
- Suppose you want to know how fast (and how powerfull) was James Reichert when we pulled 9127m in 30minutes (1994). Simply type 9172 in a grey cell signalling 30min in the C2 Ranking workouts folder and you wiil find out that the average split was 01:38,1/500m and 370,5W (which is what I pulled in my latest 2k erg test... hehehe)
The file named Ergometer - Training zones according 2000m Erg Test is pretty simple.
You may want to rename the tags correspondent to x% of the 2000m average power.
Other than that seems a good way for dosing your workouts.
(All unprotected cells are GREY. Watch out for the decimal separator being a comma).
(visit us at http://www.galitos.pt) - Apr 05, 10
The most basic piece of land based rowing equipment is the ergometer.
Concept II has the standard machine and if you want to ascend the ranks of rowers and compete at a significant level, you'll need to become an expert on the rowing machine.
Coaches use them in crew selection, the wise ones only as one of many tools, the less informed make decisions based entirely on erg times.
The greatest criticism of the erg - aside from pain and boredom! - would be the fact that they don't perfectly simulate on water technique. Sports scientists will tell you that fitness is sport specific and while an ergometer is a useful training tool, it will never replace or properly duplicate the feel and training on water in a real boat.
Rowperfect produces a rowing machine that is said to better replicate the feel on water, unfortunately the concept II machine is standard in so many boathouses that the Rowperfect has not made substantial inroads in this important segment of the rowing equipment market.
Concept II produces an addition piece of equipment - the slide. Ergs are places on concept II slides which enable the machine to move rather than being fixed to the ground. This makes the feel much more like actually being in a boat. Unfortunately, it is a significant additional cost and clubs are often already on stretched budgets.
On the other hand, for the individual or family wanting to add some rowing gear to their home, the cost of an ergometer is not cheap, but at $900 is far, far more affordable than buying a boat and oars at ten times that cost - and of course most people can find a bit of ground to place a rowing machine on, while few have access to water or boat storage.
If you are looking to add an ergometer to your home, then consider going to one of the many indoor rowing competitions each year. Hosts must provide dozens of new rowing machines for the racing and sell them off at significant discounts after the event is completed. You'll need to be in touch early - likely the fall - and reserve your erg as they sell off quickly.
Another great benefit of the rowing machine is the ability to work on fitness when your technique as a novice rower can be limiting you ability to get in a great workout on the water. As you learn you can supplement your on water skill development with erg training on land - where you can work as hard as you want after some very basic skills have been developed.
At the same time, having an ergometer with well-placed mirrors or even a video camera enable the rower to gain insight into their technique that can't be had on the water.
The basic rowing ergometer technique will be explored in a future post. - Apr 05, 10
- Apr 05, 10
As longterm readers will notice there hasn't been a lot published here in a while. We're not in a position to continue significant content on the science of rowing, so in an attempt to continue adding content, we're going to broaden the focus of the site.
We'll now include more information on rowing equipment, rowing machines, and the basics of rowing - in addition to the occasional return to our roots of rowing science. - Jan 22, 10Early squaring can have a very significant effect on racing speed.Also in the December 29 issue of the Rowing Biomechanics Newsletter Dr. Kleshnev reports on the effect of wind resistance on boat speed.
How significant can wind be?
"5 m/s head wind makes singles 17.4% slower and eights 12.2% slower, tail wind of the same speed makes singles 7.5% faster and eights 5.1% faster."
He briefly compares to World Championship results and suggests the research may somewhat overestimate the effect.
Perhaps most interesting is the significant effect of feathering and squaring of the blade - something we all know who have been in the boat, but perhaps not the extent:"If the blade squared early at the middle of recovery, a crew can lose up to 10 s over 2k race at calm conditions and up to 30 s at head wind 5 m/s." - Jan 22, 10
In the December 29 edition of the Rowing Biomechanics Newsletter Dr. Kleshnev reports on the effect of water temperature on boat speed - based on research out of East Germany in the 70s.
"...boat speeds decrease by 1.3% (~4s over 2k), when the water temperature drops from 20o C down to 5o C. If the water gets warmer, up to 30o, then the boat goes 0.6% faster (~1.8s over 2k). The power trend fits very well to the experimental data (R2 = 0.99)."
The reason is the change in the properties of water which changes frictional resistance. - Jan 19, 08Rowers are notorious for never letting up, even in extreme weather. It might be an early morning row in below freezing temperatures, or a cross-training run where the water has frozen over but rowers keep going. Still, some are concerned about the effect on the body of exercise in such extreme temperatures.A recent position paper from the American College of Sports Medicine, reviewed in the New York Times, indicates that exercise in cold weather - no matter how cold - is safe, even for those with exercise induced asthma.Two key points:1. The air is warmed to body temperature before entering your lungs - no matter how cold it is outside.2. Those who suffer from exercise induced asthma need not fear the cold - or at least can now know that it is actually the dry air that accompanies cold that causes them stress. The effect in dry warm air is just the same.The author suggests that wearing a balaclava will help by becoming moist and thus moistening the air before it enters the lungs. It is also important that asthma sufferers take precautions in dry warm weather,
- Jan 18, 08
A recent study, as reported in the Globe and Mail today, provides some confirmation of what many rowers have long felt - protein in a diet suppresses appetite better than fats or carbohydrates. In fact, the researchers were looking at the hormone ghrelin , secreted by the stomach, which is an appetite stimulant. Drinks containing more protein did a better job of suppressing ghrelin than fats, and while carbohydrates initially did a good job, later on they were quite poor. This of course will be familiar with anyone who is quickly satisfied by a high carb feed, only to be extremely hungry shortly thereafter.
This obviously bears some resemblance to the effect seen in high glycemic index foods, where insulin reacts to high blood sugar after high carbohydrate foods, often overreacting and actually lowering blood sugar. - Jan 14, 08
An article from the Mayo Clinic on beta-blockers and exercise will be of interest to some readers. Beta blockers are prescribed to lower blood pressure and have the effect of lowering heart rate. As such normal exercise heart rates cannot be achieved. If this is the case for you, check out the article.
- Jan 14, 08
I just stumbled upon an interesting article on strength training for rowing you might be interested in.
I must say though that I have always been a proponent of specificity of training and the usefulness of on-water or on the erg strength training - you can read more here. This needs to be balanced with an athletes need for variety, and for changes in the training methods to prevent injury. Heavy load rowing without adequate preparation or experience can be a recipe for injury. - Jan 14, 08
Many athletes mistakenly believe that their hydration requirements decrease in the colder winter months. Not so! Of course, if you are properly clothed for training sessions then you will still be producing excess body heat and sweating as in any hard workout. In many places, the winter air is drier and your bodies natural moistening of the air as it takes it in results in further water losses via respiration.What's more, your thirst response is diminished in the winter - so your drive to drink is less.Athletes and coaches...you need to consciously choose to hydrate during winter trainign sessions for optimal performance. - Mar 13, 07The 2007 - USOC Olympic Coach E-magazine, Winter Issue arrived recently in my inbox. The various articles focus on teams. A few stood out as having some relation to rowing:
For coaches and athletes: Peaking for Team sports.
For coaches in particular : You were Hired to: Win Now Oo Win Consistently.
Sport Psycology - Great Groups, Great Coaches
Physiology - What Every Coach Should Know about Energy Systems.
There is a lot of great information there for you. If you would like to see back issues or subscribe you can receive future e-magazines via email by going to their main page.If you enjoyed this post or other information on the site, subscribe to the Rowing Science Newsletter for regular updates and exclusive insider information for subscribers only.
- Mar 13, 07
Two new Rowing Biomechanics Newsletters have been released of late.
January 2007 Edition is a comment on Mechanical Modelling in Rowing. It is a more general comment although it makes reference to a talk at the British Coaching Conference 2007:The next talk, “Physics of rowing”, was one on which we cannot fail to comment. The presenter had developed quite an interesting computer model of rowing and some gadgets. However, instead of explaining the model, he presented a mixture of trivial things...
It is perhaps most interesting that he points out that most models use variation in boat speed as a major reason for energy losses in rowing. He notes:The main verbal expression of this erroneous theory is: “do not disturb (stop) the run of the boat at catch”. The consequences of this are a soft ineffective catch, and early opening the trunk and slow force increase, which we found is very important for effective drive (RBN 2004/01-2).
He also discusses a front loaded drive vs. a finish loaded drive, which the models suggest is better, but biomechanically does not make as much sense.
In the February Edition Dr. Kleshnev responds to comments about spread/span discussed in an earlier newsletter. This includes remarks by well known biomechanist Volkere Nolte and by Einar Gjessing of Norway, creator of the “Ergorow”.If you enjoyed this post or other information on the site, subscribe to the Rowing Science Newsletter for regular updates and exclusive insider information for subscribers only.
- Mar 09, 07
An excellent source of information is the American College of Sports Medicine who are a professional organization representing not just sports doctors, but all professionals in the field of sport science from exercise physiologists, to biomechanists, nutritionists, psycologists and more.
Their "position statements" are professional recommendations based on research literature. All these statements are available in PDF form on their website.
Of particular interest are two released recently. On March 1st they released a paper on "Exertional Heat Illness during Training and Competition" and February 1 they released one titled "Exercise and Fluid Replacement." These summaries should represent the most up to date information in the field and should be near the top of the reading list for all coaches as well as interested athletes.
While the information is fairly technical in nature and not something you would read in an aticle off the magazine stand, you can be sure it is current and reported by experts.If you enjoyed this post or other information on the site, subscribe to the Rowing Science Newsletter for regular updates and exclusive insider information for subscribers only.
- Feb 23, 07
It has been a pleasure seeing the growth in readership of this blog. Readers have come from across the globe with a wide range of interests. Over 250 of you have subscribed for our updates and more still visit each day.
Technorti.com is one of the best known Blog Directories. They list 168 blogs with rowing as one of their topics! Of course not many of those have rowing as thier main topic. Here are a few of the blogs that I have had the pleasure of reading over the past six months or so. If you have a chance please take a look at the work of other rowing bloggers:First Light by "TheOarsman"
Drew Ginn's Blog
Indoor Rowing by Xeno Muller
Fight in the Dog Lightwieght Rowing Blog by JW Burk
Launch Exhaust - by "Coach Jay"
Echo Rowing
rebecca_caroe_rowing
PowerTwenty.com
If I have forgotten any, please leave a comment with this post so I can follow up!If you enjoyed this post or other information on the site, subscribe to the Rowing Science Newsletter for regular updates and exclusive insider information for subscribers only.
- Feb 22, 07
Thanks to Rebecca Caroe of Rowperfect (and her own blog) who sent me an email with references to several of their resources related to recent posts here. I would encourage you to go over and have a look. In the near future I may get a chance to expand on some of these resources but for now, a brief summary and an encouragement to take a look.
Resources from several Rowperfect seminars is provided including:
Information on Seat Racing by Duncan Holland
This relates to my posting of an excel sheet for use with a pair matrix, and our poll on selection.
He includes some important points:- It is a big assumption that a pair can select an eight!
- Don't repeatedly test young people on the erg.
- Fit the test to the training (and events) at the time - longer in winter, shorter in summer.
- Seat racing assumes athletes have comparable fitness, skill, honesty and motivation.
Training to Perform presented by Paul Thompson
British Rowing Technique presented by Rosie Mayglothling
Athlete Testing Protocols presented by Martin McElroy
This one relates to our most recent post on peak power as a valid sub-maximal test for evaluating athletes and athletes progress. This includes protocols for:- Sub Maximal
- Strength Power
- Step Test
- Anaerobic Capacity
- 1000m
- 500m
If you enjoyed this post or other information on the site, subscribe to the Rowing Science Newsletter for regular updates and exclusive insider information for subscribers only.
- Feb 20, 07
The latest issue of The Rowing News contains an excellent article by Ed McNeely describing peak power and how to measure it on the erg. McNeely's article raises some intriguing points, but it also fails to mention one important factor - body mass - and how it affects this measure.
Peak Power is essentially the highest wattage obtained when setting the drag at 200 over 10 strokes. Others use slightly different protocols, but they all measure essentially the same thing. Refer to McNeely's article for a complete description of how to use it in your training.
McNeely mentions that several studies confirm that peak power is one of the best predictors of 2000 m erg preformance. This would seem somewhat counterintuitive. Rowing is 80% aerobic, while peak power is a measure of anaerobic performance - and mostly the ATP-CP system that works for only a few seconds. Yet McNeely is right.
One study found the correllation between peak power and 2000 m erg performance at r=0.92 p
This is not isolated to rowing, and also holds for other aerobic sports, even ones where the athlete must carry his or her weight even more than in rowing. Similar findings have been reported for 15 years in cycling. this article from South Africa by several authors including Tim Noakes, who recently was a keynote speaker at the Rowing Canada Coaches Conference found a strong correlation between peak power and both VO2 MAX and a 20 km cycling time trial. Interestingly another cycling study found that peak power increased from 864W to 940W or almost 9% after ingesting a controlled amount of caffeine.
In rowing, researchers have seen a 1.2% improvement in 2 k erg time and a 2.7% increase in mean power with caffeine ingestion. The same researchers in another study saw similar results with most of the improvement coming in the first 500 m - perhaps suggesting the effect was largely anaerobic, as is peak power.
Implications for You - and What McNeely Missed.
Peak Power is simple - perhaps for many even fun - to measure. Athletes don't seel the same pressure, or pain, that they do in a 2K erg test, yet the feedback it gives may be largely the same. We won't eliminate the need for 2K tests, but this may be a simle way to monitor training more regularily.
Train for power - McNeely describes how in his article and there are several other ways to include power training in your plan.
What he missed - the article I cited notes that the strong correlation between peak power and 2k erg times is true only when you consider lightweights and heavyweights separately so be cautious in how you use it to compare athletes. It would be better used to compare an individual athlete's progress in
training.
Don't forget our recent post on weight adjusting erg scores. First - the same formula cannot be used to adjust a measure of peak power. Second, well - weight matters. In fact the article that found the strong correlation with peak power also reported a significant correlation between body mass and 2 km erg performance!
Finally, remember that this information is derrived from studies on elite athletes. MCNeely points out that it may be a good measure because elite rowers are all so comparable aerobically and anaerobic measures may then be an important determining factor. I seriously doubt that this is true for club, masters or junior rowers.
That said, in my coaching experience it can be a useful measure with elite junior athletes, although whether peak power has the same correlation to 2K time in juniors I can't say. It would be interesting to have some coaches take both measures on their next round of testing and report the results here to our readers! - Feb 20, 07Since the last excel file I posted on doing weight adjusted erg scores proved to be our most read post to date I decided to post a couple of more example sheets for you. They are not necessarily ready to be used at a local event tomorrow, but they provide good examples of going beyond basic excel functionality to enhance your coaching. Athletes may well be interested too if only to gain a better understanding of some things coaches often talk about.
While I liked using ZoHo for posting the last online spreadsheet it didn't perfectly recreate my work in Excel and the next two examples are more complex. So, I have posted them to a free file sharing site called "4Shared.com." Please go there and download your own copies of these two examples. As always, feedback is most welcomed and if you find them useful I would love to hear from you. I am also happy to make some changes if you need anything different but aren't up to speed with Excel.
Pair Matrix.xls
This file allows for easy calculations used in a traditional "pair matrix" for seat racing. It is limited to 4 port rowers and 4 starboard rowers, but simply putting in the name of the athletes and the times for each trial will rank each athlete. Scroll to the right of the matrix to see the ordered ranking of athletes. Of course not everyone feels that crew selection in a pair is the best way to select a larger crew, but that is for another post.
Time Trial.xls
This is for using Excel to calculate times in a time trial or head race. It is far more detailed than a simple calculation of (finish time - start time) as it reports perecentages of gold standards and percentages of winning times, and it also ranks crews on a separate worksheet without the need for doing any sorting. It's probably well suited for a coach to use with several crews in his/her club, but would need a bit of work to run a whole head race. I hope that it does provide some useful examples.
Download the files at 4Shared.comIf you enjoyed this post or other information on the site, subscribe to the Rowing Science Newsletter for regular updates and exclusive insider information for subscribers only.
- Feb 19, 07
Thanks to JW Burk over at Fight in the Dog for this interesting link. It suggests that ancient rowers of Greek Triemes may have been as fit, or fitter than today's elite rowers. I expect there are a lot of holes you could poke in the assumptions and informtation sources used in the article but it still makes fun reading.
If you enjoyed this post or other information on the site, subscribe to the Rowing Science Newsletter for regular updates and exclusive insider information for subscribers only.
- Feb 15, 07
You may notice a newsreel in the header for the blog. Google has released this new tool recently. It will pull all news articles with rowing in them. I'm sure a few non-rowing articles will slip through but I hope this is an interesting and useful feature for you. Let me know what you think!
-
Posts
- May 18, 12
Here’s a great video of CrossFit Rowing coach Shane Farmer snatching 235 pounds at the SoCal Regionals for the CrossFit Games. He is in the green shirt at timestamp 0:40, right after the poor guy with the epic fail. Great movement, great technique. Not sure many rowers have this kind of strength and mobility outside of the horizontal plane.
This is why I am passionate about CrossFit in addition to rowing – as I get older the scope of what more I can achieve in rowing gets narrower, and I continue to train towards those goals, but CrossFit keeps me fresh and feeling like a novice I other areas, which keeps it interesting. Here’s a rower who can snatch 100 lbs. more than me with beautiful technique – clearly I have a lot of room for learning and improvement there even as the hair gets grayer.
Congrats Shane and well done!
http://games.crossfit.com/video/event-summary-socal-team-workout-5
Technorati Tags: crossfit,crossfit rowing,shame farmer,snatch,olympic lifting,crossfit games,socal regional,crossfit invictus
- May 17, 12
This is a great video from RowingRelated showing the men’s varsity eight final at the Eastern Sprints this past weekend at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA (which will also be the site of USRowing Masters Nationals this August).
This race looks like it’s in the bag until 5:10 in, then watch what happens. I think Washington has more horsepower than Harvard, but they better watch out!
- May 11, 12
I’ve recently switched over to wearing Zem shoes for rowing, and I think they are perfect. They were originally designed as beach volleyball shoes, so they look weird but function well. They are essentially ankle-height neoprene booties with reinforcing bands and a split toe for mobility. They are also great for SUP. They are sturdy enough for minimalist running, and can slip right inside the shoes in the boat, hence minimizing dock time and solving the problem of wet socks and shoes on the dock! Plus you can crumple them up, store them in the car, and just throw them in the washing machine when they get smelly. Check them out!
- Apr 09, 12
Last week I did a post about the correlation between an increase in my CrossFit Total and increased rowing peak power on the Concept2. Today I tested for peak power, and achieved a new PR of 815 watts (1:15.45 / 500m pace), representing a 5% improvement. I did the test with 10 progressive attempts beginning at drag factor 120 and ending at drag factor 205. The updated chart looks like this:
- Apr 05, 12
A lot of people seem to wonder how to get 20 or more points on the rowing intervals during Fight Gone Bad.
Here’s a simple formula:
Assume it takes 10 seconds of the interval to transition, get strapped in, etc.
That leaves you about 5 seconds to get the flywheel up to speed and another 45 seconds at full power.
If you can keep the average calories at or above 1500 during those 45 seconds, you will get 20 points.
If you can minimize the transition time, you can get more. As a rower, I take the transition time off the back of the push press interval to ensure that I am ready to row for the full 60 seconds. In those 10-15 seconds, I can get 7-8 points rowing whereas I would only get 3 points push pressing.
Technorati Tags: crossfit,rowing,fight gone bad,concept2,calories,fight gone bad strategy,fight gone bad rowing,indoor rowing,crossfit ignite
- Apr 04, 12
Sometimes it’s tough to figure out how to implement short interval workouts on the water where you do not have the controlled timing environment that you do on the Concept2. This is especially tough with some of the CrossFit Endurance short interval WODs that mix distance and time. The SpeedCoach is not really set up to handle and measure short intervals – it takes too long to manually reset between intervals, and since the start/stop is controlled by an impeller, the start/stop motion is not precise.
Rather than stress out about this, or fumble around with the buttons during limited rest intervals when your heart rate is through the roof, the easiest method is often just to count strokes. Yes, count strokes. It’s simple, it keeps you very focused on executing each stroke well, and it keeps your intervals consistent regardless of wind/water conditions. It works quite well up to about 500m.
In the single, a simple way to implement short intervals is as follows – it is not a precise translation of the WOD, but it is close and it is “internally consistent” in terms of being able to implement consistent intervals in a boat, assuming an average stroke rate of 30:
- 125 m = 15 strokes
- 250m = 30 strokes
- 500m = 60 strokes
For rest intervals of “equal time,” I do 2/3 of the stroke count at light pressure at about a rating of 20.
So to implement the CFE “Short Tosh” WOD of 125m-250m-500m with rest time equal to the work time, I would do:
- 15 strokes on / 10 strokes off
- 30 strokes on / 20 strokes off
- 60 strokes on / 40 strokes off
If you are doing the intervals at a higher average rating or in a bigger boat, then I would shave about 10-15% off of the “rest” strokes. For example, if I were doing the “work” intervals at a rating of 35, or in a double scull, I would probably do:
- 15 strokes on / 8 strokes off
- 30 strokes on / 15 strokes off
- 60 strokes on / 35 strokes off
Try it – the cool thing is that counting makes you focus on the quality of every single one of those 60 strokes in the 500m interval, trying to get the most out of it.
Technorati Tags: crossfit,rowing,sculling,crossfit endurance,short intervals,CFE WOD,rowing WOD,concept2
- Apr 02, 12
It’s been a while since I tested for either my CrossFit Total or my Concept2 peak power, but the time has come to start getting on track with both of these. One of the key training goals for this season is to raise my peak power “ceiling,” thereby potentially allowing me to generate more power per stroke. In a 125-stroke race, which is what Masters Nationals will be for me in August, I believe that focusing more on peak power than on traditional rowing conditioning will be an effective strategy for success, as the actual number of strokes possible in the race is limited.
Today I tested for CrossFit Total for the first time in maybe a year, doing it as a “by the book” test, all in one session. The results were great: new PRs in the Back squat (270) and deadlift (370), and staying the same in the press (125). This resulted in my CrossFit Total going from 725 to 770.
I now want to correlate this with my peak rowing power in watts to determine if there is a predictive relationship. I put together a quick-and-dirty graph of my progress to date, based on what I know my 1RM lifts were at the time of previous peak power tests:
As you can see, at the times where I have increased my CrossFit Total, my C2 peak power has jumped correspondingly. Based on this rough graph, my hypothesis is that my C2 peak power should jump from 787 up to about 850. I will test later this week to see if this hypothesis holds!
Technorati Tags: crossfit,rowing,sculling,usrowing masters nationals,concept2,rowing peak power,crossfit total,deadlift,back squat,press,rowing strength exercises
- Mar 22, 12
Recently a reader asked me for an opinion on back squats vs. box squats for rowing training. At the time I was not familiar with box squats. On a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest I worked out at CrossFit Amped in Bellevue, and received some coaching on box squats. While I have only begun to try them out, I am able to offer some initial thoughts:
Box squats train the finish, back squats train the catch, and deadlifts + kettlebell swings train the peak of the power curve through mid-stroke. For this reason, I think I will be adding box squats into my strength routine. They seem to really train hamstring and ankle flexibility, and they were activating something weird and deep in my core/torso that I have never felt before. I am not a physiologist, but intuitively I felt that all of the trunk tissue that is key to having a strong, stable, and upright finish connected to a powerful hip drive were being trained by the box squat.
Interestingly, while I think box squats will really help me get better at back squats, I do not believe they will significantly contribute to an explosive catch catch and drive in rowing. The front of the drive in a boat is tied much more to quad activation than hamstring, and for that reason I believe back squats or front squats are better for training the early stage of the drive, especially since we do not get as “deep” in a rowing boat as you do in a box squat.
What they will help with is evening out my ability to squat heavy. Right now I can handle decent weight (1.6x bodyweight) if I don’t go lower than 90 degrees, plus I can lift it explosively. The issue is that I can’t handle nearly as much (1.2x bodyweight) if I go deep – the deepest few inches of the squat motion are the weakest, and this limits my overall max squat. If I can improve the deepest part of the squat by practicing box squats, that will let me train the middle of the squat at a higher weight as well, which will help my catch/drive motion, etc.
It’s great to learn new skills. I also got coaching on hollow rocks. I have done leg circles for a long time in rowing training, but the hollow rock takes it to a whole new level of pain. I am going to work these is for variation. This is one of the reasons I love the integration of CrossFit and rowing – the concepts are nothing new, but CrossFit gives the rower a whole new arsenal of tools and skills, keeps it interesting, and keeps your body guessing and adapting.
I’d appreciate reader comments and experiences with box squats.
Technorati Tags: box squat,back squat,rowing,crossfit,sculling,crossfit amped,rowing power curve,rowing finish
- Mar 22, 12
I have been reading Carlos Dinares’ blog recently and was intrigued by his post on the ideal rowing power curve after coaching some CrossFitters at CrossFit Ignite on how to use the power curve feature on the Concept2. Granted, the C2 static erg is a blunt instrument at best, but it introduces an interesting question about how the best in the world apply power and length in their rowing strokes.
I looked at the videos from the 2011 World Rowing Championships for the men’s single sculls and the men’s pair, won by men (Mahe Dysdale in the single and Eric Murray in the pair) who have legitimate potential claims to be the fittest people on earth by any standard The difference I noticed was that the top rowers in the pair reach traditional “full length” with the shins vertical, while both Drysdale and Synek in the single seem to be rowing at 3/4 slide but still achieving an optimal power curve. I have read analysis that Drysdale’s torso flexibility makes it possible for him to achieve maximum length without using the full slide, but the question remains why the top 2 boats in the single final appear to be achieving maximum speed at 3/4 slide while the top tow boats in the pair, rowing at similar stroke ratings, use the full slide length. What does this say, if anything, about optimal indoor rowing technique, which is traditionally correlated with maximum length on the slide?
If Carlos, Xeno, or Shane are reading this, I’d appreciate your opinions – thanks.
Regardless of the question, these videos are simply amazing to watch, considering that the times achieved in these races would be respectable for most college eights in the US.
Men’s Single Scull final:
Men’s Pair final:
Technorati Tags: rowing,concept2,crossfit,crossfit rowing,mahe drysdale,eric murray,bled,rowing world championships,rowing power curve,carlos dinares,xeno muller,shane farmer
- Mar 16, 12
It’s an early spring, which means I’ve been back on the water before St. Patrick’s Day for the first time since 2006. So the big question was “what did I learn this winter and how fit am I?” It’s an interesting question since I used the Concept2 much less than usual during the winter due to injuries and travel, and focused much more on swimming and general CrossFit work.
Observations:
1. I am dramatically stronger in my core and have improved the power and stability of my finish. Thank you, back squats, snatches, and deadlifts. It feels absolutely rock solid, surprisingly so.
2. My technique on day one was much better than usual, possibly even better than before I got off the water in December. My stroke is simple, I have fine motor control at the catch, I can pick up the speed of the boat and transfer body weight effectively, and I was able to row in nasty wind and waves with no problem. I honestly credit this to not training on a static erg that much over the winter. Usually in the spring it takes a couple of weeks to just relax, quit tensing in the arms, and quit trying to “muscle it.” Not this year – smooth as butter from stroke 1.
3. I am less “fit” – I do not have the cardiovascular fitness I would like right now, and I am about 8 pounds heavy on bodyweight. Not bad, but less than I’d like. But I am much faster in the single that I normally would be at this time of year. On balance, being able to row well and row fast is harder to train than is fitness, so I am OK with the tradeoff. With 24 weeks till Masters Nationals, I can work with that.
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Posts
- Feb 15, 12
Everyone has a key erg rowing workout.
Or a number of them.
Finding yours is can make a massive difference to your erg scores (and your Rowing Workouts)– you just gotta know how.
A couple of years ago, a guy I know -called Mike- was doing around 4 erg sessions per week – in November. He was aiming for his crash b indoor rowing championships in February.
Mike is an organised kind of guy. He likes to have a plan – and to stick with it. Usually, he rowed 4 times a week and took 2 days off as recovery days. Sometimes – he did a swim session at his local pool on one of his recovery days.
Mike was working full time and had a busy schedule. But he took care of himself.
- He had a good workout recovery and nutrition plan.
- He did great erg warm up and cool down routines.
- And followed a typical endurance erg rowing training program.
His Key Rowing Workouts
He always felt his key session of the week was 2 x 20 minutes at hard steady state – rate 24.
Mike went to the crash b’s – and did ok.
But Mike was not happy.
He felt he worked hard. Stayed diligent. Stuck with the program. And did every session down to the T.
Fixing His Erg Workouts
We got talking a few weeks after the indoor rowing erg competition and I suggested to him that he explore new erg workouts, new erg training plans and new sessions.
I reasoned with him that he needed to pivot and change direction radically with his training – and measure and observe the differences in his scores.
Just to see if it made a difference.
Yes – change for change’s sake but if it worked – great. If not then that was fine too.
But I also had a plan – so I came up with a few workouts that I had used or known about over the years and gave them to mike.
I advised him to try and find his key rowing workouts in the bundle I gave him.
I encouraged him to find the erg rowing workouts that feel as though they made a difference – not on the day of the workout – but a couple of days later – at the next or following erg rowing workouts.
You see Mike was in a great position to test new workouts. He took 3 days of the 5 in a week off and was clued in to his body and his recovery. He would be in a position to measure
- By Feel (and)
- By Numbers
It took him around 2 months – through May and June for him to get a feel for the new rowing workouts I had given him. It took him another 2 months to work out the difference between the ones he liked and the ones he didn’t like.
Finally it took him 1 more month to discover the ones that made a difference.
The Key Rowing Workout Sessions.
Mike became happy. And fast.
And because Mike only trained 4 days a week, he decided that he would only do key sessions.
So he ditched the 2×20 minutes and substituted it with a hard 30 minute workout at 26. He felt (and measured) the 30 minutes made him feel better in his 2 x 12 minute workouts and his 2 x 15 minute workouts.
He started doing under – over (3 x 3 minutes Rowing – under and over threshold) and found that they really helped him with his 30 minutes.
Ultimately – he discovered that all his key workouts became interdependent. Each key rowing workout helped another key rowing workout.
It became a virtuous circle.
My Rowing advice to you (if you need advice) is to do 3 things:
1. Change and be prepared to be radical.
2. Find new rowing workouts that will help you to improve
3. Learn what your key rowing workouts are and use them to create your virtuous circle. - Dec 17, 11
Staying Braced For Maximum Rowing Power.
Imagine this. Imagine you are in a life and death situation. Imagine that you are out for a walk one fine sunny day. As your route passes by a cliff top you hear a shout for help. You lean over the guard wall and look down to see someone stuck on a ledge 50 feet below.
You must help this person and you must act quickly. There’s no one else around to help and you’ve got no cell phone coverage. You think about climbing down but that’s not going to achieve anything.
You look around and amazingly find a rope nearby. You decide to tie a big stick to one end and throw the other end down. You tell the person to hold on so you can pull them up.
Now what – what’s next. How do you do it? What is the best way to use your body weight and strength to lever this person up the 50 feet to safety?
Want to know what I’d do?
Well I’d anchor my feet against the wall and use all of my leg back and arm strength to lever the person up. Each couple of feet I would gain, I would wrap the rope around a nearby anchor to take the slack off the handle. I would then wind the slack piece of rope around the stick, release the anchor and pull again.
It’d be hard work but I’d know from erging and rowing that by bracing my feet low against the wall, I am able to hang and lever all of my weight from my feet through my legs, back and arms.
I also know that by keeping my arms straight makes me stronger and I don’t get tired. My arms only bend when the pressure comes off so I can wind the stick.
This is the feeling you need to get when you are bracing your feet against the erg foot plate. You need to hang your weight through your legs, back and straight arms onto the handle.
Remember:The seat is only used for balance.
Here’s a simple exercise to get the feeling of hanging your weight on the handle.
- Arrange for you and a partner and sit on the floor facing each other.
- Connect both of your feet so that your right foot sole is pressing against your partner’s right foot sole. Do the same on the left side.
- Both of you must keep both knees slightly bent. Next, form a hook with your right hand by making an unclenched fist. Get your partner to do the same and connect by hooking each other. Do the same on the left side.
- Now use your feet to anchor, your hands for levering and the ground as your balance point. Experiment with lighter and heavier partners to get that feeling of hanging your body weight.
P.S. You should read this erg rowing technique article I recently put up. It fits well with the stuff said above.
- Dec 17, 11
1 – Super Quick Hands.
You can never be too quick with moving your hands away from the finish of the erg rowing stroke.
Not only does it help rhythm and power towards the finish, but if done correctly it can really set you up for the next stroke by recycling some of that dynamic energy built up during the power phase.
2 - Follow your hands
Use the speed and energy of your hands away from your body to swing your body over the hips. A lot of Ergers make the mistake of not moving the body past vertical in the recovery phase.
If you don’t then you never be able to achieve maximum power in the power phase
3- Lift your knees smoothly.
This is especially important if you are a rower. Most of the time rowing Ergers will really emphasise the separation of the hands, body swing forware and slide on the recovery phase.
That’s fine if your game is proper rowing technique. But on the erg this is a waste of time and energy. The idea is to keep recycling the energy dynamically. If you delay or make a sticking point along the stroke cycle then it’s just wasted energy.
4 – Be set up and ready for the power phase.
Once your seat wheels are on the move towards the beginning of the stroke you need to be thinking only of one thing – the next stroke. Most rowing coaches will call this heresy but they are looking at it from rowing-a- boat perspective. Ergers are looking at it from the fastest possible erg perspective.
5 -Take it easy on the easy phase.
When it’s easy make it easy. In other words when you are going up to take your next stroke allow yourself to take it easy. Taking it easy doesn’t mean taking it slow. RELAX. If you can learn to relax then you will save A LOT of energy. Even by just by thinking ‘easy’ makes the blood flow and mind feel strong.
6 – Use the easy phase to make the power phase easier.
This is one of the most important tips you will read at erg rowing.com Most rowing coaches will never mention it because they don’t even know it exists. Most average rowers don’t know about it. The top Ergers however DO know about it.
You won’t see it by watching YouTube. You won’t even see it at the CRASH B’s. It’s so imperceptible that it’s almost invisible. You just have to know it exists, find it, feel it and use it. I’m talking about recycling dynamic energy. If you find it you can save unbelievable amounts of energy and when you get the feeling you won’t let it go.
To find it you need to approach the beginning of a new stroke with perfect speed. It’s a very subtle feeling. A lot of rowing coaches will say that you need to slow down the seat as you go for a new stroke. Recycling dynamic energy demands that you actually maintain your seat speed or slightly faster.
When you do it correctly and you hit the next power phase you will feel a reduced load with the same split or even lower. I don’t have percentages, because I can’t measure it but take it from me, once you can hit this sweet spot, you will save yourself a lot of pain. Remember recycling dynamic energy.
Another way of thinking about it is to keep the wheel spinning. Feel as though you are tapping the wheel along. You are not ‘muscling’ the handle on the power phase.
Recycling dynamic energy is closely related to rating which I examine below under rating.
7 – Sequence your power phase.
If you can dance (well!), then you will know that sequence and timing is crucial. Similarly the power phase of an erg stroke is all about sequence and timing. Strongest – Next Strongest – Weakest. Legs – Back – Arms in that order. Simple, yet it’s absolutely the most efficient and effective way of pulling the handle.
To get the most from this sequence you need to follow the advice in the next article very carefully.
- Oct 06, 11
I do a 7 day run – in to the 2k erg, usually doing the following routine:
Day 7 (1 week before the test)
Hard workout. 1 Week out from the test is normally a time when I do my most intensive rowing workouts. I do repeats of pieces at or close to race intensity. I always make sure I do a long warm up and cool down on hard days like this.
Day 6
Moderate – Hard Workout. 6 days out I continue my test preparation with some more test power pieces and I really aim to be tired at the end of this day. I aim to cash in on the body’s natural ability to heal to a point stronger than when it was before the heavy training. It’s just like when someone breaks a bone – the bone knits together stronger than it was before the break.
Day 5
Moderate – easy workout. I use this as an active recovery day to help my body clear out any of the debris still lodged in there from my race preparation workouts on day 7 and day 6. I always erg for about 30 – 40 minutes and include some moderate power for about 5 – 10 minutes. I also use the opportunity to do some technical drills such as strapless erging.
Day 4
Rest. I do nothing on this day and try to recover from my race preparation workouts of day 7 and day 6. I make sure I nail my nutrition to ensure recovery and refuelling for the test.
Day 3
Hard – short Workout. I believe this day is an ‘open the pipes’ up day. I usually do 1 or 2 pieces at or close race power. Normally I do 1000 meters and 500 meters with a 5 – 10 minute break in between. I usually suffer a lot in these pieces because of the day of inactivity on Day 4. It’s also a good realty checker – it sharpens my mind as to how tough the test will be.
Day 2
Rest. I do absolutely nothing. I try to avoid all stress and energy sapping situations both mental and physical. I make sure my nutrition plan is helping me recover and build up a store of energy for the big one.
Day 1
Very easy workout. In this workout I normally do some light – moderate pulling for 20 – 25 minutes. I will pull some hard strokes during this time most around race power. I pull no more than 20-30 strokes 3-4 times. It’s important to work out if possible on this day because it keeps the body and energy systems flowing.
Day Zero
Test Day. This is a special day and your warm up is a key part. I will discuss my special warm up next time.
- Jul 19, 11
If you are a rower, it would be a good idea to do some erging during the summer rowing season. Even if it’s just 1 erg session per week it can really benefit and help your rowing.
Erging in Summer will help you
- Keep in touch with the erg for the following winter
- Row some fitness boosting workouts without having to rely on a crew.
- Extract a maximum rowing related workout from yourself – without worrying about rowing crew technique.
- Get some extra rowing sessions in (good if you are looking to get an edge over your rivals and are involved in a seat-racing or selection scenario)
All of the following workouts are designed to be short and hard. In summer the priority should be with your on – water rowing sessions. But if you feel you need to erg for any of the reasons above, it would be better if you could just get a quick, effective session in without adversely affecting your crew rowing.
But the thing is – you need to be able to judge this for yourself. And it depends on lots of factors.
Here are some things that you might consider
- Your current training load (and how tired you are)
- Your overall fitness base (and ability to recover from extra sessions)
- Your time – and the priority you give to rowing or erging
- Your rowing technique – some people believe that erg can affect your rowing boat technique in a negative way. This is an important consideration if you are a novice or are less experienced rower. Beginner rowers’ rowing technique can be more impressionable and open to influence.
The last point is very important. Say you have spent the past 5 weeks learning how to load your legs in co-ordination with your back and arms. Then you get on the erg and hammer out 5 x 500 meters (causing you to pull and jerk your shoulders at the catch) – you could set yourself back a long way in terms of technical development.
In summer, rowing coaches pay close attention to rowing technique.
But it’s not really a big problem for more experienced rowers – they can usually hold their technique regardless.
Here are the workouts.
Summer Rowing Session #1
- 8 x 500 meters / 1 minute rest
- Do 8 times 500 meters with a 1 minute rest.
- Aim for a consistent average erg score.
- You can vary the intensity using average power or rating.
- Or, if you are feeling really good, extend the session to 10 x 500 meters.
Summer Rowing Session #2
- (16 strokes hard / 5 strokes light) x 15
- Row hard for 16 strokes (this is 30 seconds if you are rating 32 strokes per minute)
- Row light for 5 strokes (15 seconds of you rate 20 strokes per minute)
- Repeat 15 times
Again you can vary the intensity using rate and power. A higher rate will obviously make the work phase shorter.
If you are feeling Olympic, you could take a 5 minute rest after the 15 repetitions and repeat the whole set again.
Summer Rowing Session # 3
- 3 x 1000 meters (rest time: same as your work time)
- This session is great and one of the best (in my opinion) for summer rowing training.
- The session is based on the erg workouts that boost your Vo2 Max article and you should read it for more details.
Important. For all the workouts, you should warm up well (as you would for any hard rowing workout). Also bear in mind the timing of the session. If you are using the erg to get ahead and do some extra sessions by yourself make sure you do them when they will least affect your actual crew rowing sessions.
The best time to do them is when there is no rowing seat racing imminent. And you know you will have plenty of time to recover for the next important crew rowing session. I stress important here, because you need to decide which crew rowing sessions are important.
- Jun 24, 11
Is your Erg Rowing Workout file getting a little old this summer? Do You feel like you are not getting a return from your rowing workout sessions? Well, here’s a nice rowing workout blaster plan to blow out those summer cobwebs. (And help you discover more ideas for a new erg or rowing workout)
The Blaster Pyramid Rowing Workout
First – How to Warm Up
- Begin with some easy rowing for 10 minutes.
- Then do 1 minute at medium power rate 26 – 28.
- Take a short break and do 15 strokes at high power rate 28 – 30
- Row light for 20 strokes and then do another 15 stroke push at high power rate 30 – 32
- Again row light for 20 strokes before doing a 10 stroke push high power rate 32 – 34.
- Take a short break before rowing continuously for 5 – 7 minutes.
- Next get ready for the blaster rowing workout proper.
Before you begin this particular rowing workout you need to remember a couple of things.
First: Row or erg efficiently.
Second: Focus on a good rowing workout rhythm
Third: Have a plan. Even though the rowing workout is not a 2k all out, you should still follow a good rowing workout strategy.
Fourthly: Set yourself up. That includes setting a correct drag factor setting and also adjusting your footplate to the correct position.
This rowing workout focuses on a pyramid system. Here it is:
- 2 x 250m with 3 minute rest.
- 2 x 500m with 5 minute rest
- 1 x 750m with 7 minute rest
- 2 x 500m with 5 minute rest
- 2 x 250m.
So as you can see. Begin with a 250m and when you finish take a 3 minute rest. Repeat the 250m before moving on to the 2 x 500m. The long 750m in the middle of the rowing workout is the peak of the session. See below for an explanation on the rowing intensities.
This rowing workout is a stinger and is best left for a time when you feel like you need a sharpening session. Also make sure that you are in good physical and mental shape before attempting this workout.
The Blaster Rowing Workout Intensity Guidelines
The first 250m rowing workout blasters should be done at close to maximum power and speed. This is an important step for the rest of the erg or rowing workout. Don’ t try to save yourself because in a rowing workout like this one – every stroke counts.
The 500m sections should be done at a lesser intensity than the 250s. You could for example try to practice the 1st 500 of your race. In fact a rowing workout like this one is great for trying out different things. You get a number of chances to tweak your racing routines.
The 750m should not be done at maximum. Remember over longer distances you need to be smart. A good example of approaching this section of the rowing workout is to use it to practice the middle 750 of your race pace. Alternatively, if you are feeling tired you could aim to do race pace – 2 seconds per 500m on your split power.
Like all rowing workout (for the boat and the erg) you need to be personally aware and responsible to your own needs and requirements. This erg rowing workout is designed towards sharpening you up and getting you in peak physical condition for a 2k erg or rowing race.
And like all good erg rowers, you should aim to train and develop your physical and mental rowing skills towards a strong 2k erg score test strategy. And have this in mind when you approach any rowing workout.
- For another rowing workout with a similar edge check out this rowing workout here from ergrowing.com.
- One of the most popular here at ergrowing.com is this erg rowing workout.
- Jun 20, 11
This is a new rowing workout that we’ve had good success with recently. It’s a great workout that can be done in the boat or on the erg. Most of the rowers and ergers that have tried it all said it helped them to precisely:
- Row a really hard rowing session
- Touch many training zones
- Stay motivated (it’s a mentally alerting workout)
- Jolt from the comfort zone into new rowing territory.
But be warned – of all the rowing workouts that ergrowing.com recommends this one is one of the toughest.
But most of all it’s a rowing workout designed to help you develop an awesome middle 1000 2k race pace.
Here it is:
Warm Up:
- Warm up for around 20 minutes with some solid rowing.
- After around 10 minutes do a 1 minute pipe opener rating 30 – 32 rowing hard.
- Next (after a short break) do 3 x 15 strokes at rate 32, 34 and 36 respectively.
- Take around 1 minute easy rowing between each 15 stroke push.
- Finally do some easy rowing for 2 – 3 minutes and get ready for the actual rowing session.
Phase I
- Row hard at 32 strokes per minute for 30 seconds, then drop the rate down to 30 for the next 30 seconds.
- Repeat this wave for a total of 5 minutes.
- In other words you will do each rate (30 and 32) 5 times in a row at 30 seconds each continuously for 5 minutes
Take 5 minutes easy rowing and repeat the 30 second rowing wave for 5 minutes.
- After that take 5 minutes easy rowing again and repeat the wave a third time.
- Row easily for 5 minutes and take a short break.
- 7 minutes after finishing the 3rd rowing wave begin the next phase.
Phase II
- 12 minutes steady rowing rate 28.
- Focus on power and rhythm developed in the 5 minute wave phase.
- Take a 5 minute rest and repeat the 12 minute workout.
- That’s it!
- Warm down in the usual way.
Rowing Tips:
For the 5 minute wave workout make sure you work hard. For some rowers (and rowing crews) rating 30 – 32 in the summer racing season is easy. But if you do it with extra punch and purpose, you will get an excellent physically challenging workout.
But here’s the best part. Most rowing workouts focus (mainly) on the physical training effect of the program. Very few have a physical element intertwined with a specific technical & physical element built into the workout.
Very few are designed so that it would be impossible to do a good workout without using your technique and physicality properly.
Let me explain.
In this workout, when you drop the rate down from 32 to 30 strokes per minute you should actually row harder. That’s right – you should actually work harder in the water.
Now to some rowing coaches (and rowers) doing something like this is borderline rowing heresy– it betrays the very fundamentals of ratio and rhythm with the timing and speed of the boat.
Accepted.
That stuff is all fine and dandy and in the real world of racing 2k competitively its actually crucial. But in the world of training and practice you need to learn to improve your weaknesses.
And you know what one the biggest weaknesses (technically & physically) of mid level rowers and rowing crews is?
The 2k Rowing Settle Slump
Is that point of a rowing race where crews make a change from the after start phase to the middle of the 2k course phase. It’s the point where most crews actually lose speed and set themselves up for a slower than potential middle of the course pace..
It happens because rowers and crews lighten off the work rate in the water way too much.
Trust me. 50 – 60 % of rowing crews (at mid level) do this in every race.
Powering down as the rate drops causes two things:
- A drop in speed (because rate and power drop)
- A distortion of the rhythm (power drops more than rate)
The distortion of the rowing rhythm causes all sorts of problems for the rest of the race. Crews get too tired rowing in an incomplete rhythm that is not a direct match of the boat speed.
Here’s How To Solve It.
The rhythm at the beginning of a rowing race is generally good amongst most crews. But most lose it when they drop the rate down for the middle 1k.
Of course it is necessary for survival to drop the rate and power (even the best crews in the world could not hold the rate, length and power of the start phase for the entire 2k – although some are getting close)
You and your crews need to train and practice the transition from the racing start into the middle 1000. Doing the 5 minute workouts (with 30 second waves) will help you and your crew practice that transition.
So when the rate drops by 2 pips – Harden On In The Water.
But what should you do when the rate goes back up to 32? Pull lighter? Pull the same?
I’ll leave that up to you to feel it out. But most will pull harder.
Is this an Erg Workout?
I’ve tried this rowing workout on the erg and found it to be a very demanding erg session. Be warned this workout should only be attempted when you are mentally and physically fit. And more importantly, should only be attempted once a week – max.
- Jun 14, 11
Did you know that there are 1000’s of things that you can do to make yourself a better rower – starting right now. And almost all of them are non rowing tasks.
Changing habits are hard. And the bad news is that this tip requires you to change one of your habits.
But first:
I Have a (non Rowing) Question for You…
Where are you sitting right now? Are you at a desk – crouching down looking at these very words on your monitor? Or maybe you’re on the couch at home slouching down flicking through your ipad? Or are you on a bus or train, on your way to work reading this on your phone?
You could be anywhere reading this.
Wherever you are and whatever device you are reading this article on, I want you to think about one thing – right now.
Just one simple thing.
And when you think of it, I want you to do something immediately afterwards.
Ready?
Your posture.
How is your posture?
Are you sitting correctly?
Or, are you slouching down with a curved back, tense shoulders and protruding chin?
If it’s the last one – change it right now. Make yourself sit correctly so that you are maintaining your back and spine in a good neutral position.
How to correct it:
Uncurl your back, rotate your pelvis and sit on the bones of your ass. That’s the same bones that stick down those 2 holes in your seat as you are rowing in the boat. And same bones that sit on the seat of the erg (and somehow always get really sore after a really long erg session).
But What Has All This Got to do With Rowing?
And more specifically, helping you to row faster?
Well let me show you by telling you a short story. I heard this once a couple of years back and was amazed by its simple brilliance. At the time Peter Haning was coaching some rowing crews.
Haning was 3 times World Champion in the Lightweight Men’s Single Scull from 1993 – 1995. In some ways he was ahead of his time because he rowed with a particular style and technique that is not unlike the current rowing styles and techniques. Most notably was his flat back and upright body position.
But though he rowed upright with a flat back he still got a great dynamic body action with lots of length generated from swinging his body both forward and back.
I don’t’ know if it was by accident or design that he rowed this way, but the fact is that it was great to watch.
And deadly effective.
Anyway – back to my story. When he was coaching, he once subtly corrected a rower who was on a public computer on a hotel lobby checking his email. Very courteously and helpfully he motioned to the guy to sit up a little. To correct his posture from the slouching position he was in.
Before you say anything – this wasn’t a case of Haning getting involved in something that was none of his business (even though the rower was not one of his athletes). This was a guy who had seen this rower actually row out on the water and saw his limiting problem.
And like all good coaches he took his opportunity to impart his knowledge freely and helpfully – in the right context.
The rowers problem was a pronounced curved back. This curved back was – with time – making him inefficient and have some of the following adverse problems:
- Weak finishes of his rowing stroke
- Tired a lot especially towards the end of races
- A generally a poor performer into strong headwinds
- Have thoracic back tightness (which lead to injury threats)
- On more than one occasion in a rowing race had difficulty breathing (his chest was constricted with the curve)
You would think that this guy should have been able to solve this problem, long before Haining came along. Especially since he was getting intensive (and good) coaching from his university rowing coach. But no matter how hard he tried in the boat to correct his problem, he still reverted back to his old habit when he was under pressure.
That is until the day he got a subtle bomb dropped on him by a 3 time world champion. Who showed (and fixed) him his problem for him in 10 seconds.
You see, it was not about his posture in the boat that was the major cause – it was about his posture out of the boat.
So Remember This:
Sit up and be aware of your posture until you have created a new (good) habit. And you will go a long way towards avoiding some of the problems this guy had with his rowing technique.
- Apr 29, 11
Whatever the rights or wrongs of selecting a rowing crew with seat races – if your coach is into it – you must learn how to handle it.
Making sure you do as well as you can is all about looking out for yourself. Here are some things you need to watch out for (other than rowing and pulling hard).
#1 Never Hold Back
Most seat racing in rowing is blind – you never know when you are going to be switched and tested. For that reason you need to make sure you give it everything in each race. And because you are giving it everything you need to…
#2 Insist on Honesty and Fairness
If you smell a rat (that a rowing rival is trying to screw you) then you need to speak up. Let your coach know. If it’s a crew fairness issue – tell the rowers that the seat racing is not fair. Let people know you are not happy.
Let them know you are angry.
This is a competitive situation and months (or maybe even years) of hard training and sacrifice are on the line.
For that reason everyone needs to play by the rules. Including:
- Same rating (whether it’s capped or open)
- Same start sequence (if its power 20 and settle to 38 – then it has to happen in every seat race)
- Same finish sequence. Say you are doing 1000 meter seat races. You are switched into a boat and you break free with clear water up with 200 to go. Make sure your boat finishes off the finishing stroke sequence**
**If the crew you get switched into were cranking the rate up to 42 for the last 25 strokes – insist that it does the exact same in your seat race. Just because you are winning by a lot of water and rowing well, it should never be a reason to ‘save’ some energy for the next seat trial.
Because you must make as much time as possible in every race.
#3 This point is crucial.
The same applies to your crew if you are behind. Some crews give up towards the end of a race (especially towards the end of a set of seat races when everyone is tired). Insist that your crew finishes the race like all the other races.
Remember if your coach is using a seat racing matrix – every second counts towards your aggregate score. So even when you’re boat is losing you can still gain total time.
Police this yourself. Don’t expect your coach to spot these things. S/he will be busy taking times and watching how well everyone is rowing. So its up to you to ensure that your crew rows as hard (and sticks to the same rating) as all the other seat races you are involved in.
Even half a stroke less per minute for 10 strokes can make a big difference in a short seat race. So the bottom line is to be Vigilant. And if things are not being done fairly – Make it known. To EVERYBODY
#4 Watch out for Mental Weakness
You can mentally prepare for extremely hard rowing races using methods you might not have considered. And while seat racing is like real racing – from a mental point of view, you still need to watch out for mental weakness and tiredness.
Embrace The Fear
It’s ok to wake up with your heart pounding in your chest. Seat races and rowers make for a potent mix of adrenalin and fear.
You can use this to your advantage as long as it doesn’t consume you so much that you can’t even pull the oar.
While it goes without saying that you should try to instantly gel with the crew you have been switched into – you need to mentally blend also.
Let the crew you join know you are psyched and ready for a fight – Ready to win.
If someone comes into your crew invite them into the fold. Let them know they are welcome and that you are on their side. This is very important for:
- Fairness
- You own needs (you want to win)
Even a few simple reassuring words can make a big difference. Get rowing immediately and tell them that it’s GOOD. Small reassuring gestures like telling them the boat is going well and that it feels like you are going to have a great race can be reassuring for both you the newcomer (not to mention the positive impact it can have on the entire crew).
Make sure you brief (and re-brief) the crew on what the plan is. If it’s a set race plan from your coach - repeat it. Just so you and the rest of the crew know exactly what’s happening.
Also try to fix something the crew did not do well in the last seat race. Talk it through quickly and sharply. If it’s making the first 10 strokes better – make them better (but stay within your coaches instructions).
Good Luck…
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Posts
- Nov 22, 08
I've thought about this for awhile, but have been putting it off. There are a lot of reasons I haven't said or done anything, but everyone who has read this blog over the last years deserve some sort of explanation, no matter how cryptic.
I haven't been writing here for several reasons, all of them personal. My anonymity, which I never really protected, has been breached and things I've written have followed me around. While I'm known for speaking/typing my mind on what I think on many different subjects, the problem of watching what I type in passing isn't something that leads itself to good blogging. That's all I'm really comfortable saying on the subject.
I thought about deleting the whole thing, but there's too much here that I think can help too many people, so it will stay up. But I won't be writing anymore for quite some time, if ever. Who knows, I might start another blog with a different screen name and protect myself better, but that's a long way off. Good luck to all, make your boats go fast. - Jun 07, 08
I'm not kidding. Right the **** now.
http://www.rowinghistory.net
Great site. Contribute a little if you've got the inspiration. - Jun 01, 08
Three years ago in this space, I snarled at Central Catholic, a crew that (ironically) I would go on to coach, about what I felt was excessive celebration after a match race between Pitt, Fox Chapel and Central. It started a lovely little firestorm, the effects of which I still had to deal with when I started coaching Central later on. Jay Hammond and I had a long talk then and later about what I said, what he thought about it and celebration in rowing in general. Basically, we both think that such spectacles are best reserved for the Olympic Games or serious, major, end-of-season races. And I've tried to teach my crews that point of view over the years.
I was aware of the little stunt the boys of St. Joeseph's Prep pulled at the end of the Stotesbury Cup regatta a few weeks ago. I thought then it was low-class, garbage behavior and I still do. I haven't written about it because I wanted a little time to pass; I wanted to make sure I didn't put something up here in anger that I might later regret. But I've found as I get older, my first reactions are usually what I'm thinking later on. So, here we go:
A picture is worth a thousand words. Here are two. Then I'll add my thousand words anyway.
For those that don't know, here's the gist of it: after winning every other boat they entered, the Prep lightweight boat swam that broom out to their varsity after the varsity won the senior 8 grand final. The varsity got to celebrate with it on the water while they waited to get their medals, posed with the broom with the cup and then carried it back to their boathouse. I find such actions appalling.
Now, don't get me wrong: I've been involved in some very questionable celebrations in the past myself. In 1996, after "sweeping" the Harvard-Yale race, we swam out to the varsity boat and generally acted like idiots. I believe the varsity hadn't beaten Harvard in 11 years. So part of me does understand the reaction of the boys at Prep. They were excited at the accomplishment of their team, and that was a major, significant, noteworthy accomplishment. I give St. Joe's a lot of credit for that accomplishment.
But......
If I was the coach associated with that celebration, I would have been livid. It goes against everything I've ever taught my guys and I can't understand any coach that would be fine with this action. I mean, getting your picture taken with the trophy, your crew and an f'n broom? No, sorry, not me. Take that broom to the boathouse, boys, and sweep out the boat bay with it. I'll collect your medals and the trophy. Then we'll have a little chat about sportsmanship and "pretending that you've been there before." Two weeks ago I believed and still do, that their antics with the broom disrespected their opposition and a historical regatta. It sullied a great team performance, leading the conversation away from what all those athletes accomplished toward what kind of people they are.
To finish my Harvard-Yale story, yes we got a broom out at Gales Ferry. The next morning, we taped it to the flagpole over the boathouse, took a few pictures of it and then took it down. We needed that broom: We had to clean the place out and get it ready to wait until next year's crew moved in. - May 04, 08
It's really easy, at first blush, to be flippant over the results from yesterday's Kentucky Derby. There's a sport for ya! We'll kill the first loser! HAHAHA! Somewhere, I know, there are television execs and horse racing officials thinking that Eight Belles euthanasia after the race just might produce an uptick in ratings and income for the sport.
After thinking about it for a bit, that tragic ending only illustrates the horror of horse racing. These horses are million-dollar pieces of investment funds. They're tools, living race cars. A totaled stock car leaves junk all over the track to be swept up, removed to the junkyard. A few parts might be salvaged, but most will be melted down for scrap. A "broke down" horse that "went lame" in horse-speak leaves a dead body on the track. Never mind that it was "only a horse." Something that was breathing just a few moments ago is now heading to the morgue. It's hard for written words to properly convey my disgust.
I understand that death does haunt most sports, to some degree or another. Part of what makes such activities compelling is the risk, either minute or significant, of serious injury or even death. Every sport that anybody can participate in has a waiver that must be signed, absolving the organizers of blame if someone should be killed by participating. There have been "reforms" over the years in various sports to lower the risk to participants and fans alike. Hockey put up netting behind goals after a 13-year old fan was mortally injured by a slap-shot puck. Baseball first base coaches have taken to wearing batting helmets after one of their number was killed by a foul ball.
My own sport of rowing as seen death as well. The horrid tragedy of Soctt Laio, dying as his crew crossed the finish line at the May 2005 Dad Vail regatta in Philadelphia is still a fresh wound in the world of rowing. Recreational "masters" rowers have been killed in collisions with powerboats and coaches are not immune as well, drowning in front of their crews. We examine what went wrong in every instance, looking for a way forward to make an incredible activity safer. Boats shouldn't be named for people killed on the water.
Horse racing seems different in my view. There won't be an investigation into what happened to Eight Belles. Racing fans will shrug and say "she needed to be put down so she wouldn't suffer." However, I am not comfortable with such a caviler attitude, nor do I think the average sports fan is, either. We've seen what happens, too often. Death dances around most sports, but the governing bodies have adjusted to push back that risk. Horse racing hasn't responded that way, and perhaps this explains the slowly eroding support that sport enjoys. I will not mourn its (hopeful) eventual passing. - May 03, 08UPDATE: I'm going to "bump" this post from last winter, as there seems to be a bit of "action" on it. I won't change anything I wrote at the time, because I still feel the same way. So, instead of searching for this post, here it is again at the top of the stack.
Ok, here we are after the turn of the year, when most crews start testing over 2000m in preparation for sprint season a few short months away.
The 2k test became a staple in the rowing world in 1995, when the Charles River All Star Has Beens changed the format of their little event from 2500m to 2k. Everyone can blame these clowns for the invention of the dreaded erg test in 1980. They thought it would be "fun." Thus the erg, never very popular before, became synonymous with pain.
You see, there is a big difference in discomfort between a 6000m and 2000m test. As I've written before, the 6k is a test of endurance and mental toughness. The 2k emphasizes endurance, power delivery, mental toughness, and pain tolerance. The 2k hurts you, if you do it right. It hurts you a lot, and being mentally prepared for that pain is far better than not knowing what you're walking into. So, off we go.
I loved only one thing about 2ks, and that was the feeling of the first 350m. All the nervous energy would burn off, and most people get to their target split without too much trouble. (Always have a goal or target for a 2k. Always.) After that first 350 is the beginning of the "fun," because the rower starts to hurt.
Not a lot at first, but enough to be noticeable. Lactic acid was produced in that first 200m burn, and it ends up in the muscles where it was born, so the legs start a little complaining. The best route here is to find that goal split and concentrate on "building the piece" of as many of those splits in a row as possible. If 1:40 is the goal split, make sure every stroke is there at 1:40. An early indication of a piece in trouble is the inability to hold that goal, with the splits jumping around with every stroke.
At 1500m to go, I'd like to take a little power 10. Nothing serious, just 10 strokes to push the splits down 1 or 2 and get ready for the worst 500m of my life. Because the 2k is going to fail or succeed right in that second 500m, and the mental toughness of the athlete will decide it. Right there, I would usually think, "I can't hold this pace. I need to back off," because here it really starts to hurt and you are not even halfway done yet!!! But know this:
IF YOU BACK OFF YOUR GOAL SPLIT IN THE SECOND 500m OF A 2K, JUST FOR A FEW STROKES, YOUR PIECE WILL CRASH AND BURN.
Why? Simple: The difference in power output into the machine from a 1:40 to a 1:42 is mere percentages. The athlete will still hurt just as much producing the energy for a 1:42 as a 1:40. But the mental drain that comes from "stepping off" just a little opens the door to "stepping off" a lot. Suddenly, an athlete whose goal was 1:40 and was capable of holding that split is pulling 1:44 or 1:45, gasping for breath and wondering why they still hurt so much.
The lesson, as always: RACES ARE WON IN THE MIDDLE.
Tough it out through that second 500m. The time from 1300m to go to 1100m to go will be the longest 42 seconds of any one's life. Gut it out.
At the 1000m to go mark, it's time to take a power 20. Why? To prove you're still alive and attacking this test. Always attack. Suffering along is waiting for another boat to come and get you, so train the 2k test like you plan to row in the spring.
I always felt a sense of liberation as the clock dropped below 900m to go. The worst was over, it was more than halfway done and I had "held the line" of goal splits. A good piece will find the athlete still holding the goal split for a majority of strokes from 1000m to 700m to go.
Here's where my process differs from what I'm teaching the CC novices. I would always "step" at 700m to go, dropping the split down one and holding it there. At that point, a one second difference will move the average split number after 6 strokes or so, and it feels good to be going faster than the average split number. I imagined each 1/10th of a second on that average was one seat of an opposing boat, and I needed to "walk up" that boat, taking seats. I would prefer the novices to hold their goal splits through here, saving mental energy for.....
....the last 500m. As a coach, when I'm selecting a boat, I want to know two things about an athlete's erg test. Did they hold steady through the second 500? Did they go faster in the final 500? Yes, taking a power 20 at the 500 to go mark is great. But a power 20 that is only 1 second faster that what was being held, followed by dropping a second slower isn't what I'm looking for in my first boat. As you can see, races are getting closer as time goes on, and that last little inch just might bring a National Championship. Is the athlete capable of being on the winning side of a race like this one?
So, that final 500m tells me a lot and told me a lot when I would suffer through this. Lift once at 500 to go, keeping whatever rating I was at, then lifting the rating and leaving whatever energy was left in the final 200m.
The key to the sprint is to stay long with the legs and not shorten the stroke, and to sit tall with the body. The athlete's legs are in cramping, burning agony at this point, and the easy way out is to start rowing half slide and asking more of the back and body. This might work fine on the erg for a few strokes, but the back muscles aren't big enough to produce as much output as the legs, and the splits will fall off. Plus you don't sprint at half slide on the water.
Remember, after all, we're doing this to go fast in real boats on real water. Ergs don't float. - May 03, 08UPDATE: I'm bumping this post up as well, so all three "how to" are at the top of the stack.
The 6000m erg test has become a staple in the rowing world since the US National team instituted it nearly 10 years ago. Prior to the 6k, most long test pieces were twenty minutes in length, with the oarsman striving for the greatest distance rowed in that time frame. That test was a hold over from the gamut erg, which measured a number of revolutions produced by the rower over a set amount of time. I don't have any images of a gamut, but rest assured, gentle reader. The gamut was evil. They made the Concept II B look like a Cadillac.
The 6k is usually tested in the fall and winter, when crews are concentrating on endurance. Not only is endurance tested, but mental toughness. A coach's thinking assumes that anyone can "hold their breath" and "tough it through" a 2000m test. The 6k requires concentration and mental toughness over a long time that can't be faked.
The critical moment of a 6k happens in the middle of the piece. As I've said many times before, rowing races are usually won in the middle, when a crew's fitness and technique pay dividends over the explosiveness of the start or the burning agony of the sprint. A 6k emphasizes the middle of the piece, because the start and sprint are such smaller portions of the total work.
From 4000 meters to 2000 meters to go, the rower will struggle against increasing exhaustion. This is very different from the increasing lactic acid pain that builds during a 2k. Because of the emphasis on aerobic work, the exhaustion an oarsman battles during a 6k feels more like a power drain. The key to having a successful piece is consistency during this section. The oarsman should have found a sustainable rhythm fitting his goal during the first 2000m. Simply pulling the same average split through this section of the test will usually bring a positive result.
Sounds simple, right? Sure. I usually had the "I can't do this" moment during this stretch. Exhaustion sets in before the halfway point, and most people just want to back off just a little to conserve energy for the sprint. That's the problem and challenge of the 6k. If the rower backs off just one or two splits during the middle, those splits are usually gone forever. You can't just hop back "up" to that faster pace; that takes mental energy that should be reserved for the sprint. Now the rower is struggling just as hard to hold a slower pace. Think about it: the difference in real energy required to pull a 1:55 rather than a 1:57 is tiny, just a few percentage points. The mental energy required to get back to 1:55 after two minutes pulling 1:57 is massive.
Finally, why really "save" anything for the sprint at all? In order to make any significant of difference in the "average split" in the final 750m, the rower has to carve off 10 seconds per 500 and hold that through the final 750. If the rower has waited until the final 500, it is too late to "salvage" a good result. Once second "average split" is far too much to make up in the final 500m of a 6k.
I always started my sprint at 1500m to go, by pushing down whatever split I was pulling every stroke by one second. A longer "push" makes a bigger difference in the final time. There would always be energy for the final mad dash, which is really for the coach to watch his crew and measure how much pain tolerance everyone has.
What lesson to take from all this? Emphasize the middle of the piece. Every stroke is an opportunity to build your average towards what you want it to be. Push in the last 1500m and trust that your inner crazy will always be there for the final 500m. Just don't trust that final 500m to save you from a bad piece. As always, win your race in the middle. - Mar 17, 08
Uh....make the boat go faster than the guy you've been switched with.
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 influence the outcome of seat racing, and the results from the winter do influence the direct, athlete vs. athlete comparisons that a coach looks at.
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.
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 is (if the coach has done his lineups correctly) 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? 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. - Feb 10, 08
For those looking for inspiration, as the heart of February closes about us, here are some great vids from Youtube:
Oxford/Cambridge "Inches" speech
Canadian Olympic team "Inches" speech
Men's 8+ final, Athens Olympics
2006 USRowing Junior National Championships, Men's 8+
And finally, an evil vid with the erg: - Jan 20, 08
Oh, yea! This year's Super Bowl will feature the coronation of the New England Patriots. The NFC patsies will be the New York Giants. Two teams from the northeast, leaving the rest of the country with no real interesting storyline to watch. I don't believe anyone outside the northeast corridor really cares about watching the Patriots' "Drive for Perfection."
I, for one, will not be watching the game. I can think of many other interesting things to do than watch Fox put up slanted political reports for the first part of the day, followed by hours of insipid "analysis" trying to hype up the game, followed by three Eli Manning interceptions in the first half. Add in the usual terrible "halftime show" and more New England players dancing around, and this game promises to be a total snoozer. I'm predicting a total blowout, something like the real fun Super Bowls from the mid-1980s.
Care to join me in the Stupid Bowl protest? I'll be in Pittsburgh the day before, for the Three Rivers indoor sprints, hosted this year by Central Catholic. It will be nice to return to the 'Burgh for a weekend. I'll hang around on Sunday, then drive back to Cincinnati starting Sunday afternoon. If I'm lucky, I'll miss the entire game.
I just don't have the stomach to watch this. I'd rather watch people trying to lose lunch after erg tests. - Dec 16, 07
Will has gotten crazy about rock climbing this winter. This mania started with this picture, taken at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. The wall you see him on is about 40ft high, and he was quite pleased with himself afterwards. Since then, I've taken him out to a few different places, RockQuest in Cincinnati being his favorite. Below are a two shots of him climbing at their great indoor facility.
So, why talk about cross training while putting up pictures of my 5 year old climbing 45ft walls? Going to these various climbing gyms has given me an opportunity to observe the athletes that enjoy this sport up close, doing their own wintertime training. Climbing outdoors in freezing rain doesn't seem to be anything they would enjoy more than rowers enjoy racing in high winds on a 40 degree day.
So, how do high-end climbers train in the winter? It's their off-season, after all. There are some very specific skills they've built up over the years, or new abilities to work on. What do climbers do?
Guess what? They do the same thing swimmers do. They practice their sport in a simulated environment indoors. Does a wooden climbing wall exactly simulate the face of a granite cliff? Of course not. There's also no wind to deal with or footholds that fall out once your full weight pressed upon them. Just like rowers who deal with an erg that doesn't exactly mimic the feel of water or the the set of a boat.
Anybody guessing the point I'm making here? I'm all in favor of cross training. It makes a fun "different" activity to get into every other weekend or so. There is just too much evidence to suggest that cross training simply won't produce a faster boat. In a specialized sport such as rowing, there is no substitute to actually rowing to get faster.
Don't misunderstand my point, however, when the issue of weight training or flexibility is discussed. Both are worthy, focused tools used to increase power output and technique in the boat. Climbers lift weights fanatically, but they simply don't focus on the lower body strength like rowers must. Core muscle groups, upper shoulders and forearms are the favorites of climbers, where leg exercises and bench pulls are important to oarsmen.
So enjoy your cross training this winter. Once or twice a month. If, however, the fastest boat possible is your goal, keep rowing. That is, after all, the motion you're trying to perfect. - Nov 21, 07
For Thanksgiving this year, my family is on the beach in Charleston, SC. There's miles of beach to walk and run, along with a heated pool for the kids. Plenty of fun for Will and his cousins and a big enough building to house all 25 of us.
I was thinking of hitting the beach tomorrow and talking with some of my family members of the running persuasion. Everyone knows that I can't run, and we brought an erg down to burn off some T-Day calories, but their conversation about running on the beach got me thinking about the running that happens in rowing.
In rowing, we encourage everyone to work in unison. In the boat, that's a requirement. On the ergs, workouts are structured so the weakest oarsmen many times are finishing at the same time as the strongest. Instead of working over a certain distance, we use elapsed time, such as 60 minutes of steady state or six 1-minute pieces.
However, when sent out on a run, a crew reverts to individuals. If I sent a team on a run down the beach, I would get multiple sets of footprints in the sand, and they would return to the start at different times. However, the military runs in formation and in step with each other. Why don't we encourage this in rowing? If anything, rowing is more dependent on such interdependence and unison, yet we let such an opportunity slip by. Perhaps this is something to think about in the future, when the team is sent out on a run.
Just a thought. Anyone have any comments? - Sep 28, 07
I'm going to add my two pennies into the Mike Gundy debate. For those that aren't familiar with what happened, read this column, that appeared last Saturday before the Oklahoma State Cowboys played. Then came coach Mike Gundy's post-game news conference:
Finally, here's the rebuttal column from the sportswriter.
When a coach goes on a rant like this, it's the product of a lot of frustration that boils over. Coaches deal with a lot on their plate on a daily basis, and the responsibility doesn't ever get easier. The highest duty is always to the athletes under your command, and good coaches get very possessive of "their" kids. We really become surrogate parents. Like parents, it's okay for us to discipline our kids, but look out if anyone out there says anything bad about our kids. Then papa bear comes out, and it makes for entertaining television. I really understand where Mike Gundy was coming from.
The national sports media had a wonderful few days with this. It made for great sound on sports stalk radio. ESPN radio had morning hosts that agreed with Gundy and supported his point of view and a midday host that called it insane and predicted Gundy's immanent departure from the college coaching ranks. Both points of view got passionate calls, which is what talk radio wants. I believe the media missed who was the target audience for that rant.
Gundy was going off for the consumption of his players. He had made a difficult move to switch starting quarterbacks, his defense had just been shredded in a shoot-out which the team did win, but controversy was swirling around the team, being fed by a columnist. She needs readers, so "stirring the pot" gets her attention. How does Gundy respond to this situation? Usual coach-speak might work, but won't take any attention away from a possible quarterback controversy or a week of questions about his defense.
So Gundy made it all about him, while making a very important point to his athletes: Coach has my back. It's us against everyone. We're a team, a family and coach will go to the mat for us. I'm sure the offensive players would love to exult about their great performance and the team's win, but I'm absolutely sure that Gundy's boys will follow him into hell after his rant on the media, because they know and they've seen that he cares deeply for them. Deeply enough to deal with a week or more of media insanity for them.
As a final side note, I think the columnist is disgusting. She claims "sources and facts," but actually claims not one. No quotes, interviews, nothing. She writes that her integrity has been attacked, but she doesn't understand what her function is. She's a columnist, someone hired to write an opinion. Columnists don't have to support their work with facts. They can make things up from whole cloth if they so choose. But somehow, she's offended that she got called out over and over again on national television. She doesn't like being told that her opinion stinks. Anyone can say that: it's free speech. Her problem is that it's getting far more airtime.
I like what Gundy said and did. I agree with him. He must be one heck of a coach. - Aug 03, 07The Hurt Locker is the unfortunate byproduct of Swing. When the rhythm of the boat re-enforces the output of the oarsmen, they feel it as a sublime, unstoppable moment that can last for a few strokes or a few thousand meters. Swing encourages the crew to continue the output they are generating for as long as possible. Frankly, the crew might feel as if they could continue on that pace indefinitely.The Hurt Locker opens up when the boat finally stops and the body, which had been fooling itself, suddenly realizes how much energy has been produced. Between two and three breaths, pain suddenly floods the various systems. Welcome to the Hurt Locker.Once you've gone there, it is very difficult to get back to the swing the boat has just experienced. There's just too much pain. If you're lucky, you've timed your trip to the hurt locker with the last piece of the practice, or the final at the big regatta. If you're unfortunate, you've got to somehow muster up the physical courage to start rowing again in the next few minutes or hours to go all over again.Jay and I took a trip into the Hurt Locker this morning. It was our best outing in the pair so far, with the boat set well and running straight. There were times as we swung downstream from the 62nd street bridge that I felt as if I were rowing an erg. It was Swing.
Of course, when that feeling comes over a boat, the rowers usually increase power to reenforce the good row they're having. And so on we went, steadily increasing the pressure and then the rating over the next 2.5 miles. I was breathing hard as we made the final turn under the wires toward the 40th street bridge.
Sweat broke out all over my arms we relentlessly pursued speed. I knew what was happening; I felt like I could continue this pace for a long, long time. There always seemed to be more energy, flowing from the boat, through me and into the water. I wondered why I wasn't hurting too much and why my hands had gone numb on the composite oar.
One last power twenty took us under the bridge. Even that didn't seem to tax me so much, it just required moving a little faster and drawing more power out and into the oar. Then we paddled and stopped. And the Hurt Locker opened like a yawning, stinking mouth of hell.
I had made some poor eating choices yesterday, and my guts were reminding me of them. Feeling returned to my aching hands, where fresh blisters from earlier in the week protested the continued abuse of this morning. My head pounded; I was dehydrated despite guzzling down a quart of water every workout.
It was very difficult to stand when we landed the boat. Jay's back was in agony. He had difficulity putting on his socks later in the locker room. I feel, now five hours later, as if I'd been up all night before going on the water. (No, I wasn't.) There's just no energy left in me, and my legs are aching now. No amount of caffiene has overcome the all-consuming desire to sit at my desk and sleep.
However, I now sit here with a smile on my face and content in my heart. It was a great row. I wonder if Jay's back will be ok for Monday? - Jul 29, 07
Well, after a very frustrating spring and summer with injuries and general insanity, the Central coaches' pair finally got out on the water this morning. It was the first time in a 2- for me in over seven years. I have always liked rowing the pair more than any other boat, so I've been looking forward to this for awhile.
And contrary to all the snide remarks I'm sure the guys are making, no we did NOT flip. Actually, we had a very good row, didn't hit anything and managed to go straight, thus proving that the old guys do still "have it." Next outing is tomorrow at 6am, and any challengers are welcome from the ranks of the oarsmen. Nobody will be allowed in the first boat that can't beat the coaches in the pair. I might be kidding, or I might not........ - Jun 21, 07
- Jun 02, 07
For those who haven't hit this link on row2k, I now call attention to the Streetrower. I'm not sure how well this would do for us here in Pittsburgh (the site says they can customize some gearing), as the hills here are steep and ever-present, but this looks like a lot of fun. Apparently it's even possible to build one of these for a bloke my size!
The only information I don't see on the site is how the legs get involved in the stroke and if it's possible to lay back a little more than I see in these shots. Everyone seems to be rowing a little short in the finish for this coach's eye. But hey, everybody's a critic. It looks like a great idea and I would love to take a Henley vacation sometime to try one out. Any readers out there who've been on one?
These would give an all-new way to look at erg tests, as there is a banked bike track here in Pittsburgh, just over the Highland Park bridge, and a bike path that follows our main training areas on the Allegheny and Monongahela. Why race against the clock when you can race for real, head to head? Those miserable flooded out March weeks might be a thing of the past..... - May 10, 07
Before you push off the dock on Saturday morning, I want you to know you're the most successful novice crew Central has ever had. A lot of people have offered congratulations to the coaching staff, but I believe you, the athletes, are the sole people who deserve the credit and congratulations.
Traditionally, novices are victimized by low expectations. The first year of rowing is supposed to be a learning year, with good fundamentals, awards for "participation," and a few races tacked on to the beginning of regattas as a "bone" to "keep the novices interested." Sometimes the best athletes from the novices are taken from their classmates early, to fill out a struggling 2V or 3V. The rest are politely expected to struggle on, hamstrung, and "race well" or "show good sportsmanship" or "represent the team." These are great characteristics to have, and we encourage them. But in other words, crews with low expectations didn't care if the novices lost.
This year, you 18 men accepted the challenge of higher expectations. In order to meet these, you have trained harder than any novice crew at Central, you have achieved faster erg scores that any novice crew at Central, and you have raced with determination never seen from a Central novice crew. No Central novice has ever pulled faster than seven minutes on at 2k erg, nor has any Central novice raced in the finals at the New Jersey championships, until this year.
When great accomplishments are expected from a person or group of people, many times it is seen as a disadvantage or an obstacle to be overcome. Barack Obama wrote eloquently of the struggles his father had being one of the first Kenyons to earn a college degree in America, football teams with "something to lose" are seen as disadvantaged against teams with "nothing to lose, playing with house money."
However, I disagree with the "conventional wisdom." The only disadvantage high expectations have is the perceived risk of disappointing those with those high standards. If a poor crew that has not trained well and does not expect to do well goes out and loses their race, then they have fulfilled their low expectations. If an excellent crew that has trained well launches and wins their race, they have fulfilled their high expectations, and *most importantly* have defied the risk of disappointment and defeat. That excellent crew would take not satisfaction in their win if there had been only one other very poor team in their race.
Given the choice, when pushing off the dock, I would rather be the team with high expectations than low expectations.
I've though at length this week about expectations, goals and definitions of success. I've become ashamed about what I said to the novices after the race on Sunday. I got too involved in one race and it's outcome; I forgot to recognize the long-term goals that have been accomplished this year. The Central novices are competitive. People talk about our races. The overall level of the team has been raised by the novices. Because these main goals have been accomplished far beyond my own expectations, I have to be proud of this group. Both boats could come in last this weekend, and I would still be proud.
Why? Because they have showed determination, courage and character. They already are the best group of Central novices ever, and are well on their way to being the best class of Central Catholic oarsmen ever.
So do not fear disappointment this weekend, gentlemen. Before you race, take a moment to calm your anxiety and focus on how far you've come. Concentrate within yourselves and within the gunnels. Focus on your blade and your coxswain. Row like you know how and accept the challenge of high expectations, because that is what you've done all year, and that is what will make every one of you exceptional Central oarsmen in the future. - Apr 11, 07
I saw a close race today, between my Central freshmen and FC's novice crew. The final margin was CC by 3/4 of a length or so, and the boats were very close for quite a bit.
I always thought there was something very satisfying about a close race, even if I lost. Matching strength against an even opponent felt like a validation of all the work I had put in, and somehow honored the other guy as well. While there was always some joy in winning by a large margin, I felt some sadness as well. I know how hopeless it feels to get blown out after putting in long hours of practice (I've been there, and it really hits hard), and that is not a feeling I wish on any crew.
A close race validates all the time and energy both teams have put into the sport. Somehow, that hard-fought battle raises both boats up somehow. You want another crack at that team, to measure your progress. There's a measure of respect that a close race imparts between crews, and I would look forward to seeing a team that had barely beaten us again, somewhere, anywhere.
One of the proudest races I've ever been involved in was a race we lost, against St. Paul's school in 1995. Nobody had ever come as close to them as we did, and I took pride in knowing I'd lost to a better crew, but had pushed them to their limit.
We'll see FC again. If not in a race, then during a practice sometime during the coming weeks. My history with that program guarantees it and I welcome the challenge. Both crews will get faster from today's result. - Apr 07, 07
Back pain. A lot of it. I couldn't move two nights ago.
I have no idea what brought this on. There wasn't a sharp flash of pain moment that told me "oops, I've done something really wrong." Just a gradual tightening that left me unable to walk. I've got some great drugs now to get me through the days, but this really isn't fun. I'm off the erg and working out for awhile, and that's got me in a really bad mood.
I'm working on some posts for this blog, but I'm also fuzzy most of the day with meds. Stay tuned, the editing process takes a little longer these days. - Mar 24, 07
Man, do I ever wish life was like the movies. In a sports movie, there is always the practice montage in the second act, and the team struggles through difficult training in terrible weather conditions. The coach gives some nasty little speech to the gathered team after a terrible day; mud is splattered on their faces, they are wet and downcast. The speech is usually some form of "Dagnabbit, you are better than that, you have the talent to be champions, you just have to drop the egos and trust each other." And so the movie continues on, with lovely little moments of the individual players staring out to the field (or river) or sitting alone in a darkened locker room. Then the act closes with the team having more positive practices until there is the moment. That wonderful moment when the sun is shining, the music swelling, the team working perfectly together, the coach smiling and the teammates slapping hands and shouting their readiness to take on the world.
Wouldn't life be nice if it was that easy? Add a cheesy soundtrack, grumpy coach and sullen players who suddenly pull together to win some huge, climatic championship. Pure Cheese. Too bad that's not how real championships are won.
True champions work hard, all the time. They usually get along. They trust each other and their coach. Champions have good practices and do the little details right. Winners do the extra work and take care of their personal lives so they are in the best position to be champions when the time comes in that climatic event.
Champions don't wait for the big Cheeseball Moment in practice. They create little, positive moments every practice. They work to extend those moments longer and longer as the practice season drags into competition, so that they can summon that positive moment at will.
Today, my novices had a good, positive moment in the second session. Boat swing was created. Suddenly, the boat skimmed over the top of the water rather than plowing through. It looked light and powerful. It was a great little moment. I need them to remember how the boat felt then, what they did to make that happen. Most importantly, practice this week will focus on creating more moments like that, so race day can be a Cheeseball, winning moment. - Mar 21, 07
Well, this year's flood has lasted longer than most, and doesn't look to be going down anytime soon. Well into next week, it looks like. So, we're moving.
The "other" river here in Pittsburgh, the Monongahela, comes up from the south and has a fraction of the flow of the Allegheny. Off we go on Friday for a weekend of "wet launching," mud, screams and (finally) rowing on the water.
I'm realizing now how fortunate I was rowing in Cincinnati all those years. While we did drive out to East Fork State Park every day, some guys in the car for an hour, we at least had good water 95% of the time. There was never a safety concern, even when the lake flooded, because there wasn't any current. Wind was our enemy, but there were always sheltered shores to get miles in.
Once we re-located to the Licking River in Covington, the drive was much shorter and the water polluted. We did get flooding that spring, like any mid-western city. But we rowed on it anyway. I can't imagine going out in that type of high water here in Pittsburgh, I'd get drawn, quartered, and shot. Back then, it was just an adventure to conquer. One and a half hours upstream, and 10 mins downstream. I'M NOT KIDDING! I've never gone that fast past the shore since in a rowing shell. Good times!
The problem now is sitting on shore, thinking about all the other teams that we will race in the spring who are rowing on lakes or other protected water right now. I've got a clock ticking in my mind, and it's counting down to our first race in less than two weeks. - Mar 15, 07
Well, here it is. Every year, we get out on the water in early March or late February. I'll usually get about two weeks of good rowing in, and get excited about the progress I see my crews making. Then the heavens open up for two straight days and the river rises.
And here we go again.
Again.
Last night, just to emphasize the point, we had hail. It hasn't stopped raining since.
This just makes me crazier than I usually am. I can't stand it. After an entire winter spent feeling the air stirred by the ergs, back we go to the machine. I was doing my workout outside two days ago, and there will be snow flurries this weekend. No wonder I'm getting grey hair.
This is the third most challenging time of the season, after the early February blues and the first row blahs. Going back onto the erg after feeling the water is a nightmare scenario for any oarsman, but we deal with it every year here in Pittsburgh. I don't ever look forward to this, as morale usually slides quickly. Really, who wants to erg when you don't need a coat outside? I start warning the kids about this in January; perhaps a little expectation that it will happen will lessen the blow.
The emergence of other crews from their winter sleep only aggravates the situation, as we all end up bickering for erg time and tank space. I get snippy when asked how long we'll be on the machines by such people. I wonder "Where have you been all winter? Now you want to train? Too late for you, I'm not here to help you out!"
So I trot out some workouts I haven't used that much, just to keep the minds working a little more. I'll join the boys on the erg today and let the coxswains correct us all. I'll make a new playlist on my iPod so there isn't the usual music. And I'll fume. And brood. And stare off the deck at a river that has never cooperated with my plans. I'll tell stories of Todd and "the old days when a little flood didn't stop us" and sound like a nut case. And grit my teeth. Perhaps I'll also find some time to talk to the boats. - Mar 13, 07
I've got other stuff in the works, but haven't put anything up for awhile, so here's some thoughts.
We're on the water now, and it is a very good thing. The flow and weather have cooperated so far, despite a few REALLY cold days. Guys have made some technical progress, but I'm looking for more, as always.
But, as always, attendance has raised it's ugly face with the return to the water. One guy out sick throws the whole team into chaos. The last two days we've been missing three. The reasons are legitimate, but the results are not.
Next week will start seat racing and selection. I call attendance problems during seat racing "self-selection." But after the boats are selected, problems with practice attendance can still kill a promising season. Read this post. I learned the importance of letting a boat "gel" together a long time ago. Boats just won't win in the spring without consistant practice together. Let's get all these sicknesses out of the way now and get back to rowing. - Feb 27, 07
Chair: There isn’t anywhere to sit at a regatta. Chairs are very important when the only alternative is sitting in a mud puddle.
Book: Races run late. There will be long periods of time with nothing to watch.
Warm clothes: It’s springtime in the Midwest. The weather will change. Dress in layers, warmer than you think you need.
Money for the kids (T shirts, etc): There aren’t ATMs at racecourses, and there are plenty of opportunities to spend money on regatta stuff.
Rain clothes: It’s springtime in the Midwest. It is going to rain. All day. It will be a very cold rain. Rain clothes include something to cover your pants, because you will be out in that rain all day.
Binoculars: Even coaches forget these.
Contact a parent coordinator and transport some food, equipment etc: The parents in charge of food and the traveling circus that a rowing team is need help. Transport some equipment, help set up the tent, help cook some food, because these heroes deserve it
Did I mention rain clothes and warm clothes? I love my survival suit for a reason.
Change of clothes: There is nothing nastier than finally getting in your car for the drive home, but your clothes are muddy and soaked through. Warm dry clothes after a nasty day are almost as good as a hot shower.
Sun screen: Eventually, the sun will come up, and regatta sites usually don’t have a lot of shade. Get some sweat-proof sun block, because your son is guaranteed to forget to bring some for himself.
Sun glasses: Sunlight reflected off a river or lake isn’t fun to squint into. Polarized sunglasses are the best.
All this stuff in a waterproof bag: Assume that the ground you will be on will consist of 4 inches of freezing mud. You have a lot of stuff, and you will need to carry some of it to the tent. Have a bag that can sit in the muck and still keep your cell phone dry.
Rain/mud proof boots: Rain clothes are worthless if your feet are soaked through. Who cares about the weather when you can slop through the mud with no worries?
Comfortable walking shoes: When the weather is decent, you will realize the regatta site has spread out over a large portion of the race course. Then the distance the kids have to race over suddenly doesn’t seem that short. Launch docks are rarely close to the boats, which are rarely close to the tents, which are never close to the parking area. Be prepared to walk about 5 miles on a regatta day.
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Posts
- Sep 30, 10Abby Broughton, Ursula Grobler, Kristin Hedstrom, Victoria BurkeUrsula Grobler's goal is to win world championship medals in the lightweight double, single, and quad in New Zealand this fall. Abby Brougthon is Ursula's doubles partner, and Kristin Hedstrom and Victoria Burke join them in the quad. Together the four have dubbed themselves the Bellingham Bandits. Here's a great JL Racing Q&A article with the team. Below are some other links to follow the journey of these women rowers as they prepare for worlds and beyond!This week's USRowing Senior Trials ResultsBellingham Bandits and Row Star Project, blogs updated by the rowers.
- Sep 30, 10Ah, fall is in the air. Well, maybe not so much on the front range of Colorado with it's recent record setting high temperatures, but definitely in the state of Vermont! Unable to attend in 2009 due to a friend's injury, we were finally able to make our long awaited trip to Craftsbury Sculling Center last week for the Fall Foliage weekend camp. The cool autumn weather was more than welcome for the outings on the water, and the fall colors were near perfect, although maybe a week early for the peak reds of the maple trees.
The weekend began on Friday with introductions. The coaches came from a wide variety of backgrounds with a vast knowledge base of how to improve one's rowing stroke. All were very positive and supportive when coaching, and the different coaches provided the benefit of a variety of ways to explain a concept or remedy an issue. Chances were that one of them would put an idea into words in a way that would click. While my main focus at camp was the rowing, I did manage to capture photos of a few of the coaches. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of Louisa Edgerly, our head coach.Helen Tilghman (intern) Sandy KillenP.J. Antonik Me and Rich Davis
Likewise, the twenty three students were a good mix of people. Some were new to rowing while others had rowed for a few years. One step-mother and step-daughter were back at camp for the third time as a kind of annual bonding trip. Some campers came from just a few hours down the road and one came all the way from Australia. All showed up with a good attitude and a desire to improve.
The first trip to the waterfront began with an orientation to the boathouse, boat and oar assignments, an overview of the stroke and how to maneuver a shell in the water, and "the flip experience". Having previously done a flip "test" at a local sculling club, I wasn't too excited about the prospect of getting into the brisk water of Big Hosmer Pond. However, the initial chill was quickly forgotten once in the water and focused on the task of getting back in the shell. A quick change into dry clothes and we were taking our first strokes on the two miles of Big Hosmer Pond.The weekend flew by in a series of dock talk/demo, row, stretch, eat, video review, and repeat. It was all good. The dock talks and demos focused on two or three concepts, the water time allowed you to immediately put the instruction into practice, and the video review revealed where you needed to focus your efforts the next time on the water. The coaching was first class. All of the coaches were very approachable and were very willing to share their passion for rowing.
This short three day foliage class included a local tour of the fall foliage in lieu of the normal Concept2 factory tour. While being driven around the countryside we saw dutch belted cows, draft horses, and sheep being guarded by a llama all with the beautiful background of Vermont's autumnal colors.All in all, a very worthwhile trip. I brought home some great sculling knowledge. One thing that really stuck with me is P.J. Antonik's notion of "horizontality". It may not be a recognized word, but it captures the movement of the perfect rowing stroke perhaps better than any real word.
I was reminded of the importance of core strength and stretching, and came home with the links to make these a part of my daily rowing routine.
Now it's up to me to practice, practice, practice. I recently read that it takes 300-500 repetitions to learn a new motor skill. And it pays to learn it right the first time because the same source (Motor Control and Learning by Richard Schmidt and Tim Lee) claims it takes 3,000-5,000 repetitions to erase and correct a bad motor pattern. All the more reason to attend a quality camp like Craftsbury to learn the correct technique from the start.
And perhaps the best reason to attend camp is the rowers with whom you share the weekend. It was a fun group and I hope to see them on the water again. A special thanks to Rony Sebok for the use of a few of her photos. Thanks to all for making the Fall Foliage Camp a fun learning experience. - Sep 15, 10Today marks the beginning Concept 2's Fall Team Challenge. Sign up with a team and row as many meters as you can between now and October 15th.
This event is my motivation to get back on the erg after a summer of working out on the water, roads, and trails of beautiful Colorado. A month of steady state rowing does a body good!
On a related note, I'm looking forward to visiting the Concept2 factory in the near future so look for some "insider" info in the next few weeks. - Jul 22, 10
Since watching Maddie Lipps leave it all on the erg at the Mile High Indoor Rowing Sprints earlier this year, we've known she is a stand out in the rowing world. Sports Illustrated recognizes her achievements in this month's "Faces in the Crowd".
- Jul 21, 10When a disoriented and confused group of dolphins became in danger of being stranded as the sea level dropped in Fishguard Harbour, the Fishguard Ladies Longboat team came to the rescue! With a bit of hard rowing and maneuvering, the ladies were able to herd the dolphins out to the safety of deeper water. Here's the BBC article, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-10709617
- Jun 30, 10After their impressive showing in Bled, Slovenia, Abby Broughton and Ursula Grobler became the first rowers named to the 2010 U.S. Senior National Team. Abby and Ursula will represent the U.S. at the World Championships in Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls October 31-November 7 in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.. Congratulations ladies, we're looking forward to watching what you can do after rowing together for more than two weeks!
- Jun 30, 10Don't play outside in the lightning. We all think it will never happen to us but sometimes Mother Nature reminds us of our vulnerabilities rather harshly. I was saddened to read this article about a rowing related lightning death in China. On Monday, June 28, a 16-year-old female rower died after being struck by lightning during a training session in China. My heartfelt condolences go out to her family and friends. This is a good reminder for us to watch the weather conditions before and during rowing, and to take shelter when lightning is a threat. Don't mess with Mother Nature.
- Jun 30, 10Mile High Rowing won it's first national championship on June 15th at Youth Nationals in Ohio, showing the nation that the two year old club from land locked Colorado is a force to be reckoned with. Maddie Lipps poured it on and won by more than a second in the grand final of the the women's single race. Earlier this year Maddie secured a rowing scholarship for Yale. Rocky mountain Rowing is doing a fantastic job of representing the area in the rowing community. Congratulations Maddie and Rocky Mountain Rowing on a great season.
- Jun 18, 10Here's a quick, tasty trail mix for a snack at work, school, or play. It's a good combo of tart, sweet, and salty. If heat is not a factor, add some dark chocolate chips to make this trail mix "da bomb"!1 1/2 Cups dried tart cherries1 Cup dry roasted salted almonds1 Cup honey roasted cashews3/4 Cup dark chocolate chips (optional)Mix together and share!
- May 31, 10I helped a good friend buy a 1999 Hudson Elite lightweight single last year from a very sweet person in Seattle. Our local club manager put together a list of questions to ask the seller. One of the questions was about the boat's history, and we learned the boat 's original owner was Fiona Milne, the 2003 world champion lightweight single sculler from Canada. Arranging the transport was a little stressful, but the seller took it all in stride and was very patient and helpful throughout the process. It wasn't until after the boat arrived that we thought to Google the seller. Turns out it was Abby Broughton, a national team member here in the USA. We've been fans of Abby's ever since and enjoy catching her races online when we can.Ursula Grobler and Abby Broughton
On Saturday, May 30, Abby and her doubles partner, Ursula Grobler, put in an awesome performance at the World Cup Women's Lightweight 2X in Bled Slovenia. Watch Abby and Ursula dominate the race at http://fisa.feedroom.com (click on Lightweight Women's Double Sculls to view). Dang, they make it look easy. Oh, and if you're wondering why Ursula's name sounds familiar, earlier this year she became the world record holder for lightweight women 19-29 with a time of 6:54.7 on the Concept2 erg. - May 30, 10Here's an article on Malcolm Howard that I found interesting. Malcolm rowed for Harvard and his Canadian heavyweight team won a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Games. The article talks about his recurring rib injuries from the forces he generates sculling as well as the physical and mental challenges of sculling. It sounds like we'll hear a lot more about him as the 2012 London Games approach.
- May 28, 10I am fortunate to live just a few miles from Union Reservoir where I scull. My favorite commute to work takes me by the reservoir, which never fails to cleanse my mind and help me appreciate all the beauty in my little corner of the world. This morning's drive was extraordinary.
Driving toward the lake a full moon was slowly setting over the mountains beyond a line of box cars being stored on the railroad tracks east of town.
The moon was dropping behind the mountains as I came around the east side of Union. At 5:35 a.m., it was a little on the early side for my sculling friends, but the water was perfect.
Driving around the west side of the lake, I was treated to a beautiful sunrise.
If my shell was on my car it would have been difficult to resist calling in for sick leave! TGIF!! - May 27, 10Did you know that Union Reservoir is a no wake lake in large part because it is a bird sanctuary? Steve Jones from the Boulder County Audubon Society led a bird watching excursion hosted by Union Sailing Club Saturday morning. It was a gorgeous way to start the day.This beautiful great blue heron warily watched us motor by.
A pair of western grebes was more interested in each other than us.They briefly entertained us with their courtship activities.Pelicans nest only on islands, so Steve theorized many of theones we see at Union may be too young for breeding.A bald eagle was hanging out on the north side of Union.
There were many yellow headed blackbirds on the
west and north shores.
Mallard, cinnamon teal, and redhead ducks, Clark's grebes, an American kestrel, American coots, sandpipers, mourning doves, robins, and common grackles were just a few of the species seen and heard. Many thanks to the Boulder County Audubon Society and the Union Sailing Club for sponsoring this fun and educational outing. - May 23, 10For several months NK has offered an iPhone version of their popular speed coach, but nothing similar has been offered for Android users. Making productive use of my breaks at work, I have stumbled upon hope for all of us 'droid users. Tal Shalif, from the Tel Aviv Rowing Club, has combined his rowing and programming talents to create an Android rowing app. RoboStroke shows speed, stroke rate, relative stroke power and stroke-roll profile. Tal is looking for beta testers, so if you have an Android 2.x compatible mobile device (e.g. Nexus One, Motorola Droid) contact him for info. Tal is hoping to have a version available for Android 1.6/1.5 devices in the near future so a larger audience can use it. This is so exciting! I'll post a review once I get my hands on a version for my T-mobile myTouch (Andriod version 1.6).
- May 11, 10Each year the Central Youth Rowing Championship brings together junior crews from Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, Louisiana and Texas for a day of impassioned racing and the opportunity to race at the USRowing National Youth Championship in June. Mile HIgh Rowing, the non-profit club for Denver area high school students, brought back some hardware from their recent road trip to the Oklahoma River:
- Girls Varsity Single...GOLD
- Girls Varsity 4+...GOLD
- Girls Novice 8+...SILVER
- Lwt Girls 8+...SILVER
- Girls Varsity 8+...BRONZE.
Three of these boats qualified for Junior Nationals! Click here for complete Central District race results.There are many great reasons to love Mile High rowing, such as sharing the passion for rowing, empowering young adults to become capable and confident people both on and off the water, teaching teamwork, responsibility, and the list goes on. The following pictures from Rocky Mountain Rowing offer three more reasons to love the team and all they embody.DedicationRewards of TrainingAnd last, but not least, funky socks!!
Congrats, Mile High Rowing, on your outstanding efforts at Districts and best wishes at Nationals next month! We're loving what you're doing!! - May 05, 10Today's Wall Street Journal contained an interesting story, "Rower's Diplomacy", by Skip Rozin about rowing in Iraq. It definitely puts local rowing diplomacy in perspective.
- May 03, 10Less than ideal spring rowing weather hasn't dampened the performance of the Mile High Rowing Club, Denver's rowing club for boys and girls in grades 8 to 12. At the April 17th Route 66 Regatta in Tulsa, the team placed third out of 15 teams. Out of the team's 17 entries, Mile High Rowing took home 4 Golds, 5 Silvers, 2 Bronzes!Next up for the young rowers is the 2010 Central District Youth Rowing Championships on the Oklahoma River this weekend, with the opportunity to race at the US Rowing National Youth Championship in Ohio this June. It will be exciting to learn the results!Mile High Rowing Club will be offering Learn-to-Row camps this summer on Cherry Creek Reservoir. For more information e-mail info@milehighrowing.com or go to http://www.milehighrowing.org/.
- May 10, 10Registration for the 4th Annual Row the Rockies Regatta is now open! This year's event will be held in our neighborhood at Union Reservoir on June 5th. We're located in Longmont, Colorado, a short drive away from Boulder, Denver, Estes Park and Rocky National Mountain Park. Come check out our little slice of rowing paradise.
- Apr 25, 10My new Fluidesign shell arrived this week and she is beautiful. With the crazy weather we've had, I haven't had a chance to take any pictures. And taking her out for a row has been out of the question. The color is Dodge Viper's snakeskin green pearl coat. I was going for the 70's muscle car look.
The forecast looks promising for tomorrow, so the plan is to get her rigged and out on her maiden voyage. Maybe the boat naming muse will visit me while we're out on the water. - May 01, 10The dock had been looking more dock-ish after repairs last weekend, but mother nature dealt it another blow this week. Colorado isn't going quietly into spring. This past week covered most weather situations, from sun and seventies to 50 knot winds, snow, sleet, rain, thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes.While the club waits for the dock to be repaired again, the water temp has crept up to the mid-fifties. It may be time to get your feet wet. Can you say "beach launch"?
- Apr 15, 10
Wow, the Erg Club rocks!! Congratulations, in just a few months we have logged over 2 million meters on our ergs! That is awesome. I'm really impressed by the meters y'all have logged.
Today is the last day of the Concept2 World Rowing Challenge, so don't forget to get those final meters logged. Next up is an individual challenge, the Concept2 Global Marathon Challenge. To participate, row a marathon (42,195 meters) or half marathon (21,097 meters) in one workout during the last two weeks of April. Now that our weather is warming up, this would be a good rainy day workout. The full marathon is especially tempting because participants can request a marathon pin through their online logbook with Concept2.
With the start of the new rating season on May 1, the team affiliation odometer will be reset to zero for the new erging year. This means there are just a few weeks remaining to put in a strong team finish for the season. Thanks again for joining me in this madness! - Apr 15, 10
- Apr 15, 10Whoever had 3 days in the "how long before the dock breaks" pool wins. The dock was put in the water on Saturday, but today's winds of 25-30 knots wreaked havoc on it. This is how it looked when I drove by on my way to work around 1 p.m.Hopefully the wind will die down before it breaks up any more and begins floating around the lake. If not, the next event at the lake may be a dock rodeo. The crew ran out of time over the weekend and didn't get the launch in the water, so at least it's still safely tethered to the ground. Luck over skill. Any advice out there on how to better anchor the docks?
- Apr 14, 10Last week was not a good week for rowing shells in Utah. On a positive note, no one was hurt. On the down side, at least eight rowing shells were damaged.
On March 31, high winds fanned a wild fire near the Great Salt Lake Marina. Four structures at the marina were damaged. Initial reports from the marina manager indicated all boats had been spared, but a quick inspection by the rowing club revealed six of the Great Salt Lake Rowing Club's boats had been damaged by the fire's heat. Those of you who regularly browse the Row2K classifieds may have seen the Great Salt Lake Rowing Club's shout out for help.
The second incident happened on April 1, and we were all hoping it was just a cruel April Fool's joke. A trailer on it's way from California to Colorado was toppled by a wind gust as it was driving through Utah. Two eights donated to the Mile High Rowing Club were on board and suffered major breakage.
It doesn't look like there's enough duct tape to fix the damage, but the club is already brainstorming ideas on how to find a useful purpose for the bits and pieces.
If you can help either of these great clubs in their mission to promote the sport of rowing, please see their websites to share some love.
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Posts
- May 25, 12
A year ago, I ended up receiving a lot of free magazines and one free newspaper. An airline company which I used to fly with sent me an offer to use up all my frequent flyer miles by getting a year’s free subscription to several magazines. To be honest, I would not spend my money on subscribing to most of the magazines that were offered, but suddenly the publications began to arrive with the postman. Though I flipped through as many and as quickly as I could, most of them ended up in piles in a corner of the dining room before they finally made it out in the street for the recycling truck to pick them up.Taki
Of course, there were a couple of exceptions, one of them being the New York Observer. This weekly newspaper is more libertine than The New York Times, to say the least. And while some of the articles in the Observer’s sometimes go ‘overboard’ in their free-spirit fashion of describing people’s lifestyles and sex lives, I enjoy reading the well-written pieces on books, films, and theatre performances, although, I can not really remember last time we travelled to the big city for a show.
In the current issue, 21 may, 2012, there is an article by Drew Grant, a young, up-and-coming reporter, and her article, ‘To Slur, With Love?’, is about ‘Ironic racism: portent of white backlash, or just a little Taki-ness?’. The latter, ‘Taki’, is referring to Taki Theodoracopulos, a right-wing publicist, journalist, and writer, who is known for his racist and ethnic slurs, or his slip-of-the-tongue remarks about Blacks and Jews. He has been writing his ‘High Life’ column in the British Spectator since 1977, and still does, and it was there I first read his pieces. However, I never bought the magazine to read what Taki had done with some of his jet-setting playboy friends at the Riviera, instead I purchased the Spectator for the ‘Low Life’ column written by the inimitable drunk, Jeffrey Bernard, who died in September 1997. (I could write a long essay about Bernard and the extremely funny play Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell by Keith Waterhouse, but this is not the right forum). If I come across the Spectator today, which is getting harder and harder as not that many book chains carry the magazine in the USA, I buy it if there is a piece by Scottish writer Alan Massie.Alan Massie
So, why am I writing about Taki on HTBS then? In Grant’s article she writes that “His father, in addition to being an Olympic gold medalist in rowing, was a shipping baron.” This information came as a surprise to me because last time I checked the different nations’ lists of Olympic gold medallists, no Greek crew has ever taken a gold medal at any of the official Olympic Games (but Greece took a bronze in the men’s lightweight double sculls in 2004 and a silver in the same class in 2008). I do not know where Grant got the wrong information, maybe she mixed up the different event or sport?
There is also another slim explanation, which literally came to me in the form of an e-mail from Mrs. B. She sent me a link to The New York Times, an article about odd Olympic sports that only made it at one or two games, like softball, cricket, tug-of-war, and rowing in naval 16-oared gigs. The latter race was held in the so called 1906 Intercalated Games, or 1906 Olympic Games, in Athens. In the gig class, the Greek Team Poros won the gold. Let us say that Taki’s father was in the winning crew, and he was twenty years old, thirty-one years later, 1937, Taki was born – not impossibly, but not very likely, I think. Of course, then we can also consider the fact that the Games in 1906 are not recognised as official Olympic Games anymore.Tug-of-war, Olympic sport in Stockholm in 1912.
The question, whether Taki’s father was a gold medallist in rowing or not, I will leave open. However, I would like to point out that Taki’s online magazine, Taki Magazine, which brands itself as “a Libertarian webzine”, and is run by his daughter, Mandolyna Theodoracopulos, actually had a rowing article published in April, and although most of the articles in Taki’s Magazine are not my cup of tea (or in Taki’s case, champagne), I do approve of the content in “Elitism Leads to Tyrannically Whiny Protesters” by John M. Clarke Jr. Of course, HTBS also wrote about this incident, several times, as a matter of fact. - May 25, 12
This coming Saturday, 26 May, it is the 147th regatta between Yale and Harvard. Once again the races are going to be held on the Thames River in New London, Connecticut. The first race, for freshmen, is at 3 p.m., the second race, for junior varsity, is at 3:45 p.m., and the main event, between the two varsity crews, is at 4:45 p.m. All three races are going to be rowed downstream.Is the famous Rock going to be painted red or blue this year?
If you are not able to watch these races, again you will be saved by the broadcast on WKNL Kool 101 (100.9) and www.kool101fm.com. As usual, Charlie Hamlin (Harvard '70) and Yale lightweight coach Andy Card will provide commentary from the water.
Read what the Bulldogs has on the website about the regatta, here. - May 24, 12
Tim Koch writes from London:Three of the Eight: Ondrej Synek, Warren Anderson, and Mahe Drysdale. Photo: Row2K
HTBS is presently speculating about the make up of the perfect crew. In 2009 however, British international coach Bill Barry did not just dream about a ‘Great Eight’, he made it happen. In what must have been an enormous feat of organization (British sculler Alan Campbell told the BBC that ‘it took three years to pull this project together’), he assembled the following crew of great Olympic and World Championship scullers:
Bow - Tim Maeyens (Belgium, 4th in 2008 Olympic final)
2 - Andre Vonarburg (Switzerland, 9th overall in 2008 Olympics)
3 - Alan Campbell (Britain, 5th in 2008 Olympic Final)
4 - Marcel Hacker (Germany, bronze, 2000 Olympics & 7th overall in 2008 Olympics)
5 - Mahe Drysdale (New Zealand, bronze, Beijing 2008; three times world champion)
6 - Olaf Tufte (Norway, Olympic champion 2008, 2004)
7 - Ondrej Synek (Czech, silver, 2008 Olympics)
Stroke - Iztok Cop (Slovenia, gold in 2x, 2000 Olympics & silver in 2x, 2004 Olympics)
In March 2009, the ‘dream team’ had their first test, rowing against that year’s Cambridge crew on a 2.5 km course from Putney to Hammersmith. In assembling fantasy crews that will never actually come together, the practicalities of such an exercise are never factored in. In the real world, Cambridge had been together for five months, the Champions had only five practice sessions. Also, the Light Blues were training to peak at the Boat Race a week later while their opposition were training to peak (individually) at the World Championships which was five months away. Some people speculated that the sort of individual that was attracted to competing in the single scull would not make a good crew rower.Bill Barry
In the first of two races the more practiced boat predictably had a better start and won by 2/3 of a length. In the second race it at first looked as if it would be a rerun of the first but it is dangerous to make highly competitive people angry and, with better rhythm and two monster pushes, the Great Eight reached Hammersmith Bridge first. Olaf Tufte told the BBC’s Martin Gough:Olaf Tufte
“I didn’t expect to crush anyone…. They’ve been together for six months, they’re well-organised and they’re timing is good…. If you’d given our boat a couple of months, we’d definitely be the best [in the world] but rowing in an eight is about much more than power.”
New Zealand TV made this nice video here:
A few days later, Barry’s eight went off at number five in the Head of the River Race on the Thames Championship Course. In their sights were the Leander crew who went off first and who included five Beijing medallists. The theory that single scullers cannot form a crew was dashed when the Great Eight went ‘Head of the river’, four seconds faster than the boys from the Pink Palace. Seven months later they repeated this performance across the Atlantic when six of the original crew, plus Lassi Karonen of Sweden and Warren Anderson of the U.S. (replacing Olaf Tufte and Andre Vonarburg), entered the Head of the Charles in Boston, where they were skillfully coxed by Ali Williams. There is a nice interview with Anderson here.Ali Williams. Photo: flyby
The result? They won the Championship Eights, going over the finish line at 42 plus. It seems that dreams - and dream teams - sometimes become real. - May 22, 12
On 12 May, 2012, HTBS wrote about editor Wendy Kewley’s glorious May issue of Rowing & Regatta, mentioning among other interesting articles, Martin Gough’s interview with Mark Hunter. As we have witnessed before, Martin is a man of many (good) words, but luckily he is running his own sport blog which means that what he cannot fit in his R&R article about Hunter, Martin can post in a blog post. This is exactly what he has done. Read the article’s “out-takes” here.Mark Hunter
Talking about articles, yesterday the Henley Standard had a long article about Chris Dodd’s book Pieces of Eight. Read that article here.Chris Dodd - May 21, 12
Time for more lists, now the two Top Ten Scullers, up until 1919 and the Top Ten Scullers, from 1920 to present time picked by yours truly. They were not easy to put together, so I had to cheat: the scullers are in alphabetic order, not necessarily ranked within the lists.Hunting Howell began to row at Trinity Hall in 1895 and took the same year the Grand, got his Blue in 1897, and won both the Diamonds and Wingfields in 1898 and 1899. Courtesy NRF ©
List IV - Top Ten British Scullers (up until 1919):Alexander Alcée Casamajor
1. E. Barry (p.)
2. H. Blackstaffe
3. A. A. Casamajor
4. R. Chambers (p.)
5. B. H. Howell
6. F. S. Kelly
7. W. Kinnear
8. J. Lowndes
9. G. Nickalls
10. F. L. Playford
Runners-up: R. Guinness, H. Kelley (p.), and V. Nickalls
List V - Top Ten British Scullers (from 1920 to present time):Tony Fox
1. C. Baillieu
2. J. Beresford Jnr.
3. R. Burnell
4. B. Bushnell
5. A. Campbell
6. T. Fox
7. P. Haining
8. E. Phelps (p.)
9. S. Redgrave
10. L. Southwood
Runners-up: T. Crooks, M. Hart, and M. Hunter
Comments: Two foreigners have sneaked on to List IV, the American Benjamin Hunting Howell (1875-1953*) and the Australian Frederick Septimus Kelly (1881-1916). Neither of these two gentlemen ever rowed in their home countries, Howell began to row at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Kelly at Eton, and later took up sculling at Balliol College, Oxford. After their studies had ended, Howell continued to row as a member of Thames RC and Kelly for Leander Club.F. S. Kelly
(p.) is indicating a ‘professional sculler’.
* In all information on the web (also Wikipedia), and in rowing books where he is mentioned, B. H. Howell's death date is always missing. Well, here it is: Benjamin Hunting Howell was born on 3 September 1875, died on 26 February 1953. Remember that you saw this information first on HTBS! - May 20, 12More about Bert and Dickie, and by Chris Dodd!
While there is no information which date the BBC drama is going to be aired in the U.K., there is a date flying around on the internet when BBC America is going to show this film, which by the way is called Going for Gold – The ’48 Games on their website. The date given is 25 July, but this date is not even stated in the BBC America’s information about the film – please, do not take this date for certain, yet!
On the Rowing Voice blog, Chris Dodd has posted the first review on the film, “Bert & Dickie – a double whammy”. He is very positive, and he writes among other things:
“Bert & Dickie plunges you straight into this world of high hopes and low snobbery. It’s a watery-eyed drama about how Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell came to win the double sculls in 1948. By that I don’t mean that it’s soppy; it’s a story of ambition and class that I reckon will touch your tear ducts when the BBC releases it on the box before the Olympics, as it did mine.”
Read Chris Dodd's whole review here. - May 19, 12
I think many of us, rowers and rowing writers and historians, are eagerly waiting for BBC’s film Bert and Dickie. Greg Denieffe, one in the crew here at HTBS, pointed me in the direction of a BBC radio clip which was first broadcasted on 5 March 2010, a month after British Olympian Champion Bert Bushnell died. In the slightly more than 4-minute clip, rowing writer and historian Chris Dodd is being interviewed by Matthew Bannister about Bert’s and Dickie’s 1948 Olympic success in the double sculls. By that time, the script for Bert and Dickie was already under way, but the clip is a splendid reminder why the combination of Bert and Dickie was so unique at the end of the 1940s.Bow: Matt Smith as Bert & Stroke: Sam Hoare as Dickie
Greg writes, ‘Spot the error at the beginning when talking about Redgrave in 1984!’ [Redgrave took his first Olympic gold medal in 1984 in the coxed four – not the coxless four!]
To go to the broadcast, please click here. - May 18, 12
Yesterday, the blog 'Captain JP's log' had an interesting entry about the upcoming Diamond Jubilee - read Queen's Diamond Jubilee - update here.
As a matter of fact, continue reading 'Captain JP's log' as there are several very entertaining blog posts about rowing! - May 17, 12
For the 158th Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge, Oxford Today released six films in a series called “A Year in the Life of the Boat Race”, which showed behind-the-scenes shots about the Dark Blues. These films were both well-made and interesting. After the race, which will go down in history as one-of-a-kind, Oxford did an epilogue, which I think is the best film in these series. The Oxford crew reflects how it all ended.
- May 19, 12As it was David Brooks who actually started this ‘listomania’ on HTBS, it is only fair that he is the first one out with two lists, and he has picked oarsmen for List III and List V. David writes,
‘I have to admit, I am more familiar with the last 40 years or so and find it difficult to compare rowers from pre-war who were generally so much smaller than today’s guys.
‘So, here is my all-star eight of the last 40 or so years and my top 5 scullers from the same period.’
1. A. HolmesHolmes and Redgrave
2. T. Crooks
3. J. Cracknell
4. G. Searle
5. S. Redgrave
6. M. Pinsent
7. T. Foster
Str. A. Triggs-Hodge
Cox P. Sweeney
‘…and then S. Williams and M. Cross to round out the top ten sweeps rowers. It would be interesting to see how this eight would have done against a similar German eight that could call on so many powerhouse East German crews? Or eights from Australia, Canada, USA and New Zealand for that matter!’
Scullers:Alan Campbell and his coach Bill Barry
1. A. Campbell
2. C. Baillieu
3. G. Searle
4. S. Redgrave
5. H. Matheson (or T. Crooks)
Thank you, David!
So, all you HTBS readers which rowers and scullers would you have own your lists?
If you would like to see your list/lists posted on HTBS, please e-mail your list/s to:
gbuckhorn -at- gmail.com – please put “List” in the subject box.
To have your list/s posted you have to give me your name and town and country. - May 19, 12So, against better judgment I have decided to post lists on HTBS (see yesterday’s entry). Yes, there is going to be more than one ‘All-Time Top Ten British Rowers/Scullers’ only because I believe it is impossible to compare oarsmen’s achievements during different eras. These are the different lists:
List I: Top Ten British Rowers, up until the end of WWI (-1919)
List II: Top Ten British Rowers, between 1920 and 1970
List III: Top Ten British Rowers, from 1971 to the present time
List IV: Top Ten British Scullers, up until 1919 (amateurs and professionals on the same list)
List V: Top Ten British Scullers, from 1920 to the present time (amateurs and professionals on the same list)
If you would like to see your list/lists posted on HTBS, please e-mail your list/s to:
gbuckhorn -at- gmail.com – please put “List” in the subject box.
To have your list/s posted you have to give me your name and town and country – and no pranks, please!
You may, of course, explain the names on your lists, if you like, but it is not necessary to be posted.
Who knows, HTBS might extend the lists to American and international rowers and scullers in the future.
Thank you – Göran/HTBS - May 16, 12
What do you think of when you hear ‘rowing list’? Maybe you are thinking of Megan Kalmoe’s ‘Hot List’, or one of the lists of rowers that sometimes pop up on FISA’s website? I had not really considered to post a list of rowers on HTBS, as I have been happy to occasionally post entries on some of my ‘rowing heroes’. But a week ago, I received an e-mail from my HTBS colleague Tim Koch in London. Tim had got an e-mail from David Brooks, a Brit living in the USA. David, who calls himself an ‘amateur sports historian’, was interested in getting information about some British oarsmen to be able to put together what he calls ‘an all-time British rowing squad.’Would 'Muttle' make The List?
Both Tim and I thought that it sounded like a good idea for a discussion on HTBS. Tim immediately threw in five names: Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent, Jack Beresford Jnr., Guy Nickalls, and the professional sculler Ernest Barry. Tim also mentions one of his (and mine) rowing heroes, Wally Kinnear, as someone who might be on a ‘scullers’ list’ with Barry.
I also contacted some rowing historians to see whom they might like to have on their ‘Top Ten British Rowers List’. There I run into problems. You see, they do not ‘do’ lists. However, they were happy to drop some names. Peter Mallory, author of the four-volume, 2,500-page, The Sport of Rowing (2011), mentions: Stanley Muttlebury, Beresford Snr., and Ran Laurie. ‘Beresford Jr. could row lightweight for sure. And don’t forget Mark Hunter [who is featured in the current issue of Rowing & Regatta, May 2012]. I’m not too impressed with British professionals beyond Ernie and perhaps Bert Barry,’ Peter writes. He also mentions ‘the Old Crocks’, the Leander eight that took gold at the Olympic regatta in 1908.
Well-known rowing historian Tom Weil writes:
‘Two scullers of y’oar who merit very serious consideration are A.A. Casamajor and F.S. Kelly, each a giant of his era. By his death at 28 (3 days before the 1861 Wingfields), Casamajor had won the Diamonds in 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858 and 1861, and the Wingfields in 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, and 1860 (as well as the Goblets in 1855, 1856, 1858, and 1860, the Stewards in 1856, the Wyfolds in 1856, and the Grand in 1857 and 1859). This records includes multiple Henley victories in each of the 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858 regattas.
‘Kelly (who was born in Australia, but spent his entire rowing career in England, starting with stroking Eton to the Ladies’ in 1899) won the Diamonds in 1902, 1903 (over Beresford Sr) and 1905, and the Wingfields in 1903 (as well as the Stewards in 1906, the Grand in 1903, 1904, and 1905, and gold in the UK eight in the 1908 Olympics [‘the Old Crocks’]). Kelly’s Diamonds time stood for 30+ years before beaten by Joe Burk. Kelly also died young, a casualty of WWI.’
Another HTBS colleague, Greg Denieffe, writes, ‘I’m no great fan of ‘listomania’ but that’s because I’m no good at them!’ However, Greg drops a name:Albert de Laud Long
‘One person that I would put forward,’ Greg writes, ‘to be on an overall top 10 sweep list would be Albert de Laud Long. A Wingfield Sculls winner in 1869 and again in 1870 he won a staggering 18 trophies at Henley between 1868 and 1877. Five times a Grand winner, eight Stewards’ wins, four in the Goblets and a win in the Coxless fours of 1872. He was also in the London R.C. crew in the “1872 Anglo-American Boat-Race,” in which London R.C. beat Atalanta B.C. of New York from Mortlake to Putney.’
Tomorrow, HTBS will present David Brooks’s ‘all-time British rowing squad’, and some ‘rules’ for those of you who would like to contribute with your own ‘Top Ten British Rowers List’, or should I say ‘lists’ as there is going to be more than one. - May 14, 12The Henley Standard, the local newspaper in Henley-on-Thames, now and then, has some interesting video clips showing rowing. On the following link the paper allows us to meet some of the cast and crew members of the BBC film Bert and Dickie. We meet, for example, 'Dickie's father' and 'Bert's mother and father'. To enjoy the video, click here.
- May 13, 12
It is May which means that it will soon be time for ‘Summer Eights’ or as it is also called, Eights Week, the bump races on Isis which is the biggest intercollegiate rowing event at the University of Oxford. However, some of the colleges have run into trouble as they have not been able to train on the river due to an extremely high water level, The Oxford Student wrote the other day. The newspaper has talked to some rowers who think it is unfair as some colleges’ rowers have been able to train outside of Oxford. Read the article in The Oxford Student here.Click to enlarge
Reading this article about this four-day regatta, which has been rowed almost every year since 1815, except 1820, 1821, 1823, 1829, and during the War years, reminded me that I had an old programme, or ‘race chart’, from 29 May, 1929, showing the order of starting for the different crews.
One fun thing with these old ‘charts’ is the advertisements. In mine from 1929 you will find ads from ‘Grimbly, Hughes & Co.’ the food experts and wine & spirit merchants; the ‘New Theatre, Oxford’ is presenting “The Desert Song”; ‘The Oriel Restaurant’ on High Street has a full page ad; and so has ‘Arthur Shepherd & Woodwards’, the tailors, who has a special ‘flannel trouser offer’; E. M. Staniland is pushing for ‘King Weed’, which should be smoked in one of his ‘natural briars’; a couple of car dealers are selling ‘dependable used’ cars; buy flowers and fruit at ‘John Mattock’; or have your photograph taken by ‘James Soame’; or stay at ‘The Castle Hotel’ or ‘Becket House Hotel’, or see the Eights from ‘Salter’s Steamer’ where you of course can obtain tea on board; and ‘Elliston & Cavell Ltd.’ in Magdalen Street, which was established in 1823, offers ‘Everything for Ladies and Children’s wear’.
I am ashamed to say that I have only witnessed Eights Week for half a day in May 1998…. - May 12, 12I have just received the latest issue of Rowing & Regatta - and what a lovely issue it is! For quite some time now I have been wondering why on earth there was nothing about the upcoming BBC film Bert and Dickie in the magazine. But finally, in this May issue, there is an article about the film, just have a look at the wonderful cover showing Sam Hoare and Matt Smith portraying Dickie Burnell and Bert Bushnell, respectively.
Wendy Kewley, editor of R&R, had Patricia Carswell put together the article with long quotes by William Ivory, screenwriter, Sam Hoare, and Ross Hunter. The latter is a member of Leander and the rowing double for Smith/Bushnell in the double scull. There has been a 'rumour' that actor Hoare actually rowed at Eton, which he now brings up in the article. He says that, while he did go to Eton, 'I hadn't done a huge amount of rowing before I got involved in this project'.
Ivory also confirms that Burnell, although 'a rowing royalty' at Leander, 'was clearly such a modest man', which the readers of HTBS already know after all the articles about him on this blog. One question that this nice article does not answer is when this film is going to be on television. I guess, we all have to have our eyes and ears open.
Other interesting articles in this May issue of R&R are Martin Cross's article on the eventful 158th Boat Race and Martin Gough's article on the race between Oxford's Isis and Cambridge's Goldie, which Isis won. Furthermore, Gough also interviews Olympic champion Mark Hunter, and there are articles on the Oxbridge veterans' race, the Henley Boat Races, and The Great River Race. As for Mike Rowbottom, who always has a well-written interview published about an interesting 'old' rower, this time he has taken on Chris Baillieu, the Cambridge Blue, who is depicted in Chris Dodd's latest book, Pieces of Eight. Talking about Dodd, as always, he has a great piece on rowing history at the end of the magazine. This time it is about a voyage between London and Vienna in 1869.
HTBS congratulates R&R editor Wendy K. for a glorious issue loaded with good stuff! - May 11, 12
On 2 May, Tim Koch gave the readers of HTBS the weights of some of the famous British Olympic oarsmen. Of course, an oarsman’s weight can vary depending on if he is in a ‘racing trim’ or not. Some athletes, or their coaches, are keeping diaries or logs how their training is going, more for their own sake than for sport historians who later would like to do research. A good example of a ‘log keeper’, was Dickie Burnell, who soon will be featured in a BBC film, Bert and Dickie, about how he and Bert Bushnell only spent a few weeks together before it was time for them to race at the 1948 Olympic regatta in Henley-on-Thames. As we all know, they became Olympic champions.Dickie & Bert
I am not sure, but I am guessing that the filmmakers have very carefully read Burnell’s brilliant book Swing Together: Thoughts on Rowing, which was published in 1952. In this book is a chapter called “Olympic Log Book, 1947-8” where he scribbled down some notes about his training in the boat. It is indeed an interesting read. Burnell’s first partner in the double scull was Dick Winstone, and Burnell’s first entry reads:
‘27.ix.47 Tried out the Leander double sculler with Winstone at Henley. Paddled to Hambleden lock and back. Quite promising.’
The second entry reads:
‘4.x.47. Bow (Winstone) 12 st. 9 ½ lb. Stroke (Burnell) 14 st. 6 ½ lb. Henley. Paddled to lock and up to Fawley in one piece. back to [Temple] Island, and paddled hard over regatta course. Quite comfortable, but ragged when tired.’
Later that month they get the good news that they will receive a new boat:
‘21.x.47. Heard to-day from Gully [Nickalls] that we can have a new boat built by Sims. This is excellent news as the Leander boat, a converted pair, is much too heavy.’
Burnell is frequently coming back to their weights in his log:
‘27.i.48. Bow, 13 st. 5 ½ lb. Stoke, 14 st. 5 lb. Kingston. Paddled new boat to Hampton Court and back. beginning to get the feel of it, but we were very unsteady in a strong and difficult wind.’
’13.iv.48. Bow, 13 st. 6 lb. Stroke, 14 st. 12 lb. Jack Beresford came out with us Paddled up to Ditton and back. Nice water and going quite well. Jack said he thought us promising, but a bit short forward.’
And so it goes on. There are several entries where one word indicates that their practise probably should have gone better: ‘not bad to-day, but…..’ In the beginning of June, Burnell’s log tells that they went out sculling on their own, or had no outing at all. For the Marlow Regatta, which was going to be the double’s first test, the entry on 19 June, ’48, reveals it all: ‘This was a disaster.’ Nothing seemed to have worked. Winstone and Burnell were just not to be, they sculled too differently. They were beaten at Henley by a Belgian double in the semi-final. After Henley, Burnell was put in the double with Bert Bushnell:
‘6.vii.48. Bow (Bushnell), 11 st. 5 lb., Stroke (Burnell), 14 st. 3 ½ lb. […].’
This combination seems to work much better. The last entry with the oarsmen’s weights given is on 26 July ’48: ‘Bow, 11 st. 6 lb. Stroke, 14 st. 3 lb.’ The very last entry is on 31 July ’48, three days before the beginning of the Olympic regatta.
They were a good match, Burnell wrote: ‘Bushnell […] liked a fairly lively rate of striking, but alone lacked the power to maintain it. I also liked it, and had the necessary power, but needed encouragement to keep it up. Bushnell’s liveliness, by taking much of the weight off me, particular at the start, enabled me to get going fast and settle into a comfortable gait, whilst my weight helped us to keep it going. But a great deal of credit must go to Bushnell. It was a remarkable performance for one whose whole time had been spent as a single sculler, to fit in so quickly with the vagaries of a stroke behind whom he had never sculled before.’
Dickie Burnell’s Swing Together: Thoughts on Rowing is a remarkable book! - May 10, 12At Putney
When eight strong fellows are out to row,
With a slip of a lad to guide them,
I warrant they’ll make the light ship go,
Though the coach on the launch may chide them,
With his “Six, get on to it! Five, you’re late!
Don’t hurry the slides, and use your weight!
You're bucketing, Bow; and, as to Four,
The sight of his shoulders makes me sore!”
But Stroke has steadied his fiery men,
And the lift on the boat gets stronger;
And the Coxswain suddenly shouts for “Ten!
Reach out to it, longer, longer!”
While the wind and the tide raced hand in hand
The swing of the crew and the pace were grand;
But now that the two meet face to face
It’s buffet and slam and a tortoise-pace.
For Hammersmith Bridge has rattled past,
And, oh, but the storm is humming.
The turbulent white steeds gallop fast;
They’re tossing their crests and coming.
It’s a downright rackety, gusty day,
And the backs of the crew are drenched in spray;
But it’s “Swing, boys, swing till you’re deaf and blind,
And you’ll beat and baffle the raging wind.”
They have slipped through Barnes; they are round the bend;
And the chests of the eight are tightening.
“Now spend your strength, if you’ve strength to spend,
And away with your hands like lightning!
Well rowed!” - and the coach is forced to cheer -
“Now stick to it, all, for the post is near! ”
And, lo, they stop at the coxswain’s call,
With its message of comfort, “Easy all!”
So here’s to the sturdy undismayed
Eight men who are bound together
By the faith of the slide and the flashing blade
And the swing and the level feather;
To the deeds they do and the toil they bear;
To the dauntless mind and the will to dare;
And the joyous spirit that makes them one
Till the last fierce stroke of the race is done.
R. C. Lehmann - May 11, 12
Richard Way in Friday Street, Henley-on-Thames
HTBS’s Tim Koch has revisited Henley-on-Thames. Here is his report:
Anyone who has been lucky enough to make a visit to Henley-on-Thames during the Henley Royal Regatta will know what a delightful experience this is. For those who missed it, a video of the HTBS visit to last year’s ‘Royal’ is here.
However, a trip to this lovely English town is worthwhile at any time, not just for five days in June and July.
For those interested in rowing there are five places in Henley that merit a ‘pilgrimage’. Sited on opposite sides of Henley Bridge are two of them, Leander Club and Regatta Headquarters. I always have the idea that they are guarding the entrance to the sacred waters of the regatta course. Unfortunately, neither is open to the general public but you may catch a glimpse of some of the stars of British rowing (past and present) going about their business.Leander Club
For anyone who normally attends the regatta, walking the famous 1 mile 550 yard (2,112 metres) course from the bridge via Remenham Village to Temple Island is a strange experience. Where, for a few days in the summer there is elegant chaos, you find only open fields. Further, not a single drink of Pimm’s is to be had. For this, continue on past the regatta start to the Flower Pot, the archetypal English country pub.Henley Royal Regatta Headquarters
A visit to the River and Rowing Museum is an obvious choice for the remigiumophile*. The permanent exhibits and the temporary exhibitions cover not only the history of rowing but also the town of Henley and of the river in all its aspects. It also caters for children, notably with its ‘Wind in the Willows’ attraction. The award winning building is set in lush riverside meadows and, if you wish to make your visit truly memorable, it is licensed for wedding ceremonies. A full review of the Museum will appear on HTBS in the coming months.The entrance to the River & Rowing Museum.
The final place of pilgrimage in Henley for those interested in rowing is Way’s Rare and Second Hand Bookshop in Friday Street. This delightful little shop sells general antiquarian and second hand books but also has a rowing section containing everything from leather bound Victorian tomes on ‘aquatics’ to the most recent paperback on high performance sculling. They sometimes have rowing prints and ephemera but the rowing memorabilia which decorates the shop is, unfortunately, not for sale. At this point I would usually put in a link to their website, but, to complete the slightly Dickensian air, they do not have one. If you put ‘Way’s Bookshop’ into a search engine, the best you will do is find some complementary user reviews. This is typical:
‘This is a beautiful tucked away antique and second hand bookshop. It is so full of books that it can be a bit hard to know where to start, but the owner is lovely and extremely helpful, should you want something specific…’
While I agree with these comments about Diana, one of the owners, she is also very modest and I have failed several times over the years to persuade her to give me an interview – until now.
In an age of obtaining books from the Internet and from large high street chains (a subject that HTBS has covered before) an independent bookshop in a small country town seems to be an anachronism. This was not the situation in 1977 when Richard Way and Diana Cook bought the shop. The previous owner had a small selection of books of interest to some visitors to the regatta but Diana and Richard started to build up this part of their trade, initially selling older books but eventually also stocking new publications. Richard was a wooden boat builder and so already had some knowledge of rowing and the river but for Diana it was to be the start of having to become something of an expert on rowing and its history.
As already mentioned, Way’s Bookshop does not have a website but this does not mean that it does not have a healthy national and international trade; it is simply conducted by letter and telephone. Diana does not deny that putting their stock on the Internet would increase business but she doubts that the extra turnover would cover the increased costs, particularly of extra staff.
In the past Way’s has handled the large and important rowing libraries including those of the rowing journalist and historian, Geoffrey Page and also of a past Henley Chairman and Leander President, Harold Rickett.
When I asked Diana what proportion of the shop’s trade was in rowing books she claimed that she has deliberately not worked out the figures on this. She suspects that the general sales ‘subsidise’ the rowing section and, if Way’s were entirely motivated by profit and loss, there would be little shelf space devoted to things aquatic. One fact of modern life which Diana feels that she may have to confront is that many people who trade online in new books sell them at cost and make their profit on the ‘postage and packing’. A bookshop cannot compete with this and she is considering not stocking new publications in future. This would be a sad but understandable move for a place that is so much more than a place to buy books. It is also a publisher, a club, a research centre and a meeting place for old and new friends. It deserves the support of the rowing community so, next time you need a rowing book, do not order it online, visit or contact Way’s and deal with a real person who offers polite and knowledgeable service. You will not get this from an Internet dealer – even if they are named after a South American river.Diana Cook successfully runs the Richard Way Book Shop the old-fashioned way.
*Remigiumophile (noun) I have just made this word up. It means ‘a lover of all things related to rowing’ and is from ‘remigium’, the Latin for ‘at oars’ or ‘rowing’. I know combining it with ‘phile’ is mixing Latin and Greek but so does the word ‘television’. If anyone with a classical education can improve on this, please do so – otherwise history will record its first use here (maybe).
(Photograph & copyright: Tim Koch) - May 09, 12What I did not mention yesterday in my review about Chris Dodd’s entertaining new book, Pieces of Eight, is the ‘book’ itself. What I mean by ‘book’ is not the content – which, again, is brilliant – it is instead how the book looks, its binding, format, cover, and lay-out. As an old book editor/ publisher, I am not only interested in the content of a book, I would like it to look nice, too. The publisher of Pieces of Eight is the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. It is, if I have counted correctly, the museum’s third published rowing book after Tom Weil’s Beauty and the Boats (2005) and Peter Mallory’s The Sport of Rowing (2011), and it is going to be interesting to see if there are any other books on rowing coming from the museum in the near future.
What I like with Dodd’s book is its format. It is a paperback, but it still has a book cover with flaps. The font is easy to read with a good lay-out. However, while I demand an index in a book like this, the index in Pieces of Eight is almost impossible to read despite my new reading spectacles.
But what I really love is the cover – ‘The Eight’ from 1930 by the British artist Cyril Power (1872-1951). According to material from the auction house Bonhams in London, which rowing historian Tom Weil has forwarded to me, Bonhams writes that “‘The Eight’ shows a racing crew during trials for the Head of the River on the Thames. Power drew it looking down on the boat from Hammersmith Bridge. With its dramatic sense of energy, ‘The Eight’ is one of Power’s most sought after works and the print was in excellent condition.” The ‘print’ mentioned in the text from Bonhams was sold by them last July for £59,520! Read more here. According to Weil only 50 copies were printed of Power’s ‘The Eight’. So, if you have a copy of this print laying about, dust it off and run immediately over to the nearest Bonhams office.USA cover? U.K. cover?
Looking at the website of the publishing company Shire Library, it seems that they are also going to use ‘The Eight’ for one of their books which is coming out this summer. Writer, historian, and rower Julie Summers’s book Rowing in Britain has it on its cover. Read more about Summers’s book here, and read her Newsletter about the book here. A little confusing is that Shire Library’s distributor in the USA, Random House, is showing a completely different cover for the book on their site. That looks nice, too, though…*
*Here is an update regarding the cover of Summers's book: it will not be the same as the one on the cover of Dodd's book, however, at this point of time, there are no certainties that it will be the one that Random House has on their site either. (Updated 9 May, 2012) - May 08, 12
I have admired Chris Dodd’s writing on rowing for three decades. I have followed his writing in The Guardian and later his short stint at The Independent. For years I subscribed to ARA’s magazine Regatta, which was founded by Dodd, giving Great Britain at the time two quality rowing magazines as Rowing already existed, published by the boat building company Aylings – nowadays ARA is called British Rowing and its magazine Rowing & Regatta. And of course, I have read all of Dodd’s brilliant rowing books: Henley Royal Regatta (1981), The Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race (1983), Boating (1983), The Story of World Rowing (1992), Battle of the Blues: The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race from 1829 (ed. with John Marks; 2004), and Water Boiling Aft: London Rowing Club, the First 150 Years 1856-2006 (2006).
When Dodd began his career as a rowing correspondent in the beginning of the 1970s, he joined a small group of outstanding rowing journalists, to mention the maybe most famous ones: Dickie Burnell, Desmond Hill, Geoffrey Page, Jim Railton, and John Rooda. Dodd is the only one left of these gentlemen of the rowing press, and today he has to be regarded as the doyen of rowing writers and historians. Nowadays, he is writing for the electronic rowing publication Rowing Voice, which he co-founded, and since 1997 he is the curator and historian at the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, a beautiful institution he also co-founded.Chris Dodd
With this background, or should I write, firm base to stand on, Dodd is highly qualified to pen the story about how British rowing rose from pure misery to once again have crews standing on the medal podiums at the World Championships and Olympic Games. His new book is called Pieces of Eight: Bob Janousek and his Olympians, which was published in March, and it splendidly tells the tale of a forgotten era of British rowing. It might be hard for rowing people these days to understand how our time’s greatest rowing nation, which ‘invented’ modern rowing in the beginning of the 1800s and which has fed rowing giants like Sir Steven Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent, had a two-decade-long ‘down period’. From after the Olympic Games in 1948 to the beginning of the 1970s (with the exception of an Olympic silver in the coxless four in 1964) British rowing had been without any medals and barely made it to the finals in the World Championships and Olympic regattas.
After the end of the 1960s when British rowing had hit rock bottom, ARA decided to do something drastic: invite a coach from Prague, who had Olympic bronze medals as a member of the Czech eights in Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964, to organise and guide the national teams and to educate the coaches who trained the crews, and to write the first ARA coaching training manual. His name was Bohumil Janoušek and he arrived in London in October 1969. Besides his Olympic rowing medals, he had two more key attributes in his personal baggage “that would serve him well in the hide-bound and divided rowing society that he had parachuted into” Dodd writes, “He had a degree in sports science from Charles University in Prague. And he spoke no English.”
Of course, not everyone liked or approved that help was coming from the outside, especially not some of the coaches from the old system with ‘private navies’. It was difficult for a coach to train a crew which had members from different clubs, which Bob Janousek, the name he took in England, soon discovered when he went to coach the national eight that had oarsmen from Leander and Thames Tradesmen. There was a huge difference in styles and techniques whether the rowers came from Cambridge, Leander or Tradesmen. Nor did the oarsmen understand how to row at a steady rate for 20 minutes; in the beginning they all rowed their hearts out and totally collapsed after 9 minutes. Janousek had brought with him some coaching ideas from Karl Adam of the Ratzeburg Rowing Academy, but it was not easy to apply them to the British scene.
At first, the Czech coach kept his distance from the national crews, allowing their coaches to train the different boats, but no British crew managed to reach the A-finals at the 1970 World Championships at St Catherines, the 1971 European Championships at Copenhagen, and the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich (exception of a fifth place by a Leander double). As Janousek had decided to stay in Britain with his family and thereby disobeying the Czech rowing government body to come home, he did not go to the 1973 European Championships which were held in Moscow – with the Cold War lingering about, as a ‘defector’ it was not likely that he would be allowed to go back to Britain.Janousek, cover of Rowing 1975
In September 1973, Janousek decided to take a more active role as the National coach and sent out a letter to a selected group of oarsmen inviting them to join the National Squad which was going to be personally coached by him. He ended his letter by writing “I cannot promise you medals, even though this is what we shall try for, but I can promise that it will be worth the effort.” None of them, including Janousek, knew how hard the road was going to be.
At the first international regatta for the newly formed National team of oarsmen from Leander and Tradesmen at Mannheim, Germany, in June 1974, they were rowing in a coxless four and a coxed four, each crew mixed between the clubs and with a nervous rivalry crawling outside their skin. After their repecharge heat the men in the coxless four suddenly started a fist fight within (!) the crew. In the mini bus back to their barracks Janousek tried to cool down his crews. In his broken English he said, which also underlined how bad British rowing was at the time: “It’s very important we don’t start to argue with each other. Keep calm guys, nobody expects you to win – you are bloody English. The English never win anything.”
While Janousek’s oarsmen kept on struggling within the crews, with their foreign coach, and with their different styles, at least with the Czech coach came structure to their training both on the water and on land. Janousek was also constantly present, and without the oarsmen’s knowledge he was molding them into competitive crews. At the 1974 World Championships in Lucerne, the only thing Janousek told his eight, when they went out to row in the final, was: “enjoy yourselves”. Despite a good start, the British eight with L. D. Robertson, W. G. Mason, J. Clark, D. L. Maxwell, H. P. Matheson, T. J. Crooks, J. C. Yallop, stroke F. L. Smallbone, and cox P. J. Sweeney were last at the 500-metre mark, but they passed West Germany at 750 metres. They had a ‘big burn’ at 1,100 metres when they got closer to the rest of the field. Then cox Sweeney began talking the crew through the other crews, moving past the East Germans, the Russians, and close to the finish line, the New Zealanders. The British eight never managed to over-come the U.S. crew, but to everyone’s surprise Janousek’s oarsmen took a silver medal, and it was also a big surprise that the Americans took the gold, both these crews beating the East Germans, Russians, and the mighty crew from New Zealand, who had done so brilliantly the last couple of years.
Next year’s World Championships were held in Nottingham, and the coxed four (R.J. Ayling, Crooks, Matheson, R. C. Lester, and cox Sweeney) took a fourth place as did the coxless four (Mason, Clark, Robertson, and Yallop), while the double sculls (M. J. Hart and C. L. Baillieu) took a bronze medal repeating their position both at the European Championships in 1973 and the World Championships in 1974. The 1975 results were not as good as Janousek and his oarsmen wanted especially on their ‘home waters’, but they quickly had to switch focus on the following year’s upcoming big event, the Olympic Games in Montreal.
When the Brits arrived at the Olympic basin at Isle Notre-Dame, Montreal, not only did they have the ‘old’ Empacher eight which had served them well, but also the Carbon Tiger, a much lighter boat made of composite plastic and carbon fibre. The new boat worried a lot of their competitors, but while it was very fast on the water it had issues with the rigging and shoulders, and at the end it was not used. Maybe Clark put it best: “If I win a gold medal I don’t want a bastard telling me it was because of the boat.”Bob's Boys in 1975: Lester, Matheson, Clark, Yallop, Aylings, Sweeney, Crooks, Robertson, Manson, and Janousek.
Those of you who know your Olympic rowing history remember that Great Britain did not take a gold medal at the Olympic rowing regatta in Montreal, the championship title went to East Germany, with the British boys coming in as a very good second boat. Or did the British actually win? To this day, some in the crew, which on that day was: Robertson, Smallbone, Clark, Maxwell, Matheson, Crooks, Yallop, Lester, and Sweeney, still think that they were the non-cheating boat, the clean crew, which was not on any drugs. Rumour had it that the East Germans were on ‘something’, pills or got some ‘vitamin’ injections by their coach before a race. At the end of the book, Dodd brings up the question and debates whether it would be possible. Nothing was ever proved, so the question still is unanswered, and will probably never be answered.
In his ‘foreword’ Chris Dodd writes that Pieces of Eight is not a book of rowing history, but a ‘collective memory of a coach, a group of oarsmen, and a reporter who followed them in their day. It is therefore, a memoir, not a history.’ Well, whatever you would like to call it, a memoir, a rowing biography, a history book, it is a well-written, damn good book! And it has an important story to tell, as one man, single handedly torn down the social barrier, which only a foreigner could do who did not understand the English class system. After the 1976 Olympic Games Bob Janousek handed in his resignation as the National team coach. His next job was as a ‘baker’, or that is at least what he called himself when he joined John Vigurs to start their boat building company Carborcraft. When the company failed, Janousek established his own company Janousek Racing, which became world-known. What happened to Janousek’s oarsmen? Many of them continued to be involved in rowing in some way, some active rowers, coaches, or rowing advocates, and today some of them are Henley Stewards. They all think fondly of Janousek, he was, one of them said, “the tenth man in the boat”.
Dodd has used his interviews with everyone who was involved in the revival of British rowing at this time in a most effective way, allowing them to reflect and think back of their glory days as Janousek’s men. While it might not always work to have the objects of your book to move back and forth in time, I do not think there is a problem in Dodd’s book to have the oarsmen to ‘pop in’ in present time to leave comments and arguments if a thing was right or not.
Pieces of Eight: Bob Janousek and his Olympians is indeed a must-read, must-have book. If you would like to understand how British rowing has managed to reach its high level of today – when we are only weeks away from the Olympic Games in London where the British yet again will meet glory on the water – this book will tell you how it all started, how one man taught the ‘bloody English’ how to row again.
Order a copy of Chris Dodd’s Pieces of Eight: Bob Janousek and his Olympians, here.
Tomorrow on HTBS there will be a short piece about the beautiful artwork “The Eight” by Cyril Power which grace the cover of Dodd’s book. - May 06, 12
After posting yesterday’s entry about the 1920 Henley Royal Regatta programme, I remembered that at the fund-raising party in March in memory of Hart Perry, which HTBS wrote about on 10 March, two old Henley programmes were up for auction. They had belonged to Hart and were not only ‘old’, they were the two oldest ones in the history of the regatta, programmes from the 1839 Henley Regatta and the 1840 Henley Regatta (at that time, the Regatta was not ‘Royal’ yet). Both programmes – they were only a sheet each – were framed together, and one bidder bought them for the starting bid: $3,000. Very gracefully the bidder allowed the programmes to stay in the display case in the rowing exhibit at the NRF’s National Rowing Hall of Fame, at least for now.1839 Henley Regatta Programme
See also this HTBS post on an old Henley programme from 1851.1840 Henley Regatta Programme - May 06, 12Although there had been a four-day regatta organised on the Henley Reach in 1919 - the Royal Henley Peace Regatta - it was never recognised as a real Henley Royal Regatta due to the fact that many oarsmen were still serving in the armed forces. Instead, the first official Henley Royal Regatta after the War, where the usual Henley trophies were presented, was in 1920.
Henley Stewards 1920 - click to enlarge
As a matter of curiosity, in my small collection of rowing memorabilia is a Henley Royal Regatta Programme for the regatta’s first day, Wednesday 30 June, 1920. The list of the Stewards is literally a list of famous oarsmen’s ‘Who is Who’ with names such as Desborough, Ampthill, Pitman, Lehmann, de Havilland, Rowe, Gold, Steward, and Burnell. It is also in this programme the rowing world for the first time would lay their eyes on the name of a 21-year-old who would bring glory to his club and country for decades to come: Jack Beresford Jr. of Thames RC, who was racing against The Hon. The Master of Gray of Viking RC, in the first heat of the Diamond Challenge Sculls, Beresford on the Berks side and Gray on the Bucks side. Beresford would eventually win the final of the Diamonds beating Donald Gollan, First Trinity, Cambridge by three lengths.
There was another 21-year-old debutant at the 1920 Henley Royal who would do well and serve British rowing for decades to come, and he had, just as young Beresford, rowing in his blood as his father, too, was a well-known oarsman. Of course, I am referring to Guy Oliver ‘Gully’ Nickalls, who rowed for Magdalen College, Oxford, both in the college’s eight in the Grand Challenge Cup and in the Silver Goblets & Nickalls’ Challenge Cup (coxless pair, with Richard Lucas). Magdalen won the Grand by beating Leander by two lengths, and Nickalls and Lucas won the Silver Goblet by easily over-powering a crew from Thames RC with Ian Fairbairn (son of Steve Fairbairn) and Bruce Logan. It is noteworthy that Gully’s victory in the Silver Goblets marked the twelfth triumph in this event for a member of the Nickalls family.Gully Nickalls
Both Beresford and Nickalls would later in 1920 take two silver medals in the Olympic Games in Antwerp, Beresford in the single and Nickalls as a member of the British eight. - May 04, 12Straw hat season will soon be upon us - 15 May - HTBS remembers when we saw this old photograph of Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, when he was visiting the Henley Royal Regatta in 1921. That was the year when Magdalen College, Oxford, won the Grand Challenge Cup, and the Dutch sculler Frits Evert Eyken defeated Jack Beresford Jnr in the final of the Diamond Challenge Sculls.
- May 03, 12
HTBS’s London correspondent Tim Koch writes,Jack and Wally
Yesterday’s HTBS item, ‘Heavy Boys’, on the heights and weights of some famous past rowers noted that weights are fairly easy to discover (especially if they rowed at Henley Royal Regatta) but heights are rarely officially recorded. It also contained my suggestion that, if a rower served in the British armed forces in either of the World Wars, their service record containing their personal details may be available online. They are stored at the British National Archives (which is situated right next to the Thames at Kew, I have often rowed past it) and they can be downloaded for £3.40 each. As I am currently writing about W.D. ‘Wally’ Kinnear, the 1912 Olympic Sculling Champion, I recently accessed his papers.
Kinnear’s record reveals that when he enlisted in 1916, at the age of 36, he was 6 foot and 1/2 an inch tall, had a 40 inch chest, brown hair, blue eyes and a ‘fresh’ complexion. He joined the Royal Naval Air Service (which was part of the Royal Navy) but, as the RNAS was merged with the Royal Flying Corps in April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force, he then became a founder member of the RAF. A very telling thing was that he gave his civilian occupation as ‘motor driver’. This was not true, he was a travelling salesman. I think that he wanted to drive and so, as a result of this suddenly acquired skill, he spent the War delivering aircraft parts. It was characteristic of the man that he decided that he wanted something and so made it happen. Speaking in 1965 he revealed that in 1900, having never rowed, he visited Henley Regatta and decided that he would like to win the Diamond Sculls:
‘…I’d already dedicated myself to win the Diamonds and in all the years that I was rowing and sculling and living it was with one view of winning those Sculls and I won them the first time of asking and ten years after I had (first) seen the Sculls, I hadn’t been to Henley in between there you know…?’
The wonderful picture above has not been published before, it is from the Kinnear family album. It shows Jack Beresford (left) and Wally in, I think the 1950s. It shows two men who obviously have great respect and affection for each other and it also clearly shows two powerful men, even in their later years. I imagine they both gave crushing handshakes. From it I think we can deduce that Jack is fraction taller than Wally so he would be about 6 foot 1 inch.
Jack Beresford would certainly have a service record as it was a leg wound received in the First World War that caused him to give up rugby in favour of rowing. ‘Jumbo’ Edwards was, of course, a Group Captain in the RAF and a decorated war hero. Looking at their ages, all the other could have served in the 1939-1945 War and, considering their physical fitness, presumably did. Thankfully, they all survived. - May 02, 12
Two weeks ago, HTBS received a question from ‘David’ who writes: ‘I’m doing a bit of research and wondered if you know or could take an educated guess at the heights (and if possible rowing weights) of the following rowers: Jack Wilson, Ran Laurie, Dickie Barney, Bert Bushnell, Hugh ‘Jumbo’ Edwards, Jack Beresford, and Dick Southwood ~ Many thanks, David’Laurie
I started to flip through pages in my rowing books, while Tim Koch began looking in The Times archive’s Henley Royal Regatta (HRR) reports. Weights are easy to find in the HRR programmes Tim writes, ‘but heights are more difficult. One way to find out these oarsmen’s heights is to try to find their military records which record such things’.
Here is what Tim found when it comes to the rowers’ weights (in stones and pounds / pounds / kilograms):
D.J. ‘Jack’ Wilson (Henley Royal Regatta 1934): 12.11 / 179 / 81.2
W.G.M. ‘Ran’ Laurie (HRR 1934): 13.4 / 186 / 84.4
B.H.T. ‘Bert’ Bushnell: 10.8 / 148 lbs / 67 Height: 5'10" / 178
H.R.A. ‘Jumbo’ Edwards (HRR 1932): 13.7 / 189 / 85.7
Jack Beresford Jnr (HRR 1939): 11.9 / 163 / 74
L.F. ‘Dick’ Southwood (HRR 1934) 12.10 / 178 / 80.7
Tim and I have to confess we are not sure who ‘Dickie’ Barney was, so if David, or someone else could inform us, we would be grateful. Thank you!
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