Concept2 Forum

Any coaches or rowers out there know of good drills to correct the following problems?<br /><br />1. Leaning away from rigger. One girl in my 4+ will be a great rower if I can just get her to stop leaning away! I've tried the outside-arm only drill but to no avail.<br /><br />2. Skying/digging. My strongest lightweight hammers it with every stroke, but unfortunately misses a good 6" of water because of her initial aggression. I've tried the hands-off drill (let go at the catch, let the blade work itself thru the water and meet it at the finish) and the Russian Catch Drill (top quarter of stroke only). Anything else?<br /><br />3. Too upright, no body pivot. My bowseat is flexible enough to touch her toes but can't seem to get the early body pivot out of the bow. She sits pretty much up at 90 degrees throughout the stroke while the other 3 have a nice early pivot with hands away. I've tried the hands/body away drill (legs locked down, arms/body rowing only).<br /><br />Any help, tips, comments would be appreciated!<br /><br />Andrew

1) Show her that she does not have to remain so rigid through the stroke that she follows the handle with her shoulders, and that only her hands must follow the arc of the handle path. (Hey, at least she is not pulling the collar away from the oarlock.) Suggest that she keep her head travelling along the centerline of the boat.<br /><br />2) Suggest that she make sure that the _very last thing_ she does as part of her recovery is place the blade in the water. "If your blade is not in the water when you begin to drive, your power is worse than lost, you are making the rest of the boat support you, instead of all working together." She probably leaves a big frothy puddle, let her know that white water is wasted power, keep it clean, and dark.<br /><br />3) This may not be a problem, it all depends on if she is getting the same time in the water when on power with the rest of the boat. If she is short in the water, do some work with her on the Erg to get the pivot at the hips correct. Stretching exercises may help, if the hamstrings are tight. Toe touches can be done with a lot of spine bending so not very indicative of flexibility. (The good news: The GER M4x Bow man sits that way and they seem to do okay. He's also been stroke in the same successful boat.) <br /><br />

Firstly, don't rely on doing a 'drill' to improve someone. Doing a drill doesn't magically improve someone's rowing. Simply learning to row better does that!<br /><br /><!--QuoteBegin-happywookie+Apr 21 2005, 03:08 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(happywookie @ Apr 21 2005, 03:08 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Any coaches or rowers out there know of good drills to correct the following problems?<br /><br />1.  Leaning away from rigger.  One girl in my 4+ will be a great rower if I can just get her to stop leaning away!  I've tried the outside-arm only drill but to no avail.<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Bin the emphasis on outside arm only. That's primarily a practice to emphasise connection through the outside hand during the first third of the drive. As they row along, talk about performing most of the final arm draw with the inside arm and thinking about driving the inside elbow through towards the person behind her. 'The inside arm puts the power on at the finish, all the outside arm does is keep the top edge of the blade in the water'. She should also think about getting 'inside her oar handle' at the finish.<br /><br /><!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->2.  Skying/digging.  My strongest lightweight hammers it with every stroke, but unfortunately misses a good 6" of water because of her initial aggression.  I've tried the hands-off drill (let go at the catch, let the blade work itself thru the water and meet it at the finish) and the Russian Catch Drill (top quarter of stroke only).  Anything else?<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Again, the best way to teach someone the correct point for entry is not by doing drills, but by getting them to row and then talking to them as they do so. Get her to row in a small group, with other people in the boat just sitting the boat, and talk to her to get her to time the blade into the water better (tell her whether it should be earlier or later etc). You obviously need a clear idea of what you want! You can then progress up to rowing whole crew gradually. Another option is to get people to row along and call out 'now' when the seat is at its closest point to their heels, and then try and put the blade in the water as they say 'now'.<br /><br /><!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->3.  Too upright, no body pivot.  My bowseat is flexible enough to touch her toes but can't seem to get the early body pivot out of the bow.  She sits pretty much up at 90 degrees throughout the stroke while the other 3 have a nice early pivot with hands away.  I've tried the hands/body away drill (legs locked down, arms/body rowing only).<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Could be any number of reasons for this occurring. Hard to say without seeing it.<br /><br />Mel

<!--QuoteBegin-PaulS+Apr 21 2005, 03:34 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(PaulS @ Apr 21 2005, 03:34 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->1) Show her that she does not have to remain so rigid through the stroke that she follows the handle with her shoulders, and that only her hands must follow the arc of the handle path. (Hey, at least she is not pulling the collar away from the oarlock.)  Suggest that she keep her head travelling along the centerline of the boat.<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />I'd alter that a bit and say that she should have two target points. At the catch, she should have the head in line with the inside knee and inside ankle, and on the centreline at the finish. However she probably believes that she is on the centreline.<br /><br />Mel

Mel and PaulS,<br /><br />Thanks to both of you. Some great tips, especially "point inside elbow toward person behind you" and "no frothy puddle". Much appreciated.<br /><br />I was also linked to a great video site to help with my girls' visualization. Check out <a href='http://www.invernessrowingclub.co.uk/catchpos.html' target='_blank'>Inverness Training Videos</a> if you haven't seen it already.<br /><br />Andrew

<!--QuoteBegin-happywookie+Apr 22 2005, 12:09 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(happywookie @ Apr 22 2005, 12:09 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Mel and PaulS,<br /><br />Thanks to both of you.  Some great tips, especially "point inside elbow toward person behind you" and "no frothy puddle".  Much appreciated.<br /><br />I was also linked to a great video site to help with my girls' visualization.  Check out <a href='http://www.invernessrowingclub.co.uk/catchpos.html' target='_blank'>Inverness Training Videos</a> if you haven't seen it already.<br /><br />Andrew <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Seen it? Well sorta.... Probably the inspiration for the "Ugly" in the Headline... <br /><br />Let us know how it turns out with your girls.

I'm a rower but my coach's done the inside hand only drill (on the square) I don't know if that would do much or anything also for the skying/ digging what about a simple pause drill, pause at the catch with oars in the water then at the recovery with the oars out of the water but before you feather. Also cut the cake might help with skying where on the recovery you do arms and body away twice then finish the stroke.<br /><br />Good luck<br />~Sara

<!--QuoteBegin-gorow9+Apr 27 2005, 06:53 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(gorow9 @ Apr 27 2005, 06:53 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I'm a rower but my coach's done the inside hand only drill (on the square) I don't know if that would do much or anything also for the skying/ digging what about a simple pause drill, pause at the catch with oars in the water then at the recovery with the oars out of the water but before you feather.  Also cut the cake might help with skying where on the recovery you do arms and body away twice then finish the stroke.<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Purposes of exercises:<br /><br /><b>Inside arm only</b> Getting the feeling of leaving arms out during the early part of the drive and emphasis on inside arm during latter part of drive. Can help to stop people digging if the digging is cause by early arm draw.<br /><br /><b>Pause drills</b> Getting the crew moving together. Emphasising early preparation of body positions for catch.<br /><br /><b>Cutting the cake</b> Boat feeling moving off the finish (move with the speed of the boat). Sequencing of recovery. Holding inside shoulder back during early part of recovery.<br /><br />Mel