Seat nearly touching my heels in the recovery phase

[frenchtouch]

Hello. Am I going too far in the recovery phase if the seat is nearly touching my heels?

[DuffyF56]

If your knees are forward of your ankles.....I would say so. (shins past vertical)

[jamesg]

The recovery sequence is hands, swing, slide, as here: http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/t ... que-videos

If you go too far, so that the shin-thigh angle closes, it's difficult to shove hard with the quads. No idea if that is risky for the softer knee components, but it doesn't look nice and it makes for a weak slow catch.

The video shows the backstop drill in detail (hands only for few strokes, then add swing, then legs) which helps us to differentiate the recovery action. In some ways recovery is more important than how we shove, because the right sequence gets us to a strong catch posture and so lets us do the work.

[frenchtouch]

My recovery is a bit like that

[Alissa]

Interesting discussion of the biomechanics of foot position & transfer showing vertical shins at catch "here."

HTH,

Enjoy!

Alissa

[Cyclingman1]

To some extent rowing has to feel right, feel powerful. Obviously, there are limits to the legitmacy of "feeling." For example, if one is pulling the handle to one's head, regardless of it feels good, that is bad.

My issue is with the "rule" that the shins cannot be beyond vertical at the catch. In the video of the water rower, the guy is well past vertical and has good power. Also, he has a very short torso and long legs. To get good length on the stroke, he "feels" the need to get the handle as far forward as possible despite a short torso and recovering past vertical. It helps to have flexible ankles. Driving with the toes is really emphasized with the seat close to the feet.

I think, in his case, were he to rigidly follow the shins vertical rule, he would lose considerable power with a greatly reduced stroke length. Everyone who rows gets immediate feedback on the pace/500m. When the power drops off, the evidence is right there. Anyone can experiment around with recovery. If going past vertical works, so be it. Of course, one has to be concerned with sustainability. In other words, can the stroke be duplicated again and again without tiring. That is why a forced stroke will not work. I would encourage everyone to develop a stroke that works best. The feedback is right there to judge if what you are doing is working.

[frenchtouch]

Slide Guide
http://vimeo.com/87874613