JerekKruger wrote: … my force curve tends to tail off a little too quickly at the end, and I get my best splits when I consciously focus on a powerful hip swing and pull with the arms.
My force curve when rowing a typical mid 2000m TT stroke (which is what I try to reproduce when rowing things like 500m intervals) is fairly symmetric (it looks a bit like the fourth example you give in your Google Doc link, though naturally not quite as tall overall since I don't row 1:19s
).
My curves also tend to tail off at the end. I believe that this suggests that I need to work on the finish. Actually I pretty much need to work on everything.
JerekKruger wrote:I've worked out one of the reasons for my confusion here. You use the term peak force differently to me (blame my mathematical training). To me, the peak force is the point (or potentially points) on the curve where the force is at its absolute maximum; I think you're using the term to mean the portion of the graph where the rate of increase slows down and the curve takes on a flatter appearance.
Absolutely right! In the Feb 2004 rbn Valery writes “[increase] force faster at the catch.” While I concede that Valery’s is the more accurate description, I still want to experiment with rowing at low cadence and trying to get “peak force” as close as I can to the Y-axis, and then hold on to this force as long as I can. As you say, “.. you want the force curve to be closer to a rectangle than a triangle if for no other reason than you'll have a larger area underneath the "rectangular" curve and hence more average power.”
If I am understanding correctly, to row smoothly is to reproduce the net velocity in the next stroke. Doesn’t this mean that once you have found a desired velocity, accelerate the flywheel or boat only enough to compensate for how much it has decelerated? Valery is hypothesizing that the most efficient way to do this is not by trying to accelerate all the way through the drive but by applying the greatest effort at the catch. Isn’t this exactly what your coach suggests? Sustain the effort applied at the catch without trying to increase it during the drive! A quick, strong tap without wasting energy afterwards! I guess this tells you why I like to quote Sara Lombardi about a “smooth rowing stroke.”
As your Coach and Steve Fairbairn and so many others have suggested, Get it right at the catch.
I have been using the Dynamic Indoor Rower for eleven months, and every time I row on it the importance of getting it right at the catch becomes clearer. For example, consider what it means to couple the drive and the draw. The drive is driving off the stretcher. The draw is pulling on the oar handles.
For years I have been advised to drive hard with the legs and just hang off the handles. Pulling on the oar handles at the catch is formally known to on-water rowers as “arms grabbing,” and is generally considered undesirable. When, however, I just hang off the oar handles, I lose the connection between the drive and the draw. In Fairbairn’s terminology, I uncouple the drive and the draw.
So the Dynamic has made it very clear to me that I have to learn how to sync the effort I apply against the stretcher with the effort I apply against the oar handles. In other words, I have to learn how to make and keep the connection. In a boat making the connection is a little easier to master, provided that you understand that the bit out of the water isn’t finished until the blades are adequately immersed. On an erg you have to exercise the patience to not interrupt the recovery before it is over.
The below link should take you to a video of Ekaterina Karsten making a beautiful connection at the catch and keeping it through the drive. I know of no video that better illustrates what this means. Ekaterina has perfect connection. Hips all the way through to the shoulders move concurrently at the same speed until it is time to open the back and use the armes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GJrOZE ... ploademail
But I am carrying on too long.
Warmest regards,
Charles
