Technique tips for recovery and catch readiness.

xeno · Post by **xeno** » March 20th, 2006, 12:47 am

I spent three weeks coaching three rowers from the east coast. They were training mainly indoors on the rowing machine because the weather was too cold to train on the water. (I have lost total concept of what winter is.)

All three had a similar technical bug at the catch. All three used the rowing machine without the slides day in and day out.

What I noticed specifically was that they would move their body farther to the catch once the knees were at the highest point of compression and ready to drive the next stroke. On the water the result of this is: a check in the boat at the catch, a late blade entry, and a of course a squaring of the blade in the last split second, making it part of the drive.

I was coached and now coach the following way:

At the finish, the forearms rotate down, hinging at the elbows, the blade comes out on the square, with the wrists straight through the forearms. Once the blade has exited the water the feathering occurs. The arms then straighten at elbows, so that BEFORE you hinge the upper body toward the stern, you create maximum space between the handles and the chest. It is the straight arms that draw the upper body forward. With miles and ability to control the boat, it is normal to square AS the arms straighten out at the elbows. (it feels very mechanical at the beginning) Now you feel the stretch in the HAMSTRINGS and pressure of the heels on the footboard vertically down through the middle of the boat. At this point the forward body angle is complete. Then you DRAW the boat toward you, like scraping the heels along the ground when you were a kid on the playground of school to draw a line. The knees travel to your chest AND NOT THE CHEST TO THE KNEES. As the knees reach the pinacle and full compression of the legs, the STRAIGHT arms rotate up through a RELAXED shoulder joint in time to set the blade. Setting the blade is PART OF THE RECOVERY and not part of the drive.
That is it.

Also I have this live chat option on my website that I want to try in the future. When is a good time to shoot the poo about rowing?

AND if you are sick and tired of the weather, although I have heard it is getting better, jump in a plane and come visit us at the IO.

Until soon.

XENO

ancho · Post by **ancho** » March 20th, 2006, 6:37 am

Thanx, Xeno!
You're describing a problem I have, your post sure will help me to work on it!

Cheers!

NavigationHazard · Post by **NavigationHazard** » March 20th, 2006, 8:35 am

Thanks too, Xeno!

By coincidence, I'd just posted a graphic example of what reducing the overreaching at the catch and smoothing out the recovery can do for your force curve on an erg: start with http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=811#811 and read the next two posts.

A slow-motion look at my recovery had suggested I was committing some of the sins you enumerate (and some others) -- rolling my upper body forward past full compression and stabbing out (i.e. flip catching) to grab more chain on the drive. In the latter screen shot I was making a conscious effort to come into the catch upright, unhurried, in a strong position ready to drive, and with relaxed shoulders. Not overreaching had the effect of shortening my drive length by something on the order of 8-10 cm. But it seems to have had dramatic effects on the speed, power and connection of the drive.

The trick of course is figuring out how to do this even better, on demand, and in a boat. If I wasn't on the opposite rim of the continent, I'd be cartopping my single this weekend and looking for hands-on help. You ever consider travelling east? I rather suspect you could find enough interest here in NY/NJ, and almost certainly in Boston and Philly, to make an instructional tour worth your while....

xeno · Post by **xeno** » March 20th, 2006, 9:41 am

Hello
I am glad I made it back on this board. The cool thing is that I got an email notifiying me that you have responded.
I travel for coaching. My responsibility toward my business is number one. And I had to make a conscious decision how to approach coaching on the water. I have a fee for a two day, overnight, coaching session away from home, it is $6000. During those two days I coach 10 hours. Depending on the number of people and time spent on the water, I teach about lactate measuring and testing protocol. How to analyse rowing technique on video and demonstrating and verbalizing technical exercises to resolve rowing imperfections...
All the best,
XENO

davidm · Post by **davidm** » March 21st, 2006, 2:57 pm

does proper technique on the recovery affect performance on the c2 rower? it seems to me that as long as the start position on drive is identical, it doesn't matter how you get there. is this one of those techniques that's hugely relevant to water rowing but not erging?

also, anybody know of rowing workshops in the boston area? i don't have time for classes 3x/wk, but i could use a single day session for someone to scrutinize my technique

xeno · Post by **xeno** » March 21st, 2006, 3:54 pm

Efficient recovery is important on and off the water.

On the ergo you want to minimize moving "body parts" when you get to the point of reversing direction. You have to minimize the effort to overcome your own cinetic energy. This is the case at the catch as well as at the finish.

On the water it is even more crucial for a long accelerated glide between strokes.

I hope this helped further.

XENO

johnlvs2run · Post by **johnlvs2run** » March 21st, 2006, 4:10 pm

NavigationHazard wrote:By coincidence, I'd just posted a graphic example of what reducing the overreaching at the catch and smoothing out the recovery can do for your force curve on an erg

By another coincidence, I've posted how to calculate your PERathlon times, i.e. your percentage of a World Record time curve, on this thread, for each of the 10 ranking events!

http://www.c2forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=298#298

This thread is also listed below in my signature file!

Alissa · Post by **Alissa** » March 21st, 2006, 5:53 pm

Xeno,

After reading NavHaz's post and yours, I got curious...how much do you charge if someone comes to you (like the 3 rowers from the East Coast you mentioned)? And what other costs would they have (besides airfare, food, lodging & car rental)-for instance, would they have boat rental or club fees? Are boats available? Might it actually be more economical to come to you (if someone doesn't want to set up a workshop, that is...)

And how much time would someone want to spend with you if they were coming, in order to take best advantage of the opportunity?

Just wondering...

Alissa

dennish · Post by **dennish** » March 21st, 2006, 7:28 pm

Alissa, Thanks, my questions exactly. Joan and Mary P have several times both told me about what good help they got at the IO. I might be out that way to referee this sring and was thinking about looking into going to the IO. So thanks for your questions. d

xeno · Post by **xeno** » March 22nd, 2006, 12:55 am

I have a HW extreme Kaschper single scull that I use to coach rowers. The use of the boat is complimentary and so is the DVD that I film during the coaching session.
The session is 90 minutes long and the cost is $250.
Rowers whom I coach, say that I verbalize in detail how to understand, feel and execute the rowing stroke. Thanks to the great coaching that I received from Harry Mahon and Marty Aitken, the endless hours of rowing the single scull, a n d coaching indoor rowing at the IO continously for three years, I register someone's rowing stroke within seconds and I immediately understand what is good and what needs to be worked on.
I look forward to welcoming you to the waters of the Newport Harbor!

Joanvb · Post by **Joanvb** » March 22nd, 2006, 2:01 am

Can't say enough good things about Xeno and the Iron Oarsman...Waaaay worth a trip...

Dennis....remember...no need for hat and gloves

Nav...make the trip...nice little vacation...

Joan

dennish · Post by **dennish** » March 23rd, 2006, 9:48 pm

Joan, seriously?, no hat and gloves needed, unbelievable. Xeno, thanks for the info. Now I just have to think of a respectable reason to go to California. How far in advance would you advice to set up a session if I could get to California? No hat and gloves, jeez, seems so pagan. dennis

xeno · Post by **xeno** » March 24th, 2006, 12:23 am

Take a look at some flights and let me know what your options are. We have had very nice winter.
XENO

dennish · Post by **dennish** » March 24th, 2006, 9:43 pm

Xeno, Thanks for the reply. I don't see any way to get to California, LA in particular for awhile. If it happens it will almost assuredly be a spur of the moment thing. Can you accomdate that sort of happenstance? thaks dennis

xeno · Post by **xeno** » March 24th, 2006, 10:00 pm

sure, no worries.
XENO

Concept2 Forum

Technique tips for recovery and catch readiness.

Technique tips for recovery and catch readiness.

Coaching on the East Coast very much a possibility

efficient recovery on and off the water

Hello Alissa and Dennis

Hello Dennis