Where should I push with my feet; ball, balanced, heel?

[dwpc]

When I extend my legs in the stroke, most of the pressure is felt on the balls of my feet. Is this correct? Will changing the pressure point affect which muscles are worked very much? I'd like to work my glutes as much as I can while rowing for cardio.

[gregsmith01748]

Most of what I have read and heard is that you heels should be lifted slightly at the catch, maybe an inch off the footplate. As you drive, you should begin with pressure on the balls of your feet and by the time your legs are extended you should be pushing with your whole flat foot. Some people recommend that you should focus on getting your heels down as quickly as you can in the drive and it's something that is worth experimenting with.

Here's the logic behind doing this. If your heels are up, then all the force that you are trying to apply has to carried by your calf muscles, if you heel is down, then your calf muscles don't limit the force that your larger quads can apply. Having said that, I've tried to do this and haven't seen a difference in my splits or effort level.

[hjs]

Re glutes cardio. The glutes are very difficult to activate when not sprinting. Can be done on the erg but during cardio sessions I would not get my hopes up.

Short, close to max sprints, 100m, do work the glutes.

Start the stroke on the front of the feet, end the stroke with fully extended legs. Feet down, knees down and back leaning backward.

[Anth_F]

Check out Dark Horse Rowing, worth a subscribe too. Great channel, full of informative and helpful stuff.

Here is one of their videos that may be of help to you with this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRHEd7W5qVU

[Cyclist2]

Check out Dark Horse Rowing

This rowing site is geared more for the Crossfit types, not pure rowers, and some of their "advice" contradicts what you'll see on the Concept 2 videos, which I consider the true authority on erging. I'd go with the C2 videos, that show a slight heel lift at the catch as normal. You want your shins to be vertical at the catch and unless you are super flexible you can't do that with heels flat at the catch.

The other posters here have it correct - start the drive with the balls of the feet, and it won't be but a fraction of the drive before the heels are down and you're pushing with the whole foot. If you're pushing with the balls of your feet for very long, perhaps you're overreaching at the catch and your shins are way past vertical, which is not good.

[Anth_F]

Check out Dark Horse Rowing

This rowing site is geared more for the Crossfit types, not pure rowers, and some of their "advice" contradicts what you'll see on the Concept 2 videos, which I consider the true authority on erging. I'd go with the C2 videos, that show a slight heel lift at the catch as normal. You want your shins to be vertical at the catch and unless you are super flexible you can't do that with heels flat at the catch.

The other posters here have it correct - start the drive with the balls of the feet, and it won't be but a fraction of the drive before the heels are down and you're pushing with the whole foot. If you're pushing with the balls of your feet for very long, perhaps you're overreaching at the catch and your shins are way past vertical, which is not good.

DHR explains to someone in the comments who brought up similar to what you have.

(Ashley, we appreciate your response and clear dedication to being a rower. You are 100% correct. In rowing the heels are allowed to lift to get increased length and indeed the snapping of the heels and suspending the mass from the handle are of the utmost importance to make your mass work for you. Thank you for pointing that out.

Being IRA Rowers as well as CrossFit Games competitors, we've discovered that one of the greatest errors in working with non-rowers who use the machine for non-rowing purposes is the lifting of the heels and crashing at the catch. This is exacerbated by the belief that they should be pulling the handle and pushing through the toes which as you pointed out is a major issue.

In an effort to create the safest and most effective experience possible we coach that athletes should keep the heels down at the catch because this creates a downstream effect that repairs multiple issues at once, in effect enacting Pareto's Law where we can help 80% of the population with one single cue.

Over time, we fully expect and encourage athletes to allow the heel to lift again, but not until they've corrected the major issues that we experience on a day to day basis with beginners.

We really appreciate you taking the time to raise this point because it is an important one and one in which we have veered from the traditional path of rowing coaching in order to create a more efficient path to learning for the community we work with.)

Now, we have no idea if the OP is a beginner or a veteran, or anywhere in between. I suspect a beginner, given the question they have raised. So with that, the video could possibly prove useful to the OP.

[G-dub]

This is not intended to sidetrack, but an interesting point is raised. Using the C2 as a training device for OTW may encourage slightly different concepts than using it for its own sake and to go as fast as possible on it. I know for one that my technique now is evolving based on what I need to do for a better OTW stroke and partner in a boat. Not sure yet if it is making me faster or slower on the rower on the distances that we rank.

[Oarsome Fitness]

Try squatting without using your heels. This is where you generate some serious power.

I used to find that my long ergs would have slightly different technique feet wise compared to tests and sprints. The lower the split i'm trying to get, the more time my heels stays on the floor. The key is to use a bit of both however, being on the balls of your feet at the catch is good technique, but then getting the weight balanced across the whole foot allowing you to get the full force down is essential. I would avoid trying to have weight actually geared towards the heel as this will affect your balance.

Try doing some ergs without your feet out and you'll learn that you can't do this successfully and keep good technique which is a sign that you shouldn't be doing it!

[mdpfirrman]

I've been working on (ironically) SPM rates and form for the past month as part of a training plan to increase my meters. Actually, concentrating on getting the foot flat and NOT pushing off the ball of my feet has shown me that my form was off. I had a tendency to overextend and get past vertical on my calves. Just really concentrating on pushing off my entire foot to start the drive has helped me not only have less aches in my calves/knees, but also it's improved my SPM paces to more in line with what they should be. Very similar experience to what Anth posted from Darkhorserowing. I just kind of figured it out on my own, which is sad it takes me two years or so to improve my form to just where it is now (and I'm sure it's still not perfect!). I do slightly lift my heels still, but I'm pushing off the entire foot pretty quickly into the beginning part of the drive now. Most of my form was corrected once I stopped overextending.

[gooseflight]

In a correctly sequenced stroke you begin the drive off the front part of your feet. At the mid-point of the stroke, roughly when the heels go down, the backswing begins.

The heels going down is the 'signal' for backswing to begin and you can't properly introduce the backswing if you begin the drive with your heels down.

[gooseflight]

Refer:

http://www.biorow.com/RBN_en_2008_files ... News07.pdf

[grahamcawood]

The catch is probably the least balanced part of the stroke. It would help if you had both heel and toe contact.
Here's what I do:
1. Place a 20mm block placed under the heel - high enough to allow constant heel contact. Angle of footplate under toes not altered.
2. Relax the ankle - it simply rotates. No calf muscle use.
3. Layback at the catch by rotating just below the ribs. Upper body weight now reduces the load on the lower back.
4. Legs and arms finish the work TOGETHER.
5.Legs not held down. They rebound. Little upper thigh muscle use
6. Hands away fast to clear the rising knees.
7. Pull as low as possible ( lower the gate) to reduce the load on the back. My gate is at 125mm.
8. Feather while, not after, the spoon leaves the water. Square just before entry.
9. Do 26+ spm, and 1:1 in:out always. 2 breaths per stroke - one in and one out.

Have fun.

[jackarabit]

Refer:

http://www.biorow.com/RBN_en_2008_files ... News07.pdf

Excellent!

Imho it pays to take DHR's Pareto test claim (improves catch for 80% of rowers) as assertion rather than fact. Ergers with limited ankle flexion may be better off placing a visible marker on the seat track indicating the limit of seat travel which brings the shins to vertical.

Gold-plated fart from the DHR demo/guru:

In an effort to create the safest and most effective experience possible we coach that athletes should keep the heels down at the catch because this creates a downstream effect that repairs multiple issues at once, in effect enacting Pareto's Law where we can help 80% of the population with one single cue.