Drive with heels or toes?

[IdahoMike]

Everything I’ve known from my powerlifting days tells me to drive with my heels. Always. I notice some people’s heels come up in the catch so their initial drive is with heels up - driving through toes initially. Even the way the foot rests are set up on the erg suggests heel lift is appropriate. Is it normal for heels to come up and drive through toes before the heels come down?

[Ombrax]

Is it normal for heels to come up and drive through toes before the heels come down?

100% normal, I assume because that's one way to get your shins vertical.

However, as you might already be thinking, it's also a good idea to get your heels down as quickly as possible, since you can get much more force in through there instead of cantilevering it out to the ball of your foot. (I'm not terribly good at this, and don't get my heels down nearly as quickly as I should.)

Here's a good C2 video:

https://youtu.be/8USP6GJAvMk

[Gammmmo]

Heels.

Next!

[hjs]

Everything I’ve known from my powerlifting days tells me to drive with my heels. Always. I notice some people’s heels come up in the catch so their initial drive is with heels up - driving through toes initially. Even the way the foot rests are set up on the erg suggests heel lift is appropriate. Is it normal for heels to come up and drive through toes before the heels come down?

Powerlifting is about max power, rowing is about having a long enough stroke, using all muscle you can, including the lower legs.

[Dangerscouse]

I never drive with my heels as my ankles are battered from too many sprains from basketball, so I have poor mobility.

In theory it should be heels but it just doesn't happen for me, although l do get them down as fast as possible

[Gammmmo]

I never drive with my heels as my ankles are battered from too many sprains from basketball, so I have poor mobility.

In theory it should be heels but it just doesn't happen for me, although l do get them down as fast as possible

OK flippancy aside, I would say in theory an erger should (rower too? no idea) get the heels down quickly. You can see an increase in power on the PM straight away. That said, most people's form isn't perfect and esp so once fatigue gets in, so I definitely don't feel power transfer through the heels all the time.

[hjs]

I never drive with my heels as my ankles are battered from too many sprains from basketball, so I have poor mobility.

In theory it should be heels but it just doesn't happen for me, although l do get them down as fast as possible

OK flippancy aside, I would say in theory an erger should (rower too? no idea) get the heels down quickly. You can see an increase in power on the PM straight away. That said, most people's form isn't perfect and esp so once fatigue gets in, so I definitely don't feel power transfer through the heels all the time.

So power comes for free? Ofcourse not, we should use as much muscle as possible, overly using the quads will not make us faster. The rowingstroke needs only a limited portion of our max power. Overall stroke should be as smooth as possible, nothing should be rushed.

[mdpfirrman]

Some people on here (I've heard) don't much care for these guys (DarkHorse Rowing) but I found this video particularly helpful. Once I got in the habit of keeping my feet down, I added back in going (just slightly) up on the balls of my feet. But once I start to go up on the balls of my feet, that's my cue to begin the next stroke and drive from my foot, ideally with it flat very soon into the drive. My form has drastically improved from tips from this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRHEd7W5qVU&t=180s

For me, personally, when I drove from the balls of my feet too much, I was overreaching at the start of the catch and going beyond vertical with my knees over my toes. Once I started really paying attention to when my feet moved from flat to up on the balls of my feet and essentially didn't go any further up the slide, I corrected this. We all want a long stroke and I was overextending trying to get there. The longer stroke comes from straight arms at the catch and the flexibility of the core to meet the thighs when starting the catch as well as relaxed hands, fingers (along with the finish being at 1 O'clock), not from spending time on the ball of the feet. Took me like 2/3 years to finally understand that. Way too long.

[Gammmmo]

I never drive with my heels as my ankles are battered from too many sprains from basketball, so I have poor mobility.

In theory it should be heels but it just doesn't happen for me, although l do get them down as fast as possible

OK flippancy aside, I would say in theory an erger should (rower too? no idea) get the heels down quickly. You can see an increase in power on the PM straight away. That said, most people's form isn't perfect and esp so once fatigue gets in, so I definitely don't feel power transfer through the heels all the time.

So power comes for free? Ofcourse not, we should use as much muscle as possible, overly using the quads will not make us faster. The rowingstroke needs only a limited portion of our max power. Overall stroke should be as smooth as possible, nothing should be rushed.

no, rather that efficiency varies among individuals. You can certainly leak power by being inefficient.

[Dangerscouse]

I agree with that Paul. I'm not convinced but I read about how you leak power through grimacing etc. I can see how it happens with poor technique though

BTW, apropos to not much at all, you know when you're an indoor rower when you type etc and it auto corrects to erg every time!!!

[hjs]

no, rather that efficiency varies among individuals. You can certainly leak power by being inefficient.

Certainly, but why should this means, heels down quickly. Looking at my own profile, I already have a very frontloaded stroke, with a weaker finish, certainly would not get more energy at the start.

[H2O]

I used to be on the balls of my feet much. I think this is a mistake. I have corrected it to the point where the heel lifts off at most 1/4 inch (subjective, objectively observed when rowing strapless:
no liftoff at all). This was probably the biggest improvement in my technique.

The rowing stroke is not too dissimilar to a deadlift.
You simply cannot deadlift on the balls of your feet.

[iant187]

Some people on here (I've heard) don't much care for these guys (DarkHorse Rowing) but I found this video particularly helpful. Once I got in the habit of keeping my feet down, I added back in going (just slightly) up on the balls of my feet. But once I start to go up on the balls of my feet, that's my cue to begin the next stroke and drive from my foot, ideally with it flat very soon into the drive. My form has drastically improved from tips from this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRHEd7W5qVU&t=180s

For me, personally, when I drove from the balls of my feet too much, I was overreaching at the start of the catch and going beyond vertical with my knees over my toes. Once I started really paying attention to when my feet moved from flat to up on the balls of my feet and essentially didn't go any further up the slide, I corrected this. We all want a long stroke and I was overextending trying to get there. The longer stroke comes from straight arms at the catch and the flexibility of the core to meet the thighs when starting the catch as well as relaxed hands, fingers (along with the finish being at 1 O'clock), not from spending time on the ball of the feet. Took me like 2/3 years to finally understand that. Way too long.

I totally agree with this!!!
I was the same and lifted my heels too much (just got into a bad habit) and like Mike, I used it as a way of overeaching without realising.
Like others, I still lift a bit now, but less than I do and after watching the DH video I might try a bit harder on my UT2 sessions to practice heels down more.

[gooseflight]

Toes:

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

[jackarabit]

Excellent citation!