Concept2 Forum

I am 6'4" / 193cm, with short legs and long torso. If I just row steady pace my drive length is in the 1.20m range. Even 1.18.
When I focus on "good trokes" (thought so) it's been 1.27m or so.

Now reading about it - while being individual thing - my numbers seem very low for my height.

Recently I have tried improving my catch and early stroke - by trying to "lock" my back as a static lever and also not rounding it as much - but trying to hinge more from hips than back. What surprises me is that my drive length shot up to 1:36-1:39. Sometime even more when intentionally reaching. I don't do excessive layback and I don't think it varies much. ANother magic is that at same rate my speed goes from 2:08 to 2:02.

finally the question: based on above, should I make it priority to work on hip mobility and try to make these longer strokes to be the standard?

(all above is around R20, I get that rating up will have its own impact).

I'm 15cm shorter and my standard stroke length was around 1,39-1,42 when I looked at ergdata during my rows.
Based on your height I would assume that your length should be way longer than mine, but you are right, it's depending on hip hinge and catch position.
The length alone is not helpful, if you can't pull fast and hard. You need to combine length, good stable and strong catch position with fast leg work. Only a fast pull will get advantage from length.

Short answer: if you can maintain a stable position and a good catch, greater length will help much (what you already see, comparing paces of 2:08 to 2:02 at same rate).

You’re the same height and weight as me. I also obsessed about this when I first started daily erging. I was really getting as far forward as I could and laying back too far to increase drive length. It’s a waste of energy. I found that as long as I wasn’t over compressing my legs and arching my back too forward I was actually being more efficient with a shorter drive length.

Everyone one is different though, but for sure, getting the catch perfect everytime and transferring the force of your legs pushing through the torso is the most important part of the stroke. The only extra work I’ve been doing on top of erging is core strength work and it’s really helping.

OPtimum drive length is not a simple function of height. While broadly an extra inch of legs will add an inch onto the stroke, as backs only move from 11 - 1 then a longer back won't add as much to the stroke. Also longer arms will add to stroke length, but will not add that much power (just a more left leaning haystack). If it adds pace and isn't impeding your stroke rate or requiring significantly more effort (as seen in higher HR) then sounds like a good improvement.

I've never really been too bothered about stroke length, but when I first looked at it about five or six years ago it was usually around 1:39 for everything.

I've just checked a few random sessions on Ergzone, and it's usually around 1:40- 1:45, not that I'm doing anything to make it more.

I don't know their stroke lengths but if you watch a video of the Kiwi Pair, Eric has a shorter stroke than Hamish, so possibly it's not that important. Having good hip mobility, and mobility in general is always a good thing, so you should do this regardless

When I'm doing steady work at r18 or 20, it usually sits at 1.42 or a little bit higher.

Steady/ medium work at r22+ then gets shorter proportionately, into the mid 1.30's.

For time trials, however, it is much shorter. This is interesting and probably shows that when I'm going all out, my form suffers. For example my recent HM PB was at a 1.28 average (r26) for the piece.

Thanks all.
I think my thinking is sort of confirmed. My drive is so short that I should pay attention to it but it's not to be a main focus and long drive shouldn't be a goal in itself.

I guess it's a good thing if I can put lever down and/or lower rate for same pace. (without resorting to weirdo feeling tricks).

Also while 6'4", I've gotten jeans from my buddy who is 6'2" and gave them because they were too short for him - but fine for me. Ie. I have very long torso. Very good for blocking views in a movie tgeather, otherwise not so useful.