Dissect my technique - video

snowitall · Post by **snowitall** » April 29th, 2006, 10:46 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G-Q_sId20Y

I've uploaded a video of me rowing from the side, hopefully you can take a look at it and critique my stroke. It was taken from a 4x250r750 workout, 250m sprints with 750m active rest between (you'll be glad to know I removed the active rest portions, watching me gasp for air is not a pretty sight

). I included some warm-up at 19 spm, and some of the last active rest on the way to the total 6k of the workout at 24 spm. The sprints are between 34 and 36 strokes per minute.

I guess a little background about me, I have been rowing at home since I got my erg in January, which I got to help me recover from a lower back injury, and to lose some weight. My back is great now, and I have lost 20lb since Jan 1st. I have a total of 249,900m under my belt. I am following the Rowpro training plan, built into Rowpro. This has lots of interval workouts, and controls the stroke rate, depending on the type of workout. It also has heartrate guidelines, which I seem to have no hope of staying within

I'm 6ft 0" tall and weigh 195 lb

My 2k and 5k PB's, both set within the last week, are 7:17.8 and 19:46

I have the Xeno DVD's but have not gone back yet and compared his technique DVD with my video. This is something I need to do.

Your comments and feedback would be much appreciated, good or bad.

Cheers
Marc

mumbles · Post by **mumbles** » April 29th, 2006, 11:12 am

When doing the intervals you are rowing with your arms bent=huge loss of power.
Dont grip the handle hard.
Try to reach a little further foreward.
You also seem to be a liitle jerky/mechanical, think of the stroke as one smooth movement.

lyons9890 · Post by **lyons9890** » April 30th, 2006, 8:35 pm

Marc, I saw 3 major things you can improve easily and it will increase your power a lot...

1) at the finish, you drop your hands and then bring them up real quick.....try to just keep your handle height even throughout the whole stroke. My coach used to tell me 'pretend your handle is rolling on top of a table.

2) You are sitting up straight through the whole stroke, by the time you get to the catch, you should have a forward body angle..this would get you a lot more reach which will improve your final problem...

3) You can get a lot more reach out of that stroke...the longer the stroke the better

johnac · Post by **johnac** » May 1st, 2006, 11:48 pm

Marc, If your back is now OK a guy your size will will dramatically improve your performance by going for more length at lower spm than you are currently using. Your forward body angle needs to be similar to your swing back and you should attain it as your hands swing forward over your knees and before you break your knees. I reckon you are currently misssing up to 25% of your stroke length by not reaching far enough forward. In addition because you are siiting up too straight at the catch as you apply power you can often be seen to be "shooting" your slide - energy from your legs at this vital point is lost as it is not being transmiited through your oar handle then as it should; this is giving the jerky effect (as opposed to smooth) others have noted. Do take care of your back if adapting from your current style - you are working pretty hard. John

johnlvs2run · Post by **johnlvs2run** » May 2nd, 2006, 1:11 am

johnac wrote:it is not being transmiited through your oar handle then as it should

Well there is no oar in the video, so if that is the case then he should be using an oar.

snowitall · Post by **snowitall** » May 5th, 2006, 9:43 am

Thanks for all the the feedback, it helps a lot. There has also been a good discussion about my current technique on the UK forum.

It is now clear that the first thing I have to work on is setting up the correct body swing at the start of the recovery. When I get this right, I think that should help some of the other things you are seeing.

This video was probably not the best to use for analysis, it just happened to be the workout I was scheduled to do when I finally got around to setting up the video camera. The 35 spm was the target stroke rate for the intervals for that particular session, and is higher than I usually am comfortable with, so it's about as out of control as it gets. I guess that may make it the ideal video to use, as you can see all my flaws, and the effects of fatigue.

I have done a couple of workouts with the new stroke and it feels a lot more powerful and under control, and everything feels a little smoother. I am going to practice this for about a month the repost a video with the changes. Thanks again for the help.

Cheers
Marc

johnlvs2run · Post by **johnlvs2run** » May 5th, 2006, 12:37 pm

Regarding your form, it might be a case of personal taste.

If you watch the video of Xeno rowing on his rocker, he doesn't move his torso much either. Your form is similar to his.

A difference I notice with yours is that you tuck your butt forward and rock your torso back slightly as you are going into the catch. I really don't know if that slows you down any, as rowers have so many weird styles, and yours is probably as good as most of them.

You do have a lot of strength. Maybe your current form is best suited to use the strength that you have. If you see an immediate improvement when you change it then that would be supportive of changing. If there is no difference then you might as well keep your form as it is.