ausrwr wrote: And what happened to the idea that you've done all the technical work and don't need to change anything?
Yes, the use of a sweep stroke on the erg is a significant change.
But that being said, it doesn't accomplish anything that I haven't already been doing, or at least trying to do.
It just does these things more automatically and necessarily, so that I don't have to think about them and/or correct them when I backslide into bad habits.
What are these things?
(1) If you use a sweep stroke motion on the erg, you necessarily relax the shoulder that you rotate and reach with.
(2) By relaxing the shoulder you reach with, you get more length on your drive with the longer arms.
(3) When you reach across your body in this way, you naturally increase your compression at the catch with your legs, lengthening your stroke even further.
(4) Reaching across your body in this way also takes time, and given that this time is late in the recovery, it naturally encourages more compression with your legs, too. It increases your slide control at the catch.
(5) When you reach across your body in this way at the catch, you naturally roll up onto the balls of your feet. You _can't_ stay on your heels. This lengthens your stroke even further and puts your feet in a better position for the drive.
(6) When you drive from this rotated position, the leverage between the extended arm and the opposing foot/leg is heightened and becomes more direct. As as result, you get a quicker and more powerful catch.
(7) With your body rotated at the catch, the contrast between (a) the time you spend on the balls of your feet at the catch and (b) the time you spend on your heels in the center of the drive (and then back on the balls of your feet at the finish when you point your toes) is emphasized. Personally, I am on the balls of my feet at the catch until I rotate my body so that it is square. Then I set my heels and swing my back (and then finish with my arms).
(8) While you can't do this in a boat, you can sweep row on both sides, in any combination of strokes--changing sides every stroke, every other stroke, etc. That is, you can create flexible patterns of relief/rest for yourself by resting one side of your body while you use the other.
I find all of this _very_ useful.
Most, if not all, of these things just accentuate what I have been doing, or at least trying to do, anyway, over the last seven years in order to improve my technique and increase my stroking power.
Over the last couple of days, for whatever complex of reasons, I have found that using a sweep stroke of this sort can give me as much as one SPI more power.
For example, instead of pulling 12.5 SPI, I find myself pulling 13.5 SPI.
Or whatever.
ranger
Rich Cureton M 72 5'11" 165 lbs. 2K pbs: 6:27.5 (hwt), 6:28 (lwt)
