Excercises for lower back/hip flexibility

[icomefrombirmingham]

I have just read on a thread over on the UK Forum that at 6' 2" (188cm) I should be able to touch the chain guard at the catch.

This I do not do!! In fact my hands are probably 4 or 5 inches from the guard at the catch.

Now, part of the reason for this is no doubt my current girth. But, in anticipation of losing the last 16Kgs...what excercises would anyone recommend for lower back/hip flexibility?

There used to be a programme in a neighbouring town called Roga (i.e. yoga for rowers), but I don't really want to join a classs.

p.s. I assume that an extra 4 or 5 inches of reach at the catch would require an exponential increase in core strength to cope with getting the body back to vertical during that phase of the drive?

[JimmyL]

Well a lot of it is about technique, you need to get your reach from backstops. Hands away, lean with the body, then slide.

I can touch the railgaurd if I want to and I'm only 5 11,

This is a very good video for technique, shows you all you need to know

[icomefrombirmingham]

Thanks for the video...looking at it, I think my hands are about the same distance from the chain guard at the catch as the demonstrator's.
The thread I was reading suggested that the hands should be up at the chain guard at the catch...during "normal" rowing this, to me, would be a stretch.
I can see the benefit of the extra 4-5 inches of reach...I mean I can literally see it in added pace on the PM3...but to stretch for the extra inches seems to me to be extremely tiring. So I end up backing off and "catching" with my hands 4 or 5 inches from the guard.

Brent