How to drive through the legs on erg?

[JIMFOZ]

As the title says, I'm a new rower and I'm finding it hard to drive through my legs when rowing. I feel as if I am pulling the handle with my back and my legs just happen to be straigtning at the same time (if you know what i mean)
Does anyone have any tips / drills / techniques for me to try to be able to 'drive from the legs'
Thanks in advance

[Ombrax]

Hi Jim,

What stroke rate have you been using? It's easier to put a lot of force in through your legs if you're at a low stroke rate, say, around 20 spm.

The other thing is at the catch you can lift your heels a bit to go up on the balls of your feet and push HARD. But be sure to put your heels back down as you extend your legs.

Good Luck

[jamesg]

See the C2 video: https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/ ... que-videos

Legs are usually strong already, since they let us climb stairs one leg at a time and similar. Rowing is not as hard as that, but much longer in time. So when rowing at training levels, legs feel little. The muscles there are the largest we have, so are easily able to overload our CV system and so get us fit even at low ratings, around 20.

To use them in rowing, there is the specific technique shown in the video. The back stop drill shows the essential sequences in recovery and pull. Note the distance between slide and heels at the catch. Low drag, low feet and low rating can all help.

Your Watt/Rating ratio can tell you if you are using your legs, but a suitable range will depend on your height and age. If you are not yet 50, then any ratio around 10 will do: 200W at rating 20.

[Allan Olesen]

Your Watt/Rating ratio can tell you if you are using your legs, but a suitable range will depend on your height and age. If you are not yet 50, then any ratio around 10 will do: 200W at rating 20.

10 WattMinutes/Stroke is a pretty tall order for a beginner, isn't it?

If I look at the Wolverine plan's L4 sessions, where the idea of training at a constant, high energy per stroke is put into system (inadvertently, I think), 10 WattMinutes/Stroke is what a rower should aim at if he has a 2k PB of 7 minutes. Which doesn't exactly sound like beginner pace to me.

I know from myself that working at my L4 target of 7.5 WattMinutes/Stroke is hard. Admitted, I am 51, so I don't belong in the "not yet 50" group. However, my 2k PB ranking is (barely) in the best 40% for all age groups - so I guess that a lot of beginners below 50 years would struggle too.

[Gammmmo]

The other thing is at the catch you can lift your heels a bit to go up on the balls of your feet and push HARD. But be sure to put your heels back down as you extend your legs.

This really. Concentrate on getting your heels down quickly and drive power through them. I do know what you are on about because my stroke is overly long and I still come too far forward and use "body swing" too much. I have found doing shorter and high power efforts made me have to use my legs more. One disclaimer - if you're new to the erg, be careful not to hurt your lower back particularly.

[Allan Olesen]

Does anyone have any tips / drills / techniques for me to try to be able to 'drive from the legs'

Don't strap your feet in.

When you train this way, you will sometimes feel your feet getting "weightless". This is an immediate cue that you are using too little legs and too much arms in the beginning of the stroke. When this happens, think about pushing more with your legs and pulling later with your arms, and you will again feel solid ground under your feet.

Explanation of what happens:
When you row unstrapped, you can't use the straps to stop the momentum of your body at the end of the stroke. Instead, you will have stop the momentum of your body by pulling with your arms later in the stroke. Which is a good thing because this means that the force you are creating to stop your body will actually go into the flywheel (where it is contributing to your pace) and not into the straps (where it is wasted).

Also, use the force curve on your PM. If you can make a nice, roundish shape, your timing of legs, back and arms is about right. There is an official C2 video on this subject.

And listen to JamesG regarding keeping a high energy per stroke. Even though I think that 10 sounds quite high, improving your current stroke energy is what you should be aiming for.

Oh, and one last thing, which works for me. I haven't really seen it recommended anywhere by others, but you could try it out:
Focus on getting the sequence right during the recovery part of the stroke (the part where you go forward). If you row at 20 SPM, you will usually spend less than 1 second in the drive part and more than 2 seconds in the recovery part. So in the recovery part you will have much more time to think about getting the sequence right. This will somehow set you up for doing the drive part of the sequence better, even if everything happens so fast that your brain can't keep up.

[Neorticros]

Heh, yeah row without straps and you'll figure it out. You'll start worrying about not falling to the ground instead of the pace you can carry. In other words, "technique".

[jamesg]

any ratio around 10 will do: 200W at rating 20.... 10 WattMinutes/Stroke is a pretty tall order for a beginner, isn't it?

Yes. But if he did his 200 Watt 2k at low rating, he's not far off. This is fast for someone with just a week's work; so he was fit already and only needs, as he says, to get the legs to do some work: technique. It'll hurt maybe for a day or two...

[Allan Olesen]

Yes. But if he did his 200 Watt 2k at low rating, he's not far off. This is fast for someone with just a week's work;

Oops. I didn't think of looking in his signature for that info.

[Dangerscouse]

The other thing is at the catch you can lift your heels a bit to go up on the balls of your feet and push HARD. But be sure to put your heels back down as you extend your legs.

This really. Concentrate on getting your heels down quickly and drive power through them. I do know what you are on about because my stroke is overly long and I still come too far forward and use "body swing" too much. I have found doing shorter and high power efforts made me have to use my legs more. One disclaimer - if you're new to the erg, be careful not to hurt your lower back particularly.

All great advice.

One of Henry's pearls of wisdom, and there are many, is to imagine jumping back from the footplates. This is ideal to keep in your head with every stroke.

I also found, within one session, pushing for 3 or 4 strokes with alternate legs helped create the mind / leg connection. It takes a bit of time and concentration but it will come fairly quickly. You're lucky as you haven't got years of bad habits to break

[Cyclist2]

I feel as if I am pulling the handle with my back and my legs just happen to be straigtning at the same time

Sometimes what is happening is that you are "shooting the slide". That means you are extending your legs but actually bending forward at the same time, so that your leg drive force is not actually reaching the handle. Therefore, the actual stroke begins after the leg drive when you start leaning back and pulling with your arms. Concentrate on sitting up straight and keeping a strong back/core for the leg drive so that the force goes through your body to the handle. See the C2 videos.

One little drill I do is to get into the catch position, then look down at the rail between my legs as I start the leg drive. Everything should be moving at the same speed; your butt, the fuzzy reflection on the rail, and the handle. And those three should not be moving relative to each other. In other words, one inch of leg drive equals one inch of handle pulling.