Rowing Shoeless

[CoCanes]

Is erging in your socks better than erging in your tennis shoes? Is there a loss of power from your shoes "cushioning" the drive? Are there injury repercussions of erging with no shoes (besides a couple blisters on your heel and ball of foot)?

[PaulS]

Socks or barefoot is no problem, I personally prefer socks and swing slings (see link below to avoid the blisters). For the aggressive ridges on the newer flex foot, I had to smooth those over to make the ball of my foot more comfortable.

Also, unless rowing strapless, the strap can cause a bit of wear on a bare or socked foot.

No problem with Erging in shoes, but they are just one more thing to get sweaty, Ick.

[nkoffler]

If I'm on my way to a bike ride, I'll do a warm-up in socks only, strapless. It's comfortable enough but not so much that I want to make that a full time method. Long ago, I bought a pair of low-tech, non cushioning shoes for erging only. They are comfortable and largely eliminate any of the wasted energy concerns (which are basically psychological, anyway).

Neil

[johnlvs2run]

Barefoot is best.

[almostflipped]

1) Seems to be a matter of personal preference. Some coaches advocate their OTW rowers erg barefoot believing it provides a more accurate simulation of the angles and feel of a boat.

2) I've erged with and without shoes, never noticed any difference in splits.

3) Never heard of anyone getting injured because they didn't wear shoes. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but just seems unlikely. Only issue I could see is maybe if you have an arch problem and need additional support. Regarding the heel blisters, wrap some tape and gauze around the back of the heel cup. That will remove the sharper edges from the equation.

[johnlvs2run]

Sanding off the sharp edges of the foot plate heel straps with emery paper or sandpaper helps a lot.

They never bother my heels.

[Bob S.]

3) Never heard of anyone getting injured because they didn't wear shoes. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but just seems unlikely.

For years, I just used socks. That is what everyone did in boats when I first got into sweep rowing in 1942. Then I tried going barefoot in my old model B last year, but, on one occasion, I got a cut on the top of my right foot from the strap buckle. That was the end of leaving socks off for a while. Since then, I bought a model D and recently started rowing strapless for most pieces. Now I row barefoot most of the time - in warm weather at least. The hard plastic strips under the balls of the feet are an annoyance, but not all that bad. If I expect to use higher rates, i.e. >30spm, I use the straps and have taken to wearing socks and bedroom slippers for those pieces.

Bob S.

[ancho]

I like the direct feeling of rowing barefoot, but on distances greater than 10k I use shoes to avoid blisters on the heels.

[whaskell]

I do most of my training rows strapless and with bare feet - it just feels better to me. When I use straps during races or intervals I have to use socks to avoid rubs/blisters. Running shoes don't feel right. There have been several threads on shoes for rowing.

[mercv12]

yep