Sore Butt Syndrome

[Sean Seamus]

When I first began, about two years ago, I recall occasionally having a "bruised" sore feeling in my butt, presumably the ischial tuberosities <"sit bones", "butt knuckles">.

But as my posture and stroke developed / improved that disappeared. I can row for hours now - max at one sitting to date is four - and never have any problem. Maybe lucky, maybe good posture. Maybe insensitive ! The thing I do recall was eliminating a tendency to tilt the pelvis backward at the end of the recovery and then quickly reassert the neutral position as I began the drive. Part of this correction involved shortening the stroke by not coming up on my toes / balls of feet. At first this seemed to involve a loss of distance and overall "zoom", but it was advocated widely and I now only just allow my heels to slightly rise before catching.

Another benefit, and the thing that internally tipped me to the need to think about this, was my knees whined a little, and when I shortened the stroke, that went away as well.

Sit tall. Hold the entire axial structure - pelvis, spine, skull - firm.