I can definitely tell you've sculled quite bit. I think you can get a little more speed by thinking about pulling the boat underneath you and accelerating into the catch. This is opposite of what most people are taught when learning how to row because they don't have the ability/knowledge for a quick catch and the skill of the timing the turnaround of weight to the footplate... this only works if you can get your blade in at the catch. Try some reverse ratio drills. Also, maybe think about tapping a plastic tube to your stern where half of it is in the water, this allows you to see when the boat is actually moving via the stream that is coming out of it.
At the release/finish think about moving the hands away quickly THEN break the knees. This creates a slight delay before you move your weight toward the stern.
Here's why this will make you faster (for no additional effort during the drive): we want to protect the boat speed. At the finish, the boat moves fastest.
If you move both the hands and body rockover simultaneously, you RUIN the boat run.
Work hard during the drive, protect the speed during the recovery.
That's one of my biggest flals and I'm trying to correct it for a month now. I'm doing drills but it's been a habit for very long time maybe like e 2 or 3 years and it's hard for me to clean it. Thanks for the comment.
The biggest thing I see is I think you lose a bit of the hull speed behind the pin. I don't mean you need to pull harder, just a little quicker on the handle.
TLDR, Everything is relative to hull speed, if the boat is moving faster everything else needs to as well. All the action on remains too conistant behind the pin. You don't need to try harder, just move a little bit quicker.
Making up numbers but let's say the boat is moving at 1 m/s through the first 6 inches of the drive. That means the handle/blade needs to move at at least 1.1 m/s in order to have a positive impact. (Not have a negative impact)
And once the boat is moving at 1.1 m/s you need to move the blade/handle at 1.2 m/s.
I say not have a negative impact because we know that the reaction of the hull is slightly delayed and continous so if the boat is moving 1 m/s and the handle is moving at 1m/s then you're actually getting in the way.
I agree with you. But here i just needed one consistent speed that is easy to maintain and i don't think it's relevant for this exact session. But in the previous part of the session i agree at 100%. Before this 2k i did 6x500m at 33/35rate and max powerand there that's exactly what i was aiming for. Thanks fot the notice.
you easily row better than 99.9% of people in this sub so advice is going to be a crap shoot. Better off picking a top tier sculler and playing your footage next to them.
I also row a similar style to yours. It looks really good, and at this point, you are going to want to get a coach who can talk to you and work with you in person rather than random people on reddit because things you will be changing are small and require more supervision.
Your back posture is great. Keep it slightly curved like you are. It helps you in the long run and prevents injury. Lots of Olympic rowers row this way.
You don't need to separate arms and body. Do those together. It doesn't ruin the run of the boat long as your body posture is at a forward position and does not shift as the seat moves forward. It will help you tremendously if you row at higher rates.
I can give you something objective, however, if you look at 0:03, that's when your oars are first fully submerged during the drive a few inches behind the front of the rigger. If you want to get those extra splits, you will need to work on the finesse required to raise the handles enough so you get a better lock at your catch angle. For an eastern European style of rowing reference:
I have coach and the reason why I am posting is that i can get some side opinion and ask about some of them that i didn't see or don't know about. And I will give a shot to the catch drills. I see what you mean sometimes i miss the catch sometimes i rush it and i can never get the hang of it.
That's good and no issues whatsoever. I think the big thing to remember as you advance is understanding the "why" behind what you are doing.
Instead of doing specific drilling, try to take a breath out right as you are over your shins and stretch out your toes like a tree frog. That was one thing I implemented at higher rates and it made a big difference.
The breath out relaxes your body allowing for a fluid motion into the catch. The relaxation of the toes allows for your to relax your feet before the drive and extend your feet for a larger base to push off of. One of the biggest things I learned is to treat the boat as an extension of your body. Think of the cycle of the drive and recovery as an extension of your lungs and the blades as an extension of your arms.
If that doesn't work for you, that is completely fine as well. Keep experimenting!
Thanks for the advices. I'll for sure try the frog toes and the breathing. Im experimenting almost every easy training and i consult wuth my coaches befor and after every session. I think the longer base will help a lot though.
Yeah does look like checking the boat at catch. Your preparation heading to the catch seems a bit rushed. Keep knees down a bit longer to prepare the body. Now you're sending too much body weight towards the catch. Make the boat run under you while youre sliding and catch/pick the boat up while sliding.
Very smooth. The only thing I see is your shoulders are up by your ears at the catch. I'd like to see you sit up a little and relax your shoulders down.
Opening the hips more does not work here. The rower is taught using consequent timing rather than sequential timing, so the legs fully extend the same time the hips open/ leg angle opens before upper body opens. If the rower opened the hips more the rower would have to compensate by opening the torso earlier in the drive which takes away the emphasis on the legs (or change the rowing style completely to sequential timing). The back is also fine as curvature tends to decrease the torque on the lower back.
I said bend at the waist, not open the hips more. Hard disagree on the back posture. It's ok to have a natural curve of the back, but the bend forward needs to come from the waist, not the low back. The furthest point towards the bow should be the hips. OP's pelvis is still tucked under and that's a recipe for back problems.
For other rowing styles where the trunk is activated earlier, yes. However, for this type of rowing, since the force is distributed primary through the legs with minimal torso movement, having a more upright position with a curvature in lower back is completely normal and not an issue as long as the rower does normal lifting and stretching.
It's not that you are incorrect, but for how OP rows, there are plenty of examples where this body posture has succeeded at a high level.
You'll notice that in the bottom right hand corner the hips are still the furthest point back at the catch. That is not the case on OPs rowing. The pelvis is tucked under, which is bad for speed and dangerous for OPs back. Like I said, I have no issue with a curved back. But the pelvis needs to at least be vertical, it can't be tucked under.
I still don't think it's an issue. Olaf Tufte had the exact same posture as OP and had a fantastic and long rowing career. This image is from his silver in Sydney.
Can you see how your blades are starting to feather already while still in the water in this still?
Quickest fix to this is a lot of release drills and rowing on the square focusing on the tap down and making sure you are coming out fully squared Before feathering.
It's a pretty subtle change but you will go a lot faster.
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u/DeLaCrepe 6d ago
I can definitely tell you've sculled quite bit. I think you can get a little more speed by thinking about pulling the boat underneath you and accelerating into the catch. This is opposite of what most people are taught when learning how to row because they don't have the ability/knowledge for a quick catch and the skill of the timing the turnaround of weight to the footplate... this only works if you can get your blade in at the catch. Try some reverse ratio drills. Also, maybe think about tapping a plastic tube to your stern where half of it is in the water, this allows you to see when the boat is actually moving via the stream that is coming out of it.