RowingChat

How to blend your individual progress with the coaching resources (virtual and in person) available to you. How can I do each part better, not how can I do more.
Timestamps
01:00 Coach each athlete better
When you do not have a coach with you all the time you will be self-coaching or doing peer-to-peer coaching. Key is not how to do more but to have a pathway (not just this pathway). The training program shows what to do today; the pathway shows you what comes next so you see your own progress.
02:45 Rowing pathways
Masters are all on an individual pathway. You need to know where you are on the journey and what comes next.
Your training program is part of a training block of 2-5 months during which you have a specific end goal which may be a race. Base training is happening now with fitness, endurance and robust technique to set you up for 2027.
This involves low rate endurance and so you have plenty of time each stroke to think and check that your technique is having the effect you want each stroke. Athletes who tend to zone out - this doesn't serve you well. You will slip off the rowing pattern you should be working to improve. The Faster Masters Rowing training program has notes below each workout which are detailed and explicit. In there are goals to set yourself for your skill, strength and capability. How to gauge your progress - our program structure includes repeated workouts - so you can learn the workout and note your progress from the previous time you did it. They may include a technical focus, a drill or skill with a reference video you can watch that shows you how to do it correctly and points you to things which may be going wrong that you hadn't noticed. This is the advantage of working with an experienced coach.
06:30 Usable feedback
- Ask your coach what is my one thing I need to learn or achieve for this training block?
A singular focus allows you to sharpen your mind. On the website is the rowing skills ladder with beginner, intermediate and advanced skills for you to self-assess.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/the-rowing-skills-ladder/
Find what you need to learn next.
- Build your own rowing library of information, videos, ideas, concepts you can use. Review and re-watch webinars from the Faster Masters Rowing learning portal.
- Research into motor learning that shows that learners who choose when to get their feedback tend to learn better. Get feedback and be open minded (not judgemental) about it.
- Technique feedback is best gained using a model of rowing in your mind. How do I want to look? Use video of yourself 3-5 strokes at low rate and firm pressure.
Compare your video to the model and ask what is actually happening compared to what I am feeling. Develop your rowing "eye".
- Does your coach explain things in a way that makes sense to you? If it doesn't work, ask them to explain differently or ask someone else. Or pivot and look at "where do we go from here?".
- Tell your coach your goals. In the context of your crew, training group and club. That will help them to give you what you need.
10:30 Build a coaching system around you
Find what you need and locate the gaps. Always be ready to go back to the beginning of the stroke cycle and re-learn each part over again.

Why the rowers, crews and clubs that cope best are not the ones where nothing goes wrong. They are the ones that can change direction when the plan falls apart. Resilience isn't powering through with brute force, it's the ability to adapt to try a different approach and let go of what's not working (in the boat, the crew, the club). Same question every time - What's our next move from here?
Timestamps
01:15 When Ross from friends gets a couch
The perfect picture of life when the obstacles are bigger and the path isn't straight.
In rowing we get situations where a pivot is needed. Ross was right you do need to have the ability to pivot.
02:30 Technique pivots
In technique you find the coaching approach isn't working - trying harder may just create tension, stress and no improvement. The pivot is to change the approach not the effort. Have a different cue (aural not verbal) or body position which is a different way to achieve the change. Try video, try it on the erg, in the single, slower / faster. All these approaches enable you to make a change by thinking about a pivot to a different way to do it.

04:00 Finding a crew
You want to get a group together to do something - it often doesn't work. It can be hard to break into a group which appears to be already sorted. Don't wait for the "perfect" lineup - think about changing the approach instead.

Row with the crew you've got - cut an eight into a four, have a regular list of alternates/substitutes who can come at late notice. We often suggest building your own crew rather than trying to break into an existing crew. Ask new joiners to try rowing a quad on a Wednesday. Look at the Learn to Row graduates and pick out a few who might be able to join you. "super stars" may get invited to join the fast crowd but most of us don't get selected like that. Be available to be the regular substitutes when the fast crowd crew needs an extra person. This can lead to the two crews blending and helping each other out - it builds trust.

07:30 In the Club
Things break - often just before an important regatta. Or the club has no money to do what you want to do. Your pivot could be to start with what you have. Can you borrow or share a boat? Could you run a club repair day and invite the local boat builder to show you how to do repairs on site? Ask if someone has tools who could lead a working bee to fix up the club house - simple things that don't require a lot of expertise.
Other fundraising ideas can come from other sports - would a group watch party for a coaching video be fun? Sell food at the same time.

when things don't go to plan, shouting Pivot louder is not a solution. Keep asking the same question "what is our next move from here?". Listen to the quiet people - the introverts - they often have good ideas and get shouted down by the loud folks.
These things compound and that can become the "new normal" for your club.

Hip extension is dominated by the three muscle groups - hamstrings, glutes and paraspinals. Get the timing right, your back becomes the connector between them.

Timestamps
01:15 The power phase takes less than a second to do.
The legs, back and arms deliver the power and part way through, the back changes its job.
Triple extension means three joints opening together. Starts with pushing onto the feet and quads work to straighten your knees. The hip extension uses hamstrings and glutes to activate and throughout the paraspinal muscles keep your trunk firm.
03:00 The hand off
The hip hinges twice each stroke - once on the power phase and once on the recovery. When you hinge on the recovery the spine is neutral - it's not actively working the muscles. But on the drive phase the same hinge action opens up the back angle.
In the drive phase there is a 'hand off' between the legs and back muscles. Classic rowing technique suggests using the back swing after the legs are 50% used up. This is when the back changes its job. As the legs start the drive your back is holding its leaning forward angle as part of the kinetic chain linkage.
The back starts to be part of the hip hinge activation at this point. Your glutes are the hinge joining back to legs and learning how to activate the glutes is difficult. You need to learn this. One way to do this is to clench your butt muscles.
The back's job is to continue the acceleration through the water that the legs have begun.
08:00 You can only use each body part once per stroke.
If you take the catch by partially using your arms, that muscle is not available to use at the end of the stroke in the arm draw. Similarly, if you use your back to place the oar in the water at the catch, you have less back to use later in the power phase, because you've used it up already. This limits the potential of your stroke.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/what-your-puddles-are-telling-you/
10:00 Fast boats vs slow boats
The back movement is not the same in big, faster boats. The boat moves faster through the water and so your leg drive finishes sooner and the timing of the back swing starting is also earlier. Feel the difference by experimenting with your back timing - watch your puddles to see the effect. To learn this - increase the load while you row so you can feel the muscles working against the increased gearing.
12.30 Back swing only rowing
Train your back to do this movement by isolating the back swing - train it on its own. Tighten your glutes as you rock forward, start the stroke and move your back more dynamically.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/drills/
The drills compendium has a drill to teach this and a video explainer.
As you add in more body parts (arms, legs) the oar must continue to accelerate through the water. Keep the back swing active and dynamic as you add in more body parts.

Is your diet really enough to support the training you're asking of your body? Or are you spending money on supplements that do more for the marketing department than for your rowing?

Key takeaways

Eat well, then close the gaps. Food comes first, and supplements fill the shortfall between what your diet supplies and what your training demands. Bruce's two non-negotiables are protein and creatine monohydrate.

Protein needs are higher than the guidelines suggest. The standard recommendation of 0.8 g per kg of body weight is a minimum. Bruce works to around 1.6 g per kg and spreads it across four or five meals or snacks, because older bodies make better use of protein in regular smaller doses than in one big meal.

Creatine is the best-researched supplement there is. Most of us get only a gram or two a day from food. Bruce takes 5 g of creatine monohydrate daily in his morning coffee, and talks about the emerging (and still early) research into creatine and brain health.

Be sceptical of the next big thing. Magnesium helps Bruce sleep but hasn't touched his cramps. Collagen may or may not help his joints, but it adds 18 g of protein to his day, so it stays.

Recovery is where masters rowers win or lose. You don't get stronger in the gym, you get stronger recovering from it, and sleep is where most of that repair happens.

Bruce's slides: [https://fastermastersrowing.com/supplementation-for-masters-rowers/

This episode is for general education only and isn't medical advice. Check with your doctor or a registered dietitian before starting any supplement, particularly if you have a health condition or take medication.

Follow one hand through one stroke in sweep rowing. Your outside hand is a second oarlock - controlling the handle when the blade is under the water.
Timestamps
00:45 Setting the height
Visualise your outside hand tracking through one stroke. It's setting the height for the oar. It goes through the longest arc. You get control for catch and finish timing from the outside hand, force on the face of the spoon and rhythm.
02:00 The second pivot
When the oar goes into the water, it doesn't move much during the power phase. But the boat is being levered past the oar tip. The pivot point from the end of the spoon is your handle and this is the 'second oarlock concept'.
the outside hand times the catch placement and manages the oar depth. Placement is proactive to make the handle move before your slide stops at the change of direction. Your outside hand moves a greater distance - moves further - than your seat moves.
Placing with the inside hand won't give you the same finesse and control compared with the outside hand. This is because it's closer to the pivot point at the oarlock.
05:00 Middle knuckles
Your outside hand knuckles should point forwards towards your feet / the stern. This helps to keep your wrist flat. It also connects the handle through the kinetic chain to your feet.
Look at photos of rowers whose hands are not wrapped around the handle - they are likely using their inside hand to control the handle.
06:00 Where the inside hand does control
From 90 degrees square off in the power phase your outside hand loses leverage and your inside hand takes over. Try not to let your elbow point out the side of the boat - let it go along your side ribs and point it to the person behind you.
From this point to the finish you can add power with your inside hand (pull hard).
07:00 Outside hand at the finish
This controls how the blade comes out of the water and sets the rhythm for the recovery. Use the movement of timing the extraction - sit still while extending the outside hand and arm only to take the oar out of the water and start moving to the stern on the recovery.
Speed of the handle into the body is approximately equal to speed out from the body. Only move the shoulders after the arm is straight. This makes the rhythm for the recovery.
On the recovery the blade shaft should be parallel to the water surface and approximately the same as all the other blades on your side of the boat.

Four jobs for your outside hand
- height at the catch
- pivot through the drive
- a clean release at the finish
- rhythm on the recovery.