Critique appreciated

TJA1

OK, so I'm not dead yet either although I'm not receiving any e-mails when anyone posts or replies even though that option is turned on. Anyway - to the point at hand...My OTW coach wants me to "delay my opening" to help counter the shoulder lift driving away from the catch.

This a week or so ago. Normal rowing about 18 spm give or take. Just cooling down.

https://youtu.be/d7mrGt_k8pc

This is today. Similar cool down, around 19 spm but really concentrating on not opening before I hear my heels land on the stretcher.

https://youtu.be/-FwW3YRcuRA

It feels totally weird like I'm "shooting the slide". This is where I need the help. I've looked framed by frame leaving the catch and it seems (to me) that my shoulder and seat are moving backwards together which would indicate not "shooting the slide". What do you online coaches think?

Timothy_Moores

Hi Terry,

Good to see you are also still alive.

This is an area that I have been working on both on the erg and in the boat, in my case it is trying to 'unlearn' something I was taught as a junior.

As a junior I was taught to take the initial drive with by back, to place my shoulders behind my hips and then drive the legs with a straight back, the idea being that the main leg drive was then against a solid spine, rather than a bent one, this aproach also prevents 'shooting the slide' or 'bum shoving' as it is known over here ;o)

More recently I have been told to keep rocked over and drive whilst still in that position and only open up at the end of the stroke.

My main criticism of this 'new' method is that it can promote 'bum shoving' if not done right, I was quite vocal to our coach about this.

In your first video I can see you opening up quite early and largely rowing like I describe how I was taught as a junior, although slightly less pronounced than I was, I would still class this as a pretty good stroke.

In your second video you have some serious 'slide shooting' happening which is largely wasting your legs and then putting a huge strain on your back and relying on your upper body for the majority of the stroke.

To be fair, you improve a lot by the end of this second video, but you are still losing most of the power from leg drive and having to finish the stroke with way more upper body than you should have to.

The 'drive while rocked over' only works if you have a strong core as you need to keep your entire body 'locked' while you perform the drive part in order to avoid shooting the slide.

Initially it may feel like you are placing way more pressure on your lower spine in order to have a meaningful drive whilst in that rocked over position, but as your core strength increases you will be able to drive the legs and not waste the energy as you will still be taking the oar(s) with you.

This has taken me many months of training to move from one 'style' to the other and believe me I still have a long way to go for it to be second nature.

You can feel/see potentially the progression better on the RowErg as there is no real 'arm action' just a handle on a chain so you can easily see if the handle is moving as a result of leg drive or body movement from a side video perspective.

This is part of the reason our coach has us doing 20 minutes of core exercises after every erg session.

TJA1

Timothy_Moores Thanks for the feedback and I largely agree. The video is a 4 min clip of a 10 min cool down row so I wasn't not trying to apply a lot of power. This is the first time I tried this new movement on the erg as it is too hard for me to change things up a lot in a boat when I'm following other peoples stroke. I was exaggerating the movement at first to ge the feel of it which certainly led to the "bum shoving" as you call it then tightened up as it became a bit more familiar. LOL! It must be the "Year of the Core" on both sides of the Atlantic, my plankaformis muscles have been getting worked over all winter every Tue, Thu and Sat!

I had my first 1x row of the Spring season Mon morning. It went well enough to stay dry and I managed to avoid getting rammed by any of the College Spring trainers as I crossed the river on the way back into the embayment. Always a good feeling! The flexibility gains from winter training were evident as my catch angle has improved from 57 (last year) to 60-61 degrees when I concentrated. Slip was also down although this may have been due to the relaxed pace I was setting which gave my blades time to lock before I drove on them instead of rowing them in.

Timothy_Moores

TJA1 glad to hear your 1x flexibility is improving, I have yet to get out in mine, or anything else for that matter, the river is still too high/fast, although we may finally get lucky this weekend so long as the rain holds off for the remainder of this week.

Sounds like it is quite busy on your stretch of the river at the moment and you are having to play 'dodgems' in a 1x ;o)

I started on this more modern and 'new to me' method of rowing last summer and have been practicing it all throughout winter training, along with learning to 'sit up' more during the stroke, not 'slouch' and not allow my knees to close in, I am still not quite there yet. For my part I am having to 'un-learn' a bunch of things that were stored into muscle memory 35+ years ago over the course of 3-4 years.

The coach keeps making the core sessions harder, slowing down the exercises '3 Mississippi's' on a 'bicycle kick', 'dead bug' extension or side plank 'curl' or add dual leg 90 degree to full extensions into a 'V sit'. He has recently decided to have us do 20 'roll outs' between each exercise that totally kills your shoulders and deltoids and are in danger of 'face planting' into the floor.

Front plank options currently include switching between elbows and straight arms (with a clap if you are feeling really brave), or holding your nose 1" off the floor for 1:20.