Відео

Thanks Mike. I often talk about the system of boat and rower, and yes, I agree that if you ignore the drag, there is nothing that can prevent a deceleration of the system, but drag is a considerable factor affecting the run. Gradually increasing the boat speed (not system speed) during the time that the system is equally gradually slowing down, serves to counter this. Nothing is perfect but we believe this is the best way to make this part of the stroke more efficient. My demo of the fact that the draw does not check the boat is imperfect. I am far from a perfect rower. What I hope comes across is that there is no characteristic check hallmarks, like a bounce on the stern or the boat moving backwards in relation to the direction of travel, as a result of "landing" on the footplate. Deceleration before the drive is unavoidable, but limitable. With the reduced drag from the draw as well as the fact that you get through this part of the recovery quicker, which causes you to spend less time trimming stern down, contributes to overall speed. You have to land the placement though of course.

Thanks for the comment Somerset. I wish you would make that video. I would like to see what you mean more clearly. I'm very keen on rowing with finesse and like the sound of the boat and rower "dancing". I cant agree that a splash is something that you do when developing and this goes away when you are more technically skilled though. .. That's not been my experience. For me, the guy who I have referenced in my Technique series thus far, Peirre Houin, places the blade pretty much perfectly. Hardly any movement on the slide. Just lift hands and in. And he creates some splash.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the question. It is a good one! The short answer is yes, kind of... (for the rowing part. As for your golf... No comment), An oar with some flex in it does help you achieve an acceleration through the drive by "storing" any excess force that could be added at the beginning of the drive and returning it later. That said we should still try not overload the front end as it is inefficient. If the oars had no flex in them, unless you were mechanically perfect in applying consistent acceleration, there are two things that could tear; the water and/or the rower. Neither is a good idea. I think a separate video on this topic is needed, because depending on your strength, and how you apply the power, too much flex will be as bad as too little. Too much will just serve as a damper (playing golf with a rope shaft). There is a bit of science as well as trial an error to get this right so that it achieves the acceleration that we are looking for, with the return happening through the perpendicular.

Nice question Hans. As the blade enters the water it has the water rush against it, causing the "backsplash" behind the spoon. In front of the spoon it creates a small void. This fills up by the time the spoon has properly submerged, but if you get onto the power before this has happened then you end up trying to push against the void and the front of the spoon will splash when it hits the water on the other side. You will usually get a sound from this sort of entry too. The check comes from pushing with the blade not connected, which is the case when there is still air on the working side of the spoon.

I am sure there will be a few terms that I use that may not be the norm. I plan to do a vid on how to fix "jazz hands". This is what I call skying the blades. Hope you found the context useful though...

Thanks Anthony. Practically, even the best placers of the blade, like Pierre Houin (who I used to illustrate this) has a slight sternward movement during the fraction of a second that the blade is submerging, but considering the blade is spearing in at the catch angle, I firmly believe that its like a swimmers arm... it stops the boat less than pressure on the foot plate would. I agree on the balance between too much and not enough though. When I coach people who row the blade in, I get them to develop a big back splash first, just to "unlearn" the desire to change direction too soon, and then work on them almost completely getting rid of it.

@@InFin8RowingIntl agreed. And it’s an asymmetric distribution around perfect timing - for every athlete who puts the blade in too early there are 20+ who put it in too late. Also agree on the approach of getting them to go too far the other way and then pull back from there - they need to overcorrect so they can feel what that is like and then start searching for the balance point between too early and too late.

Yes a V splash is great if you can time it perfectly. I would still prefer to see more of it going to the back than the front though.

Hi and thanks for the comment. I have checked out Mikes youtube vids and I really like the detail he goes into with his analysis.

Spot on! Absolutely stunning looking boats, and a lovely row too. I competed in one for World Masters 2022, Libourne, and Henley Masters last year.

Hey Andy. Agreed. You can use one to help you train for the other, but at a certain level they are separate disciplines, so I want to make sure as many people understand the difference as possible. There is nothing more disheartening than crushing it on the erg and then being beaten on the water by an athlete that is not as fit or strong as you.

Thanks for the comment. And I do agree with the science btw. I appreciate that if you isolate the system of boat and rower alone, there is no net gain in speed, but if you look at my graphic and listen to my conclusion at the end, you will see that the gain I am referring to comes mainly from maintaining boat speed through the recovery and how that relates to resistance. The boat wants to progressively decelerate, and if it does so it sinks deeper and compounds the deceleration due to a larger wetted area. Using your centre of mass to progressively accelerate the boat, helps counter this. As long as you nail the placement and have connected before you drive, you are picking up a moving boat.

Thanks Rod. I must say, one of the most annoying things that I have found in making these vids, is that I really get annoyed when I see myself doing things I know I should not be doing. Everyone should have video of themselves, and if they don't have the knowledge, then have access to a good coach who can help them see what they are doing. I am going to be doing a video on my most disappointing athlete (myself), specifically to highlight this point. Hope you catch it.

... haha... I have just realised that you are most likely talking about Pierre Houin, not me. The guy rows amazingly, but no matter what level you are at there are things that are not perfect, but they become part of your style and if it works for you then keep it.

Wow. Endorsement from a big name. Thanks

Hi ! It’s so good hearing this! Believe it or not this is the way I was taught to row back in the 60’s😂 I went on to coach my crews this technique in Denmark with the lightweights and to this day I’m still coaching this way! It’s just so nice hearing it from someone else!! Cheers!

Thanks John, and welcome to the tribe. Great to hear it was taught somewhere.@@johnfaulkner1156

I don't know Drew Ginn, but will have a look. And yes. It really does.

Agreed 100%. But if you can afford either then you're not a rowing coach 😇.

Thank you for the compliment. I hope you have subscribed so we can continue to entertain you. And for your guess. Nope it's not. Clue... It's a close up on a boat so I'm looking for the manufacturer

@@InFin8RowingIntl Empacher then? (And yes …subscribed )

Nope. I will see if anyone else guesses and then will give the answer

I spell terribly so I'm only surprised this is the first one. Thanks

@@InFin8RowingIntl Thanks from God's own country

Hey and thanks for the question. Please let me know more about what you mean when you refer to 2 draws, with one at the extraction..?

Nobody rows perfectly. Her sequencing is close though.

Of you are suggesting that there should be no backsplash the we have to disagree. I am going to do a vid on the placement as part of this series, but will also do a seperate one on why there must be backsplash. Not a big one, but one none the less. Look forward to your comments when it's done

I am waiting on the video about backsplash ❤ am interested in your point of view ❤

I am certainly going to cover backsplash in my video on The Placement. It is in the process of being made but will only come out after one on The Draw, which covers the recovery, which will be out by the weekend at the latest. I think a separate vid on backslash may be worthwhile too so thanks for the comment. Spoiler alert.... We think a backsplash is vital. I look forward to explaining why, showing the benefit of developing one, and the process of almost getting rid of one.

@@InFin8RowingIntl thank you 😊

Welcome to the tribe! And thanks for the technical mention on production. I have tried that for my next vid on The Draw, still in production. Looking forward to your feedback.

Keep the feel of the boat and the water in mind when toiling away!

If something is going to break while on the erg, it's usually something in between the handle and the foot plate.

... and that coming from a man who spends a LOT of time on the erg. Current British Rowing Indoor Lightweight champ over 2k. Thanks Richard

I agree. The athlete in this vid is one of our InFin8 coaches, and a highly competitive masters rower. She has RA which makes feathering into the fingers is painful for her, so "motorbike wrists" is a compromise. There are faults in her technique as there are in everyone's, but her body position and sequencing is something most of us can learn from.

Thanks for the comment but I am not sure I understand exactly what you are saying so not easy to respond. Please reword for me and I will revert.

In other words- push from foot stretcher to get light on a seat (going up slightly), maintain being light on a seat by work with upper body and arms till the very end of the drive, use energy of "landing" back on a seat to extract blades and drag boat under/behind centre of the weight ( of rower) least possible impacting seat. Closest comparison comes to my head- running through the tightrope. I hope that makes a sense :)

Amen brother. Welcome to the tribe!

Hi Peter. Not sure if you row yourself or strictly a coach, but if the former, I urge you to try the exercise I demonstrated at the end of the vid. Just try take the thought of the "tap down" out of the equation and just release the water through the feather (agreed this should be done into the fingers, rather than "motorbike wrists", but for beginners I don't mind what they do as long as they are comfortable and confident. I would rather fix the feather into the fingers later). When starting the exercise, its perfectly fine to just drag the blade so don't worry about lowering the arm just yet. Try it, and tell me if you don't feel like you are firstly keeping the pressure against the water a fraction longer, but secondly much more relaxed about stability, and not having to worry about getting the blade clear before the handle reaches your body... This is especially the case with newbies. They only have to catch one crab to get very anxious at the extraction and that anxiety stay with them and manifests into them popping out of the drive early, to make sure they are clear and don't get caught. As I mentioned the aim is to come out with a clear blade in the end. An experienced rower will of course want to minimise resistance by not dragging the blade, so once confident in just releasing the water you have to start making the drag lighter until the blade is off the water. Hope that clarifies.

One caveat to the above is that we believe in having the blade just below the surface of the water during the drive. If this is the case it will slip out of the vortex during the roll into the feather.

The trajectory of the handle during extraction is a semicircle not square. The moment to get the blade out is simpler and quicker than the feathering motion. In my experience (55 years) people who feather out tend to have dirty finishes and throw up water.

Thanks for the comment. I have honestly had the opposite experience. If you still have pressure on the spoon during the time that you are extracting square, then this causes a wash out. Pressure on a half extracted spoon can't be splash free. To keep the ectraction clean you would need to take pressure off the spoon during that moment. I want to keep pressure on Al long as possible because it lengthens the effective part of the drive. Admittedly only by a fraction, but fractions count. I appreciate your stand point and I was also taught this way but give it a try. If it does not work for you then that's fine. We can't all agree mate.

@@InFin8RowingIntl Thanks for feedback….interesting debate and comment. ‘The older I get the better I was…!!!” in my days of sculling in 1950/60’s. It’s great to see different views on optimal technique etc. Thanks all.

Finish angle should be 30-40ish deg, but I understand your point. Although the optimal part of the arc has passed by the time you start the extraction, the combination of boat and rower are still pretty much at the max velocity at this point of the stroke so tapping off, or washing out, will affect the speed of your send and the length of your run.

Thanks Darryl. The traditional way to be taught is still mostly a square extraction so that's the way most people are that I coach think unfortunately. The top rowers seem to come out of the vortex but not all. When you are at Olympic level you can come out square and it's no prob. When you are not, and especially when you are learning, it's much easier and more stable to come out like we believe. With square extraction, unless you nail it perfectly, right to left, you end up destabilizing your platform.

Watch just about and world rowing videos you see that most blades exit the water square before they are feathered.

Damir Martin does - see aram's video analysis

@@dermotbalaam5358 as I said above, if you are at the level of an Olympian, then you can row any way you like, such as with deep blades like Mahe, or three quarter slides like Oli etc. For us mere mortals, especially those looking to gain confidence in their stability, you will firstly find the rolled extraction easier, but secondly, once you have done it for a while, you will find it gives you a tine bit more time in the water.

@@ericshun7693 As someone who is also a bit the short side for a rower myself, I really like most of Damir's style. And yes, in this vid you mention, he extracts pretty much the way we believe works best. Like most of the rowing community I think Aram is mostly spot on. I'm glad we don't agree on everything though, or what new would I have to offer... Thanks for giving my methodology consideration. At the end of the day, some things work for some people and not others.

Appreciated Nich. Strange how square extraction is still what being taught.