The elbows should be relatively parallel with the water right through the drawing of the arms into the body, including the finish. Think of it as pulling on two fixed levers in one single plane through to your chest. You are currently rowing down to your stomach at the finish rather than in a single plane through to a position level with the bottom of your sternum. To my way of thinking you are way too far back on your foot stretcher which is limiting your length at the catch and preventing you from finishing your stroke correctly. It's making you a) lean back too far, and b) causing you to row down to your stomach at the finish, rather than rowing up. Remember, you are picking the boat up out of the water at the catch to square off and from square off to the finish you are simply trying to keep the boat up out of the water. It's not possible to increase the speed of the boat from square off to finish, but it's imperative you use your back, arms and shoulders to maintain the boat speed as much as possible from square off to finish). It's important therefore, that you row up to your chest with your arms parallel to the water at all times (think of how you would lift a weight off the ground), not with your elbows lower than yout hands which is also causing you to row down at the finish. There is also far too much lay back at the finish. Over a 2000m course, there is a lot of wasted energy pulling your body back up and over. Try to restrict layback to the 11.00 position on the clock and 1.00 in the forward position. Move your foot stretcher back towatds the stern of the boat and it will help with you layback problem, your elbow / forearm problem and will help you get that extra length needed at the catch. Notice your legs at the catch are not quite vertical suggesting also that your footstretcher should move back towards the stern. Another way to check if the footstretcher is in the correct pisition is this...when you are sitting at the backchocks with your knees flat down and with your arms stretched out in front and your body over to the 1.00 position as you normally would, prior to bending the knees and coming up the slide to take the catch. your oars in this position should be square off to the boat - 90 degrees to the boat (or even slightly further forward), but never behind. If your hands are behind the gate in this position, you need to move your foorstretcher towards the stern of the boat.
I'm 65, and just started rowing. I told my wife that my goal is to be the over 70 , US singles Champion. Ha, I have 5 yrs to get there. I live 500 feet from upper Narragansett Bay and try to row every morning.
I have worked on this at the live indoor rowing sessions in the last couple of weeks. It may take a while, but I have put this on my list of ideas. Thank you for your input!
Hey Santa. Whenever I do these videos, I have to find the right balance between mentioning key aspects without leaving out essentials, and keeping the video as short as possible. Quite often I edit out large parts just to keep the videos shorter. So also in this case.
Aram, you can make an iPhone record at 60 fps and get much smoother, less shocky footage. Of course an iPhone also allows you to record Slow Motion at 240 fps.
Ben Not the footage was the problem, but my PC. This type of video recording requires a lot of RAM and CPU. I have invested serious cash in dedicated hardware now.
What do you mean at the start of your analysis when you are looking at the finish and you say “is the body moving empty or not”? What do you mean by “moving empty”? (Great video by the way, one of my faves so far)
Really nice analysis 👌
The elbows should be relatively parallel with the water right through the drawing of the arms into the body, including the finish. Think of it as pulling on two fixed levers in one single plane through to your chest. You are currently rowing down to your stomach at the finish rather than in a single plane through to a position level with the bottom of your sternum.
To my way of thinking you are way too far back on your foot stretcher which is limiting your length at the catch and preventing you from finishing your stroke correctly. It's making you a) lean back too far, and b) causing you to row down to your stomach at the finish, rather than rowing up.
Remember, you are picking the boat up out of the water at the catch to square off and from square off to the finish you are simply trying to keep the boat up out of the water. It's not possible to increase the speed of the boat from square off to finish, but it's imperative you use your back, arms and shoulders to maintain the boat speed as much as possible from square off to finish). It's important therefore, that you row up to your chest with your arms parallel to the water at all times (think of how you would lift a weight off the ground), not with your elbows lower than yout hands which is also causing you to row down at the finish.
There is also far too much lay back at the finish. Over a 2000m course, there is a lot of wasted energy pulling your body back up and over. Try to restrict layback to the 11.00 position on the clock and 1.00 in the forward position.
Move your foot stretcher back towatds the stern of the boat and it will help with you layback problem, your elbow / forearm problem and will help you get that extra length needed at the catch.
Notice your legs at the catch are not quite vertical suggesting also that your footstretcher should move back towards the stern.
Another way to check if the footstretcher is in the correct pisition is this...when you are sitting at the backchocks with your knees flat down and with your arms stretched out in front and your body over to the 1.00 position as you normally would, prior to bending the knees and coming up the slide to take the catch. your oars in this position should be square off to the boat - 90 degrees to the boat (or even slightly further forward), but never behind. If your hands are behind the gate in this position, you need to move your foorstretcher towards the stern of the boat.
I'm 65, and just started rowing. I told my wife that my goal is to be the over 70 , US singles Champion. Ha, I have 5 yrs to get there. I live 500 feet from upper Narragansett Bay and try to row every morning.
Right on
Do you have any videos that talk about the lower spine prep as you begin the recovery?
I have worked on this at the live indoor rowing sessions in the last couple of weeks. It may take a while, but I have put this on my list of ideas. Thank you for your input!
Aram, I'm surprised you didn't say anything about the wrists dropping at the exit/finish. Not something you consider problematic?
Hey Santa. Whenever I do these videos, I have to find the right balance between mentioning key aspects without leaving out essentials, and keeping the video as short as possible. Quite often I edit out large parts just to keep the videos shorter. So also in this case.
Aram, you can make an iPhone record at 60 fps and get much smoother, less shocky footage. Of course an iPhone also allows you to record Slow Motion at 240 fps.
Ben
Not the footage was the problem, but my PC. This type of video recording requires a lot of RAM and CPU. I have invested serious cash in dedicated hardware now.
What do you mean at the start of your analysis when you are looking at the finish and you say “is the body moving empty or not”? What do you mean by “moving empty”? (Great video by the way, one of my faves so far)
Hi Vicky, thank you! By empty motion I mean a body motion that has no positive effect on boat speed, neither directly nor indirectly
@@AramTraining thanks Aram, makes total sense.