Looking back

I wrote this when I first started coaching, three years ago. It's interesting to read it again, and reflect on how my outlook has changed and remained constant over that time. I'll comment more in the comments section.

Coach Jay’s Treatise on Rowing

(updated on 9/29/05 by Jesse)

In the beginning

There are three important areas of rowing, which cannot be separated from each other. An oarsman with one or two attributes will not be successful when the racing season begins. Each area is interdependent with the others.

1. Technique. Novices spend most of their time in this area, because the rowing motion has not been entered into muscle memory. Novices must think consciously about what they are doing in every part of the stroke. As the basic motion moves to muscle memory and conscious thought is no longer necessary, novices begin to train in other areas. This point in rowing development is very important, because “good” habits need to be imprinted into the oarsman. If “bad” habits are not corrected, poor technique will plague the oarsman throughout his career. This area is a source of constant work as the oarsman moves to the varsity level. National team oarsmen continue to work on technique, much like a golfer’s constant work on his swing.

2. Aggression/courage/character. High performance boat speed requires maximum effort. High effort from an endurance-based sport creates lactic acid buildup in the body as well as muscle pain. The ability to withstand, if not embrace this discomfort is a critical part of rowing. The best technique known to man combined with excellent fitness will be useless in a race once the halfway mark is reached. The ability to withstand pain better than other boats allows a crew to push themselves farther into lactic acid production, moving the boat faster longer. This kind of ability requires courage and very difficult training. These training sessions require the oarsmen to repeatedly push themselves in practice up to and past the failure point. There is no faking this training, and the lack of this training will leave the crew soft and unwilling to continue when the racing gets difficult.

3. Endurance. Unlike many other team sports, rowing requires the ability to perform at a high level for longer than 2 minutes. With the standard distance forcing 6-minute races during sprint season and 17-minute races in the fall season, endurance is required for a crew to last longer than the first 500 meters. Simply having the endurance to finish the race is not close to sufficient. High endurance levels are necessary in order to sprint at the end of the race, engage in flutters and move at a higher rating than a bigger, stronger crew. Lightweight crews are usually in better endurance shape than their heavy counterparts due to their racing cadences of 38 strokes per minute.

Lightweight racing

As a crew, we do not fall into the same height class as a heavyweight crew. This length advantage is usually how a heavyweight crew defeats a lighter, smaller team. While the strength difference between heavy and light oarsmen is usually the explanation for the difference of speed, length of time in the water gives the heavy crew the advantage. Because of the height disadvantage, many lighter crews fall into a rushing pattern, attempting to row a heavy weight style for a smaller team.

A lightweight crew actually can be stronger than the heavy team they compete with per pound of oarsman. This distinction is important. It is not expected for a lightweight team to pull the same ergometer scores as a crew of 200lb heavyweights. When a heavyweight oarsman pulls a 6:20 2k erg, a lightweight can defeat the heavy on the water if he has a 6:45.

The weapon of choice for a lightweight crew must be speed. Very fast catches followed by quick leg drives are the staple of successful lightweight crews. These attributes are necessary in order for the lightweight team to maintain a proper ratio of drive to slide. Maintaining this proper ratio is critical. Without it, the light crew simply is rushing up and down the slide, expending more energy than a heavy crew and going much slower. Speed for lightweights includes a higher racing cadence than a heavy crew. Where most high school heavy crews race between 30 and 34 strokes per minute, a light crew must counter with 36 to 38. Because of this higher rating, a light crew must have better endurance and higher pain tolerance. “Lean and Mean” is the motto of a lighter crew, and training in that direction will emphasize these attributes.

We will not be entering lightweight events by forcing oarsmen down to racing weight. Many light crews are victimized by the weight requirements put upon them to race. Dehydration being the easiest way to drop weight, light crews often go down the course with one or more members not in optimum condition.

Technique by a lightweight crew must be better than a heavy counterpart. The ability to maintain excellent rowing into the last quarter of a race is key, as a light crew must sprint well into the 40s. This level of speed is disruptive to good rowing unless the crew can concentrate during the sprint. If technique breaks down, the light crew gets caught in the last few meters.

The role of the Coxswain

The actions of the cox affect the team from the time they leave the dock until the race is completed. Coaching a coxswain is usually limited to instructing boat-handling commands to the cox. A coach is usually more concerned with the coxswain’s placement of the boat on the river and how quickly the cox has the boat respond to commands during practice. His steering and his speaking determine a coxswain’s impact during the race.

The challenge of steering a racing boat at speed is nearly impossible to teach. The general instruction of “less is more” is a good rule to follow. Coxswains need to be aware that steering in a race changes the dynamic of the crew, and should be avoided as much as possible. Course changes should be warned to the crew so they know what is happening. Placement of the boat is the important component of steering, taking into consideration current, wave conditions, relative speeds of the other crews and the direction of the next turn. Placement of the shell in relation to those conditions can mean a difference of a few seats to lengths. The cox needs to remember that he is ultimately responsible for the boat, not an official or another crew’s coxswain. This responsibility calls for aggression and possessiveness by the coxswain. Just like the rowers in the boat, the cox needs a competitive drive to win.

What a coxswain says to his crew during a race is just as important as the steering. The best crews in the world will not perform up to their potential if the coxswain cannot motivate them. It is possible to “seat-race” coxswains; the better coxswain will win more practice pieces and races than a lesser counterpart. The cox must become the entire sensory system of the crew: he must tell the crew where they are, how they are doing, what rating they are at, any wakes coming or debris in the lane, if and when he is making a turn. If an official is signaling to the crew, the cox must acknowledge that official, so the official and his crew knows he has heard. Notice that following that official’s instructions is not at all times required.

The coxswain, while communicating all of this information to the crew, must also be the “brain” of the team. When the cox calls for a power ten for quicker catches or leg drive, the crew needs to be thinking about that technical point. Race strategy, when to shift, when to sprint, when to turn inside another crew is to be decided by the coxswain alone. Oarsmen in the heat of a race are not capable of thinking clearly while they are pushing heart rates above 190. The coxswain, no matter how overwhelmed he is, must be the only commander aboard the shell.

While getting all of this information to the crew and making strategic and steering decisions, the coxswain must motivate the crew. Knowing the personnel aboard well is a must for the cox, who must know what buttons to push for whom when. All of these attributes require ability to “multi-task” with the cox steering, deciding when to make a move while talking to and motivating the crew. The best coxswains in the world never are quiet in the boat, and many times are hushed by the coach during practice. Given the length of this section, it should be noted that the coxswain should be cultivated by his crew, helped, coached and generally encouraged as much as possible. Being the coxswain can be a thankless, miserable, little respected task. However, there is nobody in the boat that has the potential to become the “X factor” between a loss and a victory.

Winter Training and Conditioning

Springtime races are won in December. High School crews usually have one of two outlooks towards the sport and the season that it occupies. Either crew is a spring (that is, second semester) sport and training begins in mid-January, or crew is a year-round sport and training never stops. It is not difficult to imagine what philosophy championship crews usually follow.

The ability to row harder, higher in the spring season is built by long, boring low-intensity workouts throughout the winter months. These workouts are spaced apart by short, very-high intensity interval training designed to build toughness and speed. A typical winter week’s schedule looks something like the following:

Monday: 60min erg, Aerobic level I, followed by weightlifting set A

Tuesday: 6x500m erg, 2k pace, followed by weightlifting set B

Wednesday: 60min erg, Aerobic level II, followed by technical work in tanks

Thursday: 3x1000m erg, 2 sec off 2k pace, weightlifting A

Friday: 60 min erg, Aerobic I, weightlifting B

Saturday: Hell day. Erg test, 4x1500m, 2x6min leg sled, relays, whatever the coach decides to cause pain.

Sunday: Sleep

Definitions: Weightlifting sets are usually upper body/lower body, with emphasis on rowing specific exercises. Leg sled workout is usually 60 to 90lb, 32 reps per minute for 6 minutes. Aerobic I is between 140 to 160 heartbeats/minute, A II is 160 to Aerobic threshold, the heart rate crossover point between aerobic work and anaerobic work.

While the workouts can be switched around and there would be changes for harder or easier weeks, this high level of workload builds endurance and toughness, with no workout taking longer than 1.75 hours with some considerably shorter. The hour erg pieces can be substituted with hour tank sessions, and the Thursday workout can include two erg pyramids. The high difficulty level of this program requires a team atmosphere. I have not met the oarsman that can complete this workout alone for more than one week. Therefore, a supervised atmosphere with a coach present is a requirement for successful winter conditioning. The oarsman owning a heart rate monitor also facilitates this workout schedule, though it is not required, yet highly recommended.

Concept II offers various prizes for long distances rowed over certain periods of time. This crew will also offer competition throughout the winter, such as a “million meter club”, “longest erg” (overall longest distance rowed), “sprint king” (fastest 500m time), “grinder” (best attendance), “Max Q” (most improved), and “Top Gun” (Fastest erg test score 6K or 2K).

This workout program is very erg centered for one reason: the Concept II ergo is the only rowing machine generally accepted to mimic the feel of accelerating an oar through the water. Running, playing games, doing tae-bo, or swimming do not train the body for rowing. Those activities train the body for those activities. This is a rowing team therefore we will row. Weightlifting is important to develop strength that allows greater power to be applied. The erg times will be used in consideration for selection, as will attendance, but the demonstrated ability to move a boat is far more important than the ability to spin an erg. Therefore, there will be a full round of seat selection in the spring, with all seats up for consideration.

Technique

Professional baseball players constantly take batting practice and examine their swings. Tiger Woods overhauled his entire golf swing for a year before beginning an improbable run of 4 major wins in a row. As he got older, Michael Jordan changed the nature of his game from suicidal dunking runs through the paint area to mid-range shooter, specializing in a fade-away shot that was nearly unblockable. The giants of sport constantly refine, practice or outright break down their technique in the never ending search for perfection.

Rowing only further reinforces this trend. While national teams, the highest levels of the sport, are vastly different in their application of technique, they all strive for what they believe is perfection. The rowing stroke is a complex, full body motion executed in concert with other athletes in an unstable environment (a racing shell that would rather be upside down than perfectly balanced). Like golfers, figure skaters, gymnasts and musicians we strive for perfection. When we find it, the moment becomes a sublime memory to be cherished and relived forever.

The most important moment of the rowing stroke is the application of power to the oar handle through the body from the legs. The blade must be firmly connected to the water at the moment of greatest compression of the body, with the legs beginning the power application. The timing of this moment is critical. If the power application comes before the connection to the water, the acceleration of the legs is working opposite to the motion of the boat, creating boat check. If the moment of power application is too late, the oarsman is “dead weight” to the rest of the crew, hampering their effort in moving the boat forward.

Because the large muscles of the legs are the strongest systems on the human body, acceleration using these muscles is the most efficient method of moving a boat. “Opening the back” early before the leg drive is a similar “foul” as being late on the drive. The small muscles at the base of the back are not strong enough to approximate the leg drive for very long, and oarsman who use the back or upper body before the legs usually injure themselves in some fashion. This injury can range from mere soreness to a slipped or ruptured disk.

Once the legs have done their work at the beginning of the drive, everything else that happens is “following through.” There is a function of a good finish (boat set) as wells as a tall body swing (boat set) and proper hand spacing (even power application). However, as a coach, I would gladly take an oarsman who dumps the finish and rows with one hand on the shaft if that oarsman is getting efficient power application with the legs.

Everything that happens on the recovery is simply a “set up” for the next leg drive. The recovery motion is designed to bring the oarsman to the catch at precisely the right moment to engage the legs. For this reason, everything on the recovery is designed to inhibit slide rush. Slide movement on the recovery is the most disruptive force in rowing. During the recovery, the boat is gliding through the water with great momentum. Movement in the boat up the slide by the rowers shifts the majority of the mass of the boat towards the stern. If this movement is controlled and smooth, the boat will continue an efficient “glide.” If this movement is too fast, the rowers must, by necessity, stop themselves once they reach the end of the slide with power application on the foot stretchers. Because they are not connected to the water yet, their power is applied in the opposite direction of boat movement, creating boat check. This is the reason of every coach’s concern over slide rush and proper slide ratio. The crews with the least amount of boat check are usually the crews that win, because their ratio is proper and the greatest amount of power is being applied in the correct direction of boat travel.

Technique is best described as the “force multiplier.” If total power output by a rower would be expressed algebraically, the formula would look something like this:

Output = (Total strength expressed in Watts)(Technique multiplier expressed as percentage less than 100)

Or

Output = ST (where T<1)

A much stronger rower with poor technique will waste his strength and have a lower output than a highly skilled but weaker rower. A great example of this was the 1996 Olympic final in the men’s 8+. The United States, with no member of the boat slower than 5:40 over 2K on the erg came in 5^th place to a Dutch crew, with no member faster than 6:00. Interestingly, the US has continued to value “erg gods” in national team selection. While they have won the World Championship in Olympic off years, there has been no Gold Medal won by the US since 1984 in any rowing event. While strength and endurance do matter, technique is the most important aspect of rowing.

Goals

Goals for the team and the individual are necessary to bring purpose to the season as well as winter training. Each oarsman/woman should set an individual goal for the outcome of winter training as well as a goal for the team during the season.

Novices you come into an ideal situation, a team on the rise, coming off a record year, who beat the expectations of almost every one by wining the Midwest Points trophy only two years after placing the first ever men’s boat in the finals. This places high expectations on you to continue this success. So far you are well on your way to becoming a very successful class. But the journey has just begun. As the season begins these are my goals for you as novices.

1. To gain a base understanding of the rowing motion. Novice races are won and lost by one major component technique. Unlike almost all other high school sports every one begins at zero. There for it is imperative that the basics are mastered in ordered to maximize boat speed.

2. To finish all fall races with in 2 minutes of the winner. A two minute margin requires only a 10% improvement over the next seven months to close the gap. If that is all it takes 10%, imagine what you can do with 15%.

3. To establish a brotherhood between all rowers. In a society that worships the achievements of individuals, crew stands apart. A crew has no all-stars, but is only as strong as the sum of all its parts. There for you must place an incredible amount of trust in every member of the team, form your fellow novice all the way up to the varsity.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother…And gentlemen in England, now abed, shall think themselves accursed they were not here…Henry V, Act IV, scene iii.

Come to know this quote well. It will be the blue print for the rest of your rowing career. There will be more on this subject at a later time, but remember every time you go out to race you are going to war. Do you want to fight that war with 8 people you don’t trust?

The Future

What are you doing for the future of this team? There is always an opportunity for improvement, not only in the performance of this year but the years to come. True champions never become complacent. There is always room for improvement. It is up to you to be willing to go to the extreme, I can only help you along the way you must take it upon yourselves through the support of each other to get there as a team. Over the next several months I pose this question to you are you going to be able to look back upon the next seven months with pride of accomplishment and fond memories of teamwork, or will there be “what if” questions running through your minds after the season? Every day has the potential of becoming a “what if.” Eliminate every “what it”, one day at a time. Start now to eliminate those “what if” questions and they soon will become victories.

Further Reading

Jay, his wife Emily, and myself have a blog that can be found atwww.launchexhaust.blogspot.com. There you can find a constant dialog into the madness that is coaching, the occasional political rant, and a photo album with pictures of this past season. On the blog you are able to comment on posts anonymously or by name, and we encourage you to do so. Our job as coaches is a lot easer if we know what is going through our rowers minds. The blog allows you to do this in a natural setting. Most of the varsity checks it out at least four times a day. I encourage you to read it, comment on it, and show it to your parents.

There have been several books written about rowing over the years. However, I find the following very interesting stories of victory over great adversity, and recommend that you read at least one.

Assault on Lake Casitas by Brad Lewis is the story of the last Gold Medal won in the Olympics by an American Crew. Inspirational, though sometimes over the top, Lewis captures the intensity and drive necessary to become a champion.

True Blue by Daniel Topolski is the story of the great Oxford Blue mutiny. After his arrogant American “all-stars” refuse to row after a conflict over selection and workouts, Coach Topolski goes to the great Oxford-Cambridge boat race with his second boat. Their subsequent victory became an instant legend in the history of crew.

Categories: Rowing, Coaching, Technique, Training, Teamwork