Why rowers push the handles down at the catch causing the blade to sky - and how to fix it.
Timestamps
01:00 Roger Watts told me "oars are still creating hazards to low flying seagulls as the right hand pushes forward and down at the catch...." I hope this doesn't apply to you, dear reader.
Skying describes the position of the spoon of the oar relative to the water. As you get close to full slide the oar rises high above the water surface - this is called skying. It's about efficiency - can your oars enter the water when you are at full compression? This gives maximal stroke length. The longer your oars are above the water, your slide comes to full compression and then starts to move back - this means you have less leg drive to use because your knees are no longer at their highest point.
03:00 Causes of skying
If on the recovery - the bottom edge of your blade clips the water rowers tend to push their hands down towards their legs. Squaring the blade causes skying if they push the handle down when rolling it square. If you carry the oars close to the water on the recovery, there isn't room to square the oar without clipping the water. A lack of awareness of weight in the hand - downward pressure on the handle - if this pressure reduces, the handle rises and the blade tip gets closer to the water.
04:30 Cures for skying
learn how to have more weight in the hand - hold the oar handle at the same height as your elbow at the finish to make it easy to put downwards pressure on the handle. On the recovery you don't need a lot of downward pressure to keep the handle tracking horizontally.
Keeping the handle at the same height until just before the catch. You won't hit any waves and if the height is correct, you won't clip the water surface when squaring either. The handle should not corrugate up/down during the recovery. Use video of yourself filmed 90 degrees square off to see what your handles do.
06:50 Learn the horizontal path
Row with oars flat on the surface of the water during the recovery. The water surface is always horizontal. By pushing the handles along the surface you get a sense of how the handles track when there's no vertical movement on the recovery. The handle height when your oars are on the surface is nearly identical to the handle height on the power phase of the stroke. Watch the path of the handle - look at your hands guiding the oar.
Add visual reference cues - e.g. the view past your hands to something beyond like the rigger. Build the tap down into the exercise - after running the oars along the surface then push the handles down 1 cm, then 2 cm progressively lowering the handle height but try to keep the path of the handle horizontal.
Blade Parallels compared
In the article above I recommend using video to assess your oar handle heights. You can also use photos, By drawing parallel red arrows down the shafts of the oars, it's easy to compare each athlete and whether their oar spoons are likely to be close to the water at the catch.
On the oar shafts the lines are pointing to the athletes' hands so you can see where they're out of alignment. then I copied the lines and stacked them one above the other inside the red box to make comparison easier.
This is a very skilled crew and so we're really looking at the smallest refinements of the catch.
Oar parallels compared at the catch
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Are your glutes working - how do you know if they are working?
Watch video of yourself rowing - check your legs are pressing down flat and your arms draw. But can you see your back swing? Are you starting leaning forward and do your shoulders move dynamically? Activating the back swing uses the glutes. They are the hinge that connects your legs to your back.
02:30 Legs initiate the drive
The power phase starts with your legs and when you get to a point where your legs are very nearly straight, you should be beginning your back swing. If your back is passive and isn't accelerating the oar through the water (if the water mound in front of the spoon reduces) you aren't using your back enough to go faster than the boat is currently going through the water. Your body has to move quicker than the blade to keep pressure on the face of the oar spoon.
03:30 Why glutes matter
If your back is passive then you've probably lost connection to the foot stretcher. When you do activate your glutes you're recruiting extra muscles to power your stroke. But it's hard to activate the glutes. Strengthening the glutes is also important so we can make them really useful. Christiano Ronaldo the footballer was warming up with glute activations - this is interesting - an elite pro athlete still feels the need to activate his glutes before starting playing.
06:00 Exercises for glute strength
Clamshell - lie on your side on the floor, knees bent and ankles pressed together. Raise and lower the upper knee. Swap sides.
Fire Hydrant - kneeling on all fours with hands below the shoulders. Lift one knee out to the side with a bent leg. Raise and lower the knee keeping the ankle at the same height as the knee.
Crab Walk - Using a gym elastic band across your thighs, crouch down a little and walk sideways 10 steps in each direction.
08:00 How to activate glutes for rowing
First know how to activate the muscle and know what it feels like when it is working before trying it in the boat. When approaching the catch clench your bum (butt). You are looking for the feeling of 'holding in a fa*t and you don't want to let it out'. This activates the muscles and when you drive with your legs, the muscles are engaged.
Watch the numbers on the erg first - do 10 strokes approaching the catch first. Then do normal rowing without clenching for 10 strokes. For an improved back swing, the body swing only drill is good to do - get a video of it free from the Coach Mastermind course.
How London Rowing Club strategised to win at the British Masters Rowing Championships for the second year in a row.
Timestamps
British Rowing Championships winners of the Victor Ludorum trophy sponsored by Faster Masters Rowing were London Rowing Club. Hear how they prepared for the event and to defend the title they won last year.
01:00 James Sexton-Barrow is Captain of London Rowing Club he is talking about their Victor Ludorum Trophy win - they won more points than anyone else at the championship regatta. It is more special as the whole club got involved.
02:00 Mindset approach
Masters groups can change a lot from one year to the next. Staying on a podium is harder the second year. We went straight into planning the next year's racing after the regatta in 2024. This year we realised other big clubs could copy our strategy.
We needed to be better athletes and performing at a higher level than the prior year. Two other clubs had more entries than we did this year - we got more medals showing that the standard of performance was higher. We won 8s and 4s which got more points as big boats.
04:00 From participation to performance
The club was very proud of our achievement last year - this became a driving force for the impetus to keep going and to improve, bringing in more participants to train regularly.
05:00 Coaching and training plan
The age range is from 36 to over 75 within the club so the coaching plan had to be flexible and reflect the different abilities and time availability. We could not mandate everyone to row on Sunday mornings or to erg on Tuesday nights as work/life balance was so varied within the group. Any good masters group h as to acknowledge the vast differences between individuals' ability to train. The approach is that there are times in the week when we try to get as many people on the water as possible and coaching will be available e.g. Sunday mornings. We aim to get as many boats out as possible then for side by side pieces - get value from togetherness. We ask those who cannot make it to go out at another time to make up the session. For land based training we put out a schedule and we don't dictate which day you have to do it - flexibility enables more participation. Fit in training around your own diary.
Selection was focused on several regattas - Henley Masters, Brit Masters - selection was "age banding" and also availability for both events. We started in March/April with a squad meeting and to do early lineups. We reviewed erg performances over winter, race performances in head races, age-banding for selection. Last year we were too strict in crew selection and left it a bit too late. Last year it was when we did the entries - we didn't look back at past training performances, it was only based on age. Training in a unit together for a long time contributed to better success.
10:30 The aftermath
We have our second peak regatta next weekend. World Masters is following and some of us are going there too. It feels like a 'bigger machine' this year. We also love going to local regattas like Kingston and Molesey. The website has a masters page londonrc.org.uk/masters if you want to join. The rest of the club is more respectful because we won there is a growing sense of this group as a serious entity within the club.
LRC was founded to win medals at Henley Royal Regatta - which we did this year this is the club focus. We are a big club and the masters play a big role in running the club organisation. Prior to last year's win the masters were left to "do their thing" and as long as the masters are happy then that's OK. The club doesn't put a big emphasis on the performance of that group.
A big change this season is now the club sees that we can win, are noteworthy and are out there making a name for themselves. There is recognition that the masters are going faster, and that they should be supported adequately, with equipment, coaching, training and access to trailers to go to regattas. We have had huge support this year and we hope it continues. Winning it 3 times would the real trick!
Discover how to adjust your blade parallels when rowing in a mixed crew to get the oar arcs as similar as possible.
Timestamps
01:00 Goal is to align the blade arc
Set up the boat for a comfortable row - ideally with all the oars moving through the same angles. Know the dimensions of the athletes - how tall are you relative to your wingspan (fingertip to fingertip).
04:00 We do not have to be rigged identically in the boat. Start with the basics - ensure your set up in the boat is good. Start with getting the finishes parallel. Set up your back seat wheel to the same distance behind the face of the work. 58-62 cm is a normal range in sweep. In sculling, it's done by getting the gap between your handles the same at the finish. This assumes you are using oars / sculls which are the same length and inboard.
05:30 Rules for adjusting
Equipment - foot stretchers can be moved easily; can also adjust shoe height to compromise the seat rolling forward (make full compression shorter). Check catch and finish angles for each person.
Rigging - change the span/spread of the pins - a tighter span gives a longer arc at the tip of the blade at the catch. Change the oar length and inboard - for a shorter person shortening the oar length and inboard has a similar effect to tightening the span.
Athletes' bladework - tall people shorten catch angle, less layback at the finish, tap out oars early at the finish. Shorter athletes can row a sequential power phase - using legs before legs and arms rather than simultaneous sequence. Keep arms wider at the catch (sweep use body rotation; sculling use thumbs to push handles sideways over the side of the boat). Hold arms wide in sculling as you initiate the drive for as long as possible. Get the feeling of your feet pushing underneath your handle for as long as possible before the handle starts to move towards you.
12:00 Adaptations are needed
Meeting in the middle is worthwhile - tall people row a little shorter and shorter people row a little longer. Use video to assess how you are rowing - record this at firm pressure to get the best insight.
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How to make swapping easier, the differences, visible signs of what goes wrong and drills to help you swap sides and codes.
Timestamps
00:45 Switching sweep and sculling
Masters frequently get asked to swap - first couple of times you are clumsy and have lost fine motor skills. Differences are about oar handling, movements up and down the boat and round the rigger.
01:30 List of differences
Sweep - grip on recovery, feathering, hands away (outside hand), body rotation towards the rigger, hand height at catch, elbow position at finish.
Sculling - grip on recovery, thumbs, left hand lead, nested hands, Left hand getting higher at catch, elbow position at finish.
02:50 Visible signs of what goes wrong
Get videoed or ask the person sitting behind you to tell you what they can see.
Sweep - feathering with both hands, holding on too tight with the inside hand, both arms straight, leaning away from rigger, outside elbow flares sideways, inside shoulder higher than outside shoulder. Causes of the main issues - getting the correct hand to do each job - in sweep feathering with inside hand and outside hand controlling the handle height.
Sculling - hands hit each other, crossover with wrong hand in front, stacked not nested hands at the crossover, air gap between handles, elbows tucked to the side body.
07:30 Drills to help you switch
Practice these in the warmup.
Sweep drills - wide grip / inside hand down the loom isolates the hand, inside hand holding the seat top behind your back, press down with the outside hand, inside hand on the backstay (square blades), eyes looking out to your side of the boat.
Sculling drills - left hand lead, pausing at hands away, pause at finish with blades on the water to check your elbows, slap catches to train handle height at the catch.
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Discover how to overcome your natural biology which resists movement pattern changes in rowing technique.
Timestamps
01:00 A coach was frustrated his athletes forget from one workout to the next. The cause is not necessary wilful, it's not your coaching skill - it's biology. We are hard wired to keep to the muscle memory we already have.
Rowing Muscle Memory and neural pathways
The solution is multiple repetitions of a drill during an outing is important. Your brain prioritises familiar patterns when under stress. Automaticity means we revert back under pressure.
- Insufficient repetitions is the cause.
The challenge here is inconsistent reinforcement - if you can self-coach this can help. Understand what the coach is teaching - ask questions. Provide drills to the athlete to isolate or exaggerate the movement you are teaching. Increase stroke rate or the power through the water to test your skill under pressure.
Cognitive overload leads to frustration
The solution here is to practice both thinking and doing. Row for 10 strokes without thinking about anything. During those strokes the athlete is maintaining the new movement pattern. Check after 10 strokes if you are doing it right - if not, adjust and do 10 stroke more not thinking.
05:00 The competence model of unconscious competence is your goal. Train yourself by managing your cognitive overload. The challenge is you can think you are regressing because it feels different and awkward. Learn to overcome this to achieve the end goal.
06:00 Athlete receptiveness
You must test your skill under pressure with increasing challenge so that when you're at your most pressurised in a race you are also tired and stressed yet you maintain the technique.
Fear of failure as the new technique is untested. Overcoming this is hard - athletes try hard to perform well.
Poor communication undermines an athlete's ability to take up what you're trying to teach. Explain what you're trying to do and why as well as how to do it.
Peer Pressure - the difference between style and technique. If a leader in the group disagrees they can refuse to change and if you're following someone who is rowing differently it's hard. This requires a different intervention. Ask me if you need this.
09:30 How to coach change and prevent reversion
Approach the change in micro steps. Take a small first step - do the drill in a stable boat with others sitting it level, isolate part of the stroke, row one person at a time.
External cues - can you use video, physical markers, feel, or hearing to assess when you are getting it right?
Train under duress - make it harder for yourself progressively by adding duress to test your skill.
Accountability - crew feedback by asking others if you are doing it right. Agree together to be accountable.
Gain buy-in as a coach so the athletes trust that your teaching will be beneficial. Explaining the why.
Normalise the struggle - we are on a journey seeking the perfect stroke. We are in this together.
By Bruce Ware, President PWRC and member of the Coach Mastermind Group.
The Prince WIlliam Rowing Club's season is off and running; a small subset of the Club is prepping for our first 1K sprint regatta - I am entered to row a 2x with my wife, and we're the oldest boat in the group with the biggest handicap!
In my role as President of the Club, I've been trying to incorporate some of the great ideas that have come up in our discussions on this Coach Mastermind web-chat. Yes, Rebecca sets up a main topic for the session, but when I join in, there's always something else I need to talk about, to get advice about, and maybe even just to vent some frustration.
The other participants bounce ideas on how to handle some of the usual challenges each of us faces as masters rowers and coaches of masters, and I make frequent use of those suggestions.
"People join in because they know how broad and multi-faceted our discussions become. And what can I do to boost those numbers, to get more people to join the discussions?"
Image credit: Georges Lippens
Like I said, the topics are multi-faceted and change every session. For example, I know that one of the best ways to recruit and strengthen a masters rowing club's numbers is to market the club as a "fitness for life" approach that can meet the health and fitness needs of many differently-abled people. One corollary method is to offer a "pay-to-row" option, where people can come out to row as their work-schedules and other commitments allow.
My Club has not offered this option, but we are starting to see some requests coming in asking for this sort of arrangement. With a Club of nearly 100 members that has a mixed mission of "high-performance" racing, recreational and "social" rowing, and a large learn-to-row novice component, I have to recognize that I cannot just open the floodgates to "pay-to-row" without impacting our coaches' ability to set line-ups, especially the racing squad coaches.
How would you handle such a request?
My treasurer says "no way! too much of a headache!" I know my racing squads and their coaches would object, so I have to exclude them. And LTR novices have claimed a "seat" in a boat that someone else who we had to leave on the "waiting list" (club resources and assets being limited, we had to cap our LTR novice group at 32 for this year) could have purchased and used.
How do I allocate financial resources to a Club equitably? The LTR novices don't need anything special, as they already have boats and a full coaching staff. The intermediate "recreational/social" squad only occasionally has some small teams that want to compete in a regatta, but they don't require a lot of extra resources. The sculling squad is small - 7 or 8 of us, we have our one coach and plenty of shells to use - a 4x, 3 or 4 2xs, and a half-dozen 1xs - so our major additional expense would be for entering and traveling to regattas, and those are not frequent events.
So, the racing squads, which make up only about 30% of the Club's numbers, routinely claim over 70% of the Club's funds. Is that fair that a large percentage of the members' dues is used to "subsidize" that rowing activities of a minority?
These sensitive topics are the kind of things we talk about on Coach Mastermind!
You should be there {{ subscriber.first_name }} because you might have encountered these sorts of situations in your own clubs, and could offer suggestions on how to handle it. I coach juniors and high school kids, not masters. I've offered to coach masters, but don't want to give up my own rowing!
But running a masters club means I need to rely heavily on masters coaches, and this is one of the best places I can come and get that kind of help.
Please, when Rebecca posts next month's session, make the effort to join us.
Clare Delmar keynote speaker at our Older Athlete and Aging conference generously shared this non-exhaustive list of leaders in aging science.
Healthy ageing/longevity resources: not an exhaustive list by any means but focused on people who are accessible and robust in their work on longevity and ageing – and who have inspired me!
Clare Delmar
Science
David Sinclair, professor of genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School.
Nir Barzilai ,founding director of the Institute for Aging Research, the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging and the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
How to streamline your workouts in order to maximise your time on the water. Learn how be a good student and arrive prepared for your workout.
Timestamps
00:45 What's it like arriving at your boathouse?
Imagine parking your car and walking through the front door - what's the signage like, is it clean and orderly? Is the lineup clear? Is the coach boat ready? What about cox box and life jackets? What do you need to do before you can get safely onto the water each practice?
Masters are often time-poor and busy people. Anything we can do to streamline the necessary tasks means more time on the water for your workout.
02:15 The night before
Get prepared early - get out all your clothing, gear. Know your departure time from home and list all the things you have to do before leaving. What's the weather report - does this affect traffic? What's on the training program? Who is in your crew lineup and which boat/oars are you using? Have your rowing electronics, gloves, cap, rain jacket ready and your post-workout clothing too.
03:45 When you arrive
Get to the boathouse in enough time to get everything ready. Be clear about the time of the practice is pushing off from the dock (not walking through the front door). Know what needs to be done and find out what remains to get ready from others who are already there.
Put everything onto the dock. Ideally, nobody goes back into the building after you have put your boat on the water. Water bottle, oars, stroke coach, PFD, light, cox box etc. Put them on the back of the pontoon so they aren't trip hazards.
Sign out in the safety register - names, boat, circulation, time going out. Be friendly - say hello to others. In your crew agree the seating order and who will steer and who will do the calls. Know the workout and the warmup as well as the focus point for the outing (heart rate, effort, technique points). Confirm hazards like buoys and other water users - where could clashes happen?
07:30 Diverging from the plan
Know about when should you change the outing plan? Weather conditions are often the deciding factor and running out of time. How do you cut it down - the repeats, the rest, turning round early? Decide together what to do in your crew.
Wind direction changes and waves can make it unsafe. Where can you go for safety in flatter water? Can you see other crews and what decision are they making when a change is needed? Where will you cut across your planned route?
Experienced rowers will know what to do if the wind or tide changes, how to make changes to your safety plan. Remember the water is safe until that you forget that it is dangerous.
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How to coach the finish so that your finishes are not frantic, splashy or messy.
Timestamps
00:45 Find room to tap down before squaring
Start with the correct set-up at the finish with blades buried. Where are your handles? What's the gap between your hands? This is how you ensure you have room to tap down. If your handles are too close together at the finish, you cannot get out of separation and there's no space to push the handles down without them hitting each other.
02:45 Check your elbows are level with your wrist (or higher) at the finish when the oars are buried under the water. It's hard to tap down if your wrist is cocked and your elbow is lower than your wrist.
03:15 Drills for finishes
Stationary stability drill stage two has a tap down and then feather. Learn how to do this whole crew without anyone holding the boat level for you.
Pause drill at the finish - it helps to check you are finishing the stroke at the right position. Take the oar out of the water and then feather and return the oar to resting on the water surface. The reason is that your handles are at the same height as at the finish. Helps you to check how high your handles are actually rowing to in the full stroke. Goal in the consecutive strokes is to get your handle to the same place before you tap down to extract from the water.
J-Curve Drill - tap down before feather.
06:30 Check finishes while rowing
During continuous rowing, get your athletes to check handle heights at the finish while rowing - look down or feel where your thumb brushes your shirt. Hold onto the finish for 1cm longer while rowing. Helps them to keep pressure on the spoons until the end of the stroke before the extraction.
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