As a developing sport, there are aspects of masters rowing which we need to improve, change and adapt. Three signs of dysfunction and four solutions.
Timestamps
01:00 What are the symptoms and cures to move our sport forward? Most clubs now have a masters group and a good waiting list of people wanting to learn to row.
Rowing is designed to take a beginner towards higher performances. As we age we generally have diminishing strength each decade. Many of us love rowing but don't want to compete - so masters rowing is different.
12:00 How can these be set in place? How to bring your board / committee along with you so they understand what the masters group is trying to achieve.
What are solutions we haven't yet thought of?
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Go on rowing camp! The pros and cons of going on training camp. You'll either love it or hate it.
Timestamps
01:00 Going on a camp refocuses your attention on rowing. Are camps useful? There are lots of different types of camp - training camp - selection camp for racing crews - finishing camp before a big regatta
You don't have to go with your whole club. Doing a camp at your own club has disadvantages - people keep their other life commitments and so tend to rush off after the workout. So you lose one of the good aspects of going away to camp which is the luxury of un-pressured time.
Athletes get a lot of individual attention on camp compared to home training. There's time for debriefs, for mini tutorials, one-on-one time, sit next to coaches at meals and pick their brains. Coaches get a captive audience of athletes and can get messages about focus points across to them all.
05:00 Camp issues Increased training load - if normal rows are 60-90 minutes once a day camp workouts will be shorter. But you may do two or three workouts a day.
Overtraining is not an issue in the long term. Camp is only 3-5 days plus travel days when you're resting. Schedule an off day when you get back home while you rig boats. Then pick up your regular training volume.
If you come into the camp injured or recovering - that's a big red flag and needs management. When athletes don't tell the coach that they are injured that causes problems. Doing only part of the camp program is still beneficial.
Getting injured on camp does not mean your time is wasted. Volunteer to go in the coach boat with the coaches, volunteer to film crews, volunteer to help the coaches. Hanging out with coaches, you learn by listening to their discussions. You can train your eye watching crews rowing to find out where improvements are needed. Illness on camp - take care a virus doesn't spread to everyone. Good hygiene practices are needed.
Crew bonding and learning accelerated in a focused period. Plus fitness gains and technique input from coaches. Camp also allows you time to work on technique on your own. Self-coaching discipline and practice is also good.
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A key concept needed for sculling well, this challenging skill is essential for setting up the recovery. One drill to practice which helps teach how to control the oar handle heights.
00:50 Teaching a course for those who can already row and want to try single sculling. There are 4 key concepts for essential skill in rowing and sculling. Weight in the hand is the most challenging key concept.
At its simplest, having weight in your hand enables you to hold your oar handle and keep downward pressure on the handle to keep the oars off the water.
It starts by controlling the finish as you extract the oar using a downward "tap down" of the handle. Use the outside hand in sweep; use both hands in sculling. It helps you to keep your body and the boat stable at the finish and keep pressure on the pin. If your button comes away from the oarlock at the finish you have not got this control.
It also helps to facilitate the transition from body weight into the bow towards body weight towards the stern on the recovery.
If you can do weight in the hand, you can row square blades. And you can feather high over the waves and keep your boat level in a side wind.
The stationary stability drill teaches you how to control the handle using weight in the hand.
Sit the oars square and in the water at the finish. Then press down on the handles twice so just half the spoon comes out of the water. Then do a full press so the oar spoon comes fully above the water and hold this position in a pause, then return the blades under the water. Stage two is to do the same two half presses and a full press and then feather. Stage three is to add straightening the arms after the press down and feather. Your body and legs stay stationary throughout this drill.
Sculling Intensive Camp A self-guided tutorial to improve your single sculling skills over 7 days. Includes drills for the whole stroke cycle including checklists to take in the boat with you.
If you want to learn how to row square blades, take our three-part mini course [free] Square Blades Challenge Part 1.
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Meet Chair of the Indoor Rowing Commission, Filip Ljubicic and hear about the future of indoor rowing including an exciting announcement about the e-sports Olympics in 2025.
01:00 The global World Rowing strategy for indoor rowing - rules, events, innovations, collaborations with erg manufacturers, digital apps and new tools. Indoor rowing is important - around 20-25 million people use a rowing machine at least once a year. A pathway or goal is part of the strategy for all participants. 2018 was the first Indoor Rowing World Championships.
03:30 The goal is to do both physical in person events and virtual events. Being able to compete is an opportunity for those who cannot travel. A new format for 2025. All the age categories are offered in addition there will be a World Champion for Indoor Rowing for the first time.
More detail about 2025 World Indoor Rowing Championships.
It starts with open heats where everyone submits a time. Top 150 in each continent plus top 10 age category races progress to local timezone races the next weekend. Expect more tactical racing and a different mindset and challenge. First score submit date is 20th January 2025. There are endurance and sprint relays being offered including an age group 40-44 and 45-49 age group relay championship event.
08:30 Are drag factors recommended? No you choose your own. Finals day the top 50 will race live at once. The top 20 go through to the Grand Final giving the World Champion top 3 placings as well as age group champions if you get through to the last races. From this global standings will be produced for everyone.
Looking at sport as entertainment. We are competing for the audience's leisure time and how to make the sport interesting. Other sports like athletics have different distances, formats that suit different types of athlete. We are enabling this for indoor rowing. The Versa Challenge - 5 events over 2 days with points (like heptathlon). A 20 minute race, the person with fewest meters every 2 minutes gets cut - enabled tactical racing and new uncertainties as it was unpredictable.
In 2025 there will be a virtual series through the year including standalone monthly challenges. Also World Rowing has submitted it to be part of the Olympic E-Sports - Virtual environments and physical activity category. World Rowing is waiting to hear next steps. The plan is to grow the ecosystem around indoor rowing. Saudi Arabia is the host country for 2025.
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Hear how people deal with an illness but keep up their rowing. Overall advice is "do what you can".
Timestamps
01:00 Many masters try to keep on rowing after a major illness or trauma diagnosis. Getting out on the water feels good - the challenge is around what is possible for you.
Cancer treatment often has regular chemo and radiotherapy and you know the frequency of each session. One solution is to go rowing immediately before the hospital visit. Row when you can with a supportive friendship group. For surgery - muscular rehabilitation and strength training follows a simple pattern over weeks. After a stroke - lingering physical restrictions continue months afterwards.
As we age our bodies may require us to adjust / adapt our stroke. For hand tremors difficulty holding a thumb on the end of the handle was hard. Suggestions include occupational therapists advice, gloves which tape onto the handle, hand exercises using old grips at home, para rowing has many solutions (adaptiverowinguk.com), baseball grip adhesive on your hands, use the little finger or side of your hand to make lateral pressure instead of your thumb.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a repetitive stress condition - the suggestion was to hold your handle with thumb and index finger curled around the end of the handle and to turn the oar with the middle and ring fingers.
Lady with bone cancer continues to row and to go to regattas to enjoy herself with her friends.
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Midlife brings challenges. Rowing is a pathway for getting your spark for life back. Join bestselling author, Rachel Marie Martin for tips and to hear her journey.
01:00 Rachel has a long background in technology and she uses this to communicate her message about life, motherhood and the ups and downs that life has dealt her.
Be diligent and keep on trying. Get your spark back book is about Rachel's realisation that she'd lost her spark for life. What made her realise that life wasn't sitting 'right' with her. During the pandemic she said she didn't know who she was any more. Were was "me"? She was uneasy and went on the journey to re-find her soul without realising that was happening. In mid-life how to find your soul's journey. As a runner Rachel had to push past uncomfortable.
When you're young you have all the time to do something in the next decade. Looking at her friends and parents she realised time is finite. She couldn't keep postponing things. It was an awakening, not really frightening.
09:00 Choose to set your bar in the present, not based off the past. Why do I believe this to be true? Is the key question to ask yourself. We aren't taught to challenge our beliefs - we don't have the introspection to think. The story of the Easter ham. Why we do things? Are they applicable to your present? Choosing to do things that keep you 'small'. Review your own story and where is your bar - low or high?
I hear these in athletes' rowing frustrations - their mindset shows how their beliefs are limiting. Be willing to wonder about your beliefs. What is within your realm of possibility? Pay attention to the words you say. Are we keeping ourselves from something greater? This is the only shot I have in this life now. The audacity and risk of learning to row and not telling your family.
Ask your community to help you spot your potential. What do they think you could do?
18:15 The story of the green shorts
Rachel used these as a "benchmark" size. The person who wore the shorts didn't do what Rachel had done. Her success and happiness is defined differently now.
https://youtube.com/live/WvyKWbppJDo
https://soundcloud.com/rowingchat/get-your-spark-back
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How the catch placement changes with the oar angle. Why an acute catch angle with the oar is easier. Ways to adjust your catch technique as the boat speed changes.
Timestamps
When the blade goes into the water at the catch, it needs to be buried rapidly and the curved face of the blade needs to grip the water. the early lock on point is hard to achieve - it depends on how and where you place the blade.
The boat is a single unit moving through the water - water molecules are moving past the boat parallel to the length of the boat hull. The ideal oar placement should have the smallest surface area possible to the direction of travel. At half slide your oar is around 90 degrees to the boat length. It's slow to place the oar.
At the catch, the face of the work going into the water is reduced to around 15 cms compared to half slide. At the extreme, if the oar is parallel to the side of the boat - this reduces to about 1.5 to 3 centimeters width.
07:00 The smaller the face of work of the blade to the water, the easier the blade goes into the water. When the blade is in the same plane as the water movement, it goes in easiest. At very short strokes - arms only - it's hard to place the blade. With the smaller face of work area at the catch, using an acute angle, it feels easier to place the blade.
From half slide to the catch, your legs and seat move in a straight line up the slides to the catch. However your handle(s) are pivoting around the arc of a circle centred on the pin of the oarlock. Your body in sweep rotates around the pin - keep your shoulders parallel to the oar handle and let your eyes look out on your side of the boat - this helps create more rotation because your body follows where your eyes are looking. In sculling both your handles are pivoting around the arc of a circle - your arms move further than your legs from half slide to the catch. In effect there are 2 speeds on the recovery - the seat speed, and a faster speed of your hands leading the oar handles around the pin and upwards to place the oar under the water. By allowing your arms to go wider at the catch in sculling, you will get a more acute catch angle. Row longer by thinking about your arms, separately from your body.
When the boat speeds up and rate increases, you have less time per stroke to anticipate the catch. Often stroke length shortens as stroke rate rises. Counter this by moving your thinking earlier in the recovery. This gives you more reaction time. You need to move your body proportionate to the rate - as rate rises your body speed also increases. When you get the catch timing right the catch can feel very light (not heavily loaded on the blade).
16:00 Train yourself by trying a drill. Go from full slide to half slide - it gives the impression you're rating very high. Prepare early at half slide so you don't miss water at the catch. Then try to maintain the same boat speed you had at full slide. You move dynamically off the catch placement.
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Your boat speed depends BOTH on the power phase and the recovery phase. You've done the work - now get the benefit.
Timestamps
Your net boat speed is the power you put in to the power phase and the amount the boat slows down when the oars are out of the water. Rowing boats surge through the stroke cycle.
Keep the movements sequential and well-organised. Maximum boat speed comes after the extraction at the finish and as you transfer your body weight onto the feet. A key point is when you can get weight on the feet. As your arms straighten and your body follows - then the boat gets an extra burst of speed if you can sequence this correctly and smoothly.
05:00 4 focus points
You must have weight in the hand - elbows have to be higher than your wrist in order to give downward pressure.
Keep a flat wrist as you feather into your fingers allows you to keep weight in the hand. In sweep only the inside wrist bends.
Squaring on the recovery can mess with the rhythm. If you square late or it's a large movement this contributes to losing rhythm.
When to release your knees - a critical timing point to when to relax your muscles. You will get this right when you know what the feeling of weight in the hand is and the feeling of total relaxation in your leg muscles are.
Increase relaxation - know how to do this will help you to improve the other focus points.
Increase relaxation by 1% and what happens to the boat run, ratio and how the recovery feels. Does the boat speed change? [Remember they average over 3 strokes].
What "should" a masters rower be able to do? Training frequency, training volume, training intensity. What is the next big change in YOUR rowing training you can expect as you age?
01:00 When masters start rowing we are likely here for a while. Longevity in the sport is longer for masters than juniors or young adults. We come back to rowing thinking we are the same athlete as we were when we last were in a boat. Article - Rowing and Aging Each Decade.
Once you age past a certain point you will not be as strong as you were in your youth. This is inevitable - yet it can be delayed with careful training. This is a hard reality check.
03:15 in your 20s and 30s an athletic lifestyle can be achieved within work/family life. Many endurance sports peak in their 30s. You may be able to do 6-9 sessions per week.
In your 40s this is a decade where time is often limited. Time constraints mean your goal is to get adequate training to support your goals. Quality workouts are more important than quantity workout. The strength decline starts in this decade. Focus on rest and recovery to optimise your physical benefits of 5-7 workouts per week.
Regatta entries for D and E are large, and growing. Metabolic changes happen here - diet changes for weight control and for women and protein ingestion is more important. Also, menopausal changes also happen. You may need to change sleep patterns by introducing daytime naps to ensure you get enough rest. Review your rowing technique to align with your physiological capabilities - you may swap to sculling from sweep because it's symmetrical.
In your 60s more metabolic changes happen. You may be retiring to row and can do more training because you aren't working full time. Your erg score remains steady in your 60s - but technique improvements have big impact here as we lose strength we can gain speed by rowing better.
10:30 There are more rowers in their 70s than ever before. The body response to exercise becomes unpredictable and so affects rest and can cause injury. Flexibility and sensitivity to your recovery needs are a new habit. Maintain muscle mass with strength and conditioning work.
13:45 To get the best out of yourself each decade, assessing your capability is essential. Test your base aerobic fitness, peak power and anaerobic threshold using the Faster Five assessment this is included FREE with every training program subscription. Your training adaptations will be visible when you test.
Change your rig to suit your age and strength. The testing will enable you to determine what to do. Adjust rating and gearing to suit your capability. Webinar - Rigging for Masters has charts for oar designs, across the ages and skill. Many masters prefer the long distance races as we age - it's easier to keep your aerobic base as we age - what we lose is the high rating and sprint ability.
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Reflections on the 2024 Older Athlete and Aging conference learnings.
Timestamps
Al Morrow on developing a good "eye" as a coach. Demonstrated the importance of being able to look at your athlete and see where they way they row doesn't line up with the model you are using. First you must have a good model of rowing to compare with.
02:45 Books on sport - most have the first chapter on grip. We don't check and instruct athletes on this frequently enough. It affects your posture and efficiency. Shoulder alignment in sweep and sculling. Most masters can probably row longer at the catch.
Greg Benning on the power of reducing negatives and 1% gains modelled on the Sky Cycling team led by Dave Brailsford. Review all aspects of your training and life and find places where you can make small improvements. Some are compounding and others are linear e.g. weight lifting are linear. The compounding effect of rowing in the same crew consistently gives big gains.
06:00 The power of reducing negatives - taking fewer bad strokes. Slowing down less on the recovery will make your average speed higher. Greg showed the change in his absolute strength over 12 years and how he increased his boat speed despite this - the whole picture of positives and reducing negatives.
John explained in detail when to coach the whole crew vs individuals.
Everyone focusing on the same thing at the same time. How to give more to your athletes as a coach and how athletes can get more out of their time with a coach. Can the coach take two crews simultaneously? The important role of the bow person. Can my crew competitively "beat" the other crew by being better at the thing the coach was focused on. Not necessarily a race but you can do better.
Buy a ticket now to watch the recording.
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