Which part of your core to engage at the rowing catch
Teaching athletes which part of the core to turn on at the catch is essential. It's important not to stress the upper body and hang with the arms and shoulders.
This technique is an excellent way to educate beginners. |
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Video Transcript
one of the most significant issues that we find with athletes when they're learning how to row is that they try to grab with their shoulders so they pull on the oar like that when they take the catch rather than just bracing their core and just pushing with their legs
so one of the things that i find is really useful to teach athletes when they're beginning in the rowing process is how to leave the arms relaxed and turn their core on when you ask them to do it first time they generally turn on their shoulders and everything up here which is really what we're trying to avoid so i'll demonstrate what we do with here and do it both ways how to do it right and how to do it incorrectly so first thing you do is you hang onto the athlete's hands like that come a little bit closer to me right now what you want to do is ask the athlete to lean away from you so you're holding them if you let go they'll fall over so then they go but lean back a bit more right now really loosen your arms now ask them to turn their core just without prompting which bit of the core you want just turn your core on so turn your core on and what will happen is the first time you'll be able to feel it you'll be able to feel in their hands that they've turned on their core up here somewhere this part up so what you want to do is keep doing it with them until they turn on their core down here so which is the part we want for the rowing stroke so now try again do it again really down low so that i can't feel it that's better so when turns his core on now like that i can't feel in his hands and he's turned it on if he's turned it on too high up in his body you'll feel it so what i suggest you do is with your athletes before you put them on the ergo before they get to row is get them to understand about the core because if they turn the right part of the core on leave all the upper body relaxed they're going to row much better from the first stroke so do it before they learn how to row incorrectly
so one of the things that i find is really useful to teach athletes when they're beginning in the rowing process is how to leave the arms relaxed and turn their core on when you ask them to do it first time they generally turn on their shoulders and everything up here which is really what we're trying to avoid so i'll demonstrate what we do with here and do it both ways how to do it right and how to do it incorrectly so first thing you do is you hang onto the athlete's hands like that come a little bit closer to me right now what you want to do is ask the athlete to lean away from you so you're holding them if you let go they'll fall over so then they go but lean back a bit more right now really loosen your arms now ask them to turn their core just without prompting which bit of the core you want just turn your core on so turn your core on and what will happen is the first time you'll be able to feel it you'll be able to feel in their hands that they've turned on their core up here somewhere this part up so what you want to do is keep doing it with them until they turn on their core down here so which is the part we want for the rowing stroke so now try again do it again really down low so that i can't feel it that's better so when turns his core on now like that i can't feel in his hands and he's turned it on if he's turned it on too high up in his body you'll feel it so what i suggest you do is with your athletes before you put them on the ergo before they get to row is get them to understand about the core because if they turn the right part of the core on leave all the upper body relaxed they're going to row much better from the first stroke so do it before they learn how to row incorrectly