Drills for beginners rowing on the ergo
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In this video, Ken takes us through a series of exercises to help beginners with their posture and sequence on the ergo. This video is especially useful for all newcomers to the sport of rowing and their coaches.
The posture and the sequence of the rowing stroke is one of the hardest parts to grasp, and to a beginner, the movement feels very unnatural. For this reason, it is especially important to take it slow to start with and with a keen eye observing. If a beginner attempts to row on the rowing machine without guidance, they will develop many bad habits which will be hard to break down the track. |
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Video Transcript
So the first drill we'd like to demonstrate before you get athletes on the water is on the ergo
the particular one we want to do you have jess here demonstrating how to just move into the catch and out of the catch on the ergo with her arms out with no shoulder movement and it's purely about getting the body into the right position and holding it into the front and then right the way out to about three quarters slide and then back into the front making sure there's no upper body movement and we do it without the handle first and then we demonstrate here's just demonstrating with the handle and as you can see with the handle there's a can be a bit of a tendency to pull on the oar the answer is resist that have a relaxed upper body and just come in and out of the front in and out of the front until they've got that really under control and then move to the next drill is to then move towards coming back and then opening up and so then we move to the next step in the sequence is to do the whole stroke but really slow and really control where we have the rock over into the front no moving the upper body back out to half side open up again and then finish with the arms and i suggest do that a number of times without any weight on to get it so they really understand the movement and then start to put some more power onto it so that they feel the power the pull the weight on the handle and they still need to make sure they've got the same sequence with the same relaxed upper body the first part of the rowing stroke from the back turn is actually putting the arms out and so i suggest you practice this again without a handle and just have the athletes sit there in the finish position and put their arms out and pull them back in again and put them at put their arms out again now this might seem really simple but you'll find that a number of athletes will tense their shoulders up as they put their arms out or they'll lift their shoulders up and put their arms out so here we're just practicing that first part of the movement
the next part of the movement is have the athletes sit with their hands out and then we want them to sit tall with their pelvis vertical and rock over from the pelvis let their knees relax a little bit so we rock over and we go back to the finish again leaving the arm straight out i'd put the arms out because we've already done that part of the drill then just rock over again back again rock over again back again i'd suggest at this point ask the athlete to sit at the finish as jess is about to sit sit at the finish and then slump their pelvis back so rock then have them use their arms essentially to your shoulders to drag their pelvis over so if you could demonstrate jess and that's not how we want to rock over so let's sit at the finish again pelvis vertical rock over from the pelvis and back forward just to get that movement really under control very controlled movement and all about rocking over the pelvis with soft knees the next part of the drill next drill in the sequence is to have jess now rock over and ask her to come into the catch holding a body really still and her arm straight out and then just push back to about half slide three quarter slide without moving her upper body at all now this drill is about demonstrating how to hold your body still and your arm still in that first part of the stroke so just in and out again just making sure that pattern is really well cemented in the athlete's mind
the next part in the sequence is if jess sits at about half slide there is to finish off the stroke and by this we mean open up the body from the lower core so not from the shoulders let the arms go down and finish with the arms the idea is to have them all finished at the same time so this drill if jess can come to half slide and then just finish the stroke off and then come back to half slide again
now what we'll do is we'll do the entire sequence all together and we'll start from the finish because that's a logical place to start this exercise and we'll do the entire sequence but all we're doing is taking those number of drills and putting them into one flowing movement without any upper shoulder activity because we don't have a handle to hang on to so it's quite easy for the athletes to come and get a grip of it so if we just do the whole rowing stroke now nice and slow in sequence
once they've got it understood like this broken up the next step is to flow it into one movement so we're going to flow it into one movement so it becomes one fluid movement what we're trying to emphasize here that the rowing strokes when it's executed properly is not really about a series of steps done in sequence it's more about one large movement with lots of components and the idea is you want to smooth it out so the overall concept is break it up into parts have the athletes execute each part of the stroke as a drill so they understand it well and then ask them to merge it all into one only once they've got this sequence understood should we give them the handle so now we'll do the same set of drills but using a handle as well to put a bit of weight on the athlete's upper body which will mean they have to think very carefully about how they maintain relaxation in the upper body and have no tenseness so they're not grabbing at the handle and now we're going to demonstrate the same set of drills with the handle that we did before first one sitting at the finish pelvis vertical is to put the hands away and then pull them back in again and then just put them away what we're emphasizing here is that when the hands go away the body doesn't really move the body sits tall and with the pelvis vertical and it's just having the hands go away without lifting at the shoulders without any untoward movements let's just put the hands away it's a good drill to start with the second drill we want to do is still hang on to the handles with the hands away is to rock the pelvis over so again pivoting over from the pelvis with the pelvis vertical and going back again and doing it again only difference with now with the handle is there's a little bit of pull on the handle that the athlete needs to be aware of but the concept is the same relax shoulders just rocking over from the pelvis so i do that a number of times the next drill is to in the rock over position is to come into the catch
and go back out again to about half slide three quarter slide back into the catch again
and just keep doing that particularly with the ergo coach in position as it is then it's very easy for the athlete to make sure they keep the handle in the right position
additionally there's a little bit of weight on the handle now when they're pushing with the legs and it's very important they understand that by turning their lower core on that they're going to leave their shoulders relaxed and still be able to hold the handle in the right position so i'd practice that a number of times to get that really well understood that when they're pushing with the legs the shoulders are really relaxed and not lifting their shoulders at all and holding the they're supporting their body with their lower core keeping that turned on
so the next part of the drill is to come to three-quarter position and now we want to open up and put open up our body finish with our arms and put our legs down all in the one movement let's do it again so i'd repeat that sequence a few times from that three-quarter half-slide position making sure that everything finishes at the same time you'll find some athletes need to use this drill for longer because they tend to lift their shoulders too early or don't hold their core strong enough so their legs go down and leaving their shoulders hanging out the front just practice the drill until they've got it really under control once they've got all these segments under control the next step is to do it in one fluid movement so we do the whole stroke in one fluid movement essentially taking those elements that we've practiced through these number of drills to smooth out the rowing stroke so that we get it really controlled having an ergo coach on the ergo will help enormously in making the athletes understand where the handle and the shoulders should be in the various stages of the rowing stroke once you've done this a number of times and you've got the athletes understanding the process i suggest ask them to push a little harder as they come out of the catch which will put a bit more weight on the oar and if they keep the same sequence of movements and make sure that they're not changing the pattern at all then you'll find they'll be able to row quite well in a very short period of time
the temptation for most beginner athletes particularly younger athletes would be to pull on the oar and lift their shoulders this set of drills really emphasize that it's a pushing exercise not a pulling exercise
and so by paying attention to these details right at the beginning you'll find you get much greater outcomes when they're in the boat
the particular one we want to do you have jess here demonstrating how to just move into the catch and out of the catch on the ergo with her arms out with no shoulder movement and it's purely about getting the body into the right position and holding it into the front and then right the way out to about three quarters slide and then back into the front making sure there's no upper body movement and we do it without the handle first and then we demonstrate here's just demonstrating with the handle and as you can see with the handle there's a can be a bit of a tendency to pull on the oar the answer is resist that have a relaxed upper body and just come in and out of the front in and out of the front until they've got that really under control and then move to the next drill is to then move towards coming back and then opening up and so then we move to the next step in the sequence is to do the whole stroke but really slow and really control where we have the rock over into the front no moving the upper body back out to half side open up again and then finish with the arms and i suggest do that a number of times without any weight on to get it so they really understand the movement and then start to put some more power onto it so that they feel the power the pull the weight on the handle and they still need to make sure they've got the same sequence with the same relaxed upper body the first part of the rowing stroke from the back turn is actually putting the arms out and so i suggest you practice this again without a handle and just have the athletes sit there in the finish position and put their arms out and pull them back in again and put them at put their arms out again now this might seem really simple but you'll find that a number of athletes will tense their shoulders up as they put their arms out or they'll lift their shoulders up and put their arms out so here we're just practicing that first part of the movement
the next part of the movement is have the athletes sit with their hands out and then we want them to sit tall with their pelvis vertical and rock over from the pelvis let their knees relax a little bit so we rock over and we go back to the finish again leaving the arm straight out i'd put the arms out because we've already done that part of the drill then just rock over again back again rock over again back again i'd suggest at this point ask the athlete to sit at the finish as jess is about to sit sit at the finish and then slump their pelvis back so rock then have them use their arms essentially to your shoulders to drag their pelvis over so if you could demonstrate jess and that's not how we want to rock over so let's sit at the finish again pelvis vertical rock over from the pelvis and back forward just to get that movement really under control very controlled movement and all about rocking over the pelvis with soft knees the next part of the drill next drill in the sequence is to have jess now rock over and ask her to come into the catch holding a body really still and her arm straight out and then just push back to about half slide three quarter slide without moving her upper body at all now this drill is about demonstrating how to hold your body still and your arm still in that first part of the stroke so just in and out again just making sure that pattern is really well cemented in the athlete's mind
the next part in the sequence is if jess sits at about half slide there is to finish off the stroke and by this we mean open up the body from the lower core so not from the shoulders let the arms go down and finish with the arms the idea is to have them all finished at the same time so this drill if jess can come to half slide and then just finish the stroke off and then come back to half slide again
now what we'll do is we'll do the entire sequence all together and we'll start from the finish because that's a logical place to start this exercise and we'll do the entire sequence but all we're doing is taking those number of drills and putting them into one flowing movement without any upper shoulder activity because we don't have a handle to hang on to so it's quite easy for the athletes to come and get a grip of it so if we just do the whole rowing stroke now nice and slow in sequence
once they've got it understood like this broken up the next step is to flow it into one movement so we're going to flow it into one movement so it becomes one fluid movement what we're trying to emphasize here that the rowing strokes when it's executed properly is not really about a series of steps done in sequence it's more about one large movement with lots of components and the idea is you want to smooth it out so the overall concept is break it up into parts have the athletes execute each part of the stroke as a drill so they understand it well and then ask them to merge it all into one only once they've got this sequence understood should we give them the handle so now we'll do the same set of drills but using a handle as well to put a bit of weight on the athlete's upper body which will mean they have to think very carefully about how they maintain relaxation in the upper body and have no tenseness so they're not grabbing at the handle and now we're going to demonstrate the same set of drills with the handle that we did before first one sitting at the finish pelvis vertical is to put the hands away and then pull them back in again and then just put them away what we're emphasizing here is that when the hands go away the body doesn't really move the body sits tall and with the pelvis vertical and it's just having the hands go away without lifting at the shoulders without any untoward movements let's just put the hands away it's a good drill to start with the second drill we want to do is still hang on to the handles with the hands away is to rock the pelvis over so again pivoting over from the pelvis with the pelvis vertical and going back again and doing it again only difference with now with the handle is there's a little bit of pull on the handle that the athlete needs to be aware of but the concept is the same relax shoulders just rocking over from the pelvis so i do that a number of times the next drill is to in the rock over position is to come into the catch
and go back out again to about half slide three quarter slide back into the catch again
and just keep doing that particularly with the ergo coach in position as it is then it's very easy for the athlete to make sure they keep the handle in the right position
additionally there's a little bit of weight on the handle now when they're pushing with the legs and it's very important they understand that by turning their lower core on that they're going to leave their shoulders relaxed and still be able to hold the handle in the right position so i'd practice that a number of times to get that really well understood that when they're pushing with the legs the shoulders are really relaxed and not lifting their shoulders at all and holding the they're supporting their body with their lower core keeping that turned on
so the next part of the drill is to come to three-quarter position and now we want to open up and put open up our body finish with our arms and put our legs down all in the one movement let's do it again so i'd repeat that sequence a few times from that three-quarter half-slide position making sure that everything finishes at the same time you'll find some athletes need to use this drill for longer because they tend to lift their shoulders too early or don't hold their core strong enough so their legs go down and leaving their shoulders hanging out the front just practice the drill until they've got it really under control once they've got all these segments under control the next step is to do it in one fluid movement so we do the whole stroke in one fluid movement essentially taking those elements that we've practiced through these number of drills to smooth out the rowing stroke so that we get it really controlled having an ergo coach on the ergo will help enormously in making the athletes understand where the handle and the shoulders should be in the various stages of the rowing stroke once you've done this a number of times and you've got the athletes understanding the process i suggest ask them to push a little harder as they come out of the catch which will put a bit more weight on the oar and if they keep the same sequence of movements and make sure that they're not changing the pattern at all then you'll find they'll be able to row quite well in a very short period of time
the temptation for most beginner athletes particularly younger athletes would be to pull on the oar and lift their shoulders this set of drills really emphasize that it's a pushing exercise not a pulling exercise
and so by paying attention to these details right at the beginning you'll find you get much greater outcomes when they're in the boat