Six mistakes beginners make at the rowing finish
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In this video, Lachlan takes us through the six mistakes beginners make at the finish, what they are, and how to avoid them.
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Video Transcript
Here are six mistakes beginners make at the finish.
So at number six, we got dumping at the hands you can see here I'm rowing in a circular motion, basically burying the blades really deep during the stroke and just dumping them down to finish. This is no good because you really waste that last part of the stroke and you're not in a very strong position. See here as I come through my shoulders are really tense I'm not getting much power. The stroke is pretty much over here and basically doing no work from this point on and the work they did earlier and the stroke really isn't efficient is if you have a flat draw. So place the blade pull it straight through the finish then tap out.
At number five we've got the layback, this is basically an accentuated leaning back at the end of the rowing stroke you can see here this is about the point where I stop becoming effective with the blades in the water so any movement from the body here is just a waste. You can see here also as I lean back I'm scooping the water up and throwing it backwards this is not ideal and it's really going to make it hard for me to get into a good position for the next rowing stroke. You waste a lot of energy doing the layback, leaning back too far and having to recover a long way before you actually can get into a good rocked over position it's not good. You can see here this is where I should finish and this is where I'm actually finishing. All of the body movement past the point of
where the stroke is effective is a complete waste and you'll have to make
that back on the next stroke so you're really wasting a lot of energy doing
this.
At number four I've got the upright position this is basically doing three-quarters of the rowing stroke you can see here with the handle is getting
caught at my body it's making it really difficult to tap down and I'm losing that last bit of the rowing stroke. You can see here because I'm all hunched up I'm in a very uncomfortable position and that's about the length of the rowing stroke that's effective. You really have to hit that middle ground between leaning back too far and not leaning back far enough.
At number three we've got the slouch so this is a really weak position at the finish you see can see I've got a large bend in my back my chest is sort of caving in and I'm really not in a very strong position at all. Rowing like this for a long time will lead to having a sore back and it also means that you're in a very bad position when you try and take the pivot you can see here that my spine should be on a straight line along that line but it's not it's curved and so it means I'm sitting low in the boat I haven't finished the rowing stroke off and I'll find it hard to make it to the
next stroke.
At number two we've got the stroke coach addict this is basically someone who dips their head at the finish. What this does is it basically draws all your attention lower in the boat you end up with hands see that they're almost 90 degrees those wrists should be flat when your eyes are down in the boat you can't focus on sitting tall you'll be in a very weak position and it's hard to finish the stroke off with any power or purpose. It also means that you're unlikely to get a good tap out just as we're slouching having the head down will mean you have a very difficult time
getting a good tap out.
So this final one's a big one what it is is dropping the wrists at the
finish this really messes the rest of your stroke up so you can see here as I tap down my wrist go to 90 degrees. If we're doing it right we should have our hands in line with our forearm so no bend in that wrist. I'm shoveling the water upwards and out really wasting a lot of energy. My body position is also affected it makes it really hard to keep a strong position if you drop your wrists and this is a very natural thing to do. As my wrists move away you can see what actually happens and why it's such a problem to have 90-degree wrists at the finish. You can see right here the difference between my left and right hand is about 20 centimeters this should be as small as possible remember we've
only got a 1 centimeter gap between left and right. So it makes it really hard to balance the boat it puts it puts you on a lean what you're going to have to correct for a catch and this is bad because you feel unbalanced you'll try and do it all at the end it won't work.
So when you're rowing along you want to be thinking about getting the flat wrists you want to be thinking about sitting tall you don't want to be
leaning back too far you don't want to be finishing over it too far you want to be be tapping down and feathering you can see here that although my wrist isn't completely flat as a lot better than the last example of 90 degrees. And see here as I cross over maybe my handles are only 5 centimeters apart. It's much better so it makes it balanced a lot easier upset the boat a lot less and makes it a lot easier at the catch. Other things to focus on is sitting tall keeping your eyes up on the horizon and not trying to lean back too far. You really want to maximize the effectiveness of your rowing stroke before you tap out.
With this annotation we're looking to see where my effective stroke finishes and more importantly where my body moves to after this point. So you can see here that I moved maybe a few centimeters further back than where my effective stroke ended and that's important you don't want to be wasting any energy leaning back too far and likewise you don't want to be getting too cramped at the finish by sitting too upright that you've run into trouble tapping out. You really want tofinish that stroke off.
Another thing keep your wrists flat try and keep them nicely tucked one on the other as you're rowing along and make sure you think about what you're doing at the finish it's really easy to think you're doing the right rowing stroke when you're not so make sure you're keeping on eye on
your what you're doing and keep on top of it.
So at number six, we got dumping at the hands you can see here I'm rowing in a circular motion, basically burying the blades really deep during the stroke and just dumping them down to finish. This is no good because you really waste that last part of the stroke and you're not in a very strong position. See here as I come through my shoulders are really tense I'm not getting much power. The stroke is pretty much over here and basically doing no work from this point on and the work they did earlier and the stroke really isn't efficient is if you have a flat draw. So place the blade pull it straight through the finish then tap out.
At number five we've got the layback, this is basically an accentuated leaning back at the end of the rowing stroke you can see here this is about the point where I stop becoming effective with the blades in the water so any movement from the body here is just a waste. You can see here also as I lean back I'm scooping the water up and throwing it backwards this is not ideal and it's really going to make it hard for me to get into a good position for the next rowing stroke. You waste a lot of energy doing the layback, leaning back too far and having to recover a long way before you actually can get into a good rocked over position it's not good. You can see here this is where I should finish and this is where I'm actually finishing. All of the body movement past the point of
where the stroke is effective is a complete waste and you'll have to make
that back on the next stroke so you're really wasting a lot of energy doing
this.
At number four I've got the upright position this is basically doing three-quarters of the rowing stroke you can see here with the handle is getting
caught at my body it's making it really difficult to tap down and I'm losing that last bit of the rowing stroke. You can see here because I'm all hunched up I'm in a very uncomfortable position and that's about the length of the rowing stroke that's effective. You really have to hit that middle ground between leaning back too far and not leaning back far enough.
At number three we've got the slouch so this is a really weak position at the finish you see can see I've got a large bend in my back my chest is sort of caving in and I'm really not in a very strong position at all. Rowing like this for a long time will lead to having a sore back and it also means that you're in a very bad position when you try and take the pivot you can see here that my spine should be on a straight line along that line but it's not it's curved and so it means I'm sitting low in the boat I haven't finished the rowing stroke off and I'll find it hard to make it to the
next stroke.
At number two we've got the stroke coach addict this is basically someone who dips their head at the finish. What this does is it basically draws all your attention lower in the boat you end up with hands see that they're almost 90 degrees those wrists should be flat when your eyes are down in the boat you can't focus on sitting tall you'll be in a very weak position and it's hard to finish the stroke off with any power or purpose. It also means that you're unlikely to get a good tap out just as we're slouching having the head down will mean you have a very difficult time
getting a good tap out.
So this final one's a big one what it is is dropping the wrists at the
finish this really messes the rest of your stroke up so you can see here as I tap down my wrist go to 90 degrees. If we're doing it right we should have our hands in line with our forearm so no bend in that wrist. I'm shoveling the water upwards and out really wasting a lot of energy. My body position is also affected it makes it really hard to keep a strong position if you drop your wrists and this is a very natural thing to do. As my wrists move away you can see what actually happens and why it's such a problem to have 90-degree wrists at the finish. You can see right here the difference between my left and right hand is about 20 centimeters this should be as small as possible remember we've
only got a 1 centimeter gap between left and right. So it makes it really hard to balance the boat it puts it puts you on a lean what you're going to have to correct for a catch and this is bad because you feel unbalanced you'll try and do it all at the end it won't work.
So when you're rowing along you want to be thinking about getting the flat wrists you want to be thinking about sitting tall you don't want to be
leaning back too far you don't want to be finishing over it too far you want to be be tapping down and feathering you can see here that although my wrist isn't completely flat as a lot better than the last example of 90 degrees. And see here as I cross over maybe my handles are only 5 centimeters apart. It's much better so it makes it balanced a lot easier upset the boat a lot less and makes it a lot easier at the catch. Other things to focus on is sitting tall keeping your eyes up on the horizon and not trying to lean back too far. You really want to maximize the effectiveness of your rowing stroke before you tap out.
With this annotation we're looking to see where my effective stroke finishes and more importantly where my body moves to after this point. So you can see here that I moved maybe a few centimeters further back than where my effective stroke ended and that's important you don't want to be wasting any energy leaning back too far and likewise you don't want to be getting too cramped at the finish by sitting too upright that you've run into trouble tapping out. You really want tofinish that stroke off.
Another thing keep your wrists flat try and keep them nicely tucked one on the other as you're rowing along and make sure you think about what you're doing at the finish it's really easy to think you're doing the right rowing stroke when you're not so make sure you're keeping on eye on
your what you're doing and keep on top of it.