How to improve your rowing posture
In this video, Ken Davey demonstrates how to improve your posture both on the ergo and in the boat. He describes what to think about at each point and how to practice the correct technique.
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Video Transcript
When coaching yourself the second step, I'd suggest in the process is to make sure your posture is right in the boat so you're sitting tall, but you're sitting up with your pelvis vertical and rocking over with the arms away body over. Rocking over from the pelvis, not from the shoulders, so rocking out from the pelvis into the catch position with soft knees just gently relaxed.
I suggest by far the easiest place to learn this and to get this better technique is to do it on an Ergo fixed or sliding doesn't really matter it's probably easier on a fixed ergo and if you can have some mirrors set up so you can see what your posture looks like from the side so I suggest two mirrors on an angle so you can see it so from the side failing that, just have one mirror on the side or even one in front on a bit of an angle will do the trick. So practice on the ergo and make sure you've got your posture correct because having your posture correct is vital to getting a well executed catch.
If you don't finish correctly and get your body into the right position for the catch, you're unlikely to have a good effective catch. An effective catch is really what boat speed is all about so I suggest practicing on the Ergo using mirrors that way, you don't need anyone to film you anything like that and then when you get into a boat practice exactly the same technique that you had on the ergo then I suggest put a GoPro or some other camera on an extension bar on the rigger and film yourself or have someone film you and show you the footage and compare it to the way that we demonstrate.
The posture should be in the boat and make sure that you get that correct arms out soft knees rocking over, come forward to the catch place the blade in legs down flat open the body and the arms and out rock the body with soft knees come forward to the catch place the blades, legs down
flat open the body then arms.
So hopefully, then you've got relaxed grip correct feathering and you end up getting your body into the right position off the back ready for the catch so I'd work on that part of the stroke in particular and get that bit correct once you've got your grip feathering and your body posture correct. Then the next step would want to work on is how you're going to come down into the catch ready to take the stroke.
I suggest by far the easiest place to learn this and to get this better technique is to do it on an Ergo fixed or sliding doesn't really matter it's probably easier on a fixed ergo and if you can have some mirrors set up so you can see what your posture looks like from the side so I suggest two mirrors on an angle so you can see it so from the side failing that, just have one mirror on the side or even one in front on a bit of an angle will do the trick. So practice on the ergo and make sure you've got your posture correct because having your posture correct is vital to getting a well executed catch.
If you don't finish correctly and get your body into the right position for the catch, you're unlikely to have a good effective catch. An effective catch is really what boat speed is all about so I suggest practicing on the Ergo using mirrors that way, you don't need anyone to film you anything like that and then when you get into a boat practice exactly the same technique that you had on the ergo then I suggest put a GoPro or some other camera on an extension bar on the rigger and film yourself or have someone film you and show you the footage and compare it to the way that we demonstrate.
The posture should be in the boat and make sure that you get that correct arms out soft knees rocking over, come forward to the catch place the blade in legs down flat open the body and the arms and out rock the body with soft knees come forward to the catch place the blades, legs down
flat open the body then arms.
So hopefully, then you've got relaxed grip correct feathering and you end up getting your body into the right position off the back ready for the catch so I'd work on that part of the stroke in particular and get that bit correct once you've got your grip feathering and your body posture correct. Then the next step would want to work on is how you're going to come down into the catch ready to take the stroke.