How can you stop shoulder lift at the rowing catch?
In this video, Ken Davey demonstrates how you can teach yourself or your athletes to stop lifting with the shoulders too early after the catch.
This solution works equally well in the rowing boat as it does on the ergo. |
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Video Transcript
i find when coaching particularly beginner athletes at school for example that they tend to lift their shoulders as they're coming into the catch so if Lachlan comes into the catch and then the first movement for a lot of them is to lift their shoulders and so they and then they push back with their legs and so we get that sort of a movement or sometimes they'll bend their arms and lift their shoulders and that often happens then when they come back down the slide you'll find they tend to come back to slide by starting to move the seat first and then arms and body catch up and then it all gets to the front about the same time very uncontrolled sort of movement which we're really trying to avoid to try and solve the shoulder lift issue what i suggest you do is work out where you want them to open up and so push back slowly until you get to the point where you think they will open up and then tell them so probably a little bit more about there somewhere we want them to start opening up and push with their legs and open up at the same time now i find it's quite difficult to actually get them to understand that because it's such they've got to hold their body in that position for such a long time before they can open up what i suggest you do is put a piece of tape on the on the bar of the ergo under the seat and i suggest the easy way to do it is to move the seat get the athlete to sit at the like so yeah like Lachlan is and push back until you think a bit further for about there we want to make it ask them to stop and and figure out where that is on the bar an easier method is if you sit with your legs flat like that i'd suggest that the place to put it is probably a bit in front of the of the seat so you can pick a point where you're going to put it so if Lachlan gos to that finish position again we're sorry go to the catch and straighten the legs out until we get to i'll tell you when to stop let's stop about there then i suggest that that's where we want to have the tape so that the wheels will just hit it now oddly enough you'll find that if i demonstrate that you can put the tape so that this wheel here hits it first which would be ideal but if i mark that spot and lock them pushes your legs flat
you'll find that it's essentially the front of the seat so the easiest way to do it is to ask the athlete to sit with their legs flat everyone's got different length legs pretty much and then while they're sitting there just mark the spot with your finger a little bit behind the front of the seat and ask them to come forward out of the way and then that's the spot where i want to put a piece of tape and so i just get a piece of electrical tape plastic tape and let's do it again nothing so come back to the spot and so we're about here so go forward again now if i put the tape there and just stick it across like that now if Lachlan now comes back slowly on the slide and stops when it gets to the tape so that's where we wanted to start to open up now i've got a little bit further forward than you perhaps might want them to open up but bear in mind there'll be a reaction time so when they hit the tape they're going to have to react so you want them to hit the tape and react not anticipate where the tape is essentially and so what they can do is they can get a concept of how far down the side they need to go if you want to reinforce the point for beginners in particular so if you come forward i'd be inclined to move it further
so let's try that
now it's a really long way and so it encourages them to understand that you don't want them to open up until they feel the tape and then you'll find it's a lot easier for them to understand that they have to hold their shoulders in the correct catch position for such a long time you can do the same in a boat all you need to do is get a bit of tape like this and a shorter piece because you won't need as much and just put that in the slide of the boat if you do that put it in the slide of the boat at the right point for the same athlete then you'll find that in the boat you can achieve the same outcome probably the tape will wear off quicker in a boat but it's really there as a drill and i think would become quite annoying for an athlete if you left it there a lot but it's really about educating them when you want them to open up i think you'll find without exception they'll say it's a long way that they have to hold their body in that position before they open and that in itself is a great concept for them to understand so trying to fix shoulder lift i'd suggest easiest on an ergo do it with a piece of tape and it's quite simple they ask them to sit flat and if you see where we are now in this extreme position so you can have your legs flat please Lachlan
you can see we've got the tape essentially right just before the front wheel a little bit of an advantage in having it there as well is that there's only one wheel goes over the tape so that if you have it too far forward they'll get this clunk clunk whereas this way they only get one bump so i'd suggest put the tape so that it's just behind the front wheel on the ergo seat and you'll find it's a pretty good place to have it so they can understand this particular technique
you'll find that it's essentially the front of the seat so the easiest way to do it is to ask the athlete to sit with their legs flat everyone's got different length legs pretty much and then while they're sitting there just mark the spot with your finger a little bit behind the front of the seat and ask them to come forward out of the way and then that's the spot where i want to put a piece of tape and so i just get a piece of electrical tape plastic tape and let's do it again nothing so come back to the spot and so we're about here so go forward again now if i put the tape there and just stick it across like that now if Lachlan now comes back slowly on the slide and stops when it gets to the tape so that's where we wanted to start to open up now i've got a little bit further forward than you perhaps might want them to open up but bear in mind there'll be a reaction time so when they hit the tape they're going to have to react so you want them to hit the tape and react not anticipate where the tape is essentially and so what they can do is they can get a concept of how far down the side they need to go if you want to reinforce the point for beginners in particular so if you come forward i'd be inclined to move it further
so let's try that
now it's a really long way and so it encourages them to understand that you don't want them to open up until they feel the tape and then you'll find it's a lot easier for them to understand that they have to hold their shoulders in the correct catch position for such a long time you can do the same in a boat all you need to do is get a bit of tape like this and a shorter piece because you won't need as much and just put that in the slide of the boat if you do that put it in the slide of the boat at the right point for the same athlete then you'll find that in the boat you can achieve the same outcome probably the tape will wear off quicker in a boat but it's really there as a drill and i think would become quite annoying for an athlete if you left it there a lot but it's really about educating them when you want them to open up i think you'll find without exception they'll say it's a long way that they have to hold their body in that position before they open and that in itself is a great concept for them to understand so trying to fix shoulder lift i'd suggest easiest on an ergo do it with a piece of tape and it's quite simple they ask them to sit flat and if you see where we are now in this extreme position so you can have your legs flat please Lachlan
you can see we've got the tape essentially right just before the front wheel a little bit of an advantage in having it there as well is that there's only one wheel goes over the tape so that if you have it too far forward they'll get this clunk clunk whereas this way they only get one bump so i'd suggest put the tape so that it's just behind the front wheel on the ergo seat and you'll find it's a pretty good place to have it so they can understand this particular technique