Returning to Rowing, what to consider, focus on, and avoid
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In this video, Ken Davey guides us through the challenges rowers will face when returning to rowing after a period off the water. He takes us through the steps he takes with his athletes to get them back up to speed.
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Video Transcript
It's important when you're coming off a
period of inactivity recently with a
covid 19 issue around the world we've
found that there's a lot of people that
have had not been able to row and the
club have been able to get out on the
water and so essentially they're detrained
to some extent there's two particular
aspects of this and so when you start
back rowing again on the Ergo or on the
water or both then it's really important
to make sure you be aware of a few
critical issues that are vital to making
sure you don't injure yourself and be
get the best start it's not normally
possible for you to go straight back
into rowing and expect to row the way
that you rowed before the the period of
inactivity or non rowing occurred
there's two particular issues that that
are important here one's physical and
one's mental now the physical side I'll
address first it's quite often that
people maintain a good level of physical
activity even if they're not allowed to
row in a boat they use ergos go for runs
ride a bike whatever if you've been
rowing on an Ergo a lot during a period
of inactivity then it's likely that you
don't have to be too concerned about
getting into a boat from a muscular
perspective thing you need to remember
though is that load is the most
debilitating issue what you need to
remember is that increasing load too
quickly is more likely to cause injuries
and also remember that in relation to
load that there's a whole body load
which is one angle to look at and the
other thing is particular individual
muscles so if you've been running a lot
during a period of of non rowing and
then you go back to rowing then you're
going to be using different muscles so
be very mindful of that and don't overdo
it too soon so don't overload the
individual muscles or indeed your whole
body in order to get up to rowing at
your normal pace quickly because you'll
find it's more likely than not will
cause an injury and then you'll be
slowed down again it's very important
make sure you don't overload any
particular muscles or indeed your whole
body when you're coming back into the
activity and that depends on what
activity you've been doing during the
inactive period the second thing is
really important to watch is your mental
side and understanding how to row it's
easy to think that you'll get back into
a boat after a couple of months of not
being out on the water and find that
it's easy for you to just keep rowing as
you were I'd suggest that this is
unlikely to happen because you start to
forget your body doesn't quite remember
as well as you'd like it to so what I
suggest to do is when you get back onto
the water you start off with a series of
drills and focus on one particular
aspect at a time in order to most
quickly get your rowing back to it it's
the performance that you're at before
the period of inactivity the things I
suggest you start with is to start off
with posture in the boat very important
aspect making sure you're sitting tall
making sure you rock over from the
pelvis and you keep your body really
relaxed so I'd practice that for a while
to make sure you've got your body in the
right position off of the finish into
the catch position down the slide into
the front no extra movement of the body
or the arms put the blade in and then
push yourself back and commence the
rowing stroke get that bit right first
because that's everything else sort of
drives from that poor posture and a boat
for sequencing in a boat of the body and
the arms is going to cause issues in
other parts of the stroke second thing I
suggest you focus on is your grip and
relaxation to make sure that your arms
are really relaxed your shoulders and
your and your grip is really relaxed so
that so you can control yourself well
you can get a really good precise
relaxed catch and more quickly than you
will if you're all tense
so remember relaxed really focus on that
relaxation when you're taking the catch
and focus on that angle that part of the
stroke next as I say as you're coming
into the catch make sure that you put
the blade in the water before you push
so practice being relaxed come down the
slide
play it in put it in nice and deep and
then push you practice doing that in
order to get your mind back into the
understanding of the sequence that
you're looking for then I'd suggest
focus on the finish making sure you're
sitting tall and chins up and you're
tapping out in a clean way pulling the
power right the way through to the
finish keeping a bend in your and just
before you finish the stroke let the
bend straighten tap out using the hole
in the water that will be behind the
blade at that point then again on grip
and feather
make sure you feather correctly so just
take those those number of different
aspects and focus on them one at a time
and get yourself back into the into the
rhythm of rowing correctly last thing to
do is make sure that when you're
starting to take your rating up the
first thing to do is to get it right at
a low rating
whatever you're most comfortable base
rate is 18 20 strokes a minute in most
cases so practice that and make sure
that you've got all of those technique
aspects under control at rate 20 with
plenty of time on the recovery and
making sure you've got your rhythm right
and all of those individual parts of the
rowing stroke is correct as you can get
them and then and only then start to
take the rating up so in summary
please don't get back onto the water and
just go flat out and think that
everything is going to be straight
forward you may well end up with some injury
issues and so be very mindful of load
particularly in individual muscles that
haven't been used much during the quiet
period make sure you get your technique
right and I'd suggest focus on a few
individual items one at a time and get
them right and then merge them together
at a low rate and then once you've got
that under control
take the rating up don't overdo it or
you'll find it both physically and
mentally and your technique will all
suffer so enjoy getting back onto the water
period of inactivity recently with a
covid 19 issue around the world we've
found that there's a lot of people that
have had not been able to row and the
club have been able to get out on the
water and so essentially they're detrained
to some extent there's two particular
aspects of this and so when you start
back rowing again on the Ergo or on the
water or both then it's really important
to make sure you be aware of a few
critical issues that are vital to making
sure you don't injure yourself and be
get the best start it's not normally
possible for you to go straight back
into rowing and expect to row the way
that you rowed before the the period of
inactivity or non rowing occurred
there's two particular issues that that
are important here one's physical and
one's mental now the physical side I'll
address first it's quite often that
people maintain a good level of physical
activity even if they're not allowed to
row in a boat they use ergos go for runs
ride a bike whatever if you've been
rowing on an Ergo a lot during a period
of inactivity then it's likely that you
don't have to be too concerned about
getting into a boat from a muscular
perspective thing you need to remember
though is that load is the most
debilitating issue what you need to
remember is that increasing load too
quickly is more likely to cause injuries
and also remember that in relation to
load that there's a whole body load
which is one angle to look at and the
other thing is particular individual
muscles so if you've been running a lot
during a period of of non rowing and
then you go back to rowing then you're
going to be using different muscles so
be very mindful of that and don't overdo
it too soon so don't overload the
individual muscles or indeed your whole
body in order to get up to rowing at
your normal pace quickly because you'll
find it's more likely than not will
cause an injury and then you'll be
slowed down again it's very important
make sure you don't overload any
particular muscles or indeed your whole
body when you're coming back into the
activity and that depends on what
activity you've been doing during the
inactive period the second thing is
really important to watch is your mental
side and understanding how to row it's
easy to think that you'll get back into
a boat after a couple of months of not
being out on the water and find that
it's easy for you to just keep rowing as
you were I'd suggest that this is
unlikely to happen because you start to
forget your body doesn't quite remember
as well as you'd like it to so what I
suggest to do is when you get back onto
the water you start off with a series of
drills and focus on one particular
aspect at a time in order to most
quickly get your rowing back to it it's
the performance that you're at before
the period of inactivity the things I
suggest you start with is to start off
with posture in the boat very important
aspect making sure you're sitting tall
making sure you rock over from the
pelvis and you keep your body really
relaxed so I'd practice that for a while
to make sure you've got your body in the
right position off of the finish into
the catch position down the slide into
the front no extra movement of the body
or the arms put the blade in and then
push yourself back and commence the
rowing stroke get that bit right first
because that's everything else sort of
drives from that poor posture and a boat
for sequencing in a boat of the body and
the arms is going to cause issues in
other parts of the stroke second thing I
suggest you focus on is your grip and
relaxation to make sure that your arms
are really relaxed your shoulders and
your and your grip is really relaxed so
that so you can control yourself well
you can get a really good precise
relaxed catch and more quickly than you
will if you're all tense
so remember relaxed really focus on that
relaxation when you're taking the catch
and focus on that angle that part of the
stroke next as I say as you're coming
into the catch make sure that you put
the blade in the water before you push
so practice being relaxed come down the
slide
play it in put it in nice and deep and
then push you practice doing that in
order to get your mind back into the
understanding of the sequence that
you're looking for then I'd suggest
focus on the finish making sure you're
sitting tall and chins up and you're
tapping out in a clean way pulling the
power right the way through to the
finish keeping a bend in your and just
before you finish the stroke let the
bend straighten tap out using the hole
in the water that will be behind the
blade at that point then again on grip
and feather
make sure you feather correctly so just
take those those number of different
aspects and focus on them one at a time
and get yourself back into the into the
rhythm of rowing correctly last thing to
do is make sure that when you're
starting to take your rating up the
first thing to do is to get it right at
a low rating
whatever you're most comfortable base
rate is 18 20 strokes a minute in most
cases so practice that and make sure
that you've got all of those technique
aspects under control at rate 20 with
plenty of time on the recovery and
making sure you've got your rhythm right
and all of those individual parts of the
rowing stroke is correct as you can get
them and then and only then start to
take the rating up so in summary
please don't get back onto the water and
just go flat out and think that
everything is going to be straight
forward you may well end up with some injury
issues and so be very mindful of load
particularly in individual muscles that
haven't been used much during the quiet
period make sure you get your technique
right and I'd suggest focus on a few
individual items one at a time and get
them right and then merge them together
at a low rate and then once you've got
that under control
take the rating up don't overdo it or
you'll find it both physically and
mentally and your technique will all
suffer so enjoy getting back onto the water