Returning to Rowing, what to consider, focus on, and avoid

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.

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