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Which is faster in rowing? Lean back or Sit up?

In this video, Ken compares two common styles; leaning back and sitting up around the back-turn. The back-turn consists of two main parts, the "back" or finish of the drive and the "turn" or change of direction.

The way you carry yourself around the back-turn has a significant effect on the boat, and on your ability to flow into the next stroke. Joel demonstrates both techniques, while Ken highlights the pros and cons of each approach.  
Video Transcript
​Where should you finish the stroke off
should you pull it past your body finish

off in front of your body what's best

let's have a closer look on the left
hand side we've got

joel demonstrating pulling the finish
through

a long way through past the body what we
want to do is we want to

look at what happens to the hands here
what's happening to the blade here

and what happens to the body angle here

and so if you can see here that
as the blade starts to come out of the

water about
here which is what you would normally

expect
and as the hands continue to move past

the body
we end up with a reasonable amount of

weight being
pushed down into the boat in this

direction because of
the body weight and we find that it

takes quite a long time
for the hands to go from from

essentially here where the strokes
largely finished

through to that position
alongside the body now if we have a look

instead
at joel demonstrating finishing the

stroke earlier
then we'll look for the same particular

pieces
and you can see here that the body's not

quite so far back in the boat which
means we've got less weight in the bow

and as the blades start to come out of
the water

then let's watch what happens to the
hands here

so the hands finish in front of the body
a little bit

and then back over the knees and it's a
quicker action

so if we look at these two
images here where we're at the same

point of the stroke with the blade
feathered then you can see that there's

actually
there's a difference

between where the finish position is now
you might think it's not much of a

difference
but if you're rowing particularly into a

headwind and you're trying to keep your
rate up

you'll find it's a lot easier to keep
your rate keep the rate up

by having your hands a little bit in
front of your body like that

rather than pulling them past the sides
so to just have

try to finish the stroke off more like
you see on the right hand side

where where the handles

to the front of the body if not in front
of the body

compared to on the left hand side where
you can see that they're drawn past the

body
it looks like a small difference but try

it
and you'll find particularly in a

headwind that it makes
it's easier for you to keep the boat

moving well
it's also important to make sure that

you've got the right angles
now you may need to adjust the foot

stretcher or the span
in order to get the angle so they're

right i'd suggest about
this is not a bad option here 43

for past the pin and
63 in front and so that's at the finish

position
and then if we if we run through to the

catch position then you can
you can see how we've measured this

information

so there we are at the catch position
and that's the 63

degrees and if we go through to the
finish then you can see we've got

43 now sometimes you'll find
that the way that the finish is

conducted depends a little bit
on the height of the athlete if you're

working with
athletes that are shorter then you may

find that they have to lean back a
little further and have to draw the

finish through in order to achieve the
correct angle of about 43 44 45 degrees

now if they can't achieve that then i'd
suggest you want to work on

other methods to try and achieve those
angles like

reducing the span but make sure that you
change the gearing as well

so if you can finish in front of your
body with your body a little bit more

vertical
and still get the range of angle that's

required in order to have a fast boat
then you'll find it's a lot easier to

keep the rate up and
particularly a lot easier into a

headwind

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