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. |
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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
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