Racing starts and a 500m piece to end a hard rowing session

In this video, John takes his crew through a series of racing starts and a 500m piece. This video focuses on how a crew should build and maintain speed during the early stages of a race. 

Video Transcript

​Find that looseness out the front

okay single stroke three-quarter position
to the catch

now we're checking on the quarter slide all
right okay okay just one stroke all crews

attention go

good

we'll do one more

just make sure you're relaxed long in the
arms okay

it's important that the first thing you're
thinking about doing on the start line is

pushing on the command all right pushing on
the feet everybody okay

crews attention go

Let's go to three strokes

so three-quarter half three quarter right

so just remember girls that this half stroke
is um a very tight one okay just make sure

you don't go over it so it's really the handles
and it's just legs up and down again really

all right let's try this

crews attention go back

yep so that that second stroke still gonna
be a little bit quicker on the legs

all right three strokes again

remember you're still stretching as you're
sort of pushing on that second stroke don't

don't go on breaking arms here and that second
stroke it's a short stroke really focus on

the legs crews attention go

push it push the next one there we go all
right go to five

it's good relax ready attention go push it
drive them down lock them down

keep that down that's it

so legs are really going to be firing

like pistons in an engine, it's going to just
drive them down as the boat speed goes up

you've got to keep going up with a leg drive
all right from a dead stop or a dead position

legs go down quicker quicker quicker until
we get up into the rhythm all right I'll go

to seven strokes

okay crews attention go

fire the legs down fire them down you're pushing
the boat speed up here even more again that's

it up to its max

so

i'll go to 10 strokes

um you can call down on ten if you can

all right good

just watch that second and third stroke sometimes
you want to pull a little harder than you

should push all right sometimes your legs
become a little slower in those two okay come

forward ten strokes

crews attention go push them down drive the
boat speed up to its maximum for the whole

race here

lock them down

that's good keep moving just paddling

Just try to find some good solid rhythm here
girls in preparation for this uh final 500

that we're gonna do

it's drawing up stepping out

find that loose catches early square backsplashes

just build your pressure a little bit

about 150 meters to go

let's think about when we go to that initial
build and we're driving through the hips together

all right girls you can move in after this
on this

find that rhythm we had in the tens build
it up

that's it sit back on it

drive the legs

find that looseness out the front

lets get a bit of a step out working for us

drawing it up

not drawing through too far

let's drive it home

100 meters to go

row light