3 Steps to Improve Catch Timing when rowing
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Rowers often struggle to separate a relaxed recovery, quick catch and quick initiation of the leg drive. The result of the catch is often mistimed, messy and ineffective catch.
In this video, Ken takes two crews through his three-step process to improve catch sequence and timing. |
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Video Transcript
what we're going to do now in the water is we'll do a drill where we put the get the boat moving and we'll have it keep it stable with the bow person sitting out and then we have the rest of the crew put the blade in and get let it push them down the slide and so we let put the blade in and don't push it all and just let the water the pressure against the back of the blade to push them down the slide so they understand the concept that as the blade goes into the water it's going to move their body a little bit
and it's important in that drill that they keep their bodies and arms in the catch position arms straight body over no movement there put the blade in and let it push them down the slide a little bit so they get to understand that feeling then we progress from that to have them put the blade in and then pause for a moment and then push again trying to get that separation between putting the blade in and the pushing and once they've got that under control then we'll try to row normally and by rowing normally under this method as they come into the catch they lift the handle up to the right level so it's putting the blade in quite deep and then once it's in and deep then they apply the power with the leg drive and not before we're going to head down here and the first drill i want to do is to put the blade in have probably have two people sit out and row the boat and you're rowing the boat along and i want you to put the blade in and every third stroke i want you to let it push you down the slide so keep your arms fully straight body in the rock over position and just let it let the oar push you down the slide and when you get to essentially back chocks then just open up and finish it off and then do two strokes at a normal to get the boat moving again and then put the blade in let it push you down the slide the purpose of this is so you can understand that the boat actually does that to you anyway so even if you're rowing at normal pace in a race as you start to put the blade in the water it goes under the water and as it goes under the water it starts to move and you want it to move your body ie you want to move your seat you don't want it to move your shoulders or your arms you want to just keep that really in the right position and just push it back down the seat okay so do that every third stroke and then the two normal strokes to keep the boat moving and then do one where you push it down the slide and then swap over after you've done it say 10 times swap over and let the other two do the same thing make sense did you hear that over here yeah cool so what we're trying to do is to put the blade into the water let it push you so you get that sensation what it's like when you're rowing normally what we want to do is put the blade in and let it push you a little bit whilst it gets deep and connected and then you drive but not before all good all right let's try that down to the corner here the thing you've got to be really careful of is when you're doing the stroke where you let it push you you've got to make sure that you actually don't push it all the temptation is to push a little bit anyway so try and not push at all
make sure you don't push it all don't pull it at all just let it push you it's always a temptation to push
no you're still pushing on that one where you don't push make sure that you don't push it all put the blade in and let it push you that's a bit better
Really resist that temptation to push put the blade in keep your body and your arms in the same position of the catch and let it just push you down the slide
the blade starts to go in it has to push you a little bit and so what i want to do now is the same drill essentially but i want you to uh every stroke put the blade into the water and then just wait till you feel it push you so you know what that feeling is like now you put the blade in it pushes you once you put the blade in and let it push you just a little bit and then push so a little bit is like that but you want to be able to just feel it so hold yourself at the catch put the blade in and then push if you can do it because you would do it in twos i want you to start off by uh counting the blade in so if for example if the bow two was sitting out and the stern two were the ones rowing on the first couple of times i want you to come to the catch with your oars the blades out of the water blade square and then one of you out of the two that are not doing it are doing a drill call up and then push and that sort of time frame up push so that's too big a time frame for normal rowing but it's to emphasize the point that we're going to go up first then we're going to push is that clear to everybody okay so do it in twos and the two that are not rowing keep the boat pretty well balanced because when you're out at the catch like that with your blades off the water we want the blades off the water but we don't want them way up in the air we want them as you would normally so just off the water and then up push and so do that perhaps 10 times and then go into the into the drill of putting the blade in and letting you feel the push before you push so you feel the blade kick in your hand a bit and then push everyone good with that all right let's go
remember to put the blade in just with your arms not with your shoulders
let's have a little bit more delay on the leg drive in stroke seat so put the blade in and then wait a little bit longer
that's better
and one of the things that uh that you're doing and everyone's doing it is the issue of coming into the catch and then putting the blade in really quickly and then waiting for a second to let it get connected and then pushing what's what you tend to do is because you come into the catch fairly steadily especially when you're rowing at a low rating so you're coming into the catch nice and steady and then you put the blade in and then you hesitate for a minute and then you push it's the what happens people automatically put the blade in slowly because they're coming in on a slow movement and they put the blade in then they go out with a bit of a slow movement and so the body just does everything a bit slow so what you want to do is separate that connection so come into the catch when you get to put the catch in put it in quick really put it in really quick and then slow again so it's about making sure that you control the different aspects of the of the catch so you come into the catch nice and steady and you put it in really quickly then you feel for that connection and then you push and so it's about putting the blade in quickly as a separate movement rather than a flowing movement if you try and treat it as a flowing movement it ends up being come down the catch nice and steady and i'll put the blade in nice and steady and that's too slow so i'm going to come into the catch put it in quick okay and by quick i mean really quick so if we can just have you um if you let us go for a minute there and so when we drift off i want you to have the bow two sit out and balance the boat and have no let's do the other way around stern two sit out and balance the boat and when the bow two i want you to come into the catch position with your blades off the water
and square now I want you to put it in quickly no no no quickly super quick it's a really quick movement coming up and remember back on the pontoon we want to have the hand so it's almost parallel with the gunnel so it's got to go in deep so you want to do it again quick and deep know you rest out in a stern pair do it same deal
it's a really quick and remember it's only with your forearms it's not not shoulders it's just that and it's got to go in so that it's buried and so it goes a long way whack that makes sense all right we'll head back for lunch and so on the way back how about you row all four and just try and practice that delay getting the catch in put the catch in sorry put the catch in quickly and then hesitate a moment before you push right you go come into the front put the blade in quick feel that connection then push don't lift with your shoulders just push
that's good much better catches guys much better that's really good three seat everyone else just make sure you have got that blade in the water before you push delay the push even more make sure the blade goes in before the leg drive that's better
that's better
it'll feel pretty strange for a while it'll feel like you're sitting out the front there forever just waiting for that blade to get connected that's better much better
Really focus on going to the front put the blade in really quickly and deep and then wait to feel the load pick up the load and then push so no leg drive before the blades in the water and connected
So the three seat there let's wait a little bit for the connection put it in and wait you gotta wait you gotta be patient out the front so we're gonna i want you to all wait a little bit more wait a little bit more put it in and then wait
pick up the load and then push put it in wait pick up the load push
so what we're trying to do with the whole this whole purpose is that if we start to push before the blades in the water clearly we're going to push the boat backwards and so we want to avoid that if we put the blade in and get it well connected then the first movement is to pick up the load because if you row it into the water then you're going to lose some power there because it's not connected yet so you're just going to be moving some water so we want to put it in and wait for the connection before we apply any power that way with the boat so we put it in put it in deep and then we pick up the load and then gradually accelerate it through to the finish and so it feels weird i'm sure you so it feels like you're sitting out the front there forever just waiting for that feeling of the connection but the purpose is to get it in and get it well connected so then when you do drive that you're gradually accelerating the boat right the way through so the purpose of it is essentially twofold the first one is to make sure that we don't waste any leg drive and the second one is to make sure we don't kick the boat backwards at the same time and you'll find that the worst that can happen is that if you put it in and you don't push early enough the worst that can happen is that you'll feel the oar kick in your hands a little bit and in fact if you're in a race situation or just rowing along anywhere and you want to check whether you've got your catches right have i got the blade in and connected before i push all you need to do is to delay your leg drive just a fraction and don't tell anyone just do it no one will notice so put the blade in delay your leg drive just a fraction and if you don't feel the handle kick in your hands it means that you were missing the catch whereas if you're missing if you had the catch exactly right as soon as you delayed your leg drive a little bit if you felt it kick in your hands you'd say yep i'm on the money my catch is good so you can check anytime you like just by delaying it so heading back in here just into individually just try and delay that put the blade in delay the leg drive a little bit until you feel the kick and if you don't feel a kick at all delay it a bit more and a bit more and a bit more until you do and then eventually you'll get almost a perfect catch if you've got it in and there's no kick but if you delayed a little bit there was and that's about as good as you're going to get as far as connection goes all right let me try that on the way in
and it's important in that drill that they keep their bodies and arms in the catch position arms straight body over no movement there put the blade in and let it push them down the slide a little bit so they get to understand that feeling then we progress from that to have them put the blade in and then pause for a moment and then push again trying to get that separation between putting the blade in and the pushing and once they've got that under control then we'll try to row normally and by rowing normally under this method as they come into the catch they lift the handle up to the right level so it's putting the blade in quite deep and then once it's in and deep then they apply the power with the leg drive and not before we're going to head down here and the first drill i want to do is to put the blade in have probably have two people sit out and row the boat and you're rowing the boat along and i want you to put the blade in and every third stroke i want you to let it push you down the slide so keep your arms fully straight body in the rock over position and just let it let the oar push you down the slide and when you get to essentially back chocks then just open up and finish it off and then do two strokes at a normal to get the boat moving again and then put the blade in let it push you down the slide the purpose of this is so you can understand that the boat actually does that to you anyway so even if you're rowing at normal pace in a race as you start to put the blade in the water it goes under the water and as it goes under the water it starts to move and you want it to move your body ie you want to move your seat you don't want it to move your shoulders or your arms you want to just keep that really in the right position and just push it back down the seat okay so do that every third stroke and then the two normal strokes to keep the boat moving and then do one where you push it down the slide and then swap over after you've done it say 10 times swap over and let the other two do the same thing make sense did you hear that over here yeah cool so what we're trying to do is to put the blade into the water let it push you so you get that sensation what it's like when you're rowing normally what we want to do is put the blade in and let it push you a little bit whilst it gets deep and connected and then you drive but not before all good all right let's try that down to the corner here the thing you've got to be really careful of is when you're doing the stroke where you let it push you you've got to make sure that you actually don't push it all the temptation is to push a little bit anyway so try and not push at all
make sure you don't push it all don't pull it at all just let it push you it's always a temptation to push
no you're still pushing on that one where you don't push make sure that you don't push it all put the blade in and let it push you that's a bit better
Really resist that temptation to push put the blade in keep your body and your arms in the same position of the catch and let it just push you down the slide
the blade starts to go in it has to push you a little bit and so what i want to do now is the same drill essentially but i want you to uh every stroke put the blade into the water and then just wait till you feel it push you so you know what that feeling is like now you put the blade in it pushes you once you put the blade in and let it push you just a little bit and then push so a little bit is like that but you want to be able to just feel it so hold yourself at the catch put the blade in and then push if you can do it because you would do it in twos i want you to start off by uh counting the blade in so if for example if the bow two was sitting out and the stern two were the ones rowing on the first couple of times i want you to come to the catch with your oars the blades out of the water blade square and then one of you out of the two that are not doing it are doing a drill call up and then push and that sort of time frame up push so that's too big a time frame for normal rowing but it's to emphasize the point that we're going to go up first then we're going to push is that clear to everybody okay so do it in twos and the two that are not rowing keep the boat pretty well balanced because when you're out at the catch like that with your blades off the water we want the blades off the water but we don't want them way up in the air we want them as you would normally so just off the water and then up push and so do that perhaps 10 times and then go into the into the drill of putting the blade in and letting you feel the push before you push so you feel the blade kick in your hand a bit and then push everyone good with that all right let's go
remember to put the blade in just with your arms not with your shoulders
let's have a little bit more delay on the leg drive in stroke seat so put the blade in and then wait a little bit longer
that's better
and one of the things that uh that you're doing and everyone's doing it is the issue of coming into the catch and then putting the blade in really quickly and then waiting for a second to let it get connected and then pushing what's what you tend to do is because you come into the catch fairly steadily especially when you're rowing at a low rating so you're coming into the catch nice and steady and then you put the blade in and then you hesitate for a minute and then you push it's the what happens people automatically put the blade in slowly because they're coming in on a slow movement and they put the blade in then they go out with a bit of a slow movement and so the body just does everything a bit slow so what you want to do is separate that connection so come into the catch when you get to put the catch in put it in quick really put it in really quick and then slow again so it's about making sure that you control the different aspects of the of the catch so you come into the catch nice and steady and you put it in really quickly then you feel for that connection and then you push and so it's about putting the blade in quickly as a separate movement rather than a flowing movement if you try and treat it as a flowing movement it ends up being come down the catch nice and steady and i'll put the blade in nice and steady and that's too slow so i'm going to come into the catch put it in quick okay and by quick i mean really quick so if we can just have you um if you let us go for a minute there and so when we drift off i want you to have the bow two sit out and balance the boat and have no let's do the other way around stern two sit out and balance the boat and when the bow two i want you to come into the catch position with your blades off the water
and square now I want you to put it in quickly no no no quickly super quick it's a really quick movement coming up and remember back on the pontoon we want to have the hand so it's almost parallel with the gunnel so it's got to go in deep so you want to do it again quick and deep know you rest out in a stern pair do it same deal
it's a really quick and remember it's only with your forearms it's not not shoulders it's just that and it's got to go in so that it's buried and so it goes a long way whack that makes sense all right we'll head back for lunch and so on the way back how about you row all four and just try and practice that delay getting the catch in put the catch in sorry put the catch in quickly and then hesitate a moment before you push right you go come into the front put the blade in quick feel that connection then push don't lift with your shoulders just push
that's good much better catches guys much better that's really good three seat everyone else just make sure you have got that blade in the water before you push delay the push even more make sure the blade goes in before the leg drive that's better
that's better
it'll feel pretty strange for a while it'll feel like you're sitting out the front there forever just waiting for that blade to get connected that's better much better
Really focus on going to the front put the blade in really quickly and deep and then wait to feel the load pick up the load and then push so no leg drive before the blades in the water and connected
So the three seat there let's wait a little bit for the connection put it in and wait you gotta wait you gotta be patient out the front so we're gonna i want you to all wait a little bit more wait a little bit more put it in and then wait
pick up the load and then push put it in wait pick up the load push
so what we're trying to do with the whole this whole purpose is that if we start to push before the blades in the water clearly we're going to push the boat backwards and so we want to avoid that if we put the blade in and get it well connected then the first movement is to pick up the load because if you row it into the water then you're going to lose some power there because it's not connected yet so you're just going to be moving some water so we want to put it in and wait for the connection before we apply any power that way with the boat so we put it in put it in deep and then we pick up the load and then gradually accelerate it through to the finish and so it feels weird i'm sure you so it feels like you're sitting out the front there forever just waiting for that feeling of the connection but the purpose is to get it in and get it well connected so then when you do drive that you're gradually accelerating the boat right the way through so the purpose of it is essentially twofold the first one is to make sure that we don't waste any leg drive and the second one is to make sure we don't kick the boat backwards at the same time and you'll find that the worst that can happen is that if you put it in and you don't push early enough the worst that can happen is that you'll feel the oar kick in your hands a little bit and in fact if you're in a race situation or just rowing along anywhere and you want to check whether you've got your catches right have i got the blade in and connected before i push all you need to do is to delay your leg drive just a fraction and don't tell anyone just do it no one will notice so put the blade in delay your leg drive just a fraction and if you don't feel the handle kick in your hands it means that you were missing the catch whereas if you're missing if you had the catch exactly right as soon as you delayed your leg drive a little bit if you felt it kick in your hands you'd say yep i'm on the money my catch is good so you can check anytime you like just by delaying it so heading back in here just into individually just try and delay that put the blade in delay the leg drive a little bit until you feel the kick and if you don't feel a kick at all delay it a bit more and a bit more and a bit more until you do and then eventually you'll get almost a perfect catch if you've got it in and there's no kick but if you delayed a little bit there was and that's about as good as you're going to get as far as connection goes all right let me try that on the way in