Developing your catch in the gym

Developing the correct pattern of movements at the catch can be especially challenging on the water when rowing. In this video, Ken demonstrates how with some basic gym equipment, athletes can practise the correct pattern of movements on land without the anxiety of falling in.

Video Transcript

​Just want to demonstrate here a bit of a different technique for educating athletes on the how to take the catch correctly in a sweep boat so i've done a bit of rough equipment here I've got an oar sitting in any handy device to hold about the right height next to an ergo and here i've got some rubber bands that are just tied to a weight the purpose of the rubber bands is to add a little bit of downward pressure on the blade so that when you put the blade in the water then then you're definitely working against it so when we lift the handle we're definitely working against some sort of pressure the purpose of this is to be able to ask the athlete which muscles are engaged in order to put that blade in the water because remember in any boat the sweep boat no different we want to put the blade in the water before we start to push yes the body's going to move a little bit as the blade goes into the water because the boat's moving but essentially we want to put the blade in the load get connected then push so what we're demonstrating here in a controlled environment on land is how we can actually the difference between lifting the handle and then push so the first thing that if you just lift the hand so just put the blade in the water so you catch put the blade in the water and what you want to do is think about which muscles are being engaged in your shoulder region so you know what it feels like so what the purpose of this is so when when the athlete gets into the boat they'll be able to replicate the same sensation with those muscles putting the blade in second you want to do is split the movement so firstly put the blade in the water and then push but only push about so far we don't need to go very fast so finally catch put the blade in  easy push

At the catch put the blade in push

so we're separating those movements now in the boat it's all going to merge together a little bit but the concept really is get to the catch put the blade in first and then push and you'll find you get a much better catch and therefore much better power application again in a small boat you don't put too much power on too quickly once you've got the blade in the water in a bigger boat that's moving fast and you want to put more power on earlier but the essential movement is come into the catch put the blade in first then push