Session Ten

Session Ten begins with some work on blade depth and loose grip (Half blades), before focusing on an effective leg drive (Legs Only Rowing) and a good catch position (Back Down and Drive)

Half Blades

This drill aims to teach the rower to use proper blade depth at the catch and during the drive.

A common mistake at the catch is forcing the blade into the water instead of letting the blade drop gently using a soft grip. This grip forces the rower place the blades gently.

Most rowers will struggle to row with blades at half-depth, as it requires great skill to place slight and even downward pressure throughout the stroke, but instead, will row with blades at the depth they should be during the normal rowing stroke. So this drill is effective, even if the athlete fails to meet it's objective!

Rowing as normal, the rower gets to the catch and places the blade gently
With gentle downward pressure on the handle, the rower drives with the legs aiming to keep the blade only half-submerged
At the finish, the rower will only need a slight downward tap-down to extract the blades, concentrating on keeping a super-light grip.
Alternate between normal strokes and half-blade rowing for a while to compare the differences.

Legs Only Rowing

Although the video here is on the erg. the exact same principles apply in the boat.

Another great drill to include in your daily warmup, this drill demonstrates the first phase of the drive.

A common bad habit here is opening the back too early, before the legs have finished their extension. This drill teaches the rower to keep the forward body lean throughout the first portion of the drive.

From backstops. Arms away straight then forward body lean (shoulders in front of the hips). This is the body position we will be adopting for the entire drill.
The first five strokes we will be using minimal pressure to get a feel for the movement of the drill. No hip swing, keep arms straight.
5 strokes minimal pressure - 5 strokes light - 5 strokes medium pressure - 5 strokes hard
A decent rower should still find good power output even without the aide of the upper body. This is because most of the power in the stroke comes from the legs. Identifying the connection between the footplate and the handle and finding 'The Hang' are imperative to going fast.
Progress the drill by moving on to straight arm rowing (legs and body only) and back to a full stroke trying to apply the lessons learnt from the drill.

Back down and Drive

Watch the video above which demonstrates and explains the drill perfectly. This is a great channel with lots and lots of useful information!

More often than not, novice rowers start the stroke with their arms out in front of them (like the rower in the video thumbnail is demonstrating above), whereas advanced rowers begin the stroke with their arms out wide. Doing this gains the advanced rower a lot of length per stroke.

Because it takes time to place the blades, let them 'grip' the water and drive effectively, the rower with the short stroke ends up applying the first powerful portion of the stroke far too late in the drive, making the strokes far less efficient.

The rower with arms spread properly, allows themselves a lot (up to a foot!) of extra length at the catch to place the blades effectively before driving at the most powerful body position in the stroke. The video below explains this more clearly.

From backstops. Square the blades and place into the water.
'Back down' using correct recovery sequencing (Arms push away, then body lean, then legs.
The boat should now be moving backwards and we PLACE the blades gently into the water
The boats backwards momentum force the rower into a strong catch position (like in the video thumbnail above). Stay strong and connected to the footplate, with a well braced back and shoulders.
Let the boat sit until the coxswain or coach instructs 'DRIVE' at which point the rowers drives with the legs, completing a full stroke before slowing the boat and repeating the drill.