Carnegie Currents: November/December 1998 Vol. XII, No. 6
And Another Thing
Editor's Note: Stuyve Pell, a champion master sculler and founder of CLRA, has provided our readers with a series of insightful articles about erg and on-the-water training in past issues. Here, he offers some more indoor strategies for improving outdoor performance.
Winter has been called “the season of erg death.” Remember the cool, misty mornings, the nice warm afternoons when the men perspired and the ladies glowed? (It’s horses that sweat.)
Remember the times, too, when the boat was consistently down to one side or the other until you thought you would develop permanent curvature of the spine, and nothing the cox’n said changed a thing?
On the water, a look from outside the boat shows that while timing at the catch may be O.K., the releases are a killer. Rowers on one side are pulling in to their chins while rowers on the other side are pulling in to their ----, well, much lower. And how can you get the blade out of the water if the handle is already as low as it can go?
How does this start? Someone or ones crabs or, more likely, gets a sloppy, draggy release, pulling the boat down to that side. Late releases — even one — on one side will also pull the boat down to that side. And scullers: ever notice that little wobble (mine is on port) right at the finish? Uneven (late) release.
On the water, here is what I suggest. Stop the boat. With everyone sitting at the finish, bring the oar handles into the body with the blades just buried and the boat set level. Each rower must then see and feel where the handle comes in to the body. That point for each rower is where the handle must finish each stroke. Big order? Not really. It has to finish somewhere. Why not at the same place, and, even better, the right same place.
Let’s try to relate what we do on the erg to what happens in the boat in hopes that our winter’s efforts will result in steadier and smoother time on the water. None of what follows is really new, but I hope the application and intention may be, and that the result will be apparent back on the water.
Try this by yourself and with others on ergs next to you. With two or more rowers, use about the same resistance setting and, with no more than half pressure, catch, drive and release together. That’s not too hard. Now, keep your travel down the slide uniform and absolutely together. Keep the movement fluid. Do not hang up or pause at the finish. Try a stroke rate of 16–20 spm. Not enough of a workout? Then set your resistance level a little higher, but everyone doing this should have close to the same effort level.
One person could be designated stroke, but each rower should gauge his or her effort and timing on all of the others. The exercise will probably feel a little stiff and wooden at first, but a swing and cadence should soon develop just as it does in the boat.
Now take it to the next level, and here a cox’n or coach, someone outside the “boat,” is helpful. Make sure the chain on your erg is level all the way through the drive and all the way through the recovery. Be particularly careful at the finish of the drive. Have your hands dropped into your lap? Have your hands traveled completely level during the drive, or have they described an arc (rowing over the barrel)?
Watch your chain; a mirror can be helpful. Watch the chains on either side of you. Watch again as your hands start the recovery, drawing the shoulders toward the stern. Keep them level. Are all the chains level? Releasing together and keeping the hands (chains) level in both directions is the very best way to make sure your boat goes rock steady and smoothly through the water.
— by Stuyve Pell