Technical Drills - coaching videos

Fake Strokes

Rowing at low pressure, make every other stroke an "air" stroke. That is, at the catch, do not put the blade to the water, but row as if you did.

During the 'drive' of the fake stroke, maintain the same tempo as if there were pressure on the blade - drive your legs down, go through the swing, flex your arms to the finish, do hands away, body over and slide. Then catch and take a real stroke.

As you do this exercise, take note of the run of the boat. Grow sensitive to the ways in which your body's movement effects the momentum - during the 'air' stroke and the following recovery, you will notice the slackening velocity of the boat.

Pay attention to your exact body position at the catch (the fake catch), and be aware just prior to then of any tendency to lunge at that point of the stroke. If you do lunge, watch what that does to the stern - the stern will squat down and the back bottom of the boat will act as a very effective brake on the boat.

Use this exercise to develop your sensitivity to tempo issues - the intervals of time that are needed for the leg drive, the layback, the arm/shoulder flex. The amount of time that it takes to drive the legs down is greater than the amount of time it takes to flex your arms as you come to finish. And the interval of time to get your hands away should be minimal - get the oar handles out of the bow very quickly, then take your time on the way up the slide. During the drive the linear velocity of the oar handles is accelerating from catch to finish; but from finish to catch, the oar handle speed is decelerationg. In this video, I'd like to see the sculler moving 'hands away' much more quickly than is happening in most of the strokes, fake and real ones.

This drill and other technical drills are not designed to make you get the boat up to hull speed(for that build your power, strength and endurance) - but to help you avoid robbing the boat of the velocity that you've given to it during the power phase of the stroke.